Pumpkin farming: spare time to 6 digit stream of income (2024)

A version of this article by Barbara Berst Adams first appeared in Heirloom Gardening Magazine.

Photos and text copyright National Lilac Publishing

Thereare many faces of pumpkin farming. It can be a continual spare timesmall income stream all the way up to a six-digit major income source(see below).

Mostof us are familiar with the traditional U-pick pumpkin patch. Outingsto pumpkin farms become regular family and community traditions in someregions. They fulfill our soul’s need to celebrate changing seasons andconnect with a farm. Pumpkins are large plants and need space to sprawl,meaning trips to big pumpkin patches are almost always the realm oftraveling to rural locations.

Pumpkinfarming has even been known to save farms from selling out. The McCallLand & Cattle Company in Moriarty, New Mexico, is owned by Howard& Kevin McCall and run by Kevin & Kirsten McCall. They produceabout 300 acres of alfalfa hay, corn, Angus and Limousin cattle, andpumpkins. They happily report that the extra revenue from their pumpkinpatch, where they now sell pumpkins retail direct from the farm, hasallowed them to keep their farm when others around them had to sell out.

Infact, pumpkin patches with additional autumn ornamental crops caneventually become the farm’s major revenue. “The October season hasbecome big business for many farms that want to venture intoagritourism,” said Jane Eckert, founder of Eckert AgriMarketing.“Depending on the farm location and ability to attract customers, farmsnot only sell pumpkins, but food concessions, fall decorations, makeyour own scarecrows, wagon rides, corn mazes and other familyactivities. Many fall season farms are actually charging a generaladmission just to come onto the farm.

“Whilethe average pumpkin sale might be $4-$8 per customer, they willgenerally spend at least $20 per family just to have a fun day on thefarm. Fall season revenues might start for farms at just a few thousanddollars. But with a little bit of ingenuity, hard work and a goodproduct mix, $100,000 is not a difficult goal for a farm to reach inOctober. After several years, many farms are approaching sales up to$500,000 and more.

“Mostfarms I know exceed $100,000 annually from their October season. Theconcept is start small with pumpkins and then start adding the products,food sales, school tours, etc. and the revenue builds quickly.”

See our article focusing on growing the French Cinderella pumpkin

Youcan further enhance your project with fun autumn-themed activities and aunique treasury of vintage ornamentals such as decorative gourds,colorful corn, and giant sunflowers.

WhenI was raising my kids, our family planted a vintage harvest patch everyyear. In our case, we turned the project into a method for our two kidsto earn money and learn about the process of planning for long-termgoals, managing finances, and growing crops. We promoted it by giving astack of fliers to our children’s elementary school inviting familiesout to the farm usually the weekend before Halloween.

Onthe morning of our harvest festival, our children eagerly laid a pieceof plywood over two bales of hay to make their check-out table, andturned two large buckets upside down to make their stools where they satto take money and make change. We adults brushed our children’s poniesand put them in a safe, convenient location for viewing but nottouching.

Pumpkins and gourds had previously been cut from the vine but left where they'd grown in the field, andIndian corn had been harvested with husks pulled back and stacked in apile near the table. Prices had been marked with handmade signs next toexamples of each crop sold, and soon, the first customers began toarrive. As with garage sales, we advertised that our harvest festivalbegan at a certain time (in our case, 10 a.m.), and no early birds wereallowed.

Preparing and planting the patch

Eachfall, we rototilled about a half acre of our pasture in a new location,incorporating dolomite lime, horse and goat manure, and a little kelp. While rotating the crops' location was beneficial, today we probably would have explored preparing future locations with a no-till method.

Dolomite is not always needed for pumpkins and gourds if you havesweeter soil, but our Pacific Northwest clay is short on calcium andmagnesium. The patch was protected from winter runoff with a thick,heavy layer of locally collected mulch (old lawn clippings, straw andleaves). Black plastic was also used one year. In April, we plantedsmall blocks of Indian corn, and two to five weeks before the lastexpected frost, the kids pushed big pointed seeds of pumpkins and gourdsinto used paper cups filled with potting soil.

After sprouting, wemoved them outside for longer and longer spells to harden them off.About May, we hoed the remaining patch not planted in corn into hills tocreate circular raised beds about six to 10 feet apart for the pumpkintransplants soon to come. The gourds were planted around the edges ofthe patch. We were careful to not disturb their roots duringtransplanting. Once planted, the pumpkins, gourds and corn blocks werequenched with a watering can when there wasn’t enough rain. Theypractically grew themselves.

Creating the fun of the hunt

Inwinter, we had chosen and purchased a collection of pumpkin and autumnornamental seeds. See below for the multitude of choices you have today.We found the very best success formula for pleasing our customers was acombination of having plenty traditional Jack-o-lantern types like theheirloom “Connecticut Field,” as well as some fun surprises: heirloomand specialty pumpkins (such as the reddish “Cinderella” pumpkin andall-white pumpkins); the popular mini-sized pumpkins, a few piepumpkins, lots of different ornamental gourds, and more than one type ofornamental corn. When all these crops grew together creating apatchwork quilt of sorts, it created a treasure hunting atmosphere withsurprises found every foot of the way. Children and their parents wentwild with the “search and hunt” in the patch.

Thesatisfaction of collecting a load of autumn treasures made this day inthe country especially entertaining and memorable for our customers.People showed up from the moment we stated we’d be ‘open’ to theofficial end of the day. Most of the crop was sold during the Saturdayharvest festival. Our kids then divided the money, saving some for nextyear’s seeds. When the festival was over, they gleaned all remainingpumpkins and ornamentals, and filled a little farm wagon we attached tothe back of an old riding lawnmower that had been converted to a haulingtractor. We drove it to a safe but visible spot where there was busiertraffic, and the kids sold the remaining harvest right out of the wagon.

Challenges and extra bonuses

Pumpkinsare known to be quite vigorous and easy to grow. But they do haverequirements, including loose fertile soil and plenty of water. Oneyear, we tilled up an area of our Pacific Northwest clay soil in alocation that was difficult to haul in much manure or other soilamendments. We had an extra dry spring and missed a couple of waterings.We lost the entire crop in spite of hindsight attempts to pour gallonsof compost tea over each plant.

Also,as with any venture that calls for selling farm products or bringing customers ontoyour property, check zoning laws, any other local regulations that maypertain to your project, and look into added liability insurance. Insome cases, you may need to mark off extra parking space, or purchase aone-time insurance rider for the day of the event from your regularhome-owners’ insurance, which can be less than $20.

Followingour harvest celebration, we continued to get phone calls and inquiriesabout our other products. People asked if we had even more pie pumpkinsfor sale, and if they could hire us to bring our ponies for theirchildren’s birthday parties. They inquired about other produce we hadfor sale during other seasons. Besides being a very simplefamily-friendly spare time income, our U-pick harvest patch generatedword-of-mouth promotion for the farm in general.

Choosing crops to grow

Thereare so many popular and lesser known varieties of autumn ornamentalcrops, especially if you choose to add gourds to your harvest patch,that some professional growers admit even they can’t name them all. InGeorgia, the owner of an 80-acre gourd farm reportedly doesn’t evenbother with a catalog or price list for her multitude of offerings. Shejust has people purchase by sight and general description. To add tothis fun chaos, sometimes, pumpkins and gourds have multiple names forthe same variety. You can conquer this confusion by searching heirloomcatalogs that do offer photos and descriptions, and perhaps visitingother harvest festivals to see what you particularly like, and then growyour own unique treasury of autumn ornamentals from a collected list,perhaps adding a few new ones each year.

Evenif sticking to pumpkins only, you have lots of choices. Do you want abig traditional patch of orange globes? If so, you still have decisionsto make on whether to offer only large Jack-o-lantern sizes and shapes,or many sizes and shapes of orange pumpkins. Favorite heirloomJack-o-lantern varieties include ‘Connecticut Field.’ But orangepumpkins also come in miniature sizes, including the deeply ribbed‘Munchkin’ which we see more often now for sale in fall. And of course,there are the giants such as ‘Atlantic Giant’ which can mature atseveral hundred pounds up to a half ton. You may want to grow only oneor two giant sizes for a special attraction when you open the pumpkinpatch to farm visitors.

Or,if your festival is just a family affair, grow agiant for each child, their cousins, and/or grandchildren. But take itfrom this grandmother, if you’re growing a special pumpkin for everygrandchild, prepare for occasional crop failures among the otherwisehealthy fruits. It’s one thing when the whole crop fails, then we allsuffer together. But if only one or two fruits have problems, and thosewere meant for specific children, well, you know how that story couldend. Grow a couple extras to make sure each child gets their prize.

Youcan also carve each child’s first name or initials into the pumpkin by scratchingthem into the skin’s surface just as the pumpkins are starting to turnyellow and ripen. At this point in the pumpkins’ lives, you can be morecertain that the fruits in which you choose to carve initials willprobably succeed. Use a nail or other sharp instrument that makes a wideenough cut but won’t go too deep. The scratches will scar over to leavethe letters grown into the pumpkin.

Otherpumpkin colors besides orange include ghostly white (such as ‘Lumina’and ‘Casper’), reddish orange (Rouge Vif d'Etampes), blue-green(including ‘Blue Lakota’), and tans which are often the color ofpumpkins bred especially for pies. These various colored pumpkins alsocome in many sizes. ‘Baby Boo,’ for example, is a bright white miniaturepumpkin.

Ornamentaland utility gourds can further expand your harvest crops. They have afascinating history, having been used instead of plastics for thousandsof years. At one time, the utility gourds were harvested and cured tomake waterproof containers, dippers, ritual rattles and masks, dishes,cooking utensils, hats, sponges, musical instruments, floating devicesfor fishing nets, planters and jewelry. Today, most of us are familiarwith the luffa gourd sponges and to a lesser extent, gourd birdhousesand painted gourd art pieces. So, if too many area farmers jump on thepumpkin patch idea, you may be able to tap into supplying a following ofgourd artisans happy to have a grower producing rare and unusualvarieties.

Gourdsare sometimes divided into three groups. The soft shelled, the hardshelled, and the luffa. The soft shelled types, cucurbita pepo, are theones used mostly as colorful ornaments, and are more closely related tosome pumpkins. They include various warty and bi-colored gourds soldnear Halloween and Thanksgiving. The hard shelled types, agenariasiceraria, are the utility ones more suitable for curing for longer termuse, such as birdhouse gourds. A favorite for us was the Speckled Swan,sometimes called Gooseneck. They appear to grow a goose or swan-likeneck and head out of a ‘bird’s’ body. The necks curve and swirl invarious directions.

Colorful corn

Decorativecorn that ripens to bright autumn colors is very fun for children (andadults) to harvest and prepare for sale. Once picked, one by one, thehusks are pealed back to reveal the unique design that particular pieceof corn yields. The husks are pulled back from the ears, but leftattached to dry and add to the visual appeal.

Thechoices of Indian corn are plenty, and they come in miniature sizeswith ears around four inches, up to the more traditional sized corn. Theminiature varieties take less time to mature and are popular as homedecorations. ‘Strawberry Popcorn’ is even smaller, about the size andshape of a large strawberry, with deep red kernels. ‘Painted Mountain’is an especially beautiful standard sized ornamental corn that yieldscolors not produced by other ornamental corns. Solid blue varieties,such as ‘Hopi’ blue ornamental corn or ‘Mini Blue’ ornamental popcornlook particularly lovely along with blue pumpkins if you happen to growthem as well. And, remember that bunches of corn stalks tied with raffiaor other natural material make popular home decorations and sellingitems. Small bundles look great tied to porch posts. One sweet corn farmer lost his food corn crop to disease right before ripening time, but the stalks themselves were unharmed, and he made plenty of money by drying and bundling up the stocks and selling them as decorations.

Pumpkin farming is a great form of agritourism, and vintage harvest festivals help revive the countrysideacross America, bringing urban and rural citizens together as therenaissance for local crop production and heirlooms continues to spread.They also make great themes for school tours or large family reunionswhere family members can enjoy harvest activities together and celebratethe joy of the changing seasons in a true and meaningful manner. Theymerge history with new surprises, as each year, more autumn harvestheirlooms from around the globe are rediscovered, trialed, and thenoffered through independent seed catalogs. Baker Creek Heirloom Seedshas recently introduced ‘Extra Long-Handled Dipper’ gourd which theydescribe as having a handle up to three feet long, and ‘Dancing’ or‘Spinning’ gourds, which they say are two-inch gourds children of longago played with because they can be spun like tops.

Ownerscan put their own signature on their pumpkin farm and harvestfestivals, whether emphasizing big orange pumpkins, carving letters ofthe alphabet into their pumpkins, or catering to artists and heirloomgourmet cooks. But be careful. The hunt for new treasures to grow eachseason can almost become addictive amidst the soothing knowledge thatthe crisp nights and bright days of harvest time can be counted on toreturn again and again.

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