CAPITOL PRESS AGRICULTURE NEWS
PUMPKIN PATCH VENTURE AUTHENTIC 'AGRITOURISM'

KERMAN - Their first foray into agritourism won't be their last, vow the
partners in Harvest Acres, a 10-acre pumpkin patch set in the middle of a
working farm.

Just nine days into their month-long fall marathon, Wendy Yribarren and
Susie Hergenroeder are up to their ears in questions from third-graders
eager to learn about where their pumpkins and lots of other ag products come
from.

Yribarren and Hergenroeder, both former elementary school teachers, don't
mind the endless questions. They enjoy the energy as kids swirl from piles
of giant pumpkins, through a corn maze and up on straw bales for a lesson on
pumpkin growing.

The focus isn't on a scary Halloween experience, but on education about
agriculture, Yribarren said.

"We're enjoying this more than we thought. We put in a lot of work for this
month," said Yribarren, 33, and a mother of four.

"We know we're going to do it again. This was our groundbreaking year," said
Hergenroeder, 38, and a mother of three.

Vineyards, almond groves and cotton fields surround Harvest Acres, located
just north of the rural community of Kerman in western Fresno County. The
venture opened on Oct. 1 and will close after Halloween.

The schoolchildren who come on field trips don't necessarily know much about
agriculture before they arrive. Yribarren and Hergenroeder do their best to
make sure they leave with some understanding of what it takes to produce the
several varieties of pumpkins they grow. They make it fun with plenty of
kid-friendly activities.

The patch is open to the public afternoons and on weekends.

Ellie Rilla, director of the University of California Cooperative Extension
in Marin County and a specialist in agritourism, said on-farm pumpkin
patches like Harvest Acres fit the description of agritourism.

"They've found a niche to fill and those types of operations can help
producers generate supplemental income," Rilla said.

Yribarren, whose husband Jeff grew the pumpkins, conducts the hay ride/farm
tour, where she describes all the steps in the pumpkin growing process from
planting the seeds to why they use drip irrigation to why they set out
beehives to pollinate the crop. She also talks about the cotton, grapes and
almond crops growing next to the pumpkin patch.

Jeff Yribarren, who farms the vineyard next to the pumpkins, is introduced
as "Farmer Jeff." He speaks to older students, going into more detail about
farming practices.

On his pumpkin-growing endeavor, Jeff Yribarren said he had a pretty fair
crop, but it wasn't easy coaxing production out of the sandy soil, which is
better suited to other crops.

"You see more pumpkins grown just south of the delta. If it wasn't for drip
irrigation, I couldn't do it here," he said.

The sandy soil helps in one way by keeping the ground under the pumpkins
dry, making for fewer rot problems. But sandy soil makes it tougher for the
plants to get all the nutrients they need to produce a crop. This year the
leaf canopy, which protects the maturing pumpkins from sunburn, was spotty,
so some pumpkins had cosmetic defects.

"It wasn't as cost-saving to grow our own pumpkins. When you figure in the
risk, I'm not gaining a whole lot by growing our own," Jeff Yribarren said.

What he is doing is making the venture more authentic - plenty of pumpkin
patches near them buy all their pumpkins and place them out for sale. That
doesn't qualify as agritourism, Rilla said.

Yribarren said they wanted to see if they could sell their pumpkin crop
retail and decided the Harvest Acres venture would bring in customers who
wanted the option of selecting their pumpkin from the field where it grew.
They also sell cornstalks, gourds and straw bales.

They have learned a few lessons along the way. Hergenroeder said the first
kink they worked out was how to tell who had paid for their pumpkins: They
now provide bright orange bags to place the sold pumpkins in, or they tie
the bag around the stem if the pumpkin is too large.

The pluses have outweighed the problems, Wendy Yribarren and Hergenroeder
agreed.

"We learned if you're going to do this with someone, make sure that person
is compatible with your motivation and integrity," Hergenroeder said. "This
is working well for us."

Cecilia Parsons is a staff writer based in Ducor.