Archive for October, 2009

Oct. 29, 2009  
 
We’ve had another busy week of school field trips and weekend attendance.
 
Sunday we had a light misty rain but attendance was still good. People brought umbrellas and went through the maze, rode the zip line, and the tram ride - and bought lots of buffalo chili and hot chocolate.
 
School field trips dodged the rainy days but the kids still enjoyed all the mud puddles they could find.
 
Today’s groups were canceled due to the rain we are currently getting (1.30 inches so far today) and tomorrow’s group canceled due to too many sick kids in their group. So, we are officially done with the 2009 school field trips.
 
We have one more weekend of our maze season and then it’s clean up time. We had a good season, but the staff is ready to take a break- before the Christmas shipping season starts.

Oct. 23, 2009

I did feel guilty not getting an email out to you all last week, but we’ve been having too much fun at the Bison Farm to come inside to the computer. 
 
We have a great staff to take care of everything and everyone, so everything has been running smoothly, but my time has been concentrating on the guests and their needs. (Lots of chili, hot chocolate, toilet paper, tram rides, etc…) 
 
And from the feedback from schools and families, they’ve all had a great time. Positive word of mouth is always the best advertisement!

Oct. 8, 2009

Last Saturday was our giant pumpkin contest with eight entries from Kansas and Nebraska.
 
They weighed between 459 and 88 lbs and we needed my cousin and his skid loader to unload and move the giants onto the scale.
 
The winning 459 lb. pumpkin was brought in by Diana Sigel of Cottonwood Falls. She won the 1st place ribbon plus $250 for her summer’s work of tending this giant pumpkin.
 
Our official judge was Don Svaty, our district’s Kansas state representative who helped Verne measure and weigh the pumpkins. Don has also raised and sold pumpkins on his farm, so I think he enjoyed his day on our farm.
 
It’s always a fun contest and we had a good crowd for the event.
 
More School Children
 
Our week has been busy with school field trips and people dropping by to pick pumpkins, but we’ve had rain today.  I’m catching up on emails and office work while the farm is quiet.
 
Yesterday we had a whole grade school come out for the day. They closed the building and brought the secretary along too!

Oct. 1, 2009

We had great weather and attendance for our first fall weekend, plus a great staff that took care of our customers. The attendance will grow each week so the first weekend is when everyone learns their job and task around the Bison Farm. 

Schools come out during the week for a day of learning and fun. I take them out on the prairie tram to see the herd and tell about the bison’s history and our special animals.

It’s fun to watch the kids, who are watching the buffalo enjoy their pumpkin treats. When we come back into the Visitors Center I also give a show-and-tell class about how the Native American’s used the bison.

Then it’s back outside to shoot the pumpkin slingshot, see the crop exhibit, and pick their pumpkin from the patch.

After their picnic lunch they play for an hour or two on all the activities around the farm.

Verne’s new tube swing has been a hit, but- the kids don’t sit on it like we thought they would. Instead they stand on it and swing! Kid’s imaginations will always surprise us.

We’ll have two to five schools and motor coach buses in per day through the month, so I hope the weather continues to stay pleasant.