Oct. 7--FRANKLIN COUNTY -- Opening a working farm to the education and enjoyment of the public is the definition of agritourism; a practice many Franklin County farms embrace year-round -- but especially each fall.

From corn mazes to pick-your-own pumpkin fields, hay rides and build-a-scarecrow stations, fall and the harvest bring the city folks to the country.

Bill and Lois Reynolds used to grow vegetables and milk cows at their farm on Gehr Road in Waynesboro. When Bill was hurt in an accident, the doctors told him to find a different job.

The Reynoldses sold the cows, Bill went back to school, and soon he found himself working as a teacher. Lois was a teachers' aide. They kept the farm, and grew grain crops.

In 1997 they decided to make a corn maze in one of their fields, and grow pumpkins people could pick themselves, Lois said. They sold the pumpkins from a stand in front of their home.

The business got so big the Reynoldses had to quit their school jobs and were one of the first farms in this area to shift to agritourism. These days, Reynolds Farm has 25 acres of production-intensive pumpkins and mums sold summer through fall. The farm still grows wheat, soybeans and a small amount of rye.

What's the benefit? A couple of thousand people come to the farm each weekend, paying 45 cents a pound for the pumpkins they choose from the field, enjoying a $3.50 per head hay ride around the grounds, and shopping among a selection of mums, fall gourds and other natural decor folks from the local area, West Virginia and Maryland can take home for their yards and porches.

According to Lois, the farm employs eight to 10 people part time each season to help with the customers.

Not everything costs money to go to the farm. The play area, including a huge caterpillar slide, the corn maze and a grass maze, and the goat walk are free to enjoy (though it does take a quarter to feed the goats).

Though they advertise, "Word of mouth is our biggest seller," Lois said.

Reynolds Farm is open from 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Mondays through Fridays, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturdays and from noon to 6 p.m. Sundays. It is located at 11129 Gehr Road, Waynesboro.

Family farm

The Stoner family has a large farming operation -- 550 milk cows and 1,700 acres to farm. In 2005 the Mercersburg Chamber of Commerce was looking to add a fall event to bring people to the area, and Todd Stoner was on the board of directors for the chamber.

The Harvest Farm Festival was born.

Four years later, it's a project of the "farm wives," Todd Stoner's wife, Jamie, said. In addition to the festival, there's a corn maze (this year in a Ben Franklin shape to help celebrate the county's 225th anniversary), a hay ride, a petting area, pumpkins and mums.

The farm is open weekends from mid-September to the end of October (Nov. 1 this year) for a flat $5 admission. That gives guests access to the corn maze and hay rides, as well as the petting area.

The corn maze brings people from around Franklin County, into Maryland and beyond, with the guest book showing new visitors from other areas every year, Jamie Stoner said.

The Stoner wives begin planning the fall festivities in January, including the theme for the coming year, and an idea for the shape of the corn maze. Jamie Stoner said a corn maze designer takes their idea, tweaks it, and then designs the maze, laying it out in the corn field.

The family gets together one weekend in the fall, before the maze opens for the season, and following the designer's markings, makes the maze by pulling out, by hand, one corn plant at a time.

"We have a really big family," Jamie Stoner said. "We hire a sitter for a day for all the kids and we get to work. It's like weeding two acres by hand. I can't keep the flower beds in front of my house weeded, but there's not a weed in that maze!" she said with a laugh.

In addition to the big festival and weekend guests to go through the maze and ride the haywagon, the Stoners also plan a few special fall events, including a flashlight maze night (this year on Oct. 16) and two haunted maze nights (Oct. 23 and Oct. 30).

Each year, the Stoners welcome field trips in the months of April, May, September and October, Tami Stoner said. The family sets up educational stations from the egg discovery to how farm equipment works. Students are given hay rides to the farm's picnic grounds where they can eat the bagged lunch, in addition to meeting the dairy cows and seeing how one of Franklin's largest dairies works.

In terms of marketing, "We up it each year," Jamie Stoner said of Stoner's advertising, letting people beyond Franklin County know that the farm isn't far away, and learning about agriculture is part of the ticket.

The Stoner farm is at 7678 Oellig Road, Mercersburg. The weekend hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturdays and noon to 5 p.m. on Sundays.

Alpaca operation

Not all of Franklin County's agritourism is focused on the fall. Jay and Dori Brown opened On A Whim alpaca farm two years ago this November. The couple had raised pygmy goats, but fell in love with alpacas and turned their business to them.

The farm is open to visitors by appointment and the Browns are getting to the point where they'd enjoy being a school trip destination. The farm features Suri alpacas and Huacaya alpacas and was part of the Alpaca Farm Days on Sept. 26 and 27 around Franklin County.

During the Farm Days, the couple had a spinning and weaving demonstration on site, generating customer interest for the fiber that will be for sale when the alpacas are clipped this spring. The fur of the alpaca can be woven and spun. According to Dori, the next step in the business is to have some of the fiber spun into yarn they can sell at the farm.

On A Whim has 12 alpacas today, with two due any time and five more cria (baby alpaca) to be born this spring.

"Education is key," Dori said of their part in agritourism, adding "We'd like to generate interest" in alpacas in this area, and welcome new alpaca owners and growers to their agricultural brotherhood.

On a Whim is at 4940 Guitner Road, Chambersburg. Its Web site is http://www.onawhimalpacafarm.com.

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Copyright (c) 2009, Public Opinion, Chambersburg, Pa.

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