ARTHUR, Ill. — Listeners may make a mental jump to Charlie Brown when they hear “The Great Pumpkin Patch,” but this patch is a farm located in east-central Illinois, located right in the heart of Amish community.

Mac Condill and his family farm this ground and have three distinctive businesses: the Great Pumpkin Patch, Homestead Bakery and Homestead Seeds. The farm is just outside of Arthur.

Condill could be considered the king of all things pumpkin, squash and gourd. He is well known for his fall decorating talents and knowledge of these crops. He has been on Martha Stewart’s show, where he said, “I decorated anything to do with pumpkins.

“I have decorated for Country Living Fairs,” he added, and in the past he also created a display for the White House.

This young man has farming in his blood: “I’m the fifth generation; we have been farming for 153 years. This is a family business. In 1859 we homesteaded. My mom is a McDonald – a farmer married a farmer!”

The McDonalds traveled from Scotland and settled in east-central Illinois with its rich black soil. In 1977 Mac’s parents, Bruce and Mary Beth, added pumpkin seeds to their children’s garden and as the years passed expanded to a cucurbit (pumpkin, squash and gourd) business.

The family business includes Mac and his brothers, Kit and Buck, along with wives, Shana, Emily and Ginny. These days even the Condill grandkids are getting into the act.

 “This is our family’s 24th year for the pumpkin patch,” Condill said.

It is open Sept. 15-Oct. 31, from 9 a.m.-6 p.m. seven days a week. They offer more than 300 varieties of pumpkins, squash and gourds from over 30 countries around the world, and all are grown on the farm.

“We dedicate 50 acres to walnuts, 63 acres to pumpkins and have a three-year rotation of corn and soybeans,” Condill said.

This is a great example of a family business expanding to include agritourism as part of the farm. “We love opening our farm to help others get connected with the land,” he said. “This is a very educational place. Every year we have around 5,000 school kids.”

With a dedicated children’s garden and conifer garden, kids can explore and learn. On the grounds the Condills have two one-room schoolhouses used for various activities. One was built in 1912, and the other in 1916.

One of the schoolhouses is decorated each year for school visits. “We decorate it back the way it was (when it was built),” Condill said. “We work with the Moultrie County Historical Society and they staff it with schoolmarms. We offer ‘agri-tainment.’”

Making use of everything on-site, he said they even use their six grain bins for storage space.

At The Great Pumpkin Patch pumpkins are the stars, come fall. “We grow it and we pick it, we make pumpkin cookies, pumpkin bread and anything you could imagine,” he added.

The family are also are famous for their heirloom seed business Homestead Seeds. “I go to research centers and have traveled all over the world,” Condill explained. “I think, ‘what’s next?’ but I have never seen anyone come close to this.

“We find rare seeds, many of them are not even heard of anymore,” he said, adding seed catalogs will carry seeds for a while, then drop them. They keep the seeds available at Homestead Seeds and fill the void for these disappearing items.

“I saw this need,” he said. “It is no different than losing the rainforest and their cancer-curing drugs. We have a seed exchange. Our heirloom seeds are gaining speed.”

Homestead Seeds are available online year-round and can also be purchased at the bakery. The seed store is open along with the pumpkin patch; for details about the seeds, call 217-543-2394 or email the200acres@gmail.com

Besides the seed business and the patch, the bakery offers Amish baked goods. It opens in April and remains open until December. During the winter months they take orders. To speak to someone at the bakery, call 217-543-3700 or email thebakery@the200

acres.com

For details on The Great Pumpkin Patch, call 217-543-2394 or email thepatch@the200acres.com