Archive for September, 2009

Sept. 24, 2009

Bison Farm kittens

I make lists. I plan to get many things done during the day, but most people would not believe how busy our “life in the pasture” is.  Plus, our maze season starts in two days.

I had already planned my theme yesterday morning for today’s newsletter, and thought I could whip it together before today’s lunch.

But now I’ve forgotten what it was because so much has happened in the past 24 hours.

Besides loading and unloading lots of cases of pop, bottled water, and concessions supplies last night and this morning, I had a flat tire, many phone calls, more school bookings, and people stopping in to buy pumpkins. Luckily Jim got the tire fixed and Donna visited with the customers.

But sometimes a change of plans makes life more interesting.

For example- finding two kittens behind the shop. (That story, and the kittens ride to town and back would have been a newsletter by itself.)

And then special friends that raised our orphaned calf four years ago surprised me this afternoon. They had moved to North Carolina and came back for a visit. We spent two hours catching up and visiting the buffalo herd.

And then friends from Texas that make gloves, hats, and rugs out of buffalo hair stopped for a couple of hours on their way to Custer State Park’s fall roundup. (I have some fabulous new items of theirs I’ll get on the website once we get the maze season rolling.)

So, I haven’t even looked at today’s list yet, but it will still be there tomorrow, along with our first school field trip, more phone calls, and more unexpected adventures.

Sept. 18, 2009

Smoky Hill Bison's trebuchet

We’re down to the final days before we open our maze season. Last Saturday we had staff in to start moving activities into place, and mowing, weeding and cleaning. 
 
Signs were painted and put up, little red wagons repaired and put in line for customers to use to haul pumpkins in from the patch, the corn box filled with shelled corn… just numerous fun things for people to do besides the maze and pumpkin patch.
 
We cooked buffalo burgers and had a picnic on the porch so everyone got to know each other, and Verne and I went over important information pertaining to the six weeks of fun we provide our guests.
 
It’s always fun to see certain things come out of storage, like the big trebuchet that Verne built to sling pumpkins across the pasture. (We have pumpkin vines all over the pasture because it.) And the K-State and KU targets that twirl around when the corn cannon ammunition (ears of corn) hits one of them.
 
We have more things to do this weekend to get ready, and then we’re open to the public on the 26th.

Sept. 10, 2009

Smoky Hill Bison's Tube Swing

Verne’s newest attraction is built and ready for the maze season. It’s a tube swing! Look like fun? This family pictured, who stopped by the Visitors Center were the first to try it out. They approved it and really got it moving. Students will try to squeeze their whole class on it at once, so Verne built it strong and long.
 
We’re working around wet weather this week but the rains are supposed to clear by the weekend.
 
On Saturday we’re having a work day and an employee party in the evening. That way the 20+ fall employees can meet each other and learn their way around the farm’s activities. It takes a lot of people to be sure our customers have a good time, good food, and good memories during the fall season.
 
Oh! Oh! FedEx just delivered the giant spider rope net we’ll install for the kids to climb on, the fruit butters from Treehouse Berry Farm, AND the Caramel Cobs! I haven’t had one of these soft and chewy caramel popcorn treats since last fall, so I’m munching on one while writing this newsletter.

Sept. 3, 2009

Kansas sunflower field near Smoky Hill Bison Farm

We have people driving into the Visitors Center wondering where the sunflowers are. Tourists expect sunflowers to be blooming across the state all summer long, but actually they are just starting now.
 
Wild sunflowers bloom where ever they may have been sown by birds spreading their seed. You see them along the roadside in both ditches and fields. The flowers grow in clusters and the stalks can reach five to seven feet tall.
 
Cultivated fields of both oil and confectionery sunflowers are blooming now too. We have some fields in Central Kansas but they are more dominant in the western part of the state.
 
I drive by three fields on my way to Lindsborg, and it’s been fun to watch the development of the big sunflower heads. The buds on four foot stalks follow the sun, so they are always facing the same direction in the fields. When they flower, then the heads stop moving and always face the east as the seeds develop.
 
Right now the flowers feature brilliant yellow petals. Then they will fade, the heads dropping to ripen their seeds. In late fall a combine will harvest the seeds by stripping them off the dried heads. The seed will be hauled by truck to a grain elevator, and later transported to a plant to be cleaned and packaged if the seeds are for eating, or crushed to be made into sunflower oil.