Kansas Profile – Now That’s Rural: JoEllyn Argabright, Grass Roots Kansas
At a glance: JoEllyn Argabright purchased the garden center in her local community, then expanded it with a floral store and a community kitchen to support rural food systems. Now she has opened a pumpkin patch that entertains thousands of students.
More information: Ron Wilson, rwilson@ksu.edu, 785-532-7690
Photos: Ron Wilson | JoEllyn Argabright
Website: Huck Boyd National Institute for Rural Development
Sept. 2, 2026
By Ron Wilson, director of the Huck Boyd National Institute for Rural Development at Kansas State University
“I went to town for garden fertilizer. I came back home owning a garden store.”
Perhaps one Kansan’s case wasn’t quite that simple, but what happened demonstrated the commitment of this young woman to maintaining services in her community. The garden store she purchased has expanded to include floral services and now has even spawned a wonderful pumpkin patch.
JoEllyn Argabright is the founder, owner and operator of Grass Roots Kansas, which has grown to include multiple enterprises. JoEllyn grew up in Colorado and came to Kansas State University where she earned a degree in human nutrition and then a master’s in gerontology.
At right: JoEllyn Argabright | Download this photo
She also met her future husband, Austin, who came from a multi-generational farm in northwest Kansas.
“At the time, I had no desire to live in northwest Kansas,” she said. After a few years back in Colorado, she changed her mind. She married Austin and they live on his family’s farm near Atwood.
She worked as a family and consumer sciences extension agent in Rawlins County and then as a regional specialist before going full-time on the farm with two kids.
In July 2020, she went to town to pick up some garden fertilizer.
“There was a handwritten note on the cash register that said, ‘If you want to own a garden center, ask me how,’” Argabright said. COVID was the impetus the store’s owner at the time needed to embrace retirement.
“I hated to see our community lose a business like this,” Argabright said. She inquired and essentially purchased the garden store on the spot.
The garden center opened as Grass Roots Garden Hub that same month. In 2024, it expanded with a floral store in a new building next door.
In 2022, Argabright founded the Grass Roots Institute of Kansas, a non-profit organization dedicated to supporting rural food systems. The Grass Roots Institute Community Kitchen launched in the summer of 2024.
Why the name Grass Roots?
“It embodies our mission,” Argabright said. “When we identify a need, we want to go ahead and address it locally rather than importing something from somewhere else.”
In addition to the need for local foods plus floral and garden supplies, there was a need for family entertainment. Argabright purchased a 27 acre farmstead west of Atwood. That farm has become Grass Roots Farms Pumpkin Patch. “It’s in an idyllic setting,” she said.
The pumpkin patch is open on Saturdays and Sundays, September to November. Guests can purchase a pumpkin or pick their own, and engage in a host of activities for people of all ages.
There are hay bale mazes, games, hay rides, zip lines, a pedal cart track for kids and tricycle track for littler kids, bounce house obstacle course, petting zoo, food, shopping, and more.
“We have a five acre corn maze which becomes a haunted maze on one weekend a season,” Argabright said. “We’ll have a giant pumpkin smash at the end of the season.”
“You’ll see kids running, parents laughing, and friends slowing down to make memories.”
It fits with her motto: “Cultivating community, connection, and country living.”
School tours and special events are popular. “We schedule school tours on Tuesdays and Thursdays,” Argabright said. “Almost 4,000 kids attended in 2025.”
Summer Sips is a wine walk and cider fest for the adults. When the pumpkin patch hosted the community barbecue event, called the Smokin’ at the Patch BBQ Contest, around 1,000 people attended.
It is great to find this business near a rural community such as Atwood, population 1,290 people. Technically, the business address is Blakeman which is no longer incorporated as a town.
Counting the people living around it, it has a population of perhaps 17 people. Now, that’s rural.
For more information, go to www.grassrootsfarmsks.com.
“I went to town for garden fertilizer and I came home with a garden store.” That’s one way of describing the experience of JoEllyn Argabright, who we commend for making a difference by sustaining and growing innovative businesses for her region.
It’s rather like: “I went to the pumpkin patch for a good time, and I came home with connection and community.”
Audio and text files of Kansas Profiles are available at www.huckboydinstitute.org/kansas-profiles. For more information about the Huck Boyd Institute, interested persons can visit www.huckboydinstitute.org.
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