Polish couple turns small pumpkin patch into a 2-hectare visitor farm
Anna and Damian Szczyszyk of Rokitno in Poland's Lubusz Voivodeship began growing pumpkins by their home in 2020. They now run a 2 ha Pumpkin Field that combines produce sales with autumn attractions.
A married couple in Rokitno, a village in Poland's Lubusz Voivodeship in the west of the country, have turned a small pumpkin plot beside their house into a direct-sales farm and autumn attraction. Anna and Damian Szczyszyk now grow pumpkins on 2 hectares, and customers come not only to buy vegetables but to spend time at the site. Their case shows how farmers can add on-site services to the sale of their crops.
A start during the pandemic
In 2020, when the pandemic upset their plans after finishing master's studies in Zielona Góra, the two returned to their family home and decided to try growing vegetables. Of a garden of about 10 ares, pumpkins took 5. The harvest exceeded their own needs, so they posted adverts on the OLX platform. Acquaintances bought pumpkins, as did people looking for Halloween decorations or for cooking. The next year they enlarged the plot to 10 ares, and that crop sold too.
Expansion
In 2022 the couple decided to create a place where people could come to spend time in an autumn setting. The first photo backdrops and social media profiles appeared that year. Later they began leasing land and enlarging the area. The family farm covers about 18 ha, of which 14 ha is owned and 4 ha leased for pumpkins. Damian's uncle runs the farm and grows cereals; the couple use some of his machinery and help with fieldwork.
Pumpkins are sold only on site, not wholesale. In season, visitors can buy pumpkin ice cream, coffee, cake, soup and bread rolls, offered in cooperation with a local ice cream maker and a restaurant. A honey vendor also attends, providing educational material about bees.
Alongside regular jobs
Damian works in administration and accounting at a social care home in Rokitno, and Anna works at the county office. Parents and friends help with the harvest. Neither has agricultural training: they studied economics and learned farming online and through practice. This season beets were planted in the former pumpkin garden to maintain crop rotation. Last year, at an event in Gliśno, their pumpkins weighing about 180–190 kg took first and second place in a competition.
