Bloom Where You're Planted Farm

Lots of exciting things have been happening here on the farm!  All of our pumpkins, squash and gourds are in the ground.  We were pleased to be done about a week ahead of our usual schedule.  Planting began on May 15 with the giant pumpkins, hard shell gourds (such as the apple & swan varieties), and a few types of squash with longer growing seasons.  We added a Cushaw squash and Blue Hubbard squash, both which can grow to be quite large.  Our goal is to have a big pile (or piles) of fantastical giant pumpkins and squash for photo ops--now our part is done and Mother Nature takes over!  We hope for plenty of rain and warm temperatures to give all the seeds a good start.  The May 15 seeds are all sprouted and some are starting to put on their third and fourth leaves already.

On May 22 we hosted a field trip/play date for a group from Offutt Air Force Base in Bellevue, NE.  We took them on a hayride to see the horses and everyone enjoyed meeting our calf Alice, who is a month old already.  She is mischievous, ridiculously cute, and growing by the day.

With all the seeds in the ground we used this long Memorial Day weekend, which we usually spend planting, to do some painting on the barns.  The animal barn is done, one of the two wood-sided walls of the big barn is done, and the second side is power-washed and ready for primer.  This second side is the most intimidating, so we may drag our feet a little on getting that one done...J   We'll keep you posted!  Hope to see you soon at the farm!

We had a productive weekend and are looking at a busy week ahead of us.  Things are really happening fast around the farm these days!

The health inspector stopped by Friday morning to look at the Schoolhouse Cafe kitchen and help us make sure we're heading in the right direction.  We learned of a few code requirements we didn't already know about, but overall there were no big surprises and it went well.  After a visit to three different home improvement stores in Lincoln on Saturday evening, we now have most of what we need to really get rollin' on the kitchen project now!

On Saturday morning we painted most of the barn loft floor a nice, bright shade of tan.  This really lightened up the place and will hopefully show less dust.  It is all finished except for the corner of the room where we stacked all the furniture.  We probably won't get up there to finish for a few days, as the temperatures are forecast to be in the high 90s with heat advisories issued by the National Weather Service.  A stuffy hay loft is nowhere to be in those conditions!  After lunch Saturday we got all the flowers planted/transplanted into our new butterfly garden.

Sunday we celebrated my aunt & uncle's 40th wedding anniversary in the early afternoon and had my family over in the evening for a Father's Day supper.  It was a fun day.

As for this week, we really need to tend to the weeds in the pumpkin patches, heat or no heat.  When that's done we'll spend some time getting ready for a field trip group that's coming on Thursday afternoon.  They're from Papillion-LaVista schools and we're planning on 45-50 elementary-aged students.  A summer field trip should be fun -- we'll focus on the growing pumpkins, field crops, and livestock.  Temperatures will still be hot and humid, but the really bad stuff from earlier in the week should move out just in time (we hope!)

I'm planning to post some photos soon of our farm-improvement projects, the field trip, and maybe even our first parade of the season, Limestone Day June 27 in Weeping Water.  Until then, stay cool!!!