The health benefits of snacking on Partyka Farm’s roasted pumpkin seeds are remarkable – just look at the back of the package. The hull-less, lightly salted seeds are packed with protein and iron and can offer protection from prostate problems, osteoporosis, kidney stones and even cancer. They lower cholesterol, are great source of magnesium and are a natural anti-inflammatory.
The tasty seeds have become an important part of the Kendall farm’s business, and recently, Partyka & Sons received $170,465 in matching funds from the US Department of Agriculture’s Value- Added Producer Grant program.
The grant will help Partyka Farms make the roasted seeds more available to consumers, Jeff Partyka says. The grant is specifically for projects that, “add value to what you are growing,” he explains. “Part of it will help us with the cost of processing … it’s an involved process from growing the pumpkins to putting the seeds in the package.”
The grant funds will likely make it possible for the farm to add employees and do more with packaging and marketing efforts for the seeds, Partyka says.
The grants were announced at the end of October. “Value-Added Producer Grants are one of the USDA’s most sought-after funding sources for veteran and beginning farmers and rural-based businesses,” Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said. “These grants provide a much-needed source of financing to help producers develop new product lines and increase their income, and keep that income in their communities.”
Jeff Partyka says all of the growing, processing and packaging is done at the farm. Partyka Farms put up a new building for pumpkin seed processing this year, he adds.
He says the niche product started several years ago when he planted a variety of pumpkin seeds provided by an Extension agent who said the seeds – which had no shell – would be excellent for eating.
“I planted them and forgot about them,” Partyka says. When he discovered the fruits at the end of the growing season, he gave them to a friend who loves to roast his own seeds. Partyka soon got a phone call. “Save those seeds,” Partyka says the friend told him. “They are the best things I have ever had.”
In the beginning, Partyka says all the processing was done by hand. Then the Partykas received a machine from a friend that mechanically removed the seeds from the pumpkin. In 2005, the Partykas started to get the seeds into local markets.
Now the seeds are available at the Partyka Farm Market in Kendall – 1420 Monroe Orleans County Line Road – at the Farmer’s Table restaurant (owned by the Partykas) at the corner of Routes 18 and 19 Hamlin, at Wegmans, Lori’s Natural Foods, the Abundance Co-op, and “30 farm markets from Buffalo to Albany,” Jeff’s wife, Lora Partyka says.
The Partykas recently wrapped up pumpkin seed harvesting and processing for the 2016 growing season. Jeff Partyka says they grow 80 acres of pumpkins for seeds, and with his two sons now part of the farm business, he foresees moving more and more in the direction of pumpkin seed production for packaged roasted seeds in the future.
“We want to make it work for us, that’s our hope,” Partyka says.
Partyka’s Farm Market in Kendall is open through Christmas. Lora Partyka says their 4th Annual Christmas Open House is set for December 10. The Farmer’s Table restaurant is open all year. The roasted pumpkin seeds are also available on the Partyka Farm website: www.partykafarms.com.
