With fall around the corner, Topeka family farm offers pumpkins, fresh produce

TOPEKA, Kan. (WIBW) - Luke Paine recently turned his passion for produce farming into a career.

“It’s almost probably been 10, 15 years ago now in produce,” said Luke Paine, owner of Insane Paine Produce. “I was able to come back doing it full time last fall and this year, and really enjoy doing it and I love being outside working with the plants.”

Paine said he grows of just about everything on his farm.

“Through the main part of summer we do tomatoes, cucumbers , zucchini, cantaloupe, watermelon, and that’s about it through the summer. Then coming into the fall we do pumpkins and mums.”

Once the calendar flips to fall, one crop instantly becomes the hottest commodity.

“Everybody likes our pumpkins. We usually grow a lot of different varieties and odd shapes, sizes, colorful ones,” Paine said.

“We probably have 10 or so on the front porch already of varying sizes,” said Melanie McMurphy. “My almost 17 year old wants the biggest one he can find so we came back out here for him today.”

Paine said shopping directly on his farm allows customers to see the quality of his produce firsthand.

“We try to let everybody enjoy the experience when they come out here and not feel like they’re going to a store or something so they can roam around and look at where their products are grown at.”

It’s just one of the reasons why McMurphy said she’s been coming to Insane Paine Produce for years.

“We’ve been coming up to see Mark and Luke with Insane Paine since she was actually like one and a half years old. We’ve come out and we buy their vegetables over the summer and then we look forward to pumpkin and gourd season in the fall to stock up our front porch for decorations and lots of stuff to carve.”

Insane Paine Produce will be holding a local vendor fair on Saturday, October 15 from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.

The farm is located near 3227 NE Seward Ave.

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