The National Park Service, the state of Indiana and other locations around the country are coming together with the help of Vicksburg to celebrate a few milestones through the Cushaw Project.

This year marks the centennial of the National Park Service, the bicentennial of Indiana being a state and the bicentennial of the Lincoln family moving to Indiana.

Lincoln Boyhood National Memorial, a United States Presidential Memorial, started the Cushaw Project as a way to celebrate those milestones. For the project, many people are coming together to plant cushaw squash, a pumpkin- type of squash Abraham Lincoln’s family use to plant. Once harvested, the squash will be made into ale to commemorate Lincoln’s boyhood home.

“It’s a great opportunity for us to work with other parks in the system and do some really interesting things,” Justice said.

Justice said the superintendent of Lincoln Boyhood National Memorial contacted a craft beer brewery to produce a fall ale and people in Mississippi and Alabama to grow the squash because the warmer climate would produce the crop earlier. Master Gardener Anita Schilling said the squash would be harvested in late summer or early fall.

“Because our growing season is longer, we could start the squash — from same family as pumpkin so will have pumpkin-like flavor — earlier than in Indiana to allow for the brewery to have squash as soon as it’s ripe. It takes about 100 days from seed planting to maturity,” Schilling said.

The squash needs to be ready for the brewers by August, and Justice said it probably wouldn’t be possible if the squash was planted in Indiana because of the state’s late growing season. Five mounds were planted in the Heritage Garden at the Vicksburg National Military Park.

“We were given a small bag of about 100 seeds,” Schilling said.

The rest of the seeds were distributed to Karen Frederick of the Vicksburg Community Garden on U.S. Highway 61 South and other local Master Gardeners including Yolanda Horne at the community garden on East Avenue. Diane Smith is using a large container and intern Betty Thornley is using soil bags.

“Several master gardeners are using different methods to grow the squash such as containers, grow bags and more traditional growing methods,” Mississippi State University extension agent Anna McCain said.

Alcorn State University helps tend to the community garden along with Frederick and others. Frederick said representatives from Alcorn, specialist of agriculture O.D. Howard and horticulture specialist Franklin Chukwuma, would come to the garden next week to check on the crop and give her a time frame of when it will be harvested.

“I see this as a connection with another state,” Frederick said. “Whenever you network things come together, and I’m looking to continue this.”

Justice thought it was particularly poignant to have the squash in Vicksburg because of Lincoln’s referral to the city as the key before the siege. He was also impressed with the local gardeners interest and willingness to participate in the project.

“I think its really great the way the Master Gardeners came together to try to do this very special thing,” Justice said. “It just shows how small a community the United States really is.”