AURORA -- Bob Hamman recalls an Eola Road quite

different from the one that exists today. Instead of

endless cars often stalled in rush-hour traffic and

strip malls luring passers-by off the road, he can

still see open land as far as the eye can see, with

rows of cornstalks coloring the landscape gold and

wheat swaying gently in the wind. Hamman, 51, grew up

on a farm. His parents owned 75 acres stretching along

Eola Road and extending into Naperville. The farm has

long been sold, and now Hamman only owns a sliver of

the land on which his parents used to grow soybeans,

oats, corn, wheat and hay. Although what's left of the

property is still called Hamman Farm, the working farm

has given way to a new enterprise. Hamman has

reinvented his business and now sells firewood,

topsoil and mulch year-round. Customers can buy

pumpkins in the fall and Christmas trees in December.

"I started this particular business 15 years ago,"

Hamman said. "Farmers were having trouble making a

living off their farms, and they could make more money

selling their land to developers."

Hamman still sees himself in a much simpler time

before traffic, exhaust fumes, congestion and crowds

became everyday occurrences in east Aurora and

Naperville.

"I loved being a boy on a farm," Hamman recalled. "I

remember the pigs and the cattle my parents had. I was

in 4-H and took the animals to the DuPage County Fair.

I bailed hay and pulled weeds from the rolls of

soybeans during the summer."

Hamman, who graduated from Naperville Community High

School in 1969 and now lives in Naperville, said his

parents were rooted to the neighborhood.

"As a boy, my father lived in a house across the

street over there. And my mom was born and raised a

mile and a half from here. She still lives in the same

house next door that she and dad built 65 years ago."

As Hamman spoke, his 86-year old mother, Mary Ann,

watered plants next to the yellow frame house that

Hamman grew up in and that sits next to his business.

She has watched the transformation of Eola from rural

road to suburban thoroughfare.

"I like the old days better," she said. "It was less

hassle. There's so much traffic now, you can't even

make a left on Eola anymore."

Hamman winked at his mother.

"Yes, but look at all the conveniences you have now,"

he joked. "You can go to McDonald's anytime you want

and there's the grocery and drug stores down the

street."

But Hamman doesn't have to go to McDonald's too often.

His mother still makes lunch for him.

"I'm really spoiled," Hamman said.

Meanwhile, Zeus the chocolate labrador retriever

frolicked around Hamman.

"He thinks he owns the place," Hamman said. "He likes

to jump into that little pond by the flower bed and

take a bath."

Remnants on the property remind people that the land

used to be a farm. A couple of old barns, one of which

used to be a chicken house, still stand. And a few

yards away metal silos sit empty.

Piles of oak and birch firewood from Wisconsin now

occupy space that used to grow corn and other crops.

Hamman bills his business as "a farm for all seasons."

There's mulch and topsoil in the spring and summer;

pumpkins, cornstalks and hay in the fall; Christmas

trees in December; and firewood in the winter.

Hamman grows his pumpkins on land he leases in Oswego,

then brings them to his property in Aurora.

On a recent Indian summer afternoon, Aurora resident

Sharalyn McQueen -- a first-time customer -- hauled a

wagon filled with three large pumpkins.

"I've always wanted to stop here but I never had the

time," she said. "Today I had the time."

Tami Rimkus of Naperville wasn't looking for pumpkins

because she had bought them earlier in the week.

Instead, she was helping her 2-year-old daughter,

Chloe, feed one of the goats in the nearby petting

zoo. A corn maze lay behind them.

Chloe still had trouble recognizing animals.

"Oh, look, Mommy, the bunny rabbit is hungry," she

said pointing to the goat, who eagerly pushed his

mouth through the fence.

Meanwhile, Hamman's sister, Joyce Frankino, was busy

operating the cash register as customers looked

through baskets of Michigan apples and Halloween

decorations on display.

Hamman's son, Ryan, who recently graduated from the

University of Illinois with a degree in consumer

economics, hopes to one day take over his father's

business.

"A lot of people ask us when we are going to be bought

out by developers and we always say we have no plans

to sell the business. We plan on being here for a

while."

FYI

Hamman Farm is at 7S343 Eola Road in Aurora. Call

(630) 898-5266.