Small seasonal pick-your-own pumpkin patch

Local families, schools and daycares, and people decorating homes for Halloween and Thanksgiving.

Pumpkins sold by size or weight, plus small extras like gourds, corn stalks and mums. Weekends are busiest, and school group visits can fill weekdays.

• Basic crop growing or willingness to learn
• Customer service with families
• Planning ahead for a short season

• Zoning and municipal rules for on-farm sales and visitors, check with your municipality
• Commercial general liability insurance that covers public visitors on the land
• Weather and crop risk: a wet or dry summer can hurt the harvest, and the selling window is only a few weeks
• Check whether your province has a farm business registration or farm status program that applies to you
• Check how GST/HST applies to your sales and whether you need to register with the CRA
• Safety for children: uneven ground, wagons and parking areas near roads

Estimates suggest startup costs typically around $3,000 to $12,000, depending on the acreage you plant, seed and equipment, wagons, signage and how much you set up for visitors.

Monthly revenue is typically estimated at around $3,000 to $12,000, depending on your crop, pricing and visitor numbers. The selling window is only a few weeks, and weather can hurt the harvest.

Check zoning and municipal rules for on-farm sales and visitors, and insurance that covers the public on your land. Also check any provincial farm registration programs, how GST/HST applies, and safety around uneven ground, wagons and parking.