Good Housekeeping magazine has named the Lino Lakes institution the best pumpkin patch in the state.
“Yeah, isn’t it crazy?” Field Manager Doug Joyer said. “It was such an honor with so many great pumpkin patches in Minnesota, it was really exciting,” he said.
“I think with our pumpkin patch what stands out is our complimentary hay ride to the pumpkin patch, which takes about eight minutes to get out to the pumpkin patch through our woods, we take a path through there and early fall it’s bright yellow and now the oaks are turning, so we get some reds,” he said. “And besides our pumpkin patch, we have our corn maze with all the fun activities that come with that.”
Throughout its more than a century of operation, it has always been family owned.
“So my mother Mary, her maiden name is Waldoch, so that’s where Waldoch farm comes from,” said Joyer. “H grandparents bought the farm and she is the owner now, so she is the boss and we have five to six family members who work here.”
Joyer also attributes some of the popularity to the corn maze he decided to bring to the farm.
“I came back to the farm full time ten years ago, and after having a really awesome crop my second season, of pumpkins, I was like, ‘How can I sell more pumpkins?'” he said. “We kind of looked into it and people were asking already assuming we had a corn maze so we kind of jumped into that eight years ago,” he said.
Joyer said the Lino Lakes location is easy for families from across the Twin Cities Metro to access and enjoy.
“We’re so close to them,” Joyer said. “We’re only a 20-25 minute drive from either downtown, we’re only two miles off of 35W so it’s really easy and convenient. I hear a lot of people (say), ‘Oh it only took me 20 minutes to get here!’ We have a country feel but very close to the city.”
Although Joyer takes great pride in the pumpkins the farm produces, for him, it’s an honor just to be recognized.
“I’ve always tried to be as good as I can. Every year we analyze and try to become better, so I think we’re pretty good. I don’t know about best. There’s so many corn mazes and pumpkin patches in Minnesota, it’s a pretty good crowd to be in,” he said.
