History:
Our farm adventure began in 1992 when we purchased 96 acres on the Historic National Rd. – Rt. 40 in Licking County with an 1890 farmhouse on the property. Ralph grew up on a farm in Illinois while Charla had a very different experience growing up in Ohio within city limits. Ralph raised sheep as a boy and longed to do that again. In the beginning, Ralph did raise sheep. We finally got out of the sheep raising business which led us into the pumpkin and agri-tourism business.
In 1994, Ralph began to grow Indian corn to sell to local gas stations. They wanted cornstalks so he and our daughter, Kristin bundled them up and delivered them to various stores to sell for fall and Halloween decorating. Charla wanted some pumpkins and before too long, we were selling pumpkins, straw bales, cornstalks, Indian corn and more in the front yard of the farm on the honor system! 1994 was the beginning of our dream for fall family fun. In 1998, we purchased the barrel train ride and before long, we were having wonderful activities for children and families of all backgrounds in five farm buildings. In addition we put in a a small corn maze. This dream has been a wonderful ride of 21 years! We enjoyed welcoming people on weekends and hosting school field trips M-F during the fall. Time flies when you are having fun!
At the end of the 2015 pumpkin & family fun season, we paused to re-evaluate. After much soul searching, we have made the decision to retire and say goodbye to the agri-tourism and pumpkin side of the farm business. This includes the barrel train ride and the five buildings of fun as well as the corn maze. This was a difficult and bittersweet decision because it’s been an absolute labor of love for us. However, it’s time to end and say goodbye to that part of our lives. We plan to spend more time with our family and do some traveling. We will miss seeing everyone at fall time. Thank you everyone for the memories!
We will continue to farm and sell straw bales and corn for the squirrels and other critters on the porch of farm building one. We will continue the honor system tradition that we started many years ago. (You select a bale of straw or a bag of corn and “Feed the Pumpkin’s Mouth – put your cash in the mouth!”) Again, thanks for the memories….
