Taking a step back: After 35 years, Farmer John and Jan Ulland handing over the vines of the Pumpkin Patch

This spring, John and Jan Ulland were taking part in the 100 Mile Garage Sale along the Mississippi River when they stopped in Prescott, Wisconsin.

Just one of the several people taking part in this annual event, the couple went up to check out at the place they had stopped, when the woman behind the counter made an observation about the Ullands.

“You’re Farmer John,” John remembered her saying before asking how she knew them. The woman turned out to be a former teacher in Owatonna and like so many had visited Farmer John’s Pumpkin Patch with her students.

Not to be outdone, another woman behind the counter added, “I know them too.”

“You have to be good wherever you go,” John quipped.

A story like that is familiar and told often when referring to Farmer John’s Pumpkin patch. For 35 years, the couple have been welcoming schools and families to their Freeborn County farm for pumpkins and autumn fun.

With their 36th year on the horizon, they are looking to continue the tradition, but without so much hands-on interaction by John and Jan. That’s because they are choosing to retire and hand the operation over to their son and daughter-in-law, Kirk and Mary Ulland.

Though that might be easier said than done.

“I haven’t done real well with staying out of things,” John admits.

And it’s not that John was necessarily looking to do this, but an accident at home this past December proved to be the determining factor.

While shaking out rugs at their home, John fell and wound up breaking his neck.

“My doctor said that a C2 fracture for a man that’s 87 years old is usually and very often fatal,” John said. “She said, ‘maybe it’s time you start acting your age.’ I’m trying.”

But it’s not something easily given up. Both John and Jan have relished the idea of inviting families and in particular kids to their property to give them an experience that is often handed down through the generations.

“I still can’t give up those kids coming out here,” John said. “There’s just so many neat things that happen out here.”

A destination by

happenstance

The Ullands never intended to create Farmer John’s Pumpkin Patch. It just all kind of happened by accident.

With a degree in animal husbandry, the property was to be a farm, but as time went on things gradually started falling into place to do something more.

They walked away from raising cattle and focused on the farmers market they ran in both Austin and Albert Lea. During that time, the area in which the cattle grazed was becoming overrun with weeds, so in an effort to combat that, the decision was made to plant pumpkins in an effort to control the weeds.

In turn, John and his partner at the time, Juan Espinoza, would take the pumpkins and sell them in communities in both Minnesota and Wisconsin.

Then, one of John’s closest friends, Dean Zellar came to John with a request.

“My grandkids have never seen where anything grow, can I bring them out?” John remembered him saying.

“They are the ones that tagged him as ‘Farmer John,’” Jan added.

From that point there was no turning back.

“I had not even a thought of doing this,” John said. “Once I got started you just can’t quit. I love the kids and where else can kids go to see how things grow? We tried to make it so anybody can come out here.”

And they have. Over three decades the place has been a popular destination in the fall. Classes from surrounding schools in Mower, Freeborn and neighboring counties make regular visits while families invoke deep tradition to make the farm a destination each year.

“You watch as people come in, very often its grandparents, parents and kids,” Jan said. “Especially Sundays. Sunday seems to be a really big family day. Very often it’s a three generation thing out here.”

Not only do families and kids get to pick out pumpkins straight off the vines, there are other experiences including a silo for kids to play in, a barn with goodies — including Jan’s jams — and a dog and cats that are more than willing to say “hi.”

For the classes that visit, John will carve a pumpkin and take them through on a tour of the farm that includes tractor rides, which are also part of the normal visiting hours. It’s all part of a one-of-kind experience that many remember for years after the visit.

“People keep coming back,” John said.

Learning as they go

This year, as with many years, Kirk was going to help John plant the pumpkins for the coming growing season, but as with life in general, things change on the Ulland farm.

For the first time in years, John and Jan took a vacation to northern Minnesota in June, something they don’t ordinarily get to do.

“They ducked out of the pumpkin planting for the most part,” Kirk said with a growing smile. “It’s one of those things he was going to teach over the last 10 years on the planting part, but then he just does it because I’m busy doing something else.”

“We learned this year,” he continued, the smile now full. “We learned this year and they were gone and it was wet and muddy and rainy. It was a learning experience this year. Maybe we got that challenge under our belt.”

Farmer John Ulland shows off a dried gourd to Woodson Kindergarten students during his visit to Farmer John’s Pumpkin Patch in 2010. Herald file photo

Both Kirk and Mary, along with the Ulland’s other daughter and her husband, Deb and Dean Mueller, have been helping with Farmer John’s Pumpkin Patch over the last 15, 20 years and began taking over operation of the farmers market when they started training in 2012.

“We’ve been doing the market since then and they’ve been doing the patch,” Mary said. “During the season we would help out here with whatever we could help with on the patch, while doing the farmers market here and in Albert Lea.”

For the couple, it’s been just as much fun watching the people share their experience with their own kids and grandkids.

They believe in what Farmer John’s offers and have every intention of continuing to invite people to the farm.

“We plan to continue carrying on because it’s just so neat to see the families coming out and see all of the years they are coming,” Kirk said. “Hopefully we can do it until we’re 88.”

But even as John and Jan take more opportunities to “take more breaks together,” as Jan puts it, it’s evident that retirement may not have the connotation it has for many.

“We want to make sure people know too, that John and Jan will be here and that he is able,” Mary stressed.

But there’s also a utility piece to continuing as well. Not only is Farmer John’s a fun experience. It’s a learning experience.

“I feel it needs to be carried on because you don’t see it anymore,” Kirk said.

The experience

business

Over the years, Farmer John’s has hosted just about every opportunity you can think of. A family has used the farm to mark the yearly progression of their children and used those pictures in their graduations and businesses have used the locations for parties.

“We’re in the experience business,” John said. “People make memories so we try and put out photo ops so they can go in with their cameras.”

They’ve helped a man propose to his wife and much, much more. The stories alone could go on forever and often the memories they help create go off the property.

“What is it about him that’s so recognizable?” Jan asked. “Little kids in the store, out of the blue. Go to a concert or even the symphony. You see they recognize him everywhere from here.”

But the family wouldn’t have it any other way, even on the days that stretch well into the afternoon and the evening.

“If they are out there having fun, you just keep smiling,” Jan said. “It’s the people. The kids.”

“That’s the ‘why,’ John affirms.

Farmer John’s Pumpkin Patch is open daily to the public starting Sept. 28 through Oct. 31. They are open from 3-6 p.m. except for MEA. They are open from noon to 6 p.m. on the weekends.

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