Little Luke

We got a male jersey calf from a dairy in Fallon! His name is Luke, and he is so stinkin' cute! We actually got two calves at the dairy. They sell them really cheap because they aren't wanted like the females. The only thing is that they take them right off their moms, so they are weak and sometimes sick. It is a total chance whether they will live or not. So we do the best we can and give them a comfortable home in the barn and bottle feed them, hoping they will make it.
 One of the calves named Rex made it almost 2 weeks. Unfortunately, he took a turn for the worse and died. We were so sad, but we realize that sometimes death is part of what we have to deal with living on a farm. We are so thankful to still  have Luke, and hope he continues to thrive. Here is our oldest son feeding Luke.

When we first got him, we had to help him a lot with the bottle. We would put him in a "head lock" until he would latch on, then he would get the hang of it and suck on it. Now he guzzles a whole bottle really fast!

Spring Chicks!

We got 40 new chicks! They are now about 1 month old, and are growing fast! One of our sons was already running an egg business, and he got 10 new chicks. Then our twins decided they wanted to join his business, so they each bought 10 (with their birthday money). I got 10 to add to the family flock. Here are some pictures of them when some were only 3 days old, some were 1 1/2 weeks old.

These are the 3 day old ones. There are Buff Orpingtons, Barred Rocks, and White Leghorns.

So tiny.....

so fluffy....

and so cute! 

Look at those feet

These are the ones that were 1 1/2 weeks old, so only a week older than the others. Look how much bigger they are! They really grow fast, and a week makes a huge difference.

The boys are excited about raising these chicks, and about selling eggs. The chicks will start laying at the end of summer, so if you are interested in buying fresh eggs in the future leave a comment and we will contact you when they are available!

Expansion

This winter Cameron is adding a water line into the pumpkin patch field! We are going to expand the size of our pumpkin patch so we can grow more. Plus we will be planting more varieties of pumpkins, including luminas, cinderellas and some BIG ones.

New Additions to the Farm

We recently added 2 unique animals to our farm.  Please welcome Gandalf and Aragorn  - our Emus! (pronounced ee-moo or ee-mew)
Emus are very interesting birds.  They will eat just about anything, are very curious and like to play in water.  See the pictures below. 
Emus are from Austrailia and are the 2nd largest flightless bird, (the largest are Ostriches).  Emus are very friendly but their curious nature causes them to peck at most things (which is anoying if you happen to be in their pen fixing something).  They can run very long distances at a time and can sprint up to 31 mph. Emus have a nail on their toes, like a knife, which is used in kicking away predators.  They can go a long time without food, which is good because the boy emus will sit on the emu eggs until they hatch.

That is one big bird bath!

 

Sold out and closed for the season...

We had a tremendous turnout during October, and are so amazed by the support of our community! Thank you to all who came and enjoyed. We will definitely do this again next year, and yes, we will plant more pumpkins! We weren't sure what to expect, but we sold out of good pumpkins a week before we closed! So thanks to the Lattin Farm in Fallon, we were able to order some pumpkins from them to have enough for our last week. We again sold out of those by the end of Nevada Day, one of our busiest days! Here is the field pretty picked over.

And a special thanks to friends who helped work many hours to make it GREAT!

Jacob

Kalynn and Janelle

Connie

...and a few not pictured, Kelli and Summer - you guys are awesome! Of course my husband who did a ton of work behind the scenes, and our kids who were very hard working, helpful, and patient with our busy schedule!

So see you next year, and stay tuned for occasional farm updates!

We're Open!

We officially opened on Friday October 1st, but hosted a preview day for friends and family on Thursday.  We have had a great first few days, and everyone who has come has had a great time and made very positive comments! We hosted a field trip on Friday and it went really well. I am so happy when I see kids having a good time, and parents with smiles on their faces.  Thanks to all who helped us get this going!

Here is a little taste of some of the features and activities of our pumpkin patch.

Come on in!

A hay ride around the pumpkin patch

Dress up and coloring in the Art Barn

We have free face (and arm) painting on Saturdays from 11am-2pm

                                                                        by Summer Swanson

Sister in law Carrie on left and owner Natalie on right

Pumpkin prices vary by size

Customers enjoy being able to go out to the field to pick their own pumpkins right off the vine!

Kids love the corn play box!

Three of our four sons running the admission booth

Funny photo boards near the art barn

Shooting beans at carved pumpkins with sling shots!

Kids hay maze

A classic 1951 Ford 8-N

This way!

Lassoing activity

Feeding goats 

Come play in a teepee!

Harvest

Most of our pumpkins are ready! They vary in size and range from $1- $8.
Here's the kids picking some out for display in the barnyard and to get the bigger ones out of the "little pumpkin" section. Since the field is set up so you can pick your own off the vine, we wanted to keep the sizes in each section accurate with the pricing. The varieties we have this year are Small Sugar and Connecticut Field pumpkins. We are so excited that our patch is so full of beautiful pumpkins!