Bishop s PumpkinVine Line VOL. 20 • ISSUE 4 SEPTEMBER 2010

PRSRT STDUS POSTAGE PAID

Wheatland, CA95692

Permit No. 18

BISHOP’S PUMPKIN FARM1415 Pumpkin Lane • Wheatland, CA 95692530-633-2568www.bishopspumpkinfarm.com

The Bishops have been fans of the Sacramento Kings since the team moved to Sacramento in 1985. It was certainly a milestone for the entire Sacramento region to get our first and still only major level team. It was that first season when Mom and Dad’s insurance agent gave them tickets to a game. When they arrived at the original ARCO Arena in the old farm pickup, they were surprised to find their tickets included VIP parking! They were even more excited when they discovered the tickets were for a luxury box with complimentary refreshments! Mom was hooked and has been an avid Kings fan ever since. She was loyal through the lean years and got really vocal when the Kings went deep into the Playoffs. She had us all on board to feel the agony of the series loss to that yellow team in 2002. The 2009-10 season has brought renewed hope for all of us. Rookie of the Year Tyreke Evans is surely the most exciting player to watch in the NBA. All

of the other young guys are great as well and the recent off-season acquisi-tions by the team have me excited. I am confident that this will be the year for a Kings return to the Playoffs and perhaps a championship will be ours in the near future! The theme for our corn maze chang-es every year. This year, we thought, how about doing something to show our loyal support for the Kings? After all, what can prove you are a fan more than spelling it out in a corn field? Before we did it, we thought we had better contact the Kings organization and get their permission. Well, darned if the first person we talked to wasn’t a fan of ours! As it turned out, the Kings didn’t just grant permission, they wanted to get in and help! They have assisted with the maze design, offered prizes for the maze and will be helping out a bunch with the theme of the maze, as well. They are even producing a photo gallery documenting the making of the maze! We have had a chance to meet and

Corn Maze to Celebrate Sacramento Kings

work with some great people in a terrific organization. If possible, I think I have become an even bigger fan. The thing that excites me the most about working with the Kings is what the Kings want to do for visitors to our farm. All maze-goers will have a chance to enter exclusive drawings for Kings prizes! For your chance to win, simply follow the instructions on the signs in the maze to send a text to the Kings. In order to re-ceive clues for navigating the maze, you

will also need your cell phone. No, you won’t need to dial 911, but you can use it to text for clues! This year, I believe the maze will just be plain fun! Okay, I know what you are thinking. Usually, this is when I would show you a picture of the maze design. Sorry, can’t do it this year! It’s a secret. We promised the Kings we wouldn’t reveal it until opening day. The only way to get a look before that would be to fly over it. Oops, I hope I haven’t given anyone any ideas!

Planting the corn maze

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Dad noticed pumpkin picking made folks thirsty and hungry so we started selling cans of soda and soon popcorn and hot dogs. Mom would watch for sales on the soda and then we’d go load up the sta-tion wagon once or twice and that would get us through the season. The county came along around that time to let us know that selling pies baked in your home kitchen was against the rules. We had to quit that until 1981 when Dad and I built a little bakery on the farm. As a fifteen year old, this was my first big chance as a carpenter but the one thing I knew was I had to bring my radio to the job site. My favorite memory of that time was of Dad getting re-ally sick of John Cou-gar singing

about Jack and Diane. Dad turned the cleaver over to one of Mom’s helpers when the bakery opened but we kept us-ing our own

pumpkins. By this time we had settled on a favorite pumpkin to use. It’s an heirloom variety called “Winter Luxury.” It is rather finicky to grow and nearly impossible to find seed for but it has no rivals for natural sweetness and smooth-ness of flesh. Besides that, it just plain tastes better than all the rest. The bakery, the hot dogs and such seemed to help us attract more visitors and by the time I left for college in 1984, Dad had quit most of his other enter-prises and he and Mom started devoting their full attention to the pumpkin farm. They would add the train in 1991 and crank up the cider mill in 1992. Around that time they also started making our

A Little About Us Eighth Annual Pumpkin Run/Walk is September 26th The American Red Cross Three Rivers chapter will once again be holding a 5k Fun Run/Walk on Sunday, September 26th. Participants always seem to enjoy the journey through the pumpkin fields and walnut orchards. It has become a tradition for many active families. The event will start at 9:30am with check in starting at 8:30am. You can preregister by calling the Red Cross at 530-673-1460; ask for Chris-tina. Pre-registration must be received by Friday, September 10th, 2010. Cost is $20 per adult or $10 per child under 13 for early registration, which includes a T-shirt. On the day of the event, the cost will be $25/ adult or $15/ child.

My mother started writing this letter twenty or so years ago and mailing it out to folks who had signed up for it when they were out for a visit. I took it over about ten years ago and now many of you are receiving it in your local paper. It oc-curred to me that some of you might not know anything about us! Mom and Dad bought our little farm on the outskirts of Wheatland in 1971. It was in a rather run down condition but they were attracted by the huge old poplar and cork oak trees lining the drive and the old barns, which had obvi-ously been quite impressive in an earlier time. Dad rented more land around us and farmed corn, beans, and alfalfa. There was a small field in front of the house, however, that he didn’t have time to deal with that first summer. Mom had been a teacher and knew that a field trip to a farm would be a great experience for kids. So in the spring of 1973, she planted an acre or so of pumpkins with the idea of inviting the local schools out for a field trip in October. A few came that year and some brought parents back with them on the weekend. We penned up some of our farm animals to pet, put an old farm wagon to work giving hayrides around the field and my brother and I saddled our ponies and tied them to a tree for self service pony rides. In the next year or two, Mom started baking pumpkin pies to sell. Dad used an old cleaver that Grandpa had made in college to chop up our own pumpkins for the baking. He told Mom that when people come out to a farm for a pie, they aren’t looking for something that came from a can. I don’t think any of us knew it then but I’ve come to believe that we all still have something deep within us that drives us to harvest in the fall. No matter how many generations we are removed from the farm, we still want to get out in the field and get our hands dirty at that time of year. Business grew a little every year and by the late ‘70s, Mom and Dad employed a labor force of six: myself, my brother, my sister, and three of our grandparents.

signature hand dipped corn dogs and cooking up homemade caramel for our famous caramel apples. I returned to the business in 1995. Since then we have added Coyote Moun-tain, our cornfield maze, pig racing, and The Hamburger Farm among other things. We also built Pigadeli Square on the farm in 2007. There you will find those famous corn dogs along with pizza, hamburgers, garlic fries, salads, chimichangas, chicken, ice cream and of course our famous saucy Tri-Tip sand-wich. Today we have grown to be the world’s largest U-Pick pumpkin farm. This year we have 72 acres planted with over 30 varieties of pumpkins and another 30 or so varieties of ornamental and edible gourds and squash. The bak-ery has been expanded several times but we’re still using the Winter Luxury in our pumpkin pies. We did put the old cleaver away however, in favor of some special equipment we built for the job. You can watch the pumpkin chopping, cleaning, and cooking go on through the windows in the cider mill. Mom and Dad moved off the farm and mostly retired a few years ago. Dad still helps out wherever needed in the fall. Mom keeps our books and still super-vises her bakery. We can’t get it all done just with family any more. My wife Ann and I work full time and our kids help out when they can but last fall we hired over 300 temporary farmers to assist our year around staff of three. So that’s our story, if you hadn’t heard it before. You probably won’t see or hear any advertising about us. We choose to just send out this little letter each year and hope that the folks who have found us will tell a few more. We try our best to please each of our guests so consider coming out to Bishop’s Pumpkin Farm for this fall’s harvest. Join the other fami-lies that make the trip out to Wheatland when the days start getting shorter and that urge to prepare for winter kicks in.

PUMPKIN VINE LINE 3Fresh Flowers for the cutting! Last year’s addition of the Sunflower Labyrinth was one of the more satisfying im-provements we have ever made. My favorite memory from the 2009 harvest was watching a young family walking through the farm with their three-ish aged daughter. She wasn’t paying attention to where they were going because she couldn’t take her eyes off of her “flou-a” as she called it. I have not seen bigger smiles on two parent’s faces. Our goal of creating something beautiful and peaceful on that little corner of the farm ended up spreading beauty all over the farm as people walked around with their flou-as. I can’t find the words to describe how it makes me feel to see people enjoying the beauty of something we have coaxed from the earth. In my mind’s eye, I can see these flou-as sitting on kitchen tables all around, reminding those who harvested them of their visit to our farm. A good thing can always get better and the Sunflower Labyrinth is no exception. This winter, we added cobblestones to line the paths and we have spread out our plant-ings to ensure the beauty lasts throughout the season. We should have at least 50,000 blooms this year. You won’t want to miss it. After the success of the sunflowers, we thought, why not plant more flowers for the fall harvest? So this year, in the field where the Hamburger Farm is located each spring, we have planted a variety of flowers for the cutting. You will be able to go out into the field and cut your very own bouquet. Or, we will have fresh bouquets ready to go at least on weekends. Perhaps the best part of all this is we will have agriculture students from Wheatland’s Bear River Middle School working with the flowers. The students will be here on weekends to prepare bouquets and assist you with cutting your own. For their efforts, we will be donating 25% of the flower sales to the Bear River agriculture program. This program, which we are so lucky to have in our community, provides a rare opportunity for middle school aged stu-dents to grow themselves by growing things. I have had the chance to see the pride in these kid’s faces when they talk about what they are learning. With all of the budget cuts facing schools these days, we need to do our part to be sure programs like this stay around. So when you come out to pick your pumpkins don’t forget to harvest some flou-as at the same time. This advice comes to you from a forty something year old guy who only recently discovered how important it is to stop and smell the flou-as now and then.

Have you ever had a real apple dumpling? I never had and probably couldn’t have described one exactly. A couple of years ago, Ann and I were visit-ing Lancaster County, PA and were served real apple dumplings. Wow. Why have we lost the simple recipes of our grand-mothers? So last winter we all got our heads together, did some experimenting, and tested the results at a charity dinner. We have a winner. Our apple dumpling is so simple and yet so utterly decadent. We start with a Northern California Fuji apple fresh from the orchard. We peel it and core it, fill the center with brown sugar, cinnamon, and butter. Then we wrap it with our own homemade pie dough, bake it until the crust is golden and then serve it warm. As if that isn’t enough, we drizzle it with our own spe-cial apple cider sauce. Can you picture it? Can you taste it in your mind?

Also new this fall will be a Deep Dish Apple Pie. We have of course made a French Apple Pie forever and it is perhaps our most popular pie. The deep dish will have no bottom crust but will be crammed full of apples and have an extra thick top crust. It is made especially for those who seek out apple pie for the fruit soaked pastry. It’s also a little smaller around than our regular 10” pies and not so intimidating for those not feeding an army at home. Don’t worry. All of the old bakery standards are still here. Our made-from-scratch Fresh Pumpkin, Walnut, Lemon Walnut, and Pumpkin Walnut pies; the apple and pumpkin cakes and breads; the cookies and muffins; and of course the caramel apples and popcorn balls will be made fresh every day. Mrs. B will be here to make sure it all is baked to her standards.

New items in the BakeryMrs. B’s Famous Pumpkin Apple Muffins

887 Onstott Road • Yuba City, California 95991

Store: 530.673.3555Fax: 530.674.8526

BEAR RIVERS U P P L Y , I N C

218 Pleasant Grove Road • Rio Oso, CA 95674 bearriversupply.com

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New Hours This YearDue to popular demand, we have decided to extend our hours this year.

From Opening Day on September 25th through September 30th, we will be open from 9am until 6pm.

From October 1st through October 31st, the farm will be open from 9am until 7pm or dusk.

Checking Sprinklers This article was authored by my daughter Meghan Bishop, now a sophomore at Cal Poly – San Luis Obispo When I was four, my dad owned a little yellow motorcycle. I would wrap my little arms around his tummy (no small feat, if you know my Dad) and ride to the farm with him. We would go out to the fields and check on our pumpkins. Now 14 years later on an occasional summer evening, I ride beside my dad in his Kawasaki Mule, and check on those ever growing fields. After a long day at my summer job, it’s fun to go with him to the farm and drive around, checking water and the growth of our “punkies,” as we like to call them. He thinks I don’t know what will happen when we find a plugged sprinkler. Of course, I do know he is going to use one of his standard tricks to get me wet. You can never go out to the fields and come back clean and dry when you’re with my dad. Sometimes he blames it on mechanical troubles: “Oh the mule’s not running right” he says, right when the sprinkler is headed our way. Or he pretends to need my opinion: “I think this one is working, what do you think?” as he lets the sprinkler give me a shower. Sometimes we just race down a line of sprinklers, and find out which ones are pointing our way as we pass – kind of a sprinkler roulette. I’ve seen all of his tricks before; I just don’t know which ones he will pull out for this particular evening. I giggle my way through the field. Even though I’m growing up and the fields continue to get bigger, I will always enjoy the summer evenings next to my dad amongst our beloved punkies. So my challenge to all of our guests this year: go out to the fields and make some life long memories. Pick out that tall skinny one, the short fat one, or the perfect round pumpkin. Find the biggest pumpkin and make your dad carry it, find the pumpkin that will light up your Halloween night and make the best Jack O’ Lantern on the block.

Wayne Bishop with daughter MeghanEmployee Scholarships One of the great pleasures of our farm is that it allows us to offer jobs to so many young people. Each year we select a few of these students for a scholarship which we hope will offer a little boost for their continuing educations. This year’s winners are exceptional as usual. This year we awarded scholarships to two students from East Nicolas High School. Courtney McCartney worked for us for three years at different jobs includ-ing a stint as Jenny Knowswine, pig racing announcer. She is attending California State University, Sacramento with the goal of becoming an elementary school teacher. Charissa Guynes was our other winner. She worked three years as a cashier/salesperson in our cider mill. She is also attending Sac State with the goal of entering a career in the medical field. We are confident both of these young ladies will be successful and wish them both well.

Follow us on

For the past few years, I have been a curious observer as my kids, now aged 18, 21, and 24, rode the wave of social media. Like many parents, I’m sure, I didn’t quite get why anyone would want to bare their souls to the world in this way. Then my wife joined in. Ann started her Facebook page a few months ago and I’ll admit I have enjoyed hearing up-dates through her about what our friends are up to. I’m still not ready to put myself out there but we agreed she should start a page for Bishop’s Pumpkin Farm. Our daughter Meghan set it up for us; it was so much easier to just let her do it. Ann is posting to the page regularly and the list of people who “like” us is grow-ing steadily. It still seems a little weird. However, I must admit that I have taken photos and made suggestions for things to post. We always get lots of questions about how the pumpkins are grown so I thought it might be fun to post some things along those lines. OMG. You can find our Facebook page by going to our website, www.bishopspumpkinfarm.com, and clicking on the Facebook link.

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Temporary Farmers For this fall’s harvest, we have hired over three hundred temporary farmers. Many of them are young people work-ing at their first jobs. Others are adults working full or part time for a little extra income before the holiday season. We even have some folks who have retired but have fun working here in the fall. A few families have made a tradition of working together at the farm. If you are interested in being a Bishop’s Pumpkin Farm temporary farmer next year, take a look at our website or come on out the first week of August.

The last two pumpkin crops have been the best we’ve ever had. Believe me, I feel the pressure to try and repeat it. It has been a different kind of year already. The coolest spring I can remember fi-nally turned to summer late in June, just in time for us to start planting. Believe it or not, it only takes 80 to 100 days to grow a pumpkin from seed, even the two hundred pounders. Something about this years weather seemed to be healthy for varmints. I have never seen so many field mice and gophers who like to eat pump-kin seeds and rabbits and crows who like to eat seedlings. Somehow we managed to get through those early stages with minimal damage. The next battle to be waged is with the weeds. So far, we are winning that battle but there are usually a few who poke their ugly heads up near the end of the season. Still, they can’t keep me from believing we will one day beat them all.

Crop Looking Good

This year we are trying a fairly ad-vanced irrigation method on our largest pumpkins. We have drip irrigated them for several years but this year we put in a new system that is buried 10 inches under the field. This sort of drip is being used extensively by the big row crop farmers for several reasons. First, it saves a significant amount of water. By keeping the moisture well below the soil surface, evaporation losses can be almost com-pletely eliminated. Also, these systems distribute the water with almost perfect uniformity. This eliminates the need to over-irrigate some parts of the field in order to make sure nothing is under-irrigated. Energy savings are significant as well since drip systems run on much lower pressures than sprinklers. For us, we are hoping the biggest advantage of the drip will be in the control of the aforementioned weeds. The absence of moisture on the soil surface means that

the germination of weed seeds is mini-mal! The savings in time and tractor fuel spent on the weed battle has been huge. We will evaluate the return on our invest-ment after the harvest but so far I am excited to put more acres on drip in the future. With all of the attention different industries are getting for their efforts to go green, I really think farmers deserve a little credit here. As I mentioned elsewhere, Bishop’s Pumpkin Farm is the largest U-Pick pump-kin farm in the world. We have increased our acreage this year from 67 acres to 72. Absolutely none of our crop is wholesaled. We want to make sure our guests have a selection beyond imagination. We have also increased the number of varieties we plant. If you have never been out, or have but never boarded the free hayride to make the trek out to the fields, you are in for something special. Believe me, there is a pumpkin out there for everyone.

These pumpkins look happy under drip irrigation

Lic. No. 369747

FRANK WEBB CONSTRUCTION, INC.General Contractor

DEAN WEBB(530) 633-4072Mobile (530) 624-6200 1758 Oakley LaneFAX (530) 633-4007 Wheatland, CA 95692

ATTRACTIONS1. BPF Railroad – Ride this scaled down train through the jumbo pumpkin patch, past the pony pasture and the flower farm.2. Pony Rides – Young cowboys and cowgirls will pick out and rein their own ponies around the ring.3. Hay Rides – Free rides on our straw-filled wag-ons take your family to the pumpkin fields. You can wander over 72 acres of pumpkin fields!4. Coyote Mountain Mines – Slide down the mountain and pan for marbles.5. Corn Maze – Find your way through our cornfield maze. It’s 3½ acres of corny fun!6. Porko Arena – NASPIG Racing sponsored by:

7. Pond – Sit back and listen to bands on the deck stage or just enjoy the waterfall, butterflies and birds.8. Sunflower Labyrinth – Take a relaxing and healing walk through a labyrinth of sunflowers. Cut one of your own to take home.9. Flower Farm – Cut your own bouquet of flow-ers or select from those already cut. 25% of sales go to the Bear River Middle School agriculture program.10. Cider Mill Stage – A cool place to relax and enjoy the entertainment.11. Apple Orchard – Birthday parties held here.

PLAY AREAS12. Farmer Bill’s Barn – Play like the farm kids play; jump in the corn, climb to the loft, and slide into the hay.13. Tree House – Three levels of fun to slide or climb. Play firefighter on the wooden fire truck.14. Fort Alotafun – Take shelter from outlaws and banditos in this fort. 15. Great Pumpkin – Get your picture taken inside a pumpkin and play engineer on the “BPF Short Line” wooden train.16. Hay Jump – It’s hay, it’s bouncy, it’s good farm fun.17. Tire Climb – These big ol’ recycled tractor tires are great fun!

FARM ANIMALS18. Weeland Farm Animal Display – The animals have taken over this town. They’ve elected a mayor, established a school, hospital and church. Visit them here to feed and pet. You’ll also find Goatchalks where you can pick up a drink, animal feed or a souvenir.19. O.K. Corral – You will find a few more animals here but be careful not to get locked up in the local jail.

SHOPPING20. Gift Shop – Find the latest in fall, Christmas and general decorating and gifts for any occasion.21. Cider Mill – Watch apple pressing and peeling, pumpkin cooking, and shop for local specialty foods.

22. Fannie Annie’s Emporium – Purveyor of Fine Candies, unique Toys, and home-made fudge.23. Pumpkin Checkout – Pay for your pumpkins here. We have pumpkins from a half pound to two

hundred pounds. And they’re not just orange. We have red ones, white ones, and even blue ones.

FOOD24. Mrs. B’s Caramel Shop – Handmade caramel apples and popcorn balls.

25. PigaDeli Square – Tri-Tip and Burgers at the Tin Shed, Pizza and Salads at Jailhouse Pizza. Other shops featuring Churros, Garlic Fries, Corn Dogs, Hot Dogs, Ice Cream and much more.26. Mrs. B’s Country Bakery – Homemade pies, cakes, muffins, bread and cookies baked fresh in our ovens every day. We use our very own pumpkins and walnuts, and local apples. Follow your nose all the way here.27. Barnyard BBQ – Turkey legs and roasted corn. Open on busy weekends.

HISTORY28. Milk Barn – Cows were milked here in the

early 1900’s.29. Caboose – Southern Pacific car 1313

traveled through Wheatland from 1940-1980. It sits on tracks near the pond.

30. The Big Green Barn – The center portion of this barn was built in the late

1800’s and stored hay for more than a century. Come on in and sit down for

a picnic.31. Antique Tractors –

Check out Farmer Bill’s antique tractor collection.

FRANK WEBB CONSTRUCTION, INC.

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HW

Y 70

HWY 65

WHEATLAND RD

1st

FORTY M

ILE RD

The town of Wheatland was established in 1874 after flooding from the Bear River wiped out a small settlement that was just west of where Bishop’s Pumpkin Farm is now. The city grew quickly as agricul-ture started to replace mining as the economic engine in the area. Many of today’s farmers are descen-dants of those early settlers. Although the town has seen some growth in the past decade, Wheatland is still a small farming community. The greatest thing about little towns like this are the family owned restaurants and other businesses. While visiting Wheatland, consider a side trip to see what I mean. You won’t find a friendlier storekeeper or a meal served with more warmth.

WHEATLAND

GrillCity

1912 Hwy 65 Ste 210 Wheatland CA 95692

Breakfast & Lunch Tues.-Friday Saturday Sunday 7am-3pm 7am-2pm 8am-12pm CLOSED MONDAY

530-633-0140

Ish & Staci MedinaOwners

Ramon JohnsonOWNER

J & W AUTO SERVICEAir Conditioning • Brake Service

RadiatorsComplete Engine & Auto Repair

2587 Jasper LaneWheatland, CA 95692

633-4848

We want to make your gardening experience enjoyable

603 4th Street (on Hwy 65)Wheatland, CA 95692

530-633-4526 www.flowerhutnursery.com

Specializing in quality plants and

helpful staff.

Authentic Mexican Food

1920 Hwy 65, Suite 110Wheatland. CA

(530) 633-2911

TAQUERIA

MI PUEBLITO

(530) 633-25344505 Wheatland RoadWheatland, CA 95692

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FREETrain Ride

Get One Free Train Ride when you buy four.

Coupon valid through October 8, 2010

FREEPumpkinGet a Free $1.00 Pumpkin when you buy $10.00 or more in

pumpkins or other produce. While supplies last.

Coupon valid through October 8, 2010

From your Editor: As our thirty-eighth harvest approaches here on the farm, I find myself with a much more positive outlook than I had a year ago. I’m not sure the economy or the state of our nation has improved a whole lot in that time, but it doesn’t seem to have gotten any worse. Something occurred to me this morning, as I looked over our pumpkin fields at sunup. As a farmer and small businessman, I just don’t have any choice but to be an optimist. I must believe we will weather this storm as Americans have so many before. Like many small businesses in this country, we have never found much time for long range planning. We have rarely had a good plan for the next five days, let alone five years. We have always just tried to listen to our guests and provide the things you want. Some of things you want, however, require a little more planning and a whole lot more jumping of bureaucratic hurdles. This year, with my rediscovered optimism, I have been working on some long range projects we hope to complete over the next two or three years. I had hoped to be able to announce something concrete here in these pages but alas a few hurdles remain between us and the finish line. Hopefully next year I will be able to report some progress on these plans. I’d like to be one of the legions of small businesses that will lead our country forward in these times. We look forward to seeing you soon. Thank you for all of your support over the years.

The sun comes up on the pumpkin fields on an August morning.

MI PUEBLITO

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Pigadeli Square• The Tin Shed Bar-b-que Bishop’s Famous Saucy Tri-Tip Sandwich Hamburgers and Cheeseburgers with Bishops’ special sauce

• The Assayer’s Office Bishop’s Golden Hand Dipped Corn Dogs

• The General Store – open weekends only Bishop’s Secret Recipe Garlic Fries

• The Hotel Jalapeño – open weekends only Giant Bishop’s Tri-Tip or Chicken Chimichangas Fresh Made Churros

• Jailhouse Pizza Cheese and Pepperoni Pizzas Santé Fe Chicken Salad Taco Salad Wraps

• The Wild Rose Dairy Soft Serve Ice Cream Cones and Sundaes

• The Chuckwagon Café Hot Dogs, Chili Dogs, and Nachos

• Wacky Willy’s Shaved Ice Flavor Factory Mix and match from 24 flavors – from blueberry to bug juice!

Mrs. B’s Country Bakery• Pies Fresh Pumpkin – made from heirloom variety pumpkins grown here on the farm French Apple California Walnut Pumpkin Walnut Lemon Walnut Deep Dish Apple

• Cakes – with or without Mrs. B’s cream cheese frosting Pumpkin Choco-Pumpkin Apple

• All The Rest Pumpkin Apple Muffins Pumpkin Bread Apple Dumplings Cinnamon Rolls Cookies Homemade Caramel Apples Caramel Popcorn Balls

The Barnyard BBQ – open weekends after Oct. 1st Roasted Corn on the Cob Turkey Legs

Fanny Annie’s Fresh Homemade Fudge Assorted Taffy by the pound Other Unique and Fun Candies

Cider Mill Fresh Apple Cider Apple Cider Slushies

Bishop’s Pumpkin Farm Menu HighlightsMap out your eating adventure!

Alison SantiagoVice President

homespunyogurt@yahoo.comwww.homespunyogurt.com

$1 OFF on $3 purchase

395 South State Hwy 65Suite D

In the Safeway Complex

Lincoln, CA 95648

916.316.3943

PUMPKIN VINE LINE 11

Mrs. B’s Country Bakery• PiesFreshPumpkin–madefromheirloomvarietypumpkins grownhereonthefarmFrenchAppleCaliforniaWalnutPumpkinWalnutLemonWalnutDeepDishApple

• Cakes– with or without Mrs. B’s cream cheese frostingPumpkinChoco-PumpkinApple

• AllTheRestPumpkinAppleMuffinsPumpkinBreadAppleDumplingsCinnamonRolls Cookies HomemadeCaramelApples CaramelPopcornBalls

The Barnyard BBQ– open weekends after Oct. 1st RoastedCornontheCob TurkeyLegs

Fanny Annie’s FreshHomemadeFudge AssortedTaffybythepound OtherUniqueandFunCandies

Cider Mill FreshAppleCider AppleCiderSlushies

Whileourseventy-twoacresofpumpkinsseemslikealottous,weareactuallyquiteasmallfarm.Becauseofthat,wedon’tuseourtractorsenoughtojustifybuyingthembrandnew.Instead,welookforusedtractorsthathavesomelifeleftinthemandkeepthemforalongtime.Thisspringweretiredanoldfavorite. Thistractorisactuallyamemberofthefamily.ItisaJohnDeeremodel520purchasednewbymygrandfatherin1958.HeuseditonhisdairyfarmnorthofMarysville.Myuncleowneditforawhilebeforeweacquireditintheearly‘70s,rightaroundthetimeweplantedthefirstpumpkins.Sincethattime,thetractorhasperformednearlyeveryjobonthefarm.Thehourmeterbrokeacoupleofdecadesagobuttheold520surelyhastensofthou-sandsofhours.ItreceivedmoreoverhaulsthanIcancountandatleasttwofreshpaintjobs.ItwasthesecondtractorIlearnedtodriveandmyfavoriterightaway.The520’shandoperatedclutchworkedwellforalittleguywhohadtroublereachingafootclutch.IwasalsoprettysureIcouldpulljustaboutanythingwithit;ithad34horse-powerinitstwocylindergasengineafterall.Wehadanother520butthisonealwaysseemedtorunbetter,steerbetter,andlookbetter.Italsobecamethefavoriteofmanyofourhayridedriversovertheyears.Morethanonce,I’vehadtosettleanargumentoverwhowoulddrivethe“Cadillac”astheycalledit. Ofallthejobswedidwiththeold520,perhapsthemostnotablewaspumpkinplanting.Foratleastthirtyyears,everypumpkinseedthatwentinthegroundwasplantedbehindthat520.Itwasthelastjobthetractorheldonto,sincetheplanterandfertilizertankswerecustomfittoit.Theoldgirlgotalittlecantankerousaroundthetimeittunedfiftyandoftenrequiredsometinkeringbeforewecouldgettothefield.Partstokeephergoingwerebecomingmoreexpensiveandscarceallthetime.Allthingseventuallycometoend,Isuppose.In2010,theold520yieldedtheplantingdu-tiestoatractorthirty-sevenyearsyounger. Idon’texpectthe520toeverleavethisfarm.Mosttractorsofhervintagehavebeencutupfortheirhighqualityscrapiron.ShewouldalsobeaprizeforoneoftheMidwesterntractorcollectors,sincefew520scameequippedfromthefactorywithawidefrontaxlesuchasshehas.No,the520isstillamemberofthefamily,asIseeit.

Shewillstayinthebarnex-ceptforinthefall,whenshewilltakeherplaceamongstDad’sotheroldtractorsforyoutosee.Andwhoknows,maybeonceinawhilewe’llstartherupandletherpullahayridewagonaroundforoldtime’ssake.

Acoupleofyearsago,westartedanewbirthdaypartyprogramforthosefallbirthdayparties.Thefeedbackwasoverwhelminglypositiveandwearebusytakingsignupsforthisfall’sbirthdays.

Weofferaturnkeypartyincludingreservedtables,ahotdog

orpizzalunch,attractiontickets,parkingpasses,pumpkinsofcourse,andyourownpersonalfarmerhost.

Getmoredetailsatwww.bishopspumpkinfarm.comorcallthefarmat530-633-2568.Reserveyourpartyearly,becausespaceislimited.

A Notable Retirement

Birthday Parties

on the Farm

12 PUMPKIN VINE LINE

SACRAMENTO

TO MARYSVILLE

WHEATLAND

LINCOLN

ROCKLIN

MAP NOT TO SCALE

65

65

80

193

4th St

reet

BISHOP’S PUMPKIN FARM

Hours of Operation:Open every day!

September 25th through September 30th Sunday - Saturday: 9am to 6pm

October 1st through October 31st Sunday - Saturday: 9am to 7pm or dusk

BISHOP’S PUMPKIN FARM1415 Pumpkin Lane • Wheatland, CA 95692 • 530-633-2568

www.bishopspumpkinfarm.com

2010 Entertainment ScheduleSaturday, September 25th Opening Day

Thank you for joining us for this harvest season!

This Thanksgiving or Christmas,

let US do the baking for you.

All of Mrs. B’s favorites will be available along with

some special pies baked only for the holidays.

Pies must be ordered in advance,

so please give us a call up to

the day before you would like to pick up.

Ann has recently returned from a shop-ping trip and the gift shop is stocked with lots of exciting new things!

Sunday September 26th Red Cross 5K Fun Run: Check in at 8:30 a.m. • Event starts at 9:30 a.m.

Scarecrow Contest at 1:00 p.m.

Pond Stage Cider Mill Stage 10:45, 12:45 & 2:45 11:45, 1:45 & 3:45

— Saturday, October 2nd Thunderfoot Cloggers

— Sunday, October 3rd Wheatland High School Drum Line

Pyronauts Saturday, October 9th John Carter (Children’s singer)

Sourdough Slim Sunday, October 10th Wheatland High School Drum Line (Yodeling Cowboy)

Busy Bee Dogs Saturday, October 16th Francie Dillon 12, 2 & 4 p.m. (Children’s Storyteller)

located at Porko Arena

Busy Bee Dogs Sunday, October 17th Francie Dillon 12, 2 & 4 p.m (Children’s Storyteller)

located at Porko Arena

Lincoln Highway Saturday, October 23rd Amazing Harmonatras (Country with a little rock) (children’s singers)

John Carter (Children’s singer) Sunday, October 24th Amazing Harmonatras (children’s singers)

Rock Bottom Boys (Rockabilly) Saturday, October 30th —

— Sunday, October 31st Thunderfoot Cloggers