Spring is approaching and with that comes farmer's markets. This year at Grandma's Pumpkin Patch we would like to bring the farmer's market experience to our area.
The Crafted Market will feature many local artists displaying their original works of art, re-purposed items, and shabby sheek flea market flip style creations. We will also have local farmers selling seasonal produce, and will be cooking the famous Grandma's Pumpkin Patch donuts. Come to the patch, enjoy the warm summer air, shop local produce, and discover treasures from local artists and vendors. Dates of the markets are
Interested in being a vendor? We are looking for produce vendors, honey, baked goods (must comply with all cottage food laws), artists, repurposed artists and more. Contact us with questions at: Amanda, 989-513-5222 grandmaspumpkinpatchmidland@gmail.com DOWNLOAD VENDOR AP HERE
In 2014 we asked Ginger Zee, the Chief Meteorologist from Good Morning America if we could put her face in our corn maze. She graciously accepted and we ended up with this beautiful maze.
Photo Credit John C. Mureiko
We first started featuring celebrities with Robin Meade, lead anchor from Morning Express with Robin Meade on HLN. When we asked her via Twitter her publicist team immediately responded and said they thought it would be hilarious and agreed. Robin was so nice and even sent us an autographed picture and called to thank us for putting her in the maze. My dad was on cloud nine, as it was his idea to ask her. We had to hear about how it was his idea for a while. Here is the picture we used to make the maze, and the actual maze. I think we did pretty good.
Robin Meade, lead anchor of Morning Express with Robin Meade in a corn maze
From there we were questioning who to get in the maze? We decided to ask Mike Rowe from Discovery Channel's show Dirty Jobs. We tracked down Mike's agent's contact info, which turned out to be a former agent, but he was super nice and forwarded it on to the new agent who called me to get some more details. After explaining our request, Mike's agent laughed and agreed.
Mike Rowe 2011 Corn Maze
Mike Rowe is very passionate about skilled trades and the lack of skilled workers in the United States. He stared a foundation called Mike Rowe Works lobbying for skilled trades, and raising funds for skilled trades programs. We honored this by hosting a skilled trades day at the pumpkin patch inviting local unions and building programs to have informational booths. It was a lot of fun! The following year, 2012 my Grandmother turned 90 years old. We thought, what a better way to honor her than putting her in the maze. So all summer we kept the maze design a secret from Grandma and waited until we had pictures of the maze to show her that she, herself, was the maze design. She was stunned and shocked, and a little embarrassed because she was a very modest person. It was a fun happy birthday theme for Grandma to celebrate her pumpkin patch and birthday.
2012 Corn Maze, Grandma's 90th Birthday
From there we were stumped as to who to ask to feature in the maze. After a lot of thought we decided to start featuring Michigan natives. People who really appreciate our great state, and asked comedian Tim Allen. Tim's publicist was awesome to work with, and thought it would be a great idea to put him in our corn maze. She said Tim only had one request, that his corn maze have more muscles than Mike Rowe's. Turns out they are friends and Tim checked out our other mazes before agreeing to appear in it. So I think we did a pretty good job of putting Tim in the maze.
2013 Corn Maze, Tim Allen
In 2014 we asked Ginger Zee because she had ties to the area. Ginger graduated from Rockford High School in Rockford, MI. After graduating Valparaiso University with a Bachelor of Science degree in Meteorology, Ginger worked at a local Great Lakes Bay area TV station, WEYI TV25 in Flint. From there she went on to work at WLAV-FM and WOOD TV, both in Grand Rapids. The really funny part is, I lived in Midland when she was on WEYI and lived in Kalamazoo when she was on WOOD TV, so I saw Ginger on both stations. In 2013 Ginger was named the Chief Meterologist for Good Morning America, and has been on the morning show reporting ever since.
Ginger was married in June of 2014 in Petoskey, MI and used mostly local vendors and Michigan companies for her wedding items. Ginger technically was born in California but grew up in Michigan and continues to support our state.
If you want a great Instagram profile to follow to keep up on the weather, the fun adventures she has on Good Morning America, and pics of her dog Otis, check out Ginger Zee's profile. Another way to see what Ginger is up to is to check her YouTube Channel, Weather or Not. The channel is self described as "“Weather or Not” is a channel that lets the YouTube viewer choose whether to watch ABC News' most extreme storm coverage or other daily adventures with Ginger Zee, from polar vortexes to plane jumping."
Ginger is very busy, and is continually growing in popularity. We asked Ginger if we could use her face in our corn maze, and she said she would be flattered. She was very kind, and always answered any questions we had.
2014 Corn Maze, Ginger Zee (Photo Credit John C. Mureiko)
Ginger's framed photo
What do you get a person that has been on awesome adventures, and lives in stylish New York? There is really nothing we can get Ginger to say thank you enough, but we tried. I framed a photo of the maze, sent a Grandma's Pumpkin Patch tshirt for both her and her husband, and threw in a few dog bones for her dog Otis.
Thank you Ginger for being such a great representation of the state of Michigan!
Meet Bob. Bob is a Bourbon Red turkey which was donated to us one week before we opened for the 2014 season. A very nice lady called and asked if we would like a turkey. Not being a stranger to having animals donated to us, I said sure.
When I met with the couple that donated Bob they explained that they ordered 40 different eggs from Ebay, and incubated them to hatch themselves. To their surprise Bob was the ONLY egg that hatched. Apparently the eggs weren't fertilized. I always tell people who want to buy eggs, be sure to use a repuatable source like McMurray Hatchery that way you know you are getting quality product.
Bob was quite pampered at his home being the only turkey. I do beleive they said they kept Bob in the house. However, they lived in the city and were not able to keep Bob. They had intended to raise the turkeys and release them on some property they had north of town, but with Bob being the only bird.......they were worried he wouldn't survive and kept him at home. So in an effort to find a place for Bob, they called and asked Grandma's Pumpkin Patch if we would take him.
When Bob came to us he was about six months old and probably weighed 15 pounds, he was a scrawny bird compared to our full grown turkeys. When I put him in the turkey pen our turkeys started walking over to him all puffed up with their feathers out. Apparently this sared Bob because he turned and slipped between the wires of the pen and got out. So I put him in the pen with Mrs. Peacock and her roomate Mr. Chicken. Well they were not too keen on this new bird in their pen. When animals are in groups or with poultry, flocks, they have to establish a dominance hierarchy. Mrs. Peacock and her roomate started pecking at Bob to let him know that they were the boss. We left Bob and his roomates to work things out.
Later in the afternoon when I checked on Bob, I could not find him. I did not see him anywhere in the pen, and looked in the coop and did not see him either. I thought maybe he escaped, and started yelling his name, which seems ridiculous because how could a turkey know it's name?! To my surprise, Bob replied with a small little cluck that sounded sad and scared. I looked again in the coop and found Bob hiding behind some old plywood we had leaned up against the wall for storage. I moved the plywood and Bob came running out to us, he was obviously very accostome to people. I looked Bob over and saw that Mrs. Peacock and her roomate apparently ganged up on him and broke his wing. Bob needed a new home. He was too small for the turkey pen, not wanted in the peacock pen, he had no where to go. That is how Bob became a free range turkey.
Bob got a "Presidential Pardon", he
was not Thanksgiving dinner
If you came to the pumpkin patch during the 2014 fall season you probably saw Bob running around during the week. On weekends we had to lock Bob up in the barn because people were rather currious and got a bit agressive with Bob. Children were chasing him, adults tried to catch him, poor Bob was getting picked on.
Now that the season is over Bob has full range of the pumpking patch. He was given a "Presidential Pardon" by my dad and escaped being Thanksgiving dinner. Every morning Bob meets my dad at his workshop and walks around the patch with him doing chores. Bob also greets Aunt Sue when she comes over to feed the goats and lets her pet his face. Bob loves to have his eyes rubbed. Bob keeps a close watch on the patch, if a car happens to pull into the patch, he will immediatley chase after it and even down the road. Apparently Bob thinks he is a watch turkey.
Bob chasing my car out of the driveway
Well Bob is getting quite brave in his free range travels and even made it 1/4 mile up the road to the local bus stop. It was a quiet, sunny December afternoon and I was working in the store down the road from the pumpkin patch. All of a sudden I hear a lot of laughing and screaming from the other side of the store. One of the clearks comes over to my desk and said "Bob is out at the bus stop chasing children." I jumped up and looked out the window, and the school bus is still at the stop. The kids are getting off the bus, and Bob is fully puffed up chasing the kids. It was the high school bus, so these children are teen-agers running from a turkey. Needless to say, it was hillarious, but also scary at the same time. As the bus pulled away, cars started to fly by, narrowly missing Bob. I took off on a dead run out the door, and of all the days I wore dress shoes insead of my sneakers. Trying to run with a smooth bottom shoe is difficult. I yelled Bob's name as loud as I could and he turned to look at me, recognized who it was and immediatly smoothed his feathers and ran to me. I think in his travels he got lost and stumbled upon the children and wasn't sure what to do so...... he stared attacking them. When he saw me, he was relieved and ran right to me. The only problem was, Bob was in the middle of a VERY busy road. I had to wave my arms and flag down some cars to stop so I could pick Bob up. I can only imagine what the drivers of the cars were thinking seeing a grown woman run to pick up a turkey.
I picked Bob up, which is difficult because he now weighs around 30 pounds, and is squirmy. I had to cary a 30 pound turkey a 1/4 of a mile back to the pumpkin patch and find someplace to keep him so he would wander again. The children were astonished I could pick the turkey up, and kept asking me questions. "Is that your turkey?!" "I've never sceen a turkey that BIG before" "Where does he live?" After answering their questions and explaining that Bob lives at the pumpkin patch, I carried Bob home. The whole time Bob was clucking to me, I think he was trying to tell me his side of the story. I was just thankful Bob didn't try to peck my face, because afterall eventhough he is a pet, he still is a turkey.
Imagine this big guy chasing you off the bus
I loocked Bob in the barn to keep him from wandering back and told my dad about his adventures that day. I figued my dad could deal with Bob. It was a cold walk back because I ran to get Bob out of the road in such a hurry, I forgot my jacket. The walk to the barn I had a turkey to block the cold December wind, but the walk back, I was freezing. I quickly hurried to the store and called my dad to tell him about his adventourous bird. We let Bob out of the barn after dark so he wouldn't be enticed to wander, he would settle in for the night. Bob cannot stay in the barn long term, he poops everywhere and eats the grain. He is a pesky bird!
Now the neighbors love Bob and think he is hillarious. The one neighber, whose child was chased by Bob, even feeds him in their back yard. Bob is definatley a free range bird, if you are ever on Eastman Rd by the pumpkin patch, slow down because Bob is probably out and about.
It's almost Halloween, lets start a count down with an Instagram photo challenge. Each day try to post the different items listed to help get in the mood for Halloween.
October 23rd - Front Porch Decorations
Who loves to decorate? Lets show off our snazzy front porches or fall decorations by posting a picture. Show us your best carved pumpkin, fun fall wreath, or your cute kids! #falldecorations #grandmaspumpkinpatch
October 24th - Flashback Thursday
Flashback Thursday!!!!!!!! Lets see that embarrassingly cute picture of you as a kid. Break out the old photos and show us how snazzy your costume was back in the day #flashbackthursday #grandmaspumpkinpatch
October 25th - Cornmaze Friday Corn mazes are only available in the fall, lets see those pictures. Have a great picture of your group lost in the maze? Show them off to us. Also the flashlight corn maze is tonight at Grandma's Pumpkin Patch, check it out! Mention the photo contest and get a reduced admission. #cornmaze #grandmaspumpkinpatch
October 26th - Goating Around
Love the goats at Grandma's Pumpkin Patch? So do we! Show us your silly pictures that you have snapped through the years of the goats. I bet a bunch of you have some pictures of Maple the mischievous goat that wanders free during the week. If you visit the patch today and mention the photo challenge you can get the $7.00 wrist band for only $5.00. #goatingaround #grandmaspumpkinpatch
October 27th - Grandma's Pumpkin Patch
I bet you have been coming to Grandma's Pumpkin Patch for years, show us your best picture from one of your visits. Even if you are new to the patch, we would love to see your smiling pictures. Show them off in the photo challenge. It's the last Sunday to visit the patch this season, stop in and if you mention the photo challenge you can get the $7.00 wrist band for only $5.00. #grandmaspumpkinpatch
October 28th - Field Trip Monday Our field trips are so much fun! Show us a picture of a visit to the farm. Do you have an adorable picture with Tony the donkey, or perhaps Gorgeous George the llama, show them off on Field Trip Monday. #fieldtripmonday #grandmaspumpkinpatch
October 29th - Autumn Tuesday
It's getting colder, and winter is approaching take a picture of a nice autumn day before it is too late! Post a picture of the changing colors of the trees, the frosty mornings, or a warm scarf. Share your autumn moment before winter comes. #autumn #grandmaspumpkinpatch
October 30th - Fall Treats
The chilly weather means warm fall food. Post a picture of a fall dish that is your favorite. October 30th is also the last Wednesday Night Fun at Grandma's Pumpkin Patch and the last night for those delicious donuts. Stop by and pick up a pack and share a picture. #donuts #grandmaspumpkinpatch
October 31st - Halloween
It's time to dress up and get out to get some candy! There are lots of places to go to get candy, check out this list. But before you go, post a picture of your candy getting crew and join in the fun! See you next year at Grandma's Pumpkin Patch. #halloween #grandmaspumpkinpatch
Grandma’s Pumpkin Patch is proud to announce that we have a 4th generation pumpkin picker, Ella Rose.
She was born in January 2013 to Amanda and Jason, Grandma’s Granddaughter. Ella might be small but she is full of spunk and ready to go. Amanda was pregnant for Ella in the fall last year so this little girl already knows how to run pig races, make donuts and pick pumpkins. She will be ready to go this fall, look for her in the donut shack next to her Grandpa Sandow making donuts.
Dates of the markets are 
