Bloom Where You're Planted Farm

Yesterday was a milestone for us -- the first planting of the year!  We started a new garden spot out near our chicken house, and planted two types of tomatoes and sweet red peppers.  We also planted a couple rows of the broom corn seed that I bought last year but couldn't find a spot to plant.  I'm excited about the broom corn and think it will be a nice addition to the fall decorations we sell at the pumpkin patch.

In the same garden we planted a row of Big Moon (giant) pumpkins and a row of my favorite Jack-O-Lantern-sized variety.  The Big Moon need 120 days to grow, so need to be planted early in order to be ready by pumpkin patch time.  We haven't had the best of luck with these the past couple of years.  Hopefully with a new garden spot where we can watch more carefully for bugs and other problems we'll get some this season.  The Jack-O-Lantern pumpkins only need 95 days but we're planting early in hopes of having some ready to enter at the Cass County Fair in August.

In the raised bed in our gourd garden area we planted strawberries.  We've been planning to do this for the past couple of years and haven't succeeded until now.  This long, warm Spring really has been helpful, giving us extra time to get things done before the rollercoaster of pumpkin planting and tending (AKA weeding) begins.

As Terry said last night, after we came in with the season's first dirt-filled socks and shoes and pant knees needing "Shout" to remove the dirt stains,  "And it begins...".  But, these are the times we wait for all year long and we always look forward with hope for a good crop we can share with all our wonderful customers this fall!

Well, I'm ashamed of myself, but I haven't written a new blog entry since summertime!  I've missed it and am glad to be back.  We'll blame my lapse on a busy fall season and some fairly uneventful winter months. 

We have had a pretty incredible winter here in southeast Nebraska.  Terry and I went to a nearby state park and hiked on New Year's Eve in mid-50-degree weather!  And that was just the start of some unseasonably warm weeks.  This winter has been much easier to take than some, and now that the geese are starting to return (and my bulbs are even pushing foliage up out of the ground!) we can look forward to springtime and the promise of good things to come.

We appreciate every single customer that visited during our seventh-annual Pumpkin Festival, and have some fun ideas up our sleeves for 2012.  I've actually made one new gift shop merchandise order already, and have a goal of choosing and ordering this year's pumpkin seeds before the weekend is over.  The first auction of the season is Saturday and we're looking forward to finding some goodies to add to the collection of antiques and primitives we've been buying for the gift shop throughout the winter.

We hope you're all well and look forward to keeping you updated about our plans for the farm.  Think Spring!

Now that August has arrived, we can say "The Pumpkin Festival starts next month!"  This is a very exciting but somewhat frightening time at our southeast Nebraska pumpkin patch.  While we love fall and can't wait to start seeing our customers' smiling faces at the farm, we still have quite a bit on our "to-do" list!  But, for the most part we enjoy the pressure and looming deadline, and knowing our months of hard work will be worth it when the first customers of the season begin arriving on opening day, Sept. 17th!

Last week we took a vacation to central Colorado to celebrate our 14th wedding anniversary.  It was cool, beautiful and relaxing and we came back refreshed and inspired.  The pumpkins grew by leaps and bounds while we were gone.  They're now all flowering and putting on fruit, and the ones that fruited early have softball to volleyball-sized pumpkins on their vines.  A big windstorm came through 7/23 which brought down lots of tree limbs and a few dead trees, but thankfully all the pumpkins and farm animals were fine.  After a couple days of cleaning that up we're now ready to start work on the new overhang on the south side of the barn.  This will be used for our admissions and pumpkin weighing stations, as well as retail space. 

The Cass County fair starts next week (Aug. 9) and we'll be represented at the Scenic Weeping Water Valley Association's booth in the commercial building.  Stop by to pick up one of our new brochures.  We're also planning to take our float through the parade that Saturday evening.

I'm feverishly ordering gift shop merchandise and working on lots of marketing these days.  Our first field trips of the season are on the books.  Now is the time to make your field trip, birthday party, or campfire party reservations.  There's just over six weeks to go, and we'll plan on seeing you soon at the farm!

Early summer greetings from our farm and pumpkin patch in southeastern Nebraska!  We've been receiving lots of rain lately, which has been both a blessing and a curse.  The cornfield I see out my kitchen window grows visibly every day, and all the other field crops, grass and flowers are looking great.  It makes it a little hard to get regular weeding done in the pumpkin patches (and unfortunately weeds love the rain, too!) but we've formulated a game plan and have been trying to keep up as much as we can.

The butterfly garden beside the chicken coop is in full bloom

Luckily, there are plenty of projects to keep us occupied when it's too muddy to work in the dirt.  I've continued painting and sprucing things up, and Terry has the new steps into the gift shop framed and ready for cement.  When the ground dries up in a day or two we'll get the gourd garden planted, and the vines should be lush and vigorous by opening day of our Pumpkin Festival.  We renovated the fire pit that we use for our campfire parties and we think it looks great!  It will also be safer for our little visitors.

 On June 23, "Homer", the mascot for the Lincoln Saltdogs baseball team, visited the farm to film part of a promotional video to be shown at Weeping Water Community Night with the Saltdogs in August.  It was a gorgeous, mild day (which the guy in the giant dog suit was thankful for!) for Homer to take a hayride and lots of photos with our young friends.

June 25 was Limestone Day in Weeping Water, and we took our hayrack through the parade.  We're planning to do the July 4th parade in Murdock, so watch for us if you're there!

We had our first fall field trip inquiry of the season the other day, so it's not too early to start thinking about your own field trip, birthday party, or campfire party plans.  We hope to see you soon at the farm!

As of yesterday, there are just 3 months left until opening day of the 7th season here at our southeast Nebraska pumpkin patch!  I can't believe how fast time can fly.  We've been very busy on the farm and finally got all our pumpkins, squash and gourds planted just a few days ago. 

The weather has been perfect--lots of warm sunshine with just the right amount of rain for the seeds to sprout quickly.  We had some issues with mice and/or voles actually digging our seeds out of the ground and leaving nothing but several seed-sized holes in dozens of hills.  They seemed to particularly like the squash and white pumpkin seeds.  Using traps, poisons, cellophane bags tied to sticks, and repellents, we seem to have that problem licked (we hope!)  So, after re-ordering seeds and replanting, we can move on to the next phase, watching the seedlings sprout and grow while trying to protect them from bugs and keep the weeds under control.

We've started work on several projects including repairs to the barn roof, rebuilding and painting the loading chute (the ramp kids climb on to reach the big round haybales) and fixing fences.  We have all the materials on hand to start building an overhang on the south side of the barn, where we'll move the admissions counter and pumpkin weighing station.  Today we made a trip to Lincoln after landscaping blocks to improve the fire pit.  And, I've started ordering new merchandise for the gift shop.  Its a very busy but exciting time as we work to make the farm and pumpkin patch the best it can be for our fall visitors.

Speaking of visitors, yesterday we hosted a field trip for Sandee's Place daycare out of Lincoln.  There were about a dozen 1-4 year olds who really seemed to enjoy their visits with the horses, goats and chickens.  Their morning ended with a hay ride and sack lunch at the picnic tables.  You can check out the photos on our Facebook page.  So, you don't HAVE to wait until fall to come and visit -- we welcome groups of all ages for field trips or campfire parties in the spring and summer too!  Our website has all the details.  Hope to see you soon at the farm!

I wanted to share a few more photos of springtime on the farm.  This is such a colorful time of year--the sky is SO blue, the pastures are so lush and green, the flowers are blooming and there are birds of every color, from bluebirds to orioles.  Did you know that we offer springtime and summertime campfire parties and field trips?  Imagine sitting under the stars on a warm summer evening, around the fire ring with your friends, family, sports team or other organization.  The frogs around the creek and pond will serenade you, and later in the summer they'll be joined by the cicadas singing.  All campfire parties include a hay ride.  The kids may even get to help us gather the evening eggs.  And, you don't have to do ANY of the work--we can provide the food and decorations if you'd like!  Click here to see pricing details and instructions for making a reservation:   

Hope to see you soon on the farm!

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The farm pond with a pair of geese

This is a great time of year at Bloom Where You're Planted Farm.  Rain has been plentiful, the grass and trees look lush and healthy, and the iris and peonies are starting to bloom.  In the next week or so we'll start planting some of our longer-season pumpkins and gourds.  The full planting assault will happen around Memorial Day, hopefully finishing up the first couple days of June.  I can't wait to get out in the dirt!  Its so exciting to think about all the pumpkins we'll harvest, plus its great exercise!

On April 29 we brought home five hens, a cross between Rhode Island Reds and New Hampshires (so they're very East Coast but seem to be enjoying the Midwest!)  April 30 & May 1 was our second-annual Spring Open House.  It was good seeing the familiar faces of some of our loyal customers and friends, and exciting to meet some first-time guests, too.  The following weekend we held a "Barn Sale" -- basically a big yard sale heavy on the antiques and primitives.  We made room for all the "new" antiques, primitives and gift shop merchandise we'll be bringing in for this fall.

The most fun thing this spring has been the arrival of two baby calves.  Fern delivered her first calf on May 1, a bull calf we named Mayday.  Ten days later, Molly's calf Rosy arrived.  I surprised myself (and really surprised Terry, when I told him the story later) by jumping in to help pull her when I realized she was coming out rump-first and upside down.  Molly may have been fine without me, but ideally they should come out head/front feet first, and I got scared.  Both calves are perfect and they're SO darn cute! 

Mayday

Rosy

Well, I'd better get outside to enjoy this great weather and get something accomplished.  Have a great spring, and we hope to see you soon at the farm!

I like to document the changes of the seasons here at Bloom Where You're Planted Farm.  Here is photographic proof that spring has arrived!

Jasper and Emmett are enjoying the warm weather from atop their climbing tower.  They've grown a TON since last fall and are starting to shed their thick winter coats.

The gourd garden is cleaned up and ready for this summer's crop.  Notice Sully in the distance, wondering what I'm up to now, and if I have anything to eat...

Last fall's gourds are drying nicely.  It will still be another month or two until they're completely cured.

Frannie discovered a tiny snake sunning himself on the warm cement.

Well, the last time I posted we were expecting a snowstorm, and today the mercury should reach 70.  Signs of spring have really come on strong in the last week or so -- trees are budding, tufts of grass are greening up, the animals are shedding their winter coats, and the air is filled with the sounds of robins, red-winged blackbirds, and Killdeer.  If you don't know about Killdeer, they're described as "an upland shorebird that doesn't live at the shore" and there are a few pairs that return every summer to the soggy pasture area east of our big pumpkin patches.  They have a really distinctive call and it always sets them off when we work out there.  Besides for the sounds of frogs and red-winged blackbirds, the Killdeer call is one of the predominant sounds of summer for us.  I took a walk out there yesterday and they were back in full force.  It got me excited to start planting, but we won't start that for another couple of months yet.

We're planning our Spring Open House for Apr. 30, in conjunction with the "Get Lost in the Valley" tour of attractions in the Scenic Weeping Water Valley.  This will be a one or two day event (TBA) with free access to the farm.  You can visit the animals, play yard games, and we'll be selling lunch in the Schoolhouse Cafe.  Watch for more details in this blog or on our Facebook page.  The Scenic Weeping Water Valley Association also has a Facebook page and website, www.VisittheValley.org.

Enjoy the signs of spring!  Hope to see you soon at the farm!

A pretty snow is falling this afternoon and we're looking to get 2-4 inches out of this latest bit of winter weather.  We try to make good use of this down time, when it is impossible to get outside and start the physical preparations for our 2011 Pumpkin Festival -- planting, weeding, building, cleaning... 

Now is the time for aspiring, planning, and promoting.  Last week I updated our listings on a few websites and registered for a couple new promotional tools including Google Places.  I don't know how much of a difference these types of things make to our visibility, but I figure the more places you pop up on the Internet, the better, right? 

I really should be working on filing our 2010 sales tax, but instead I spent the day on the computer again, researching trade organizations and agritourism-related seminars.  We're always looking for ways to expand our horizons, learn from others, and be inspired.  We're thinking about going to St. Louis in March to the Halloween, Costume & Party show and Halloween and Attractions show.  We don't typically do a lot of "Halloween-y" activities but instead focus more on the "farm-y"/agricultural side of the fall season.  But, this might shake us up a little and maybe some good ideas will fall out! 

Well, I'll head back to those sales tax receipts now...  Until next time, stay warm!

Six days into 2011 and I'm finally starting to feel the inspiration that comes with the fresh posibilities of a new year.  I haven't written a blog since fall so there is much to report on.

We had the best pumpkin patch season we've ever had, thanks in large part to the AMAZING weather in October.  We sincerely thank each and every customer who visited the farm this past fall, whether a new guest or a loyal returning visitor.  This was our sixth season, and we celebrated the five-year anniversary of our October 1, 2005 opening day on October 3rd.  Three sky divers from the Lincoln Sport Parachute Club jumped in next to the south pumpkin patch, much to the delight of the many visitors who were on hand to watch.  We also had a face painter and handed out free ice cream treats.  We had a great time showing our customers how much we appreciate their support, which has helped us go from approx. 400 visitors our first year to over 3,800 this year.  It is humbling to think that this many people took time out of their busy schedules to visit our farm.

When the season was over, the pumpkins fed to the cows and goats, and everything put away, we took a short but really relaxing vacation to the Ozarks.  We got to enjoy the late-season fall foliage while we reflected on the past season and began making plans for our seventh Pumpkin Festival in 2011.

Our main focus for the coming season will be making our operations smoother, safer and more convenient for our guests (and ourselves).  This will include rearranging our retail and admissions area, adjusting the hay ride route, and adding more credit card terminals.  We also hope to make some improvements to the barn and make the nature trail even more scenic and inviting.  I'm sure we'll cook up more ideas in the coming months, but these are our thought so far.

We're excited because both of our adult heifers, Molly and Fern, are expecting calves this spring.  Gabby, Jasper & Emmett, our goats who were just 4-5 months old this fall, are growing fast and have thick, bushy winter coats.  The horses also have soft, shaggy winter coats to keep them warm.  Despite staying warm and cozy, I think we're all looking forward to spring!

We hope you had a wonderful holiday season and that your New Year is off to a great start.  See you soon at the farm!

One of the best things about running our pumpkin patch business is that every fall we become the place where our families and friends tend to gather.  We have places to entertain (without even needing to clean the house!) and lots of folks who we don't see very often usually stop by this time of year.

This was the case last Sunday when we celebrated my grandma's 85th birthday.  We took a hay ride, roasted hot dogs and marshmallows over the fire, and ended the evening with cake in the schoolhouse.

My niece Grace helps Grandma blow out the candles. 

We really had a neat mix of relatives and near-relatives all together that day.  Not only were the Jacobsons gathered for the birthday celebration, but my Aunt Cathy's mother (not an official family member, but I've called her "Grandma Stine" all my life) and Cathy's sister Ellen were there.  Our brother-in-law Greg (married to Terry's sister), niece Zoe and newphew Luke happened to come by at the same time.  Everyone was on the hay ride together, and I realized how special that was and felt fortunate that we could have that experience.  Just a perk of the job, I guess! 

Grace (aged 3 1/2) gets a ride from Luke (20 months) - -what a little stud! 

P.S. -- I'm SORRY it has been SO long since my last blog entry!  It was a busy couple months getting the pumpkin patch ready for our Sept. 18 opening, but things have settled into a pattern now and I hope to blog more often.  This Sunday is our Fifth Anniversary Bash, celebrating the day we first opened to the public (Oct. 1, 2005).  Here's a complete listing of our upcoming events.  The Pumpkin Festival continues through Halloween.  Hope to see you soon at the farm!

Oct. 3 – Five Year Anniversary Bash! Celebrate the fifth-anniversary of our opening day with free treats, face painters, and a jump-in from the Lincoln Sport Parachute Club!

Oct. 9 – Doggy Day. Bring your canine friends (on their leashes, please) for a day at the farm.  Doggy admission is $4.00 and proceeds will be donated to the Capital Humane Society.  Volunteers from the CHS will be on-site from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. with adoptable dogs and information. Dog treats and water dishes will be provided.

Oct. 16 – Ag Day.  Get up close and personal with agriculture!   We will again be partnering with the Conestoga H.S. Future Farmers of America (FFA) to bring you a day filled with agricultural demonstrations, fun farm-themed contests and activities, lots of animals, and many hands-on learning opportunities!

Oct. 30 – Goblin’s Egg Hunt.  The fun begins at 10:30 a.m. with our third-annual hunt (open to children ages 12 & under).  Be there early as the hunt will begin promptly at 10:30. Bring a sack or basket and join the fun!

Oct. 31 – Halloween Party. Children in costume receive a Trick-or-Treat goody bag.  HUGE pumpkin sales and season-end specials in the gift shop! 

Yesterday was an exciting day, as we harvested the first fruits of this year's labors.  Our county fair is this week so we gathered up our contenders.  We ended up with nine entries between the two of us:  mini pumpkins, small gourds, one large pumpkin, an apple gourd, and the "monsters"--two Green Cushaw squash and two enormous and somewhat freaky-looking snake gourds.  It's fun and exciting to make the first harvest, but man are the pumpkin vines and leaves prickly this time of year!  My legs and arms are a scratchy mess!

Over the weekend Terry built permanent wooden benches on the hayrack.  This should be a safer, more comfortable ride for our guests, not to mention much less messy than the previous straw bale seats.  It's been extremely hot and humid lately, so we've been trying to do projects we can work on in the shade or indoors, including shopping for (almost) all of the rest of the materials we'll need to build the goat pens, chicken enclosures, and a new fence in the barnyard.  Most of the gift shop merchandise is in, including some cute and funny Girl Power/Witchy Woman decor pieces. 

It's crazy how fast it all starts rollin' this time of year!  Watch for our ads (thanks to a grant from Nebraska Tourism) in Lincoln Kids! newspaper, Nebraska Life magazine, and the Omaha-area's "Let's Go" magazine soon.  Those of you who attend the Cass County fair can pick up our new brochures at the Scenic Weeping Water Valley Association's booth.  We'll also be in the parade Saturday evening.

Teachers are starting to think ahead toward fall field trips and our calendar is beginning to fill up.  If you're interested in a field trip, birthday party, or campfire party this fall, call or email us and we'll get you on the schedule.  We hope to see you soon at the farm!

Summer projects are in full swing, and we had a busy and productive three-day weekend.  I'm happy to report that the barn painting project is now done!  The north and east sides of the Pumpkin Barn & Gift Shop, and the west wall of the animal barn, are now sporting fresh red paint.  The other sides of these buildings have red tin siding so (fortunately) don't ever have to be painted.  Terry is a great painter, but I always seem to make a big mess of myself.

Also completed is the gourd garden project.  The final touches went onto the raised planter bed/bench.  The tunnel and wall panels have been finished for a few weeks and the gourds are growing quickly.  Soon they'll start their climb over the tunnel and walls and our vision of a living walled garden will become a reality.  We're really excited about this project!

Sunday was spent mowing, weed-whacking, taking care of a couple horse-related tasks, and weeding and spraying bugs in the pumpkin patches.  We even found time this weekend for church services and a wedding!  We don't do much relaxing this time of year, but enjoy staying active and putting our hearts into what we do.  We're continually working on improving virtually every corner of the farm and hope these many small touches will add up to an ideal fall experience for our customers!  Sixty Days 'Til Pumpkin Festival 2010! 

WOW!  Have we had a lot of rain lately!!  Since noon on Sunday we've received over 7 inches of rain -- 5+ inches of it Sunday evening.  Between flashes of lightning I could see what looked like a river flowing through the southwest pumpkin patch, and I was sure most of our plants were doomed.  That's the U-Pick patch, too, probably our most important field.  When daylight rolled around and we were able to get out and survey the damage, it wasn't nearly as bad as I'd feared.  We're hopeful that most of the plants will survive and we can replant some short-season varieties in the areas that were washed out.

Our large nature trail bridge washed half a mile and ended up across the road in the neighbors' ditch.  It took out part of the electric fence around the cow pasture on its way through, and my dad called at 6:30 a.m. Monday to tell us that Fern, Molly and Alice were out in the road.  One of our neighbors happened by and helped Terry herd them back home.  The big bridge wasn't too damaged, and after a search we found the smaller bridge buried in debris in the pasture.  By the end of the day yesterday life was pretty much back to normal and we consider ourselves lucky.  There has been a lot of flooding throughout eastern Nebraska (and across the entire Midwest) and we send our thoughts out to all those dealing with real destruction and devastation.

We're looking forward to dryer conditions and getting back out in the dirt.  Our next project will be starting to build the structures for our new gourd garden.  There is also (always!) weeding to be done, and I may start ordering a bit of merchandise for the gift shop soon.  Its hard to believe, but there's less than 3 months until we open for the Pumpkin Festival!

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