wow…thats a lot of pumpkins!!
Archive for August, 2008
halloween
We sell traditional Mexican Day of the Dead decorations at the Pumpkin Patch
pumpkins
We pick the pumpkins and place them in a pile so that we can load them into a truck and take them to the Lincoln Gardens yard
Lincoln Gardens Pumpkin Patch
Did you know that our Pumpkin Patch is the largest in Saskatchewan? Lincoln Gardens has been providing a fun family halloween destination for well over 20 years!
We grow so many varieties of pumpkins from wee little ornamental ones to huge 100lb beauties. We also grow blue, white, tan, warty, and other interesting types that will make your family fall display extra fun.
In Saskatchewan it is impossible to offer a ‘u-pick’ pumpkin patch due to our weather conditions. Pumpkins can not handle any frost, so once the temperature dips in October pumpkins must be kept in a heated environment and not left out in the field. Each year the Lincoln Gardens yard and store are filled with pumpkins so that families can easily choose the one they want and take some great photos while they are here.
And if pumpkins are not enough fun for you we also have a haunted house, straw bale maze and children’s ‘not so haunted forest’. The pumpkin forest is suitable for the little ones, while the haunted house is more for kids over 8 years. Unlike some pumpkin patches, we don’t charge an entrance fee or admission to any of the pumpkin patch attractions.
So start planning your family visit to Lincoln’s Pumpkin Patch, if you have not been here before, we are certain that you will be surprised by the number of pumpkins we offer!
Pumpkin Patch is open daily from Mid-late September to October 31st.
Orange Cauliflower??
“Cheddar” Cauliflower is a variety that we have grown for the first time this year. The cauliflower is a deep yellow/orange colour and is packed with beta-carotene. This is what Territorial Seed Company has to say about it:
“An orange cauliflower! First discovered in the Bradford Marsh in Canada in 1970, Cheddar was smaller and less tasty than white cauliflower, but the color was alluring. Over the years, using conventional breeding techniques, it was crossed with a white variety to create a delicious, high vitamin content cauliflower. The curds contain approximately 25 times more beta carotene than white cauliflower. Excellent flavor and color whether eaten raw or cooked. The orange color will brighten any relish tray for sure.”
It sells faster than we can pick it!
School Tours & Birthday Parties
It is getting close to school tour season. We offer tours during the week days (not wednesday however). Groups must be accompanied while on the farm, so schools need to book in advance so that we are able to schedule staff to guide the group.
Children love coming during pumpkin season, and this year we will also have strawberries in September, so early groups could have a berry picking tour if they choose.
We do charge a fee for tours, $5 per child, and we require the group to bring enough adults to properly supervise the children while on the farm.
Usually we start the tour by looking at the river and then the closest fields to see what we grow on the farm and talk a little about the irrigation, planting, picking etc. Then we take the kids on a walk through the bush to see the bee hives and back to the farm store if they want to take pictures in the pumpkins and play in the maze.
Most schools don’t book enough time to really get a feel of the farm so it is a bit rushed. And really, most kids could care less, as long as they get to play in the maze.
We also offer birthday party bookings, and can arrange for games and crafts if the parent wants.
Call the farm at 731-3133 or visit the Corn Maiden Market websitefor more information
Harvest Notes ~ August 21st …Farm Fresh Corn!
Well, we have started the corn harvest. People have become used to getting corn year round from the large grocery stores that import corn from mexico or further. If you have forgotten what “just picked” corn tastes like we urge you to come to the farm and get your weekend meal fresh from the garden! We grow a number of varieties of corn, at the moment we are picking a bi-colour sugar enhanced and a super sweet corn. Both are delicious. And YES, this corn is grown HERE in the valley. We are constantly asked if we actually grow all of the vegetables. The answer is of course, this is a market garden!
We have also started the field grown tomato harvest. We have tomatoes available at the on farm market, and later in the season we will be bringing them into the RFM. Hot peppers are also ready.
Available this week:
This week:
String Beans (green & yellow)
Broccoli
Cauliflower
Potatoes
Carrots (orange, purple & white)
Kohlrabi
Beets (regular and cylinder)
Bunching onions (green & purple)
Cooking onions (walla walla, candy, spanish)
Herbs (dill, basil, tarragon, sage, thyme, oregano, mint)
Swiss Chard
Cabbage (green & purple)
Zucchini (green & yellow)
Cucumber (lrg, md, slicing)
tomato
jalapeno pepper, hot banana pepper, sweet banana pepper
CORN!!
wonderful world of wwoofing
Wow. What a summer so far. We have had a fantastic response from the wwoofer program! This summer we have had volunteers from Germany (2), Canada (2), and France. Each of the volunteers contributed special skills and interesting conversation for the week that they were here.
Being a wwoof host is not as easy as it would seem. We have to juggle meal times and work schedules with ourselves, our regular staff and the wwoofers. Making meals has been the biggest challenge, as we generally don’t finish working until 9 or 10 pm and most woofers are pretty hungry by that point!
But we have met some really interesting people and that has been worth it. The added bonus is that they have helped out around the farm and at farmers market, reducing some of our work load and filling in for labour shortages that exist in this province. We give each one a great big thank you!
For the remainder of August we will be taking break from hosting wwoofers, but will accept new volunteers later in September or October. If anyone is wondering what it is like to work at a pumpkin patch, well this would be your opportunity to find out. We would love if some artistically inclined volunteers showed up to help build the strawbale maze, haunted house and other attractions that we construct during October.
Cheers
Harvest Notes ~ August 12th
Well, as August is in full swing, pea season is now over. We know some people will be unhappy about this!
We have started the broccoli and cauliflower harvest. If you have never had locally grown broccoli or cauliflower I urge you to try it. The flavour is so much better than the bland, dry ones that are available from import growers in the regular grocery store. Even little kids have noticed the difference and their parents report that they will only eat our broccoli!
Actually, introducing vegetables to children is much easier if you bring them to the farm and let them see the colours and smell the aromas. I overheard a conversation with a small boy and his mother the other day. The mother asked what else they should get and the boy answered “carrots”. Mom said “we have carrots at home already”, to which the boy replied, holding a bunch of baby carrots up “we don’t have these carrots!”.
Available this week:
This week:
String Beans (green & yellow)
Broccoli
Cauliflower
Potatoes
Radish (red)
Carrots (orange, purple & white)
Lettuce (romain, curly leaf green & purple)
Kohlrabi
Beets
Bunching onions (green & purple)
Walla Walla onions (grown here)
Herbs (dill, basil, tarragon, sage, thyme, oregano, mint)
Swiss Chard
Cabbage (green & purple)
Zucchini (green & yellow)
Cucumber (lrg, md, slicing)
We also have field grown tomatoes from a small grower in BC, they are not ‘quite’ as good as ours, but they are still a really nice alternative to imported or greenhouse tomatoes. Our tomatoes will be about 10 days before they are ready to pick.
Annual Customer Appreciation Corn Roast
Okay, the question of the week is “when is the corn roast??”
Each year we put on a huge corn roast and hotdog day with the help of a local radio station, CKRM. The Station sends out some staff and an on-air host and the radio show is produced live from our location. We serve hotdogs and corn on the cob and it seems that everyone has a good time.
We have a huge turn-out for our customer appreciation events, and although we know there are a few folks (aka non-customers) who will drive for miles for a free hotdog, our regular customers appreciate the event and look forward to coming on that day.
So mark this day on your calendar:
August 24th from 10:30 – 3:30 (or until we run out of food!)
We have began partnering with local community organizations who come to the event to help serve the food and keep the grounds clean. The food and fun is free but we suggest making a donation towards the groups that come to help so that we can raise some funds for important causes at the same time. This year we are supporting the Inhlase Project, an initiative working with orphans and community workers in Swaziland, Southern Africa.
See you there!
