Bloom Where You're Planted Farm

Our family took its first "grown up" family vacation last week.  We went to the Manitou Springs, Colorado area with my parents, brother, sister-in-law and niece.  My mom turned 60 in April and this was her belated birthday trip.  It was lots of fun and we enjoyed some quality bonding time.  Here is a photo taken at Eleven Mile Canyon State Park near Lake George, CO.  Terry and I are on the right, in the red and orange.

Now its time to get back to work preparing for our sixth-annual Pumpkin Festival.  Our first order of business will be building a big trellis/tunnel for the Kids' Gourd Garden and planting the gourds.  We've been having nice rains these past couple weeks, and the pumpkins (& unfortunately the weeds, too) are responding well.  There is always some weed or bug control to see to, and every year we have lofty goals to keep on top of it better than the last season.  Will that happen?...?  We'll keep you posted! 

It is never too early to plan your fall party or get-together.  We also do summer field trips and campfire parties -- please let us know if there is anything we can help with.  Hope to see you soon at the farm! 

Our farm website, www.bloompumpkinpatch.com, has been updated with all of the dates and new attractions for our 2009 season.  You can click on the home page to join our E-newsletter list, and there is even a link for quick access to this blog.  There is a new page for the Schoolhouse Cafe, and information about the hay rides we'll begin offering for the first time this season.

Information about our pumpkin patch parties will be updated soon.  In the meantime, you can email me at any time (via this site or by using the link on the website) and I'll send you the updated information.  We offer private evening campfire parties and daytime parties in our "new" party loft in the barn.   We can handle any size group, whether it is just your family or the whole company.

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Switching gears, I wanted to share a few photos from our recent vacation.  We spent three nights in Taos, NM, and I've never seen so many lilacs.  They were so pretty against the adobe buildings.

On our way from New Mexico to Estes Park, CO we visited Great Sand Dunes National Park.  If you've never been there, I highly recommend making the trip.  This is one of the coolest national parks I've been to.  It was absolutely amazing to see these desert-like dunes with snow-capped mountains in the background.  Our dog, Rocket, had a blast in the sand and the water.

We saw a lot of wildlife on the trip, including lots of elk around Estes Park, who must have been on their way from winter to summer quarters.  This guy walked into the yard of a convenience store across the street from where we were sitting.  Obviously, he wasn't phased by humans!

Have a wonderful Memorial Day weekend and safe travels!

I'm so sorry I haven't written a new post in so long.  Terry, Rocket and I just got back from a great trip to our favorite place, the Rocky Mountains.  We stayed in Amarillo, TX; Taos, NM; and Estes Park, CO.  It was a great trip, and I'll try to write more about it soon.

For now I wanted to share with you this photo of Sully and Dash.  Like father, like daughter!

 Dash is getting so big that it is hard to tell she and her dad apart when they're a distance away and we can't see her white forehead spot.

We got the horses' new fence done before we left, and this weekend Terry got the pumpkin patches all tilled up.  We're refreshed and revitalized and ready to tackle our to-do list.  It will be pumpkin plantin' time in about three weeks!