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We are a family farm and have been growing
pumpkins for 32 years, 20 years of on the farm.
We grow over 20 different varieties of pumpkins on 15 acres
including a lot of beautiful 15-20 pound pumpkins. Our family
welcomes you and your family to an "Awesome" farm experience,
especially for the little ones.
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Farming is hard work, but the
Rongitsches have made a family affair of sharing in the autumn
fun of pick-your-own pumpkins.
THEIR MAGIC PUMPKIN PATCH
St. Paul Pioneer Press (MN) -
October 5, 2008
Author: Tom Webb, twebb@pioneerpress.com Edition: St. Paul
Section: Business Page:
Tom and Teresa Rongitsch had been growing
vegetables on their Scandia farm when their business plan
shifted, thanks in part to a busload of excited
kindergartners.
The 5-year-olds arrived one autumn day on a class field trip,
breaking into what Teresa calls "pumpkin smiles" at the sight
of thousands of pumpkins in the field.
"Their faces are all pressed up against the (bus) window, and
they're just amazed," she said.
Amid the kindergartners' laughter, the Rongitsches saw the
magic that a pick-your-own pumpkin patch holds. They soon
realized that while it's fine to sell pumpkins wholesale to
Twin Cities supermarkets, selling them directly to children is
a lot more fun.
"A lot of it was the kindergartners and how much they enjoyed
it, and how much we enjoyed it," Tom Rongitsch said.
And that's how vegetable wholesaler T.R. Produce became better
known as Tom's Pumpkin Farm.
Now, each autumn, for about five weeks lea! ding up to
Halloween, the Rongitsch farm opens its pumpkin fields to the
public, along with two corn mazes and a hay-bale maze for the
kiddies. This year, they have 15 acres of pick-your-own
pumpkins, five acres devoted to wholesale pumpkins and eight
acres of corn mazes.
Every pumpkin in the field is $3.99.
"We try to keep it family-oriented, so if they come out with
their children, everyone in the family can get a pumpkin,"
said farmer Tom.
On any given Saturday in October, perhaps 200 people will make
the drive to their farm, four miles north of Scandia.
Marketing a farm experience has its challenges, not least
because it is 100 percent seasonal. As Tom notes, demand for
pumpkins "comes to a complete and utter halt" after Oct. 31.
The Rongitsches use a variety of methods to draw crowds during
that brief window. Early on, they joined the Minnesota Grown
directory, a state effort that points curious day-trippers to
farms where they can find sweet co! rn, Christmas trees, elk,
pick-your-own strawberries or whatev! er. A Web site came
next, and the family has designed and smartly placed 15 to 20
signs for Tom's Pumpkin Farm, making it easier for Twin Cities
visitors to get to the pumpkin patch.
"It worked for Wall Drug," Tom said jokingly.
The Rongitsch operation is among the growing number of
Minnesota growers who get part of their income from urban
day-trippers.
This not only helps the farmer, but many agricultural experts
think it's valuable for society, too -- by giving an ever more
urbanized population an appreciation for where food comes
from, and providing them some farm memories.
Though Tom and Teresa Rongitsch love rural life, their 50-acre
farm isn't big enough to support a family. So, like many farm
couples, one works at an off-farm job that provides benefits.
In their case, Tom works at a Twin Cities nursery.
"It's good to have health insurance," Teresa said. Not to
mention a 401(k) and the possibility of a pension.
And yet, the couple's he! arts remain planted in the country.
"That's what it's all about -- a piece of land, and growing
your own food and raising your children," said Teresa.
As newlyweds, the couple moved to the farm in 1978, buying
their initial 25 acres and starting their vegetable-growing
business. They've grown peppers and cantaloupe and tomato
plants and more, raising some in greenhouses and selling for
years at the St. Paul Farmers Market, though they've scaled
that back lately. Farm income has waxed and waned as the
business has shifted.
And realizing their dream, they've raised four children on the
farm. Growing up, the kids all logged many hours planting,
raising and lifting pumpkins.
"That would be one of the horror stories the kids would tell
you about," Teresa said, laughing.
In truth, raising pumpkins commercially requires a lot of
physical labor. As Tom notes, "If you grow 100 tons of
pumpkins, you have to touch all 100 tons." As a result,
everyone in t! he Rongitsch family has hefted tons and tons.
Now that the kid! s are gr own and gone, that's another reason
to go with the pick-your-own approach: There's less lifting.
"The kids like to say that we lost our labor," Teresa said.
Befitting a family farm, all labor is done by family,
including Teresa's sister. Even the corn maze was designed by
one of their sons, who is trained in graphic design. This
year's motif is the election.
Debbie Krenz, a kindergarten teacher at Chisago Primary
School, brought the first group of kindergartners to the
Rongitsch farm 20 years ago. She's still doing it.
"We bring probably close to 200 kindergartners every year, and
she never charges us, never," Krenz said.
If those kindergartners changed the Rongitsch farm, it's
changed the children, too, their teacher said. Many hadn't
been to a farm before. Few had witnessed the spectacle of 20
acres of ripe pumpkins in a field.
"It's such an act of kindness, and I'm sure the children
remember it forever -- they'll always remember their trip to
the pumpkin patch," Krenz said.
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