KEENES, IL - Founding Farmer Sarah Frey recently released her influential book, The Growing Season¸ solidifying her title as the industry’s “Pumpkin Queen.” Now Frey Farms is ramping up for its signature harvest, announcing the official start of the pumpkin season.

“Pumpkins make people happy. Pandemic or not, pumpkins are associated with feelings of comfort and coziness,” says Frey, President and CEO.

Growing up on a small, isolated farm with her family, produce farmer and innovator Sarah Frey knows what it means to feel isolated and alone. Facing poverty and hardship, Sarah Frey moved out of her house at 15 years old and began to implement her plan to escape rural poverty and leave the farm for good.

As a teenager, when the land she grew up on faced imminent foreclosure, she made a decision that would alter the course of her life and the family’s future. In her new book, The Growing Season, Frey shares her personal story, including how she purchased the farm and became one of America’s largest fresh produce growers and suppliers providing fresh fruit and vegetables to the nation’s top retailers.

“Everyone faces adversity at some point in their lives, but it’s important to remember that nothing holds us back forever,” says Frey. “We all have the courage within ourselves to overcome fear and challenges. In writing The Growing Season, I wanted to remind others that even during life’s most difficult times it’s still possible to discover the good.”

According to a press release, Frey speaks from personal experience. She faced many obstacles in her young life, from having to hunt and harvest her own food to finding the courage to negotiate with the world’s largest retailers as a teenager. Her hardscrabble upbringing prepared her for the business world.

“Farmers are eternal optimists,” says Frey. “Life is just a series of growing seasons. Some are more difficult than others, but the ones that are fallow can teach us just as much as the ones that are bountiful. Pumpkins symbolize a time of harvest. While I am excited to celebrate the release of The Growing Season, I am excited to celebrate pumpkin season.”

Beyond pumpkins, Frey Farms also produces watermelons and other fruits and vegetables available throughout the country under the Sarah’s Homegrown brand. Wanting to eliminate waste and give a purpose to the “ugly” fruit, Frey tapped into her entrepreneurial side by adding a beverage line of cold-pressed juices that includes Tsamma watermelon juice and Sarah’s Homegrown Agua Frescas, lemonades, and teas.

Spooky season is nearly upon us, and you can count on Frey Farms to fulfill all of your pumpkin season needs.

Frey Farms