By
Jane Metcalf
Midwest Correspondent
Cindy Lulich’s agricultural
experience has taught her about growing crops, marketing, merchandising
and tourism. The 19-year-old Ashland FFA member, who operates a fall
farm market near Wisconsin’s northern tip, was one of four finalists
for the National FFA Proficiency Award in Vegetable Production this
fall.
Between her seventh- and eighth-grade years, Lulich started growing
pumpkins on her family’s diversified livestock and crop farm,
located 10 miles from Lake Superior’s Chequamegon Bay.
“I started it just for fun,” she said. “I just took
some land, and it was a summer project. I sold my first pumpkins from
two-by-fours laid across two sawhorses.”
She later moved to selling pumpkins from a flatbed wagon, then added
a few straw bales to build a display. Over the years, she increased
the size of her acreage to four acres, plus she’s increased
the quality and diversity of what she grows and sells. She estimates
she grew 40 or 50 pumpkins her first year – she now grows about
1,200 a year.
Today, Lulich focuses on not only growing and selling pumpkins, but
also tapping into the trend of homeowners to decorate their homes
with fall decorations.
“I’m not just selling pumpkins as pumpkins,” she
explains. “A lot of my customers don’t live on the farm,
and they want more than pumpkins. They want the whole display.”
Lulich works at creating attractive displays.
“Merchandising helps sell,” she said. “I need to
give them ideas of what they can do at their own house. People have
the willingness to buy a lot of different products, but they need
ideas of what to use and how to make it work for them.
“There are so many items you can sell that people want. You
just have to find out what they want. You just ask them what else
they’re looking for.”
In early to mid September, Lulich moves a former greenhouse building
on skids – its roof and walls have been sided – to a spot
in front of her family’s farm to sell her produce. She sells
several varieties of pumpkins, as well as gourds, corn-stalk bundles,
home-baled half-size straw bales, purchased broom corn and crafts
purchased wholesale, like autumn wreaths, decorative flags and Halloween
and autumn decorations, including ornamental wagons.
“A lot of my customers are local people,” she said. “I’ve
got a lot of people that look for my ad in the newspaper, but my biggest
selling weekend this year was the weekend of the Apple Festival in
Bayfield.” Bayfield’s Apple Festival is a major drawing
card for tourists.
“There are different spots where you can buy pumpkins, but I
think people like to come to my stand because my display is so cute
and it’s by a farm,” she said. “There are some people
that come back and ask for the same big pumpkins that I had last year.
They remember and come back.”
Lulich’s produce stand operates on the honor system, a system
that meshes well with her school schedule. Customers select the items
they want and leave their money. On weekends, her busiest times, she’s
typically out sprucing up her displays or creating new ones, giving
her a chance to talk to customers.
“A lot of my local people know it’s self-service, but
a lot of visitors are amazed that we have an honor system,”
she said.
Like all farmers, Lulich fights sometimes less-than-ideal weather
conditions. Plus, their farm’s heavy clay soil is not conducive
to growing pumpkins. She has hauled in black dirt, plus adds plenty
of livestock manure to amend the soil. She researches new varieties
and production practices on the Internet. As a result, for example,
she started growing semi-bush pumpkins that take less space and yield
the same as conventional pumpkins. She also first learned about white
pumpkins through her Internet research.
Throughout high school, Lulich worked on her family’s dairy,
beef and sometimes-pig farm. She milked mornings and nights, plus
did chores on nights and weekends. For the past two summers, she’s
also worked in the kitchen at the up-scale, trendy Wild Rice Restaurant
in Bayfield.
The restaurant experience fits nicely with Lulich’s plans for
the future. She is a sophomore at the University of Wisconsin-Stout,
where she is majoring in hotel and restaurant management and tourism.
She plans to continue operating her on-farm market throughout college.
After graduation, Lulich wants to see the country, perhaps the world.
“I want to move around and work in different hotels for awhile,”
she said. “Ultimately, maybe when I’m ready to retire,
I want to open a B&B (Bed and Breakfast).”
She fully expects, however, that all roads eventually will lead back
home to the farm.
“I want my kids to have the same type of experience on the farm
that I’ve had,” she said.
