Opening Weekend

Wow! What a great opening weekend at The Pumpkin Ranch. Our afternoons were busy! We got to meet so many people from our community. We made many new friends and were able to visit with friends we hadn't seen in years. What a joy! It was fun to see customers bring their treasures in from the field for everyone to ooo and ahhh over. There are some crazy big pumpkins out there!

If you bought stuff from us to decorate your business or home, I would love to see your creations. Please email pictures to me at info@thepumpkinranch.com.

There was a huge run on white pumpkins Sunday. One customer, who owns a cool shop in town, made this with them. Isn't that awesome? If you're in Winterset on Saturdays, check out Heavenly Habitat.

Thank you for supporting out little business! Come back to see Dave's latest creation...pumpkin sling shots. How good is your aim?

T-13 Hours

What a gorgeous day...actually, what a gorgeous week! Thankfully, as we prepare for opening day tomorrow, we are not battling the rain, wind and cold that we have battled in previous weeks. It has been nothing but sunshine! Which means, we are ready for opening day tomorrow. We look forward to seeing you all at The Pumpkins Ranch. We're open every weekend in October. See you soon!

Pumpkin Picking

In the last 10 days we have slowly started picking pumpkins. It seems like every time we start, we get more rain! However, our barn is getting full! But, there's still acres and acres left for all of you who want to come and pick your own. We open on Saturday, October 2nd and look forward to seeing you all!

3 Weeks and Counting...

It has been amazing how much work God has enabled two people to accomplish in the past month. Especially considering Dave and I have a 5 year old and 2 year old in-tow everywhere we go. We have built a full wall in the barn, a loft, cleaned the barn, prepared totes, hand painted signs, designed multiple marketing pieces and ads and, well, the list goes on! We are now just two weeks away from the start of pumpkin picking season and we are excited! The kids and I scouted pumpkins today and here are a few of the little treasures we found.

Every time Dave gets in the tractor, Cooper is right beside him. When the pumpkin blooms first started forming fruit, Cooper kept yelling, "Ball! More balls. Dad, beeketballs (basketballs), more, more!" He was sure the field was full of basketballs. Dave got him down from the tractor and had to explain what the orange balls were all about. Cooper now talks about the pumpkins all the time.

We look forward to seeing you all at The Pumpkin Ranch!

Apparently, We Need More Bees

I spend most of my summer days making sure the kids don't get stung by our abundant supply of wasps and bees. But, apparently, since we're growing 10 acres of pumpkins, we need more bees. The night before we left for the 4th of July weekend, we rented ourselves some bees. Yup, rented them. Yet another industry I knew nothing about. So, in the cover of darkness, the beekeeper and Dave set up some hives out in the pasture, next to the field. This is as close as I care to get for a picture. But, if you really squint and strain, you can see the white boxes in the distance. Maybe next year, when you come out to The Pumpkin Ranch for pumpkins, you can also buy some honey!

The Pumpkins are Running!

There is no faster way to get a 2 and 4 year old running to look out the window than to exclaim, "The pumpkins are running!" That is what Dave announced upon our return from the 4th of July weekend. Not only have our plants started blooming, but vines are now meandering their way into the rows or, as pumpkin people say, they're running.

I'm not sure if the kids were disappointed or relieved to hear that the pumpkins were not literally running!

The Corn Maze Begins....

After weeks of rain, it was finally dry enough for Dave to start cutting the corn maze. We had hoped to use the GPS to cut in a specific design, but the height of the corn makes that hard to do. But, you never know, it still may work! However, Dave said he felt lost in the 5 acres of corn while he was cutting the paths, so it should be a challenging maze! I don't know how 5 acres wouldn't be challenging! Here is the path that leads to the maze. Cooper loved it!

Where Do You Put 10 Acres of Pumpkins?

Well, in these, of course. We had an unexpected free weekend, so we got after the to-do list for The Pumpkin Ranch. Actually, Dave got busy. After a full day in the truck, he brought home two trailer loads of these. Cooper, of course, thought it was very cool that he had to check them out right when he got up Sunday morning (thus the jammies). Once pumpkins are picked, they are put in these "totes" and hauled to the barn. Unless we want to carry 10 acres of pumpkins to the barn one by one, these are quite necessary!

Planting Begins

We were able to start planting today! Very exciting and a little challenging, as anything is the first time you do it. Cooper rode shot-gun in the tractor with Dave and Layla and I hand planted the giants and staked varieties. We are so excited to see little green vines start poking out of the ground!

The "Magic" Day

We have heard from several of our friends who are in the pumpkin business, that May 15th is the "magic" day for planting. Well, looking at my calendar, I realize that day is quickly approaching. A pumpkin patch seems like a simple enough business to set up, but as fall gets closer, our list seems to get longer! The next items on the list are, of course, plant the pumpkins, gourds and squash. Once they are in, we will work on getting the barn ready for retail business. This will include building a very large wall. Should be interesting......I'll keep you posted!

....and here we go

Dave is putting the first fertilizer on the ground tonight, the seed has all arrived and it appears that the dream of The Pumpkin Ranch is starting.

Since arriving in beautiful Madison County 7 years ago, Dave and I have dreamed of building a family business together. One that would incorporate all the things we love; this land, our family, the crispness of fall and having fun! So, after much thought, prayer, planning and advice from those much wiser than us, we look forward to opening The Pumpkin Ranch this fall just outside of Winterset, IA. It will probably be a bumpy ride as we figure all of this out, but we're up for the adventure. Stay tuned........