Reaping the benefits

This was the fall Christine and Randy Gaitsch were supposed to be relaxing and doing something different.

The couple who owns and runs Randy's farm stand, at the corner of Randall Road and I-90, was not supposed to be stocking shelves with vegetables, fruits and Halloween decorations.

Do you remember? They had plans to sell the building and surrounding property to a Deerfield real estate developer Vision Realty.

With customers thinking it was the last fall the generation-old business would be open, everyone cried and reminisced about the good times and laughed about the memories that were made.

The sale fell through, though.

The red barn still sits among homes, office buildings and trendy restaurants. And the shelves are being stocked with scarecrows, Halloween novelties and cider.

At the beginning of this year, Christine was worried customers wouldn't come back.

And Randy, well, he didn't say too much about his worries.

Christine said with him being a man of few words, he doesn't say much of anything. But she's glad they opened again.

And so far, so are the customers.

"I've had people tell me they're glad we're still here," Christine said.

"They've already started coming and buying things."

This wasn't business as usual, though. A wet August damaged much of their pumpkin, pepper, squash, gourd, field corn and tomato crops. Instead of bringing them in on tractors, they had to call other farmers who did not receive the 15 inches of rain their property did.

But that's another story.

This one is about a farmer and his wife who continue running a vegetable stand in spite of bad weather and interested developers.

Their stand opened in the spring with bedding plants, sold early corn in the summer and, they hope, will be bustling with customers until Nov. 1 when Randy's closes for the season.

And whatever you do don't talk about next year. Like the Cubs, the Gaitsches want to concentrate on the present.

"First we have to get through this year," Randy said.

"Then, we'll think about next year."

The barn sits on 15 acres that Vision Realty wanted to buy. The couple also owns more land along Randall Road in Carpentersville. If they sold the land near I-90, they would have kept the Carpentersville property.

When they closed their doors last year, they were toying with different ideas for that property. They still intended to farm it, but they considered opening up another farm stand.

Now, they don't have to worry about those plans. They're concentrating on the next several weeks and the work ahead of them.

"It's a lot of work, getting everything ready," Christine said.

"But we look forward to our customers. They really make this job fun."