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This website has been developed specifically for Kansas farmers and ranchers involved in AgriTourism, rural properties where the traveler has an opportunity to experience farm and country life far from the hustle of the city.

The site is a project of the Kansas Agritourism Advisory Council, working in cooperation with:

the Kansas Agriculture Marketing Division and the Travel and Tourism Division of the Department of Commerce

and with financial assistance from Frontier Farm Credit.

We invite you to explore this website to find a variety of articles and resources that will help you succeed in agritourism.

If you have any questions, please contact the Department of Commerce, Travel and Tourism Division, and ask for the Agritourism Liaison.

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Harvest Farm in Turon, Kansas

September 2005

“Danielle, let’s try that pumpkin idea of yours.”

About seven years after they first walked through Vala’s Pumpkin Patch outside of Omaha, Eric and Danielle Geesling decided to try something different. Up until now, they were raising wheat and cattle on their Turon, Kansas farm. The wheat market was not going their direction. They asked the extended family who was interested, and before long, they had formed a corporation to begin the Harvest Farm Pumpkin Patch.

Last fall was their first season, and the attendance far exceeded their expectations, knowing that Turon is in a pretty rural area. Turon is about 30 miles west of Hutchinson, or 22 miles east of Pratt, the two largest communities in the area. Nonetheless, the Pumpkin Patch attracted over 2,500 visitors, including 800 school kids in tour groups.

“We had over 800 kids in school tours, far more than we had expected, and actually had to buy extra pumpkins for the tour groups.” Danielle said. “And almost all of our business came by word of mouth. I had read Jane Eckert’s book, Fresh Grown Publicity, and so I wrote and sent out articles to the papers, and we had articles in both the Hutchinson News and the Pratt Tribune.”

Harvest Farm of Turon, Kansas plans to open their second year with a big splash of pumpkin!

Making the Farm Unique
There are a lot of interesting aspects to the Harvest Farm operations, and folks always want to know about the Punkinator, the new pumpkin cannon that will shoot an 8” pumpkin up to a half-mile!

They saw something similar in a presentation by Bill Bacon at the Kansas Agritourism Conference, and knew they wanted one. Eric, and his dad, Gary Geesling, built the Punkinator over the winter, but it has already gotten a lot of attention. They’ve driven it in five parades, and likely its value in publicity will make the whole project worthwhile.

“They wanted a fire truck so they could raise, lower, and aim the cannon,” according to Danielle. “Amazingly, they found one on the online auction service, Ebay, that is fully operational, with an 85 foot ladder, and only 19,000 miles on it. At a cost of only $2,200, they figured that even if they abandon the pumpkin cannon, the engine and other components were well worth the price.”

The orange tank is an old propane tank. “So far, we’ve only done test firings with watermelon and cantaloupe,” Danielle explained. “The pumpkins, which must be 8 inches in diameter to fire, are just about ready for test launchings.”

It all works very well, at least with watermelon. Apparently the only concern is putting too much pressure into the cannon, which resulted in a watermelon shower instead of a projectile! The cannon will be fired a couple of times every hour. “First, we turn on the flash lights and sound the siren, so folks will get to a place where they can see. The speakers work too, so we can make announcements,” said Danielle. “The big surprise is the sound. It’s a “whoof” or a “wisshh,” not a big boom, but it sure sends the vegetables flying!”

Pooling the Talents of Four Families
Another interesting aspect of the Harvest Farm Pumpkin Patch is the way four families have come together to make it happen: Eric and Danielle, Eric’s mom and dad, Danielle’s parents, and Danielle’s brother and his wife. The families have pooled their resources, and their talents, to make it all happen.

Derek Zongker teaches visitors about a variety of animals on the farm

Derek and Michelle Zongker, Danielle’s brother and his wife, love animals, and already had goats, donkeys, geese, and pigs on their farm in Sylvia, Kansas. They provide, train, and care for the animals for the petting zoo.

Eric’s dad, Gary Geesling, has an education in engineering but is a farmer by trade, and he and Eric designed and built the Punkinator, the Hayloft slide, and other special attractions on the farm. Elaine, Eric’s mother, is a crafter, and is the perfect person to work in the shop to help customer’s mix and match gifts.

“Some of us are very talkative, and love to work with the public, and some of us do the work the public never sees,” Danielle said. Danielle, an elementary teacher by training, enjoys talking to the press and the public, and she says that her dad, Bart Zongker, loves to visit with the folks as he weighs out the pumpkins and collects the money.

Kay Zongker, Bart’s wife, is the head cook at the high school, and provides a tremendous variety of foods for sale at the farm, including cinnamon rolls, chili, hot dogs, pumpkin breads, and much more.

We asked Danielle if opening the farm to the public was the right thing for every farm.

It Is a Lot of Work
“It has worked out well for us because we have the families involved, and everyone has different personalities, and everyone seems to have found their nitch,” she answered. “But it is a lot of work. More money and more work than you ever dreamed. Just fixing up the buildings, decorating, and controlling risks has been major. There is a ton of work to do on the computer, too. And finding insurance was a nightmare. None of the agents seem to understand how to provide the coverage we needed, but we finally found another broker that could write the policy.”

Learned A Lot
Danielle says they’ve learned a lot, and are really looking forward to the fast approaching fall season. They’ve reserved additional hand washing stations to have them closer to both the petting zoo, and the portable restrooms. This year they’ve planted more of the school tour size pumpkins, although with the major storms that have worked through Kansas this summer, they’ve replanted 3 times. They also changed their entrance and parking to make it more convenient to guests, and to lead the guests in the right direction.

“We toured pumpkin farms and similar operations all over Nebraska, Kansas, Missouri and Texas before we got started. The state of Kansas, and the Agritourism program, has really helped us a lot. We wouldn’t have really gotten it off the ground without the state’s help.”

“We charge a $5 admission fee for anyone coming in. Maybe, if we had it to do over, we would figure out a way to put the store accessible to those not interested in the attractions. That’s something we are considering,” said Danielle.

Choice of School Tours
They also have two different school tours, though both are at the same $3 per child price. Both tours include a tractor-drawn hayride, a pumpkin or coloring book for each child, and visits to the pumpkin patch and the petting zoo. On the Basic Tour, they also talk to the children about raising pumpkins, and about the animals. The alternate tour is an Agriculture Tour, and the educational component talks more about Kansas agriculture, showing the children different grain raised in Kansas, and talking about how these things were harvested in the past, versus harvesting today. The tour includes a chance to sit in the driver’s seat of the giant combine.

This Year's Goal
“This year’s goal is probably to pay ourselves back. We’ve borrowed from each family, but haven’t needed a loan from outside the families. We’ll pay that back, and hopefully have some money to invest in new projects next year instead of drawing out of our own pockets,” Danielle predicted.

“Right now, we equally share the revenue among the families, focusing on paying everyone back. As we grow, we’ll probably talk to some of the other farms that also have several families sharing the work - to learn how they track their hours or whatever in dividing the income.”

Provided by the Kansas Agritourism Advisory Council.

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