It’s been a year since I wrote in this space about the exciting topic of restrooms!  Exciting for me anyway because this project has been so complex from an engineering as well as a political perspective.  After so many years of planning, we completed construction of our new restrooms just in time for the opening of our Hamburger Farm season last week.  Our guests seem almost as excited as I am when they discover the absence of the blue “Tinkle Towers” and the beautiful new buildings in their place.

When I last wrote about the restrooms, I mentioned the large investment required and asked if you would give us some feedback in a survey.  We felt it was critically important to get your input because while the name “Bishop’s Pumpkin Farm” implies that the farm belongs to my family, we think the real owners of this farm are all of the families who visit and support us each fall.  We wanted to know first if you agreed that permanent restrooms would make the farm a better place and if so, how could we afford to build and maintain them?  Several hundred of you participated in the survey and your voice was clear.

A vast majority agreed that restrooms were needed.  What surprised me was that 70% of you said you were willing to pay something for parking on weekdays (always free in the past) if it would enable us to go forward with construction of the restrooms.  While we certainly don’t want to disregard the feelings of the 30%, some of whom stated they would no longer patronize the farm if we charged weekday parking; we were pleased that so many of you agreed this might be a way to fund a needed improvement.

So after a number of family meetings in which your comments were the center of the conversation, we have come to what we think is a very good solution.  For 2012, we will be charging for parking on October Fridays, at the same rate as Saturday or Sunday.  Monday through Thursday parking will remain free.  Also, families taking part in scheduled school field trips will not have to pay on Fridays.  We think this solution will work for a number of reasons:  First, it will provide the funds needed for the restrooms.  In addition, we will be able to add parking attendants on Fridays, which we have needed to do.  Lastly, we will be able to add some live entertainment and NASPIG racing on Friday afternoons!  This will give folks the option of avoiding the Saturday/Sunday crowds without missing out on any of the fun.

Thank you again for your input and we hope you will be visiting “your” farm again this fall.

Wayne Bishop

My Grandson just informed me that i needed to do a Blog. “…a Blog?? What in the world is that?? A blog was explained to me – so here I am –  I’ll give it a try! Really I’m always up to try new things.

So here we are in a mad rush of the “preseason”. I’ll have to say things are looking much better than they were even just a week ago. Somehow, we seem to get our act together. ( The whole problem is: we have this down time in winter and seem to plan too much!) It is a little unbelievable to me  (going into this 39th season)  just how much things have changed. The little 2 acre pumpkin patch is now 73 acres; we had 1 old farm wagon for the hay ride and now we have nine. The petting zoo was our pet goat tied up to a tree! But oh, what fun Farmer Bill and I have when we see everyone here having a good time. It makes our whole family feel really good. It’s great to have grandson Austin back on the farm. (Even if he does tell me that I MUST do a blog.)

I’m still managing the Bake Shop, and probably will be just as long as I can still hobble in! The bakery staff started last Friday. We need a head start on getting pie shells made, so we are busy filling our freezers with crusts. This Thursday, we’ll probably start making some cookie dough, get some apple pie topping mixed up, and start making the little dumpling pastry squares. The Apple Dumplings proved to be very popular last year, and we may have a few new things for you to try this year… come by and see! I am excited about our new “Grab & Go” express lane; hopefully this will cut down on waiting time in line. I just hope we will be able to keep up with our baking! One of the reasons we do run out of items is that I like to try to figure what well sell in a  day, so we have fresh baked ONLY to sell, and this is often the problem. Remember, you can always call ahead and order, to make sure we have the items you want!

… home and my rocking chair are waiting. See you all this fall!

Sandy Bishop (Mrs.

Hi everyone! It’s been a while since any of us have done a blog so I thought it’s about time we update you with everything going on here at the farm!

First of all I’m proud to announce that my wife Chelsie gave birth to a beautiful healthy little girl on Wednesday July 13th. We named her Khloe’ Lenai Bishop. She weighed 8 pounds 6 ounces and was 21 inches long. Our family has grown to 4 as our daughter, Ava, is 3 now. And yes there is a lot of pink in my house! I’m trying to talk my wife into having a third so we can try for a boy, but I won’t push too hard until she’s off diaper duty for a while.

Well it’s hard for me to talk about much else other than my daughter right now, as I’m always anxious to brag about her but there is a lot going on here on the farm.

To start, all of our Pumpkins are in, and growing right on schedule! We have 70 acres of several verities of pumpkins, and gourds. This looks to be a promising harvest!

Soon we will begin work on several other projects around the farm, including; remodeling the back deck area behind the bake shop, adding a queue at the front of the bake shop which should make the lines much quicker, and a few other beatification projects as well.

In other news, I’m pleased to announce that this fall I will release my first children’s book titled, “Farmer Bill and Mrs. B Plant a Pumpkin Field.” Look for it this fall in the gift shop! We are very excited for all of our visitors to see how our farm started and this book illustrates just that. .

I’ve also been working on “Bish-O-Poly”. This is a walking Monopoly game that you will take around the farm and earn money at each one of your stops, collect enough money and you will receive a prize at the end of your day. We hope this game will spread our place out a little and help you find attractions that maybe you didn’t even know existed!

The corn maze design is done and we will cut it out here in the coming weeks. Does anyone have any ideas of what it could be? I may spill the beans on the project here in a few weeks, but thought it would be fun if everyone took a guess at it first!

That’s all for now. I hope everyone is enjoying their summer. We can’t wait to see you come September 24th!

Austin Bishop

P.S. Before I forget, make sure to sign up for our E-Newsletter. The Pumpkin Vine Line will come out electronically this year instead of being mailed. You can still get a hard copy in the local newspapers as well. Go to www.bishopspumpkinfarm.com and become a member. This is also a good place to look for coupons once we’re open!