Farming '92, 1992-03-18, Page 7FARMING ’92, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 18,1992. A7
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Farmins '92
Market centre springs from humble beginnings
er and chemicals as possible. Some,
such as broccoli, would be virtually
impossible to grow successfully
without some pest control, she
adds.
BY BONNIE GROPP
As is often the case with busi
ness ventures, Perry's Pumpkin
Patch sprang from humble begin
nings.
Five years ago, Tom and Diane
Perry began selling their sweet com
from the back of a truck parked at
the edge of their Wroxeter-area
farm. Demand was high and when
customers started asking for other
vegetables the Perrys saw the
growth potential. Tom, a University
of Guelph graduate, owned a soil
and crop consulting business at that
time, but with so many farmers cut
ting costs it was not proving as
lucrative as it once had. Adding his
knowledge, to Diane's, who had
been a farm girl all her life, the pro
gression to a complete garden and
fresh market centre seemed logical.
Over the course of the next few
years, the pair'worked together to
build the business. Tom, however,
took a job with United Co-opera
tive last year, so Diane has been
taking care of business herself-
with the help of her two preschool
ers.
Perry’s is open 12 months a year
and between the retail and planting
aspects, the schedule can be gruel
ing, particularly during the peak
season. Diane says it is typical to
work 12 hour days most of the time
and 18 hours during spring rush.
If there's a quiet time at the
Pumpkin Patch it is the last two
months and first quarter of each
year. Retail business is primarily
for seed and winter storage vegeta
bles from the previous year.
Sales for shrubs, trees and seed
potatoes, a big seller, begin in
April, says Diane, adding that she
has ordered 600, 75-lb. bags of
seed potatoes already. Planting
sweet com begins around this time,
as well, as soon as a piece of prop
start as spring came in so early, she
said, adding that they may plant
more than one acre this year,
because of last year's demand.
Sweet com is planted every 10 days
up until mid-June so it will last
over the season.
Also, in late April an acre of
peas is planted for "pick you own
peas", which Diane says goes over
better than any other vegetable.
By late April and into early May
the sale of perennials dominates
business. The variety of products
available includes raspberry canes,
asparagus roots, currants bushes
and grapevines, in addition to flow
ers. By May they are into box
plants, garden seed for the average
gardener and supplies. Transplant
ing of the frost-hardy vegetables
will get underway in May, while
pumpkins, squash and cucumbers
must wait until June 8, after the risk
of frost is past, but leaving enough
time to mature.
Produce like strawberries and
peas become available in June and
Diane says throughout the remain
der of the summer they have
"almost every vegetable imagin
able", with sweet com remaining to
be one of the biggest sellers.
With the arrival of fall the
demand is for Indian com, gourds
and pumpkins. Also at this time of
year, Perry's hosts the arrival of
many young school-children,
eagerly anticipating a close up tour
of the pumpkin patch.
Throughout the entire year Per
ry's Pumpkin Patch retails Diane's
own canning and preserves as well
as cut flowers. They have a small
orchard from which they grow their
own apples, plus they raise turkeys
and chickens for consumers. With
one hand helping the other, Diane
says the leftover produce is fed
"One year we finished the turkeys
on pumpkins," she said. "They
were delicious."
In addition to retailing their
goods, Perrys wholesale their sup
plies in the spring and vegetables in
season at local stores.
Diane attributes much of their
success to the neighbouring Men-
nonites who obviously, in view of
their method of travel can't get io a
lot of the places to purchase their
gardening supplies. She says that
was a factor given consideration by
them when they decided to start
Perry's Pumpkin Patch as well.
"When we were looking for sup
plies ourselves, we had to drive to
several places located in an area
between Grand Bend, Elora and
Georgetown," she explained. Diane
still makes the trips to direct grow
ers and distributors, but by buying
in volume she gets the product
cheaper so, she says, the savings
can be passed on to their cus
tomers.
While they are not organic
farmers they do use as little fertiliz-
Looking back on the entrep-
preneurial venture, Diane remarks
that some parts have been worth the
effort, particularly being able to be
home with her small family. "The
first few years we kept fooling our
selves that it all was," she smiled.
She says that while there is good
profit in certain areas, many are not
as lucrative as they appear. Pump
kins for example were being sold at
Perrys for $1 with the intent of sell
ing 1000. "But taking everything
into consideration, that's not a lol of
money," says Diane. "You have to ,
quite simply, have a set market for
some vegetables before you plant. "
Diane says Perrys have tried to
keep their prices competitive with
stores, but knows they can't com
pete with everybody. Also, she
says, it is an unfortunate situation
that as more and more farm fami
lies try to supplement their deplet
ing incomes this way, it becomes
less and less viable for each. "As
the market becomes flooded, prices
have to be cut," says Diane.
Farm and
Commercial Buildings
Vanden Heuvel
Construction Co. Ltd.
Kase Vanden Heuvel
524-9176
R.R. #2 Goderich
or
Ken Janmaat
522-1858
Seaforth (after 6 p.m.)
Fax no. 524-9240
Your dollars cover more
ground with High Quality,
Special
Mixtures
Growing business
In five years Perry's Pumpkin Patch has grown from a
small retail business to a complete garden and fresh
market centre. Though both Tom and Diane Perry started
the business it is Diane, who now runs it full-time.
As in the past, we prepare
mixtures to meet your own
individual requirements
We have on hand
' ‘BARLEY ‘OATS
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Custom Cleaning
by appointment
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OWNER:
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