home town flavor The life of a farmer may not be the life for everyone but for Jeff and Lora Partyka, it is their dream and has been since 1985. "When Jeff and I married, this land was all fruit farm," Lora said. But eventually she took the marketing background she acquired while growing up on her parent's farm in Niagara County and little by little Partyka Farms grew. "We started out with a small wagon out front, expanded to a few wagons and eventually put up a small farm market store front." That small farm market store front grew to an ice cream shop in 1994 and little by little the Partykas have expanded their dream into a thriving bakery business, a presence at five farmer's markets, a shop that features unique gift items and homemade foods and, most recently, into the pumpkin seed market. Their produce and now pumpkin seeds are featured intwo Wegmans and three Big M stores including Ryan's. "We used to roast and sell pumpkin seeds in house then one of my brokers tried them and said 'we've got to market these,' " Lora Partyka said. "We stumbled across a pumpkin that has a hull-less seed and we started growing them and marketing the seeds." When they first began growing and selling the seeds, the Partykas had five acres of the pumpkins, they now have 15. The seeds are dried, lightly salted and roasted - no oil is used in the roasting process. "It's a very labor and time intensive process," Partyka explained. "From the picking of the pumpkins, harvesting the seeds, the drying, roasting and bagging - it's a lot of work! But people go crazy for them." Because of the success of their pumpkin seed operation, the Partykas now have specialized equipment that helps with the picking, harvesting and sorting, but the weighing and bagging is done the old fashioned way - by hand. Lora said that she and Jim are true partners: both in marriage and in the business. She also said all of the work that is done in the market, which is open from mid-May until November, couldn't be accomplished without the wealth of "excellent" employees they have had over the years. "We also couldn't do it without our sons, Steven and Scott," she said. Partyka also said her mother-in-law, Kay Partyka, and her sister-in-law, Lynn Zahn, help out all of the time. "Lynn is actually the puff pastry expert," Lora said. Partyka Farm, 1420 Countyline Road in Kendall, also plays host to more than 600 school children on bus tours, presses their own cider - close to 300 gallons per week - and runs a grill where they feature homemade salads. In their greenhouses they grow fruit and vegetable plants which are available for sale to the public. And the farm features a large playground for the children, complete with a Critter Corral. No matter how many markets the Partykas expand into, Lora said they never neglect their hometown communities of Kendall and Hamlin. "We support sports teams in both communities," she said. Pumpkin seed stats
Picking the perfect pumpkin
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