Meet Ruthann Carlton-Kroll of Kroll’s Fall Harvest Farm in Northern Suburbs

Today we’d like to introduce you to Ruthann Carlton-Kroll.

Ruthann, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
In 1993 I was a stay-at-home mom of three young children and was looking for an activity to do with them that would be fun and educational. We decided to start gardening. Our first garden was about 1/4 acre and we grew everything from Acorn squash to Zucchini!

We figured out pretty quickly that growing pumpkins was one of our favorite crops and so the next year we doubled our garden size and began selling the extra pumpkins by putting them in wagons at the end of our driveway with a lunch box for people to leave their money in.

Each year the garden grew and by 1999 we were farming 10 acres of pumpkins. In 2002 we designed and cut our first corn maze, added hayrides and began adding to our farm animals. We decided to make our farm an Agriculture Education Farm – teaching our visitors about the crops we grow and the animals we love. We also started doing School field trips that year.

This has always been a labor of love for our whole family, including my husband Randy, our children Tyler, Carly and Dylan and my sister, Susan. We are now also joined by Tyler’s wife, Hannah and their two wonderful children – Keeley and Cameron. As I watch my grandchildren become involved in our farm life it’s hard to believe so much time has gone by.

The people who left money in our lunch box, so long ago, are now bringing their grandchildren to visit our farm. Their loyalty and support have helped make us what we are today. As we welcome to our home 5,000 school students and close to 20,000 visitors each Fall we hope that everyone, old friends and new, feel the love that we have for our farm and how much we enjoy sharing our life and farm with each and every one of them.

Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
The challenges have been many through the years, but the vast majority were related to weather. Farming is a gamble from the minute we buy our seeds in the spring. “What will mother nature bring us this year?” Each season on the farm can be too much of any one condition – too rainy, too dry, too hot, too cold, and too windy. All of these variables can affect the outcome of our yield, as well as affect the attendance of visitors during our fall season.

2001 was one of our more challenging years – A pest which injected a virus into vine crops hit northern Illinois. 80% of the vine crops in the region were decimated. At the time we were growing 10 acres of pumpkins and up until that point the crops looked superior. In one day, most of the crop was wiped out. After realizing we would not have enough pumpkins in the fall to satisfy all of our customers, we contacted our seed company, who put us in touch with other family farms who grew pumpkins and were far enough away that they were not affected by the virus. This catastrophe ended up being a blessing in the end – we now have 3 other family farms who, along with our own crops, help supply us with enough high quality pumpkins to keep up with the demand of our ever-growing number of visitors.

Kroll’s Fall Harvest Farm – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
We are a family farm which opens its doors each fall, inviting visitors to enjoy a relaxing, fun and educational experience. We offer opportunities for people of all ages to experience farm life. We hope every visitor gains a new understanding about farming and has a lot of fun too! Whether visitors want to get “lost” in our maze, take a hayride, visit our animals or pick out a pumpkin or two, we hope they leave with a new appreciation of farming and memories that will last a lifetime.

Our crown jewel and what we are most known for is our Corn Maze. Each year we design and cut a new corn maze. Unlike most corn mazes, ours is not cut using gps and mowers, rather we draw the design on graph paper and when the corn is about a foot tall we take to the field with graph paper in hand and do the math! We cut each stalk out using a hoe and within a few weeks the maze is cut out. There are steps after this point that we undertake, that other mazes do not – such as hand tilling all of the paths to make the surface flat and comfortable to walk on; we spread wood chips on all of the paths so that any Fall rains don’t put a damper on our visitors fun – no muddy, slippery paths here!; We create a fun and educational game within the maze which adds a challenging element for our visitors. We also have staff within the maze to help guests navigate their way through, if they want help – some prefer the challenge of figuring it out on their own and that’s great!

A number of things make us different from other fall venues:
•Ours is a traditional farm. We stick to the simple farm basics of Hayrides, Farm Animals, Corn Maze and
pumpkins.
•We try to connect personally with all of our visitors, sharing our knowledge of farming and love for our farm animals. Whether on the hayride, which incorporates education and audience participation, or at our farm animals where staff explains, demonstrates and allows visitors to pet and feed many of our livestock, we hope to share our insights and passion.
•Our farm offers quality time spent for a reasonable expense. We want the average family to be able to make wonderful memories without sacrificing their budget. We were a family of five, we understand!

What is “success” or “successful” for you?
Success for us was achieved early on – not monetary success, that came much later – but the goals of the original garden achieved its purpose just a few years into the entire endeavor. I wanted our children to learn to work together to achieve a goal, know the meaning of hard work and learn about the world around us. Those goals were all achieved within the first decade.

The second decade brought other goals: educating and entertaining others; offering only quality produce; learning to accept the battles of the environment with steadfast determination; and the hope that we make a difference – whether to the special needs classrooms who visit, the Veterans or inner city youth that we host free of charge, the firefighters we host each year for training, or the tens of thousands of visitors who are our guests each Fall. According to our reviews we have been successful in our efforts, but it is something we will continually keep striving for.

Last year, 2016, we had two surprises which, honestly, humbled and honored us: Both “Travel and Leisure” and “MSN” named us in their lists of top Pumpkin Patches in the country.
http://www.travelandleisure.com/trip-ideas/fall-vacations/americas-best-pumpkin-farms#intro
https://www.msn.com/en-us/travel/festivals-culture/best-pumpkin-patches-in-the-us/ss-BBx5oQE

We’ve apparently come a long way from the wagons at the end of the driveway and yet even with these signs of success we work to retain the honesty and simplicity of those earlier days.

Pricing:

• No General Admission
• Corn Maze $7 ages 13 and over; $5 ages 12 and under; ages 3 and under free
• Hayrides $3/person

Contact Info:

• Address: 13236 W. Town Line Rd.
  Waukegan, IL 60087
• Website: www.krollsfarm.com
• Phone: 847-662-5733
• Email: krollsfarm@gmail.com
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/KrollsFarm/
• Yelp: www.yelp.com/biz/krolls-fall-harvest-farm-waukegan

Image Credit:
Family photo-  Dave Bowman Photography
Pumpkins- Dylan Kroll
Maze Pic- Tyler Kroll
Hayride Path-  Mira Chotalia
Animals in Pasture- Ruthann Kroll

Getting in touch: VoyageChicago is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.