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Agritourism catching on around the state

By AMY BICKEL
The Hutchinson News

LINDSBORG (AP) -- You don't have to be a kid to enjoy autumn's appeal.

It was one of those days great to play hooky from school -- 70-degree weather and no wind -- as a Lindsborg couple walked hand in hand amid a sea of pumpkins on a farmstead just north of their hometown.

Steven Walsh and his girlfriend, Callie Wentz, first ventured through a crop maze, then took pictures of buffalo. They shot small pumpkins with a slingshot before deciding on a pumpkin to take home to decorate.

''I'd never done anything like this,'' Wentz said as she watched Walsh shoot a pumpkin a couple of hundred feet, noting that on this nice day, ''We were just looking for something to do.''

These fall activities are sprouting up across rural Kansas, including at Smoky Hill Bison Co., where visitors like Wentz and Walsh trek across acres of cropland each fall.

And whether you have an entire day to savor or just a few hours, owner Linda Hubulek says visitors will find a several areas to explore within a scenic drive of Hutchinson.

Folks can take a bumpy covered-wagon ride or pick a pumpkin from the patch. They can get lost in a 7-acre sedan grass maze (similar to a corn maze and at least 10 feet tall) or have the nerve to follow the haunted trail through the trees at night.

Children can play in a corn-filled box, and groups can take a tour to see the bison. A concession stand serves bison sandwiches, as well as pumpkin pie and pumpkin slushies, and there are picnic tables to sit and enjoy a fall day.

''Some come from 150 miles away to make a day of it,'' Hubulek said.

Her offerings are similar to others across Kansas. This time of year, farms around the state advertise hayrides, pumpkin and apple picking mazes out of 10-foot-tall crops, and everything in between.

It's part of a venture called agritourism -- one way for farmers to shore up declining revenues and stay on the farm.

''A lot of people are a generation or two removed from the farm,'' said Chautauqua County Extension agent Ben Allen, who also works with Kansas State University to help agritourism enterprises. ''People like to go back to the farm; it's like going to Grandpa's farm. And they like to take their kids and say, 'This is what I used to do when I was a kid.'''

At Granny Mae's Pumpkin Patch near Dorrance, visitors can ride a train and hayrack, sip cider or grab a cold root beer from the ice barrel and tour a village of 80 scarecrows. At Steffen Orchard in Conway Springs, the 80-acre farm is amid apple season -- varieties maturing include Jonathan, Red and Golden Delicious, and Blushing Gold.

In Reno County, Harvest Farm and Pumpkin Patch near Turon has pumpkins for the picking, a straw bale maze and tractor-pulled hayrides. Buhler's Gaeddert Farms has a 10-acre pumpkin patch, a sunflower corn maze and crop education.

''Not all the population wants to go to Six Flags over whatever and do those types of things,'' Allen said. ''They want to kick back, relax and see nature.''

For Hubulek, the offerings allow her to stay on the land. She grew up on a neighboring farm, received a horticulture degree from Kansas State University, but moved to Nebraska and California with her husband, Verne, an engineer.

But no one could take away her rural roots.

''I was growing pumpkins in 5-gallon buckets on our concrete yard,'' she said of their West Coast home.

The couple eventually came back to Kansas. They purchased 80 acres of cropland in 1995. In 1999, they ventured into bison ranching, hoping to capitalize on a niche market.

In 2001, the Hubulek's added agritourism, building a shed and offering tours of their farm. A few years later, they added the maze, expanding activities a little each year.

Nowadays, more than 2,000 people trek to the farm - from school groups to families and seniors -- all wanting a little taste of the simple life.

Folks can spend as many as five hours touring, she said.

''There's a lot to do,'' she said.

On the Net: www.bisonfarm.com/farmkansas