It’s hard to believe Papa’s Pumpkin Patch will open for the 2013 season in just over three weeks — 24 days to be exact! Monday, Sept. 9 is our opening day and we will be open from 12-7 pm daily until Saturday, Oct. 19.

This past week we hosted 50+ volunteers for the United Day of Caring and they were wonderful. With their help, we sealed fence rails and Papa’sville play structures; mended and painted the wagons; touched up the “wild” animal prints through the Log Jam; stripped Billy Bob of last year’s coat so he is ready for a fresh cover of corn stalks; gave a brand new look to the ever-popular playhouse (see photo); and created several new display tables for Papa’s produce. A BIG thank you to the folks from Basin Electric and the Bismarck Demonettes for all of your help.

The pumpkin crop continues to look good. Most of the varieties are starting to turn orange, and many of them are almost ready to pick. We may need to harvest as early as August this year; the local wildlife has discovered the fields and are enjoying more than their share of the crop! The Baby Bear in the picture is one of hundreds waiting to find a home with a small child that will visit Papa’s this fall on a field trip.

If you haven’t scheduled your field trip yet, contact Mrs. P (Suzie). For more information about fields trips at Papa’s visit here.

We’ll step up our postings of all that’s underway at Papa’s over the next weeks. Because we just can’t help ourselves, there are several new ideas and small tweaks to make your adventure at Papa’s Pumpkin Patch the best ever!

Take good care,

Papa