Always looking at new ways to add value to the family farm forms part of the genesis of The Folly Pumpkin Patch. This is the third year that the Nolan family have welcomed the public onto their farm, on the outskirts of Kilkenny city, for some Halloween fun. The Nolan parents Tom and Mary draft in the help of not only their own children – Carmel, Sheila, Ann Marie and Paddy – but also the extended family of husbands, partners and grandchildren including little Laoise to make the pumpkin patch a real family effort.
But this year it almost didn’t happen.
Mary firstly broke her arm and then, what so many rural businesses are now contending with – an inability to secure insurance, threatened to see the field pumpkin-less this year.
Daughter Carmel who is just about to join Lyrath Hotel as director of sales was previously director of sales and marketing with Ballykeefe Distillery. She has also recently joined the board of Kilkenny tourism and with her experience, the promotion and marketing of the pumpkin patch fell to her this year with Mary’s injury. But she is quick to credit the real brains behind this side of the operation.
“We as a family are always looking at new ways to add some income to the farm. With both myself and my mother involved in the tourism industry, it is a natural fit for us.
“Mam has been running The Folly self-catering accommodation just beside our family home for the last 12 years. You should look at her ratings (we did – described as ‘superb’ on booking.com with a 9.1 rating). A lot of the clients are hen parties that throng to the city. It was Mam who taught me how to make people feel welcome, that works with the guesthouse and we have great repeat custom here at the patch so that is part of the success of that too.”
The story from the beginning
Carmel explains how all this came about. “The Folly Pumpkin Patch is a 50:50 partnership between local vegetable growers, Hughes’s farming, and us. My brother Paddy is a contractor and he was out there working with Julian (Hughes) and that introduced us.
“Where Julian is growing the pumpkins is fabulous. People were driving out there to see them but it’s too dangerous with the machinery for children to visit. That is why my mother and Julian’s mam, Ger, brought the patch to our farm where it is safer and more accessible.”
“The kids pick up their wheelbarrow and off they go ‘harvesting’ their pumpkins. There are always about 2,500 pumpkins in the field. No matter how many we sell, they magically spring back up overnight and the patch is full again in the morning. We have a lady that comes in to do face painting and another that will paint your pumpkin if that is your preference over a carving.
“There are several different varieties and we charge €4 for a big one and €3 for a ‘baby’ one. We do get questioned on that, why the price differential is not larger, but they take exactly the same amount of time and effort to grow.
Social media – the double-sided coin
“What I love to see is the kid’s engaging. There is no one on a phone except when parents are taking photos. But it’s not just the kids – all the games are ‘old school’. Parents will play the swingball for hours as it brings them back to their own youth.
“A lot of farmers could make money from something like this. It’s really simplistic just pumpkins, some straw a few silage bales and a Facebook page.
"Although one of the lovely things is that you don’t see children on phones, it’s a double-sided coin as if it wasn’t for social media, particularly Instagram and Facebook, this wouldn’t be as successful. We only do the marketing that way and after that its word of mouth and repeat customers.
The home farm
Suckler and tillage farmer Tom has been farming all his life at Outrath, the Folly. Supplying the majority of the grain to Daltons of Chancellors Mills, this year they started growing rye for the burgeoning Irish whiskey industry.
“Rye is very similar to barley but with more straw and that is either used here with our own cattle or sold. We have 30 sucklers but this year we went contract-rearing replacement dairy heifers and we have found that great. We were buying in 30 more beef calves but it was simpler to get the heifers and there is a lot to be said for a monthly cheque.”
In relation to the patch, Tom said that no less than the other enterprises, it has to be an economic driver for the farm. This field is out of use for a considerable period to facilitate the pumpkin patch so it has to be weighed against what it could be doing if we didn’t do the patch.
“Apart from the pumpkins, we also have a few sheep that Carmel’s boyfriend brought up from Wicklow but the insurance has killed us in terms of having other animals here.
“Last year, we had an amazing swing set with big tyres but that is gone, as are a few other bits and pieces the kids loved as we simply couldn’t get insurance. It was incredibly difficult and although our local broker here in Kilkenny was great, we still had to pay an increased premium. Much blame for this is being laid at the feet of that TD who made the claim but I am not sure. Unless something is done though, things like the Folly Pumpkin Patch simply won’t be possible in the future.
“This field is also amazing for those with special needs. We don’t play loud music and it’s very peaceful. Yes it looks really busy now, but early in the morning on a week day, it’s a little quieter and we have been told by the carer’s that it is very therapeutic.
“We also do a few turkeys for Christmas. We are all trying to get a little extra. I see continuously diversifying the farm business as very important. Daltons have been very supportive of this. In fact changing over to the rye was their idea.”
The challenge of attracting good people
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