Kitchen Fails Turned Into Hits in the Pumpkin Patch!

 

One of our pumpkin displays inspired by the cover of Harris Seeds catalogue!
Cute model not for sale! 

Daughter Beth takes her inspiration from all kinds of things, and cool garage sale finds! Now back to our regularly scheduled story!

I cannot be interrupted while baking for the pumpkin patch, it seems.

I've messed up a couple of standard recipes when folks interrupt me, then I come back wondering did I put all six cups of flour into the cookies or only three?

That leads to chaos... and some goofy cookies! 

But sometimes it creates opportunities!

The latest mess up was a combination of errors where it started with no mistake...

But I thought I made a mistake! So that was enough for me to then outsmart myself, make the first half of the recipe in Mixer #2, and then blend it with recipe in Mixer #1 and then.... 

Baked the first trays.... 

Only to realize I'd messed up.

Christina repurposing a former chicken coop that's now a firewood crib for customers!

So I adjusted and did sample trays, but by the time I got the ratio back to where it needed to be, I had six trays of these thin, crispy chocolate chip cookies that TASTED GREAT!!!!! But they weren't our norm, so I couldn't just sell them as our norm.... so I cut them into pieces and fed the masses and they loved 'em! So that was a good outcome, right???

Then my new baking partner Jon (let me say in Jon's defense, this kitchen is crazy on fall weekends, because there's always food being made for workers and baking and approximately 7 children under age 11 running here and there).... messed up a peanut butter cookie recipe that is now going into the file as a total and saleable success.

He halved the butter by thinking it said two sticks, not two cups.

Oops! 

Unloading pumpkins from the trusty pickup truck with workers of all ages!

But they were so good that I melted chocolate frosting, dipped the cookie tops twice, cooled them and sold them and people loved them! 

And I probably don't have pics because it's so busy then that I'm never thinking of pictures. Silly me!!!

I'm actually making those cookies again today to prepare for our upcoming busy, busy, busy weekend.

At least we think it will be busy. Beautiful weather and pumpkins and cookies are an amazing thing!

A fun weekend afternoon! 

My fifth graders that visit me 3 days/week... We've got this! 

I am not above tackling folks for photos because this mom had THE LOOK! Great pants, the saddle bag purse, the hat, and the wrap-around sweater. :) And yes, she knows I'm posting it! 

My 5th graders and donkeys!!! 

We're gearing up for another busy weekend this week... gorgeous weather predicted and we've got pumpkins and squash to sell... and other fun things, too! We are so blessed with the joy this venture brings to people. The chance to be outside, in a big, open environment, masks or no masks (their choice) and good friends gathering to make all of this happen.

Our volunteer crew on the weekend is amazing and we couldn't make this happen without them. They are the backbone of this business... well, them and Farmer Dave! 

And right now, in the thick of this, we see these blessings and the joy this brings to so many, and we are already talking about how we can expand for next year. But first... we're going to enjoy the work of so many hands this year!

Every fall, multi-published, bestselling author Ruth Logan Herne dons her farm and baking hat and works on her Western New York pumpkin farm doing jams and cookies and schmoozing customers because she loves schmoozing people while writing books in the middle of the night... She'd love to hear from you! Email Ruthy at loganherne@gmail.com, visit her website ruthloganherne.com and friend Ruthy on Facebook! 

So blessed!

 This is a quick post today... 

Farm work is plentiful and I have writing to get done and this is our 'crunch' time, but I had to stop and just say how very blessed I am to be doing what I love and living where I live.

Sure, life is weird.

Pandemics do that, don't they?

But we've expanded display space so that folks can come to the farm masked-- or unmasked-- in our socially distant and outdoor environment, because we want that warmth of normal to extend to families and friends.

This was us, setting up, figuring out what to display, and where... At this point we had to move that firewood pile off the parking area, and visualize what pumpkins we had, where they would fit, and how to mix/blend/match colors. This year we have a lot of blue pumpkins, my fave! So this was the beginning and Beth runs the show on this part.... For this we query the guys who are in the fields... How many Cinderellas, Fairytales, Galeaux D'Esines, Cotton Candies, Casperitas, Bumpkins, etc. can we expect? If we have a clear idea of what's coming up over the next 5 weeks, we can plan display space accordingly. This year there are new pink pumpkins... the first planting didn't come well, but we continue planting for weeks and repeat plantings because sometimes timing is everything.  And the new pink pumpkins are gorgeous and should be ready in two weeks. We're so excited! 

Yesterday I had a family whose children hadn't been "out" in public since March.

I was so glad they picked us! Yay for them and us!

It's not just the thousands of beautiful pumpkins that draw folks in.

Here we've got Grizzly Bears (caramel-colored and bumpy!) Silver Edge, Flatso (a pie pumpkin with a flattened top that works for stacking!) white pie pumpkins, Field Trip pumpkins and in that back corner, big ivory Specters, white pumpkins with warts!!!!! 

And then there are the sixteen hundred chrysanthemums to attract business... and smiles!

It's kindly volunteers who help them build stacks, pick out pumpkins, set up displays or just buy the ones we already made! 

It's all good! 

Displays get built on wagons... there are two huge wagons now and a repurposed chicken coop, and three photo ops so families can pose for pictures and have a stunning display behind them... One on the front porch, one in the horseshoe and one in the expanded field leading out back... No cost pics is a wonderful thing!

Cookies! Carrot cake! Zucchini bread and jams, oh, the jams, all homemade here... strawberry rhubarb, triple berry, sour cherry and others. 

And fairy houses! The efforts of so many people pull this all together for us, and it offers an option of normal to so many people that haven't had much 'normal' since March.

God has blessed us with space. God has blessed us with strength. God has blessed us with knowledge of pumpkins! :) 

And we learn more every year.

When things got bad in the spring, we hunkered down, but if you're running a business, you can't stay hidden forever. Not if you love and value your business. Not if you believe in what you're doing.

We do it for your kids... and ours. These guys act as Fairy Hunt guides. Kids hunt for fairy houses and have a laminated check-off list (Mandy's idea...) and they get a .50 pumpkin for their efforts! So exciting! And these guys know where All The Houses Are! :) They're part of the fun, part of the family effort... and little kids relate to little kids! Emissaries! 

And I would love to see folks embrace the fresh air and open spaces of living outside big cities.... Come here! Buy a house, live, laugh and love.

We're not perfect, but we've got space and being socially distant in a time like this is no problem... not when your nearest neighbor is 500 feet away.

I would love to see a modern-day exodus from the cities to the wide open spaces of a massive country.

Like our pioneer ancestors braved the trek west, how fun it would be to see folks spread their wings and fly to a new normal? 

For us? For now? The new normal is pumpkins! :)

And people.

This extrovert is loving having people at the farm and we are so blessed to be able to do this wonderful thing.

As always, my faith and belief that God's in charge carries us on, carries us through, and it's worked so far.

Pumpkins, anyone?

Multi-published author Ruth Logan Herne is currently wearing her pumpkin farmer hat and is grateful to live in the land of the free because of the brave... where she can write books and grow pumpkins and live life to the full.... while drinking coffee and eating cookies. 

Visit her website at ruthloganherne.com, friend her on Facebook or email Ruthy at loganherne@gmail.com She'd love to talk with you!