At Working Dog Farms, fall fun comes with a little dirt under your fingernails.
While pumpkin picking is a beloved autumn tradition, visitors to this South Jersey farm can take their agricultural adventures one step further by digging sweet potatoes straight from the soil, meeting farm animals and discovering where their food really comes from.
For Farmers Marie and Ryan Harp, the experience is about much more than celebrating the harvest. It’s about cultivating community, encouraging families to spend time outdoors and keeping the spirit of local agriculture alive.
“We love building a stronger community and giving people healthier options locally,” said Marie Harp. “I think that’s difficult to find sometimes.”
The husband and wife duo established Working Dog Farms in 2022 after years of tending a backyard garden, raising a handful of chickens and visiting farms throughout the region.
“Each year we would notice that farms were closing or they weren’t offering as much anymore,” Harp recalled. “We felt like we needed to step into the game, and we needed to bring it back to the neighborhood.”
While searching for their forever home, the couple found a 20-acre property in Galloway Township. Despite discovering that portions of the land presented challenges, they wasted no time transforming their new home into a working farm.
From backyard gardening to fall family fun
While growing fresh produce remains the foundation of Working Dog Farms, the couple has embraced agritourism as an opportunity to introduce more families to agriculture.
Their signature fall experience combines pumpkin picking with an activity that’s a little harder to find elsewhere: sweet potato digging.
Visitors venture into the fields, where they can pull fresh sweet potatoes directly from the ground.
Marie, who considers sweet potatoes her favorite crop, said the activity began as an experiment. Unlike some crops, sweet potatoes grow relatively close to the surface, making them accessible to visitors of all ages and experience levels.
The response was so enthusiastic that the couple eventually combined sweet potato digging and pumpkin picking into one experience.
“People who were like, ‘Oh, I don’t know if I really want to do that,’ once they did it, they were like, ‘That was so cool,'” Harp said.
Getting the fall festivities off the ground wasn’t without challenges.
The couple’s first planned agritourism season was derailed when they lost approximately 90% of their pumpkin crop. Deer damage, drought, disease and unfavorable weather conditions made opening impossible.
Rather than abandoning their plans, the Harps tried again the following year. Now in their third season offering fall activities, they say attendance continues to grow.
Unlike large-scale fall attractions, Working Dog Farms aims to maintain a relaxed, intimate atmosphere where visitors can connect directly with the people growing their food.
“We’re trying to keep the homey, personal feel,” Marie said. “We want you to know our name. We want you to feel comfortable talking to us about what we’re growing.”
One of her favorite memories came when a family announced that visiting Working Dog Farms would become their new annual tradition. True to their word, they’ve returned every year. For Marie, those relationships make the hard work worthwhile.
Fresh from the farm to the community
Beyond its seasonal festivities, Working Dog Farms produces an impressive variety of fresh vegetables, including tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, leafy greens, potatoes, pumpkins and summer and winter squash. The couple also grows flowers and raises approximately 250 chickens.
Their harvest reaches the community through a roadside farm stand, local businesses, restaurants and the Absecon School District, helping bring locally grown food to South Jersey tables.
Although the farm is not certified organic, Marie said they follow organic growing practices without using pesticides, herbicides or fungicides.
“You get exactly what you’re looking at here,” Marie said. “We tell you it’s local because it is local. We grew it.”
A farm with a purpose
The name Working Dog Farms carries a special significance for its owners.
Long before they became farmers, Marie and Ryan shared a love of dogs, particularly working breeds.
They were fascinated by the idea that dogs thrive when they have a job to do, whether that’s performing a traditional task or simply offering companionship.
When the couple decided to pursue farming, they recognized a similar sense of purpose in themselves. Growing food and serving their neighbors felt like the work they were meant to do.
Of course, with two full-time jobs outside the farm and an ever-growing list of agricultural responsibilities, the name has taken on a more humorous meaning.
“A lot of people ask us, and now we just say because we work like dogs,” Marie laughed.
The two-person operation requires constant juggling between planting, harvesting, caring for animals, maintaining the property and hosting visitors.
Weather, rising costs and the unpredictability of farming add to the challenge. Yet Marie says the opportunity to connect with the community provides the motivation to keep going.
“We do it one step at a time, one thing at a time, one minute at a time,” she said.
More than a pumpkin patch
Working Dog Farms is continuing to find creative ways to welcome visitors beyond the traditional harvest season.
On Halloween morning, the farm plans to host a canine trick-or-treat trail walk. An afternoon children’s event is also being planned, featuring games, activities and seasonal treats, including homemade baked goods.
As the holidays approach, Marie hopes to introduce a Charlie Brown-inspired Christmas experience, inviting families to decorate young Christmas trees while enjoying fire pits, hot chocolate and s’mores.
The couple actually planted their first Christmas trees shortly after purchasing the property in 2022. Because the trees require approximately five to seven years to mature, their eventual choose-and-cut Christmas tree experience remains a few years away.
Other ideas on the horizon include pick-your-own flowers, outdoor movie nights, dinners under the stars and a pick-your-own vegetable field where families could gather fresh ingredients for their weekly meals.
For now, the couple is focused on expanding thoughtfully without sacrificing the personal atmosphere that makes the farm special.
Ultimately, the shared hope is that families leave Working Dog Farms with more than pumpkins, sweet potatoes or a bag of fresh vegetables.
The couple wants them to leave with a greater appreciation for farming and a meaningful connection to the land. “Not everyone can be a farmer, not everyone wants to be a farmer, but everyone needs healthy food,” Harp said.
By opening their gates to the public, the Harps are giving visitors an opportunity to experience a little of the agricultural lifestyle for themselves.
After all, at Working Dog Farms, the most important thing growing might just be the community surrounding it.
