Andover farmer Don Eveland got into the pumpkin business seven years ago. The Anoka County native thought peddling pumpkins would help his tour-farm business grow.

Turns out it was an opportunity ripe for the picking.

Last autumn, more than 12,000 people visited his family farm to pet animals, go on a hayride and pick the perfect pumpkin. That's in addition to the more than 3,000 schoolchildren who toured the farm as part of school groups and took home a small pumpkin to commemorate the visit.

The Eveland Family Farm opens to the public for the fall harvest season on Sept. 20, and Eveland said he anticipates healthy crowds this fall. Admission is $3 a person, including a hayride. Pumpkins are 29 cents per pound.

Eveland said he grows about 30 varieties of pumpkins and squash on the 100-acre farm, along with corn and grain crops to feed his 120 animals.

He aims to please all his patrons with a selection ranging from smaller pie pumpkins just right for small hands to large, round ones that are easily transformed into jack-o-lanterns with toothy grins.

Don Eveland greeted his llamas last week at his farm in Andover. He also keeps cows, pigs, ducks, peacocks, chickens and other animals on the farm.

"Some like the tall, skinny ones. Some like the fat ones," he said on a tour of his farm. "This one will be a jack-o-lantern pumpkin."

Eveland also grows a smattering of pumpkins in exotic colors.

Farming in his blood

Eveland was born and raised on the farm. For most of its history, the focus was on the animals. His father operated it as a dairy farm.

"My dad raised three kids on 25 cows," Eveland said.

Eveland, 67, converted it to a small beef cattle operation and later a tour farm. He's also driven a school bus for nearly 40 years to supplement his income.

In 2000, 65 acres, including the original farmhouse and barn, were taken through eminent domain so the Anoka-Hennepin School District could build Andover High.

"They burned it to the ground," Eveland recalls. "There was a temptation to take the money and run but I didn't want to do that."

He and his son Jason built new homes on the remaining acres. His son's house is more modern, but Eveland's has the nostalgic feel of an old farmhouse. It's blue with white trim, a porch that wraps around the front and a turret on the top. The farm grounds are quite tidy but there are some old-fashioned touches. An old schoolhouse-style bell signals the start of a hayride. Weathered milk cans in the yard and wagon wheels lying against the barn give the farm a vintage feel.

Jason Eveland and his wife, Kathy, help run the pumpkin operations and maintain the grounds, which also hosts outdoor weddings, family reunions and parties.

Peggy the chicken and friends

Don Eveland gets up at 4:30 every morning to feed and tend the animals before driving his bus route. He keeps cows, pigs, llamas, alpacas, mini-horses and mini-donkeys, goats, sheep, chickens, ducks and peacocks.

Eveland has a soft spot for hard-luck cases. He recently took in a milk cow named Karol from the Minnesota Zoo after she could no longer produce milk.

"I've got a lot of charity cases. I guess we can have one more," Eveland said.

In the horse barn, he nudges potbelly pig Lacey, who is napping under the hay. She came to the farm when her original owners realized she did not make a good house pet.

Eveland had an orphan gosling this spring who slept with his ducks in their pen at night. One of his llamas, named Whiteheart, is deaf.

Perhaps Eveland's favorite is Peggy the chicken, who lost her feet to the cold a dozen winters ago.

"I was going to put her out of her misery but she didn't seem to be miserable," said Eveland, as he stroked her head.

School bus driver Don Eveland coaxed the pigs out of their pen at his Andover.

He realized Peggy was a crowd favorite and she was a tad slower than the rest of the brood, making her easier to catch and pet. Repeat visitors often inquire about that friendly old bird.

Eveland said many children come to his farm with no knowledge of farm life.

He said he enjoys his youngest visitors' exuberance meeting the animals and picking out pumpkins.

Shannon Prather • 612-673-4804