About

Jim and Pat Gardner purchased 80 acres East of Arkansas City, Kansas in 1985. Their son, John, married Shelley Hopkins Gardner from the Wichita, Kansas area in 1990. Shelley always thought that Jim and Pat should start a pumpkin patch. Pat was good at cooking, singing, working with people and children. Jim loved taking care of the farm and the hard work associated with it all. Jim and Pat had other ideas. After closing their pipeline company Jim and Pat raised cattle, sheep and mostly buffalo on the land. There are lots of fond memories of the entire family out on the farm and especially at Christmas and Easter.

Shelley and John purchased the land in 2009. John has held on to the pumpkin patch idea all these years and planned to do that as his encore career after retirement. Shelley who has worked inside her entire career was not as excited to work outside until an opportunity came along. After working in the corporate world almost 40 years, Shelley traded her work attire, cute shoes and accessories for muck boots, denim and garden tools. John is living his dream and encore career co-managing Pumpkin Pants Ranch and doing a lot of the heavy lifting while Shelley enjoys the freedom to work other jobs, see her grandkids and her mother more frequently while planning for the upcoming season.

John and Shelley have two boys, Logan and Lane. Logan is married to Savana and they have two adorable children. After high school, Lane spent a couple years in Iowa and fall 2023 he returned home to Kansas and now helping with the Ranch. We have been talking about opening a pumpkin patch so long that Lane was about ten years old when he came up with the name Pumpkin Pants Ranch. We couldn’t come up with anything catchier so the name stuck.

John and Shelley are very thankful that Logan and Lane don’t complain too loudly about the forced family (work) fun out at the farm. They have been a lot of help with the heavy lifting. Savana is super talented and designed our logo and anything artistic will likely be because of her. We so love and appreciate them!

The support, talents and hard work from other family members are also appreciated. You will find the impact of extended family members throughout the operation. It is truly a family affair.

We are very excited to welcome you onto our farm for lots of fall fun! See you soon!

Shelley and John