Just before Halloween, Kristi, Scout and I went to visit a Central Oregon pumpkin patch and talk to the operators with a hope that we'd learn something of their secrets of success. The week before, Scout's church school first grade class made a field trip to the patch. It was the stories from that adventure, and Kristi's conversations with the rancher, Mike Duggan, which led us to return to do a taped interview. Before we started the tape we learned that this was a most unique and multi-layered operation, obviously handmade, obviously a labor of many loves. Driving on to the ranch, following the handpainted directional welcome signs, you enter a small parking lot full of buses and family vehicles. Straight ahead are ranch pens with hogs, goats, horses, calves and a burro. Next to that is a curious low stack of straw bales which Scout told us was the Hay Amaze (her renaming of the Hay Maze). Over slightly was the petting zoo pen and then two tents. One was for lovely fall decorations, the creation of mama Diann Duggan, and the other was for the scale, the measuring rings and cash register. Behind was the venerable Bill Elrod and his team of horses hooked to a rubber tired flatbed wagon giving rides. Off to the left and spilling over the gentle slope was the pumpkin patch amidst sunflower stalks. Children, Chinese geese, parents towing little wagons, and tiny little giggling semi-visible elves moved in and around the patch in search of the 'signature' pumpkin. It was a happy place, with lots of happy people. We needed to know more.
Mike Duggan had been anxious for us to meet his daughter Heidi Ellsworth, a publicist from the big city of Portland who along with her sister, Molly Genley, had been such a large part in putting together a vibrant and exciting approach to the Duggan ranching operation, only one part of which is the pumpkin patch.
This meeting and conversation immediately convinced us that we wanted to know more and, as I write these words, we are entering into a working relationship with Heidi to help SFJ grow. Should anyone wish to contact them or get more information please contact our offices and we'll do our best to forward on the query.
I trust you will agree that the Duggan story is extremely important, hopeful, amazing and accessible. Yes, this is an unusual family. Hardworking, creative, excited, careful, and caring. But all of the qualities and accomplishments of this family are within reach of most all of us. This is an important story because it so clearly points in directions and to solutions we can all think reasonably about incorporating. Here is one pure gold solution for the future of small farms, families, and communities.
Lynn: Is this pumpkin patch just a small part of your farming operation?
Mike: It's just a small part of it, it's just two years old, we're just startin' it.
We moved to Central Oregon in '74 and purchased ten heifers from Jay Moberly. In 1984 we started working here for Jay Moberly on his Polled Hereford ranch, The Rafter V. During the last two years we been in a lease arrangement. We do cattle and hay and five years ago we entered into the mint, we do peppermint. And the girls and our son, who lives in Susanville CA, had these ideas of things like this and we finally got the courage to do it two years ago. This is our first experience of the public on the ranch other than a few hunters and a few people coming by to spend the weekend.
Lynn: People come here for the pumpkins number one?
Heidi: What happened is that Molly and Steve had an idea about pumpkin patches. They had all gone to pumpkin patches in the valley. So Molly and Steve said why don't we do one here. They rounded up Mom and Dad and Tim and I and we all talked about it and said let's do it. The idea from the very beginning was to do an experience not to just sell pumpkins. The pumpkins are here because it's Halloween but you know it could be Christmas and Christmas trees, it could be Easter and it could be growth and birth of all the animals. We want to move from just a pumpkin patch.
Molly: You can go anywhere and buy a pumpkin. You can buy a pumpkin for a lot less than you can get it here. But when you go to a store you're not going to see the animals, you're not gonna have a hay ride. A lot of people never see a pig in its actual farm environment. That's why people come out. That's why they like to come out here.
Diann: We felt we had perhaps an advantage over the farmer's market type patch because we were already a working ranch. I grew up as a child in the city and I live every day what I've always dreamed of being able to do. And I would like to be able to share that with others, children that don't get to have this. I'd do it for free if I could. But we can't. And we do need extra income. I was apprehensive at first because of the finances, trying to get it altogether. We couldn't afford to have something that wasn't going to work. As soon as the children started coming, it was such a joy...
Mike: I think for your readers the word is direct marketing. Like Heidi said we aren't selling pumpkins, we're direct marketing ranch experience.
Heidi: My dream is to enable the family farm to go direct. And the internet and everything can do that now. There are a lot of people out there who want range fed meat, locker beef, there's a great market out there. People are conscious about the food issue.
Molly: Knowing that you have supported a family instead of a corporation is a thing too. I would go down two extra miles in Salem to go to Easy Orchards, a little family market stand, instead of going to Safeway.
Heidi: That's what we're trying to do here.
Molly You're supporting a family instead of helping a big corporation.
Mike: Do you realize that the government will not finance us with this because they consider the pumpkin patch to be a non-farm entity. They will finance my mint, my cows, I am talking about the federal government and the FSA office, but they won't finance the pumpkin patch.
Lynn: Diane was there any concern, early on, for what it means to have carloads of people just drive in and walk all over your ranch?
Diann: Yes...
Heidi: Don't you dare say no (laughter).
Lynn: Diane, what happened with that concern, is it still there? Is there something happening here that you'd like to see controlled differently or managed differently? Are you feeling invaded?
Diann: No, we only do it a month...
Lynn: And that's important, I hear?
Diann: Yes, we could probably do it a little longer into Christmas, but we don't have the money to hire people to help us. It puts a big burden on our children coming back and forth. I was apprehensive about having a lot of people, I thought more along the lines of a bed and breakfast where you have a couple of families who entertain themselves.
Molly: One of the things when we started working on the setup last year was to keep this up here and separate from the home, so it would be quiet down there. So when someone needs to take a break they can go down to the home and sit quietly...and get away from it. As we plan other activities we talk about wanting to keep it separate. I think that not only helps to make Mom and Dad feel better it will make the people who come here feel better because you don't want to feel like you're imposing. You don't want to feel like you're walking into somebody's place.
Heidi: I think its important for your readers to know that certain types of people are better than others. Mom and Dad have done this their entire lives...
Lynn: When you say certain types of people do you mean certain types of farmers would be better equipped to handle this?
Heidi: Right, because right now Mom and Dad are the perfect people to do a people ranch, they grow and deal with people as well if not better than mint or cows, like that. I can remember from my youngest years we would have huge parties of people at our house on a regular basis. So that is a normal thing...
Diann: Barbeques, family reunions...Fourth of July baseball game...
Heidi: People look at this and say, 'Oh that's great and we can make lots of money', they need to make sure they have the temperament to deal with lots of people. Mom and Dad are great that way...
Mike: It's a down side, no doubt about it. We would like to go in sometimes and call it a day and look up and somebody's driving in the lane. It fits us, so maybe we put up with it more than we should. Hunters are coming all the time in the spring when I'm trying to work cattle. I'm branding, and I've got to stop and talk to the hunters and show them where to go and hunt rock chucks.
Diann: We need the hunters for the money...
Mike: You need it all..
Diann: ...to survive...
Mike: you have to weight it out and try to control it.
Diann: There has been an unexpected joy to this with the children that have visited the patch. We knew that they would enjoy it but the joy that we have received just listening to their laughter is wonderful, that part goes higher than the money, doesn't it? (chorus of yeahs) And the girls had the idea of the petting zoo and I thought oh my goodness... you just think of lawsuit or something...but that has been the biggest hit with the little ones. The boys and girls club was here from Terrebonne. Now Terrebonne is just a little old podunk spot in the road, I would have thought those children would have had access to animals. The lady said some of them had never even seen some of these types of animals.
Mike: It's hard to imagine. And parents, we've looked over there and sometimes there are more parents in that petting zoo than children. One man sat in there on a hay bale for two hours yesterday, he just sat there and petted the little animals. And he was forty years old!
Lynn: There was a time thirty years ago when parents had to try to explain to their children where food came from, where the meat came from, the vegetables. Then there were children who grew up and never had the experience (or knowledge). Now we have children whose parents have never had the experience! Their parents, today, cannot answer the questions.
Lynn: How is this helping you guys? Is it making money?
Diann: It's increasing our income, but we have all this free volunteer labor.
Molly: Mom keeps bringing this up. But this goes way beyond that. I look back on my childhood, we had, we have the most supportive parents you will ever want. They would drive three hours one way to see one of my basketball games. Just things like that. When this came up I looked at my husband and said, we need to do this, they have been there for us every step of the way. It's time for us to step up and help, when you look around and think about losing this you can't let that happen. Heidi and my brother have the same thoughts. I want my children to be able to come here and Heidi wants her children to be able to come here. It's something very important to keep.
Heidi: Another very important aspect is that we have been blessed with this family because we have such diverse skills. Mom says the petting zoo, I had nothing to do with the petting zoo, Molly is so talented and visualized the whole animal aspect. I do the marketing and meet with the television stations and talk with the people. So we've been really blessed and that's an important aspect of what you see here. We have very diverse talents. Tim and I stuffed tons of envelopes to send out. Molly and Steve have been over here every weekend. And Dad can do anything, and Mom has the flowers,....
Diann: Dad can do anything...
Molly: Dad can do anything...
Heidi: If people are thinking about doing this that's really what it takes, a group of diverse people.
Diann: And they all put their energy together because if you were a rancher or farmer in financial need and you weren't able to do all of these things, and you had to pay people to do all of these things, I don't know that you'd be able to make it work.
Molly: It will eventually, I really believe that. We will slowly start taking on different roles and we will hire people to fill the jobs that we're doing. I really believe that this will eventually become more like that...
Diann: Because we don't want to wear them out...
Molly: To start out you do have to have a diverse group of people who are willing to put in some time for it. And gee, this is only six weekends out of a year for us.
Lynn: So everybody here is a volunteer?
Molly: We're all family.
Lynn: You're being paid in other ways?
Molly: I took home one of Mom's wreathes last weekend, it was really pretty.
Diann: (Laughs) she's easy.
Lynn: How many families come per day?
Molly: Two or three hundred per day.
Lynn: And is every family taking a pumpkin with them?
Heidi: I've only seen one family walk out without a pumpkin.They were here to look. There are some families that come and you can tell they don't have the finances to be here. The great thing about this is that we don't charge when they come in. People can come and get the experience like mom's talking about. They can come and get a dollar pumpkin and enjoy the atmosphere.
Mike: ...and the next person 'll come through and spend in excess of a hundred and fifty dollars, one family.
Lynn: My daughter's favorite thing here is the hay maze, Scout calls it the hay amaze.
Kristi: Who came up with the make your own scarecrow thing? That's a cute idea. Do a lot of people do that?
Molly: A lot of people just make it and then don't take it home, which is fine.
Lynn: Is that with those old clothes there?
Kristi: Yeah, people can take the old clothes and stuff them with the straw there.
Molly: That maze took four of us about half a day to setup.
Lynn: In your brochure you say that groups of ten or more you'll entertain on weekdays, otherwise you're not open then.
Mike: Right,
Lynn: This is primarily for school groups?
Diann: Yes, but they don't have to be ten or more...
Molly: Yes, they do, ten or more.
Diann: She's the president of the project. (smiling)
Lynn: It says 'includes admission, drink, candy and six inch pumpkin', so there's one admission for this whole group?
Heidi: Yeah
Mike: The children on the school bus can't haul a big pumpkin home nor can they bring money. We do a small pumpkin and a set fee that the teacher can pre-collect.
Diann: And then they are welcome to stay as long as they want and have a picnic and a nature walk...
Mike: Ah, when those kids come she's up here all day long, she's no where else. She just loves the kids. When they come she just stays here.
Lynn: The hay pyramid, what is that?
Molly: Its just a bunch of bales all stacked up. You'd be amazed at how many kids climb on that thing.
Mike: I wanted it a lot taller but the girls cut it down because they just knew somebody'd fall off of it.
Lynn: The hay ride, it's a dollar and a half a head? It's working for you?
Mike: Yes, very well. Everybody loves it.
Lynn: We talked about the petting zoo, the farm animals are they a part of that?
Molly: We also have them to look at over here.
Lynn: And the Nature Trail in the brochure is that the one that the wagon is going on now?
Heidi: Pretty close yeah...
Mike: Basically...
Molly: We have two ponds out the back here, this one is especially beautiful, it has a wide variety of birds, great horned owls...
Heidi: Molly has put some stuff together for interaction with the teachers. She's a teacher.
Molly: I'm a science teacher. Hopefully we be able to have schools come out just for a science interaction base.
Lynn: (Looking towards Molly & Diann) They don't sound like they're getting tired of this.
Diann: No.
Mike: (chuckles)
Lynn: What about these advertised bird feeders?
Heidi: Mom makes the bird feeders.
Mike: She takes corn and sunflowers and ties them all together with candies and things birds like, she even takes cones and puts peanut butter on the cones.
Lynn: I got a big kick out of your brochure offering to sell people the opportunity to hunt Rock Chucks. I had no idea you could get people to pay you to get rid of pests and rodents.
Heidi: You can, they'll pay you...
Mike: All you got to do is tell me and I'll send hunters your way...
Lynn: We invite people out to shoot sage rats in our irrigated hay ground, you're saying they'll pay for that chance?
Mike: Oh yeah, we used to let them come out to shoot rats, then we started charging. It doesn't come to much, maybe five hundred dollars last year.
Diann: It's better than a poke in the nose.
Molly: It's $25 a day, isn't it Dad? I have people who I work with at my school who'd just die to be able to come over and be able to hunt. They just think it would be the coolest thing.
Heidi: If I had my way there'd be no hunting on this ranch.
Lynn: Your brochure offers people a chance to invest in a cow. How does that work?
Mike: It's working.
Lynn: So somebody's coming and buying a cow and you take care of it?
Molly:I have a couple.
Lynn: Well, that doesn't count though...
Molly: Yeah it does!
Mike: The guy is coming in tomorrow and he owns fifteen.
Lynn: So they buy the cow and you charge them rent, or what?
Mike: We have a contract drawn up and it's on a percentage basis. They buy the cow at a set price. However many they want.
Lynn: At market price?
Mike: It's a fair price, it's not the auction yard price. Its a good price.
Diann: They're good cows.
Mike: We work on a 25% 75%. Whatever animal we sell I get 75% of the proceeds and they get 25%...
Diann: on the calf...
Molly: But they retain ownership of the cow.
Mike: And when they sell the cow ten years from now they get all that money.
Lynn: And its working for you?
Mike: It returns around 10% on their money and takes away 10% of our income but it gives us capital to work with and increases our herd.
Heidi: It's kind of a long term goal. The idea was to incorporate the people ranching in with cows so if you have a family that purchases a cow and every year they come back, they stay at the ranch, they do the breakfast, they check on their cow. They have a reason to come back every year. If we need help with the branding they come back and help with that. It's a long term goal of tying everything in.
Mike: This fellow who's coming tomorrow he's a retired teacher from Sacramento. I betcha he's told 100 people "well I own cows up on an Oregon ranch," see. It makes him feel good and he loves it. He's the nicest guy. He's gonna come up here and just hang around for a day or two. In fact the first time they was up here she got out of the car and says "they've got horses! I've never seen real corrals!"
Lynn: Corrals?
Diann: Working corrals that are half falling down all the time, you know...
Mike: "You must have corrals down in the Sacramento valley?" I asked and she said "Oh yeah but not real ones these are wood!"
Lynn: All these years we've been paying these people to come out and help?
Heidi: Yeah, that's what Mom and Dad finally figured out (laughter).
Diann: We sold Harold our black baldy heifers and we fed them and put them with the bull the next summer and calved them out. He has his own color ear tags and his own babies. His cows are lavendar (chuckles).
Molly: Out in the field you easily see whose cows are whose. It's very visual.
Lynn: So are you gonna be continuing with the color coordination of ownership?
Mike: Well we might run out of color one of these days. (laughter)
Molly: We'll just start getting creative.
The story about the Duggan ranch is all about creativity, family, and promise.
LRM.
For more information either contact SFJ offices or go to www.ddranch.net
