The Farms of Fall
If there is a symbol of fall in Ohio, it would have to be the pumpkin. From mid-September through Halloween and all the way to Thanksgiving, the pumpkin delivers the color and the taste we have come to associate with the season.
The pumpkin is a food, of course, used in dishes around the world, including our iconic pumpkin pie. But we see it as a natural work of art as well, even before the carving begins. It has become the cornerstone of our autumn decor.
Ohio is among the nation’s top pumpkin-producing states, although the pumpkin is far down the list of the state’s top cash crops. Then again, you’re not likely to take kids to a pick-your-own-soybean patch.
When you want to pick a pumpkin, Central Ohio is full of farms that can provide the experience of heading into the field and pulling one off a vine. At some farms, you can take a hayride, meet the resident animals, climb on hay bales and drink some apple cider. And you will have no problem finding more elaborate operations where fun can include playgrounds and rides and even zip lines and paintball. No matter your choice, visiting a farm has become a fall ritual for many people.
Edible Columbus visited three local farms to learn how they got started, what crops they raise and why they think it’s important to invite people to the farm at harvest time. Their stories show a wide range of approaches, but a singular desire to have us all better understand where our food comes from and how much work goes into it.
LOHSTROH FAMILY FARMS
Michelle Lohstroh and daughter Christin Lohstroh Crutchfield
At Lohstroh Family Farms in Mt. Sterling, much of the year is spent doing the hard work of raising corn, soybeans, wheat and hay on their 1,000 acres. In the fall, however, the focus turns to a bit more fun, and it starts with pumpkins.
The Lohstroh family has raised pumpkins every year since moving to their current location from Hamilton County in 1989. It was a way to diversify, but there was another important reason for the new crop. “My husband just always liked pumpkins,” says Michelle Lohstroh, who operates the farm with husband George, son Jonathan and his wife, Annie; and daughter Christin Lohstroh Crutchfield.
Their children handled pumpkin sales as a way to earn money, but also as a way to learn the family business. “It was a great opportunity for them to learn to work with people and manage things and learn good communication skills,” Michelle says.
Beginning in late September and running through October, families arrive at the farm by the carload, drawn by the opportunity to pick their own pumpkins and enjoy other attractions added over the years, such as navigating a corn maze, petting the goats, riding the barrel train and climbing on hay bales. You can buy food, take photos and shop in a store that offers fall decorations, cider, fudge, honey and other locally made products.
Visitors may come for the fun, but in the process they also will learn a lot about farm life, where our food comes from and the hard work that goes into it.
“We are a working farm and so we highlight our crops and how we grow crops,” Michelle says. “We think the educational component and showing people what a farm is about is important.”
The pumpkins play an important role in that. “We’ve had people say, ‘Wow, they’re still on the vine.’ They’re attached, yes, and the vines are prickly,” she says. “But our focus is for them to harvest it, for them to see what it’s like, for them to have that experience.”
Education is an important part of the family’s mission, so they also have hosted school groups and Ohio State University students as well as other farmers. The farm is a showcase for sustainability and conservation practices, due in part to Michelle’s career at the Natural Resources Conservation Service, part of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The agency offers assistance to farmers and landowners to protect and conserve natural resources.
Before retiring, Michelle had a chance to see where her work on conservation and her life on the farm intersected. “I had a place to try some of these things out, and then I could speak from experience. It wasn’t just what I’ve heard or learned from others. We were living it on our farm.”
Those pumpkins, for example, are grown with the no-till technique, which builds healthier soils and decreases erosion. The Lohstrohs use a cover crop of cereal rye with their pumpkins. “Others are doing that too, we were just in the game pretty early,” she says.
Opening to the public in the fall brings extra work, but the family enjoys showing off their farm and what they have produced. “People love the harvest season, when you get to select the fruits and vegetables and crops that have been grown through the year,” Michelle says. “And I think people just enjoy being out in nature. We’re not that far out from the metro area, but far enough that you have a sense of greenery and trees, and we’re right along Deer Creek.”
Last year, the fall activities drew some people who were spurred by the pandemic to buy local. “They were searching for an outside experience, but looking for some local food and to know where it comes from and how it’s raised.”
Those people are exactly the type that the Lohstrohs love to host.
“We want to be their trusted farmer,” Michelle says. “We want people to have a good time and to learn a little bit in the process.”
Lohstroh Family Farms is located at 15632 State Route 56 SE, Mt. Sterling. From Columbus, take I-71 south, exit at State Route 56, drive through Mt. Sterling and the farm is on the right with orange signage and fence. Pick your own pumpkins and other fall fun activities take place on the last weekend in September and Saturdays and Sundays in October from 10am to 5pm. Cost is $8 per person and the cost includes the pumpkin. Concessions on site. Get details at lohstrohfamilyfarms.com or their Facebook page.
SCHACHT FAMILY FARM
Lisa Schacht
The Schacht family’s farming roots run deep in Franklin County, going back five generations to the 1870s. Today, David and Lisa Schacht farm 285 acres in Canal Winchester, with most of it devoted to grain crops. But more than 15 acres is devoted to a variety of vegetables, including pumpkins. When fall rolls around, they open up the Schacht Farm Market to the public, giving visitors an opportunity to see what the farm has produced.
A major draw for many visitors is the sale of “pumpkins of every size, shape and color you can imagine,” Lisa says. You can go into the field and pick your own or choose from a selection of already picked ones. But the market also has multiple types of gourds and squash, as well as Indian corn and cornstalks and bales of straw. The farm also has a field of sunflowers. “People can come out here and get a really nice array of items to decorate their porch or yard or kitchen table,” she says. They also work with a local orchard to have a large selection of fresh-picked apples and fresh-pressed cider.
Beyond those traditional fall offerings, however, the Schachts offer a pick-your-own vegetable selection that is very different from other area farms. It includes snap peas and crowder peas, from the same family as black-eyed peas. There are green beans, planted in July and August to be ready for picking in September. The farm also has red beets and Daikon radishes.
The variety of leafy greens is remarkable. You can head into the fields to pick three types of mustard greens as well as collards, turnips, kale and Swiss chard. “You don’t see too many other people doing these crops,” Lisa says. They bring a diverse group of people to the farm, including Bhutanese, Asian and African-American customers who value the greens for cooking.
“Our goal is for people to have a traditional authentic farm experience by coming out and picking crops that they can go home and use,” she says. “It’s a great opportunity for parents of young children to teach them how their food grows as well as to get something fun like a pumpkin.”
After 40 years raising vegetables on this farm, the Schachts are also mindful of their working-class community in southeast Franklin County. They don’t feature a lot of amusements, but they also don’t charge any admission fee. “We try to offer that bit of fun and farm experience at a low cost,” Lisa says. “It’s just come and choose the products you want to buy and that’s how you support us. And we are still abiding by that and proud of that.”
There was a time when the market also was open during the summer for sweet corn and tomatoes, but the couple eventually decided to focus on less perishable crops that required less intensive labor. They are still working year-round, starting with asparagus in spring. They are the largest asparagus growers in Franklin County, but that crop goes almost exclusively to wholesale buyers. They also produce a lot of potatoes, with a lot of those going to a community-supported agriculture business. “Potatoes are another very profitable, very practical crop for us,” Lisa says.
The Schachts are well-regarded in the farming community. They are advocates of farmland preservation. They have been honored for their use of sustainable agriculture practices and for their donations of vegetables to local food banks. Lisa is past president of the Ohio Produce Growers and Marketers Association, the first woman to hold that post.
She is always glad to see people take an interest in where their food comes from. “I’m a scratch cooker and I always have been, besides growing a lot of my own food and preserving it myself,” she says. An advantage of shopping at a farm market is that you get your food at the source and soon after it’s been harvested, Lisa says. Eating fresh foods, avoiding processed food and having a lot of variety in your diet will go a long way to keeping you healthy. “Really, all it takes a lot of times is to just get the basic products, the basic commodities, and serve them unadulterated—a steamed green bean, a sliced peach, a good burger on the grill.”
That advice is a direct reflection of the Schacht Family Market and its philosophy. “We’re not real flashy,” Lisa says, “but we always want to provide wholesome quality products that are a good value to our customers.”
Schacht Farm Market is at 5950 Shannon Rd. in Canal Winchester. From Columbus, take I-70 east to Brice Road and head south to Shannon Road. Visit the market and pick your own pumpkins and other vegetables daily through the end of October. No admission charge. Get details at schachtfarmmarket.com or on their Facebook page.
VAN BUREN ACRES
Mark Van Buren
Mark Van Buren has been a farmer his whole life, but over the past few years he has developed into quite a showman as well. Van Buren Acres, visible from I-70 near Hebron, has quickly become a popular venue for group events in Licking County, from graduation parties to team banquets in the barn.
But when September rolls around, the show begins. You can go there to pick a pumpkin, of course, from among thousands in the field. But you will probably want to stay for the hayrides, jumping pillows, pedal cars, tetherball, barrel train rides, homemade donuts, apple cider slushies and “the world’s corniest putt-putt course.” But wait, there’s more.
“We do pig races, three times a day, and that’s fun to watch the kids get excited,’ Mark says. They also have an emu, peacocks, goats, donkeys, sheep and chickens. There are costumed characters, funny signs and round hay bales painted like pumpkins. “We also plant about eight to nine acres of sunflowers and we put photo ops in the sunflowers.”
The star of this show, however, is the elaborate 10-acre corn maze. It has a different theme each fall: Pac-Man last year, Apollo 11 the year before. The theme is a closely guarded secret while the work is being done, with neighbors watching and making guesses. “A friend of mine actually put a drone over it last year to see it because I wouldn’t tell him what it was,” Mark says.
This year’s maze is the most ambitious project yet, a collaboration with Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library, which sends age-appropriate books every month to children up to 5 years old, free of charge. “So our maze this year is Dolly. It’s a picture of Dolly and a book and a guitar and mountains,” he says. “We’re setting it up so we can raise money for the Imagination Library, and you can also sign your children up for the program.”
Van Buren Acres also hosts an annual wine tasting event in the maze to raise money for the Licking County Farm Bureau scholarship program. “We try to give back as much as we can to the community,” Mark says.
The Van Buren agritourism operation has grown quickly since its beginning in 2017. Mark was discussing the family farm operation with his brother, David, who had recently retired from the Ohio State Highway Patrol. “We just decided we wanted to do a corn maze and raise some pumpkins and it grew from there.”
The brothers had grown up on the 80-acre farm that their parent bought in the 1950s. “I’ve farmed all my life. I’m 54 years old and I’ve probably sat on a tractor since I was 9 or 10,” Mark says. “We always raised corn, soybeans and, when I was younger, we had cattle. I was always involved in 4-H and FFA and those organizations. So was my brother.” Mark’s wife, Catherine Baird, also comes from a farming family in the Pataskala area.
The Van Burens continue to plot ways to grow the operations, with additional attractions and a summer arts festival on the drawing board. They will open for two weekends after Thanksgiving for a Christmas-themed event they started last year, complete with Santa and various vendors, all to raise money for the local fire district’s toy drive. They also host various school groups. “Some of the city kids that come here on field trips, they’ve never seen pigs, they’ve never really been close to goats or donkeys,” Mark says. “That’s neat. That’s what we like doing.”
The farm is an easy drive from Columbus, just about 15 miles east of the Franklin County line. “I tell other farmers around us, ‘We’re 15 minutes from a million people.’ We encourage people to visit all the farms around here,” he says. “Get the kids out, get rid of these cell phones and video games and let them go and play like we used to.”
Fall is a good time to make that happen as temperatures cool off and the leaves begin to change. Although Van Buren Acres is just beginning its fifth season, they are expecting even more visitors this year. “I just think people want to be outside in the fall, and there’s a trend of people wanting to see where their food is coming from,” he says. They also come for the experience.
“If you just want to buy a pumpkin, you can go to Aldi’s and buy a pumpkin,” Mark says. “I tell our farm hands here that if somebody needs help taking pictures, take pictures for them, because we want them to have that memory of coming out to a farm. We’re not selling pumpkins, we’re selling memories.”
Van Buren Acres is at 5066 Keller Rd. near Hebron. From Columbus, take I-70 east to exit 122, then go east on Keller Road. Open Wednesday through Sunday 10am to 7pm from Sept. 11 through October. Admission is $9 and includes the corn maze and sunflower field. Season pass available for $25. Learn more at vanburenacres.com or at their Facebook page.
OUT AND ABOUT
Central Ohio has a wide variety of farms offering pumpkins and fall activities. Here are a few others that readers have recommended. Check with the farm for the latest updates before heading there.
The Orchard & Company
7255 U.S. 42, just south of Plain City
theorchardandcompany.com
Open: Saturdays and Sundays from Sept. 11 through October
Hours: 11am to 6pm
Admission: $12, age 2 and under free
This operation offers 10 varieties of pick-your-own apples to go with pick-your-own pumpkins, a combination not found at most other farms. The apples came first, says owner Kacie Winn-Skelley, and the family has added attractions each year. They now offer hayrides, jumping pillows, pedal cars, an animal barn, a zip line and more. There’s also a market and café.
Circle S Farms
9015 London Groveport Rd., 3 miles west of Darbydale
circlesfarm.com
Open: Daily in October
Hours: 9am to 7pm
Admission: $10, age 2 and under free
Pumpkins and hayrides in the fall have been a staple at Circle S Farms for 40 years, drawing multiple generations of families. Their Fall Fun Days now include corn and sunflower mazes, a fun barn and petting zoo. An on-site café and bakery offer donuts, cookies, apple cider and other treats.
Leeds Farm
8738 Marysville Rd., Ostrander
leedsfarm.com
Open: Saturdays and Sundays, Sept. 18 to Oct. 30, plus Friday, Oct. 16
Hours: 10am to 5pm
Admission: $15, age 2 and under free
This multi-generation farming family has been open to the public since 1994, offering pre-picked pumpkins of many varieties, as well as activities including hayrides, farm animals, slides and rides, pedal carts, zip lines and pig races. You’ll find various food and drink options, including kettle corn made on site. They ask visitors to purchase tickets in advance through their website.
