Planting & Harvesting
Planning
Our “planning” for the planting season begins in November and December of the previous year. All summer veggie seeds and pumpkin seeds are ordered by the 2nd week of January to ensure that we receive the varieties that best fit our soils and climate.
Our commercial seed catalogues come about the end of October, and even though we may be picking the last of the pumpkins and squash, we must begin researching new varieties for the following year. Thousands of seeds begin arriving the first of February, and for several weeks it’s just like Christmas when the UPS truck pulls into the driveway! All orders must be verified, and then the sorting begins!
Garden seeds get organized by veggie and variety, along with the flowers and sweet corn seed. Pumpkins are simply organized into small, medium, and large. Treated seeds and untreated seeds. Heirloom squash seeds must be separated from hybrid seeds.
FarMore treated seeds must be separated from traditional seeds. Gourds are sorted according to size and variety, and the planting maps are begun.
Fresh Veggies
Fresher tastes best! That’s the homegrown difference! Fresh produce provides more nutritional value and leaves a smaller carbon footprint, which makes our environment healthier as well. We have a large assortment of homegrown vegetables available seasonally each spring/summer straight from our garden as well as from additional local farms and producers.
Fall Harvest
After the majority of the veggies are in the ground, planting begins for our fall harvest. Each year we plant roughly 125+ different varieties of pumpkins, squash, and gourds. This makes us one of the LARGEST pumpkin growers in the tri-state area!
The planting process takes us approximately two days and is done by hand while being pulled by our specially designed pumpkin planted. Not too long after our pumpkins are planted is when our attention turns to the planting our large 12-acre corn maze. The maze is cross planted and allowed to grow a few inches before the marking and cutting of the maze begins.
No GPS here. The entire maze is marked, sprayed and cut all by hand. Maintenance of the maze is never ending throughout the summer months to ensure that the paths are safe and ready to go by the first of September.
Pollination
By June, our squash and pumpkin crops are on their way with lengthy vines and beautiful yellow and white flowers. To help with the pollination process, we bring in bees from local beekeepers Ray and Dave Tull from Donnellson.
We strive to have one beehive per acre with each hive containing between 40,000-45,000 bees. They are very important piece to the puzzle to having a successful crop. Without the bees’ help, we would only have a fraction of the produce we harvest each year.
After pollination occurs, the pumpkins/squash start growing and within 45 days, some of our first product is ready to be picked. All 40 acres of pumpkins, squash, and gourds are then hand-picked from the field.