What happens when you combine pumpkins, livestock, family, and a whole lot of entrepreneurial spirit?

Mary and Leah welcome Crystal, owner of Pumpkins, Pets and Pals in southwest North Dakota. Now in its fourth year, Crystal's pumpkin patch has grown into a family-friendly destination where visitors can pick pumpkins, enjoy a petting zoo, explore a corn maze, ride the barrel train, play in the corn box, and even try a 250-foot zip line.

Crystal shares what it has been like to build the business from the ground up while also running a ranch with cattle and sheep and raising four daughters. She talks honestly about the challenges of growing pumpkins in a dry year, learning through experience, using social media to promote the business, and figuring out how to make an agritourism venture work alongside the rest of the family operation.

The conversation also highlights something especially important to Mary and Leah: giving children opportunities to experience agriculture firsthand.

Crystal welcomes school groups to the pumpkin patch and uses those visits to teach kids about pumpkins, corn, sheep, and where some of the things we use every day come from. She also talks about keeping the experience affordable for families.

It's a fun conversation about agriculture, entrepreneurship, family, community, and creating something special right where you live.

In this episode:

• Starting and growing a pumpkin patch
• Building an agritourism business on a family ranch
• Growing pumpkins in dry conditions
• Learning through trial and error
• School field trips and agricultural education
• Pumpkins, livestock, alpacas, goats and a petting zoo
• Creating affordable family experiences
• Social media and old-fashioned promotion
• The challenges of making a new business profitable
• Supporting locally owned businesses
• Crystal's plans for growing Pumpkins, Pets and Pals

Find Pumpkins, Pets and Pals on Facebook for seasonal updates and information about visiting the pumpkin patch.

Find Grit and Grace in the Heartland: Women in Agriculture at gritandgraceintheheartland.com.