Yikes!  It's been a while since I've added a blog post.  I'm working today on overhauling our website.  I've been waiting for a rainy day, and today's the day.  We've been busy getting pumpkins planted, baling small square bales, mowing, and getting Orchard Station reopened for the season.  Lots going on amidst all the crazy things in the world right now.  We are truly feeling blessed to have the farm to "escape" to!

 Apples, pumpkins, donuts, oh my!  We have lots going on at the farm!  The apples have been picked and the pumpkins are ready to be picked.  The apple cider donuts are flying out of our new location in Elizabeth.  We are in full swing!  It's FALL!!!!

We are getting ready to plant sweet corn, enlarging the new orchard fence, awaiting more apple trees to be planted at the end of this month, working on rack cards, starting seedlings for the farmers market, updating our webpage, and more.  Yay for spring!

So I am going to say I am done updating the webpage for now...I have spent many hours (and consumed many cups of tea) this week working to tweak, delete, add and move things around until I can say I finally like it - you know it's not my chosen profession - lol!  Check it out and let me know what you think.  Not a masterpiece but it will do for now...especially since my house has now been trashed and I have hungry kids to feed...ah the price of art!  And here's a few gems from this fall that I had to sneak in...

Tis the season for updating webpages and social media accounts.  Looks like it's been a while since I last posted here - our Facebook page is way more updated.  So...

We had a great 2015 Pumpkin Patch Season with about 1900 visitors and we reached Bob Dittmar's goal of 1000 Likes on Facebook.  A huge thank you goes out to all our visitors, staff, volunteers and family!

We are now looking ahead to the 2016 seasons!  This winter we have been researching, learning, planning, and attending conferences.  Rick and Peg attended the Illinois Specialty Crop Conference in Springfield, IL.  Mike and I attended the Wisconsin Apple Growers Association Conference in the Wisconsin Dells.  We all learned lots and are ready to try out some of our newfound knowledge!

Sweet Corn is next - it's a good thing because I am down to one bag of frozen corn in the freezer!

This year at the Pumpkin Patch things may look a little different as we will need to rotate crops, so the pumpkins, corn, gourds, and ornamental corn will be in different places.  We are also hoping to add a new "pavilion" as well as some more activities.  And some more treats...caramel apples!  The planning and prep are in full swing - helps to think of hot apple cider and pumpkin donuts when it's dreary and snowy outside!

A couple of weeks ago, we pruned our 100 apple trees (in the rain).  We ordered around 500 more apple trees to be planted over the next couple of years.  We hope to have our first small "crop" of apples this fall!!!  Yay!

Keep checking Facebook for more updates!  Bring on spring...