Christmas Eve at the Bison Farm

It's Christmas eve and we're back to sun again after the most recent Saturday snow storm.

The herd just came in for water and are roaming back to the Sudan pasture. Christmas Eve is just another day to them.

Christmas orders that people placed with Smoky Hill Bison have been shipped and all tracked as delivered. I have another group of boxes to ship out on Wednesday, but for two days, we have quiet time on the farm.

Our family started celebrating Christmas last night with one group of relatives, and will continue with more family for the next two days. We celebrate with Swedish foods, gift giving and plenty of chocolate and ice cream! Tomorrow morning at 6:30 am we'll go to our annual Swedish church service called Julotta. Then it's back to check water tanks when its daylight, and to wish the animals Merry Christmas.

Happy Holidays to everyone- from all of us at the Bison Farm!

Kansas ice storm

The world glistened outside after an ice storm hit the state Monday night...after an evening thunderstorm that dropped almost three inches of rain first. Trees and power lines and poles were no match for Mother Nature, so we've spent the week waiting for the sun to come out to thaw our icy world, and for the power company crews to make their way out to us in the country.
Then we got nine inches of snow on Friday night. But at least it didn't drift, like the western part of the state.
I'm very glad to say that we got electricity, phone and internet back on today! (I really missed my microwave, and the internet.)
When I was growing up in the 1950-60's we used the kerosene lamps every now and then, so we cope even now when power goes out. It's just the way it is here in the country- but usually we're only out for a few hours, not five days.
It wasn't good timing during the busiest shipping weeks of the year, but we coped and now ready for this shipping week.
I'm grateful for all the people trying to get our electricity back on in Kansas. They are working around the clock in cold slippery conditions to get homes and businesses running again.

Buffalo on Ice

I meant to write the title "Ice on Buffalo", but actually "Buffalo on Ice" is appropriate today too. We're getting a slow freezing drizzle, which is coating everything from roads, pasture grass, to the buffalo themselves. It's just plain bad weather to be out in today.

Verne put out more hay for them, so you can see that the herd is enjoying some food that isn't ice incrusted at the moment. But the buffs are made for this kind of weather, so we don't have to worry about them like the cattlemen do about their herds.

Their thick coats are keeping them warm, and their powerful heads and feet will break off the ice so they can get down to the grass.

It's very slick driving today, and events are being canceled by radio and TV news. By chance we don't have a company party scheduled here in the Visitors Center this evening, so we don't have to cancel it.

This afternoon I'm typing invoices for Monday and Verne is packing them. It's nice that we can get website orders in, and not have to depend on gift shop sales. (We still have a good stock of Bison Snack Boxes at www.BisonFarm.com ready to ship if you need some quick holiday gifts...)

So far the electricity has stayed on so the ice isn't too thick on the electric lines in the area. If so, we'll be cut off frm our power. We do have back-up generators for the walk-in freezer though if that happens.

The bad weather is predicted to last several days so we may be in for quite a storm, but that can be expected out here on our Kansas prairie...

Winter Coats

We had our first measurable snowfall this week, so of course I was out taking pictures of the buffalo in the snow. It's always fun to watch the calves discover what "the white stuff" will do when they kick up their heels and run. We only got a couple of inches of snow, so it's now melted and back to our winter brown landscape. There is a chance of freezing rain and snow coming in this weekend though.

This time of year the buffalo are warm and wooly in their winter coats, roaming the pasture at will. They walk by the window of my office in the Visitors Center twice a day to get a drink of water from the winter water tank that’s behind the building.

And inside, we're typing up holiday orders on the computer and occasionally putting on our winter coats because we're going in and out of the walk-in freezer as we pack Christmas meat orders.

Have you started your Christmas shopping? Please look through our website and shop! We’d appreciate your orders and we’ll get them sent our right away!

Buffalo's Pumpkin Pie

Weather changed from the temps. in the 70's to the 30's in one swift hour on Tuesday. Now it feels like winter and I envy bull Takoda's thick winter coat. He was enjoying his version of Thanksgiving "pumpkin pie" in this top photo.

The young bulls have been using the paths through the maze field to roam their winter food supply, and stay out of the chilly wind.

We had a quiet Thanksgiving dinner with family at our local community dinner, then visited in the afternoon.

I'm not a big shopper, so Friday I headed to the pasture office instead of town. I didn't want to mix with the early morning shoppers looking for the big Christmas sales.

This weekend I'm gearing up for your holiday orders, updating the shopping cart, checking the steak stock, etc. (Got your order in yet for gift buffalo sampler boxes? Please do so soon before we run out of steaks!)

I also have had several visitors stopping by the Gift Shop to pick up meat and see the buffalo too. It's not often someone from Hawaii can see buffalo, especially eating their version of pumpkin pie! That only happens at the Smoky Hill Bison Visitors Center!

The bulls are home!

The bulls are home!

Verne and help put up temporary cattle panels in the summer pasture and lured the yearling bulls inside with range cubes. These bulls have been in the summer pasture since May, enjoying native grasses, two ponds and the solitude of nature.

Every couple of weeks we'd give them a taste of cubes, working toward the day we'd catch and bring them back home.

This year it worked like a charm, and they were moved back to the homestead by trailer. The bulls were unloaded into the maze field so now they are roaming the paths like our visitors did this earlier this fall.

Pumpkins that have been decorating the farm's landscape have been gathered up and thrown in the maze field too. The buffs will enjoy them for a sweet treat to go with the Sudan Grass.

Now I can look out my office window and watch their antics as the bulls run full blast, storming in and out of the maze paths.

It's fun to watch them stomp and munch the pumpkins too, always looking for their favorite varieties, rolling aside the types they don't like until they run out of the sweet pie pumpkins.

They will be eating "Thanksgiving pumpkin pie" for the next month!

Cleaning up after Fall

We're enjoying beautiful calm weather this week, but the atmosphere is anything but calm as everyone in our farming township is trying to get outside projects done before the weather changes.

The neighborhood roads and fields are busy as farmers are hauling cattle home from summer pastures, putting chopped feed in silos, and cutting the last of the soybeans and milo. out of the fields.

While it's calm today, Verne is taking down the last of the maze signs, scarecrows, and stacking picnic tables that we used for outside seating during our maze season.

His next job is putting fencing back in place that was temporarily moved for activities like the pumpkin slingshot and corn cannon. (People shoot at targets in the pasture with ears of corn and mini pumpkins.) The buffalo use that stretch of fenced lane to move between sections of pasture so it needs to go back to it's original posts.

Right now the herd is enjoying their first taste of Sudan Grass, which is sweet and good winter food.

And we're having an end-of-the-maze season party tomorrow night so employees can celebrate, go over the past fall weekends, and plan ahead for next year.

I'm taking breaks to work outside, but I'm still catching up inside with computer work, and packing up things we don't need until next fall season.

The holidays are just around the corner, and we'll be gearing up for holiday orders next.

Whether is milo harvest for my farming neighbors, or meat internet orders for our ag business, the seasons are switching gears and we're all scurrying to beat the weather!

Seasons of Life

Five weeks of our maze and pumpkin patch season came to a close yesterday.

There have been thousands of people on the farm, and the phone was constanting ringing asking questions about the maze. We've seen hot and muddy weather, changing to cool and dry.

Two fields of green leafy vines shading pumpkins has turned into two trampled brown barren grounds. The maze field has shrink in size, from frost and the pads of feet. A farmstead filled with over a hundred huge blooming mums, to a few ready for the compost pile. The buffalo are enjoying solitude again without the tramloads of people drifting by.

Think of the change in the season, from mid September to November tomorrow, and how fast time changes.

If I sound melancolhy, its because I've spent the afternoon writing the funeral program for an uncle that died this week. He went into the hospital the Friday before our season officially started, and died the day after it ended - the whole time fighting problems from emergency surgery and the complications that finally overcome his body.

The seasons of his life finally ended after over 80 decades. And how do you fit a life into 350 words to fit a 5.5 by 8.5 page?

He was a kind soul, and a gentleman, always thoughtful of his family and friends. Leland was a farmer and a nature lover, attuned to the birds giving song, the weather in the sky, and he enjoyed the beauty of the countryside around him. Leland explored local roads and national highways, visiting family, historical sites, and collecting family genealogy. He had a pilot’s license and was a member of the Flying Farmers of America. One of Leland’s favorite pastimes was having daily coffee with friends.

Except for a brief marriage that ended in her early death, he spent his years alone until having a special friend for last eight years. But his time was always filled with family, friends, and nature.

We relied on his keen memory of details and facts. And I can just here his "Well, Let's see now...." when we'd come to him for help.

I think I'll ask him for help now to finish his story.

'Bye Leland, 'bye Fall...

Muddy Maze

Rain, rain, go away, come again...in November!

We're booked solid with school field trips between now and the end of the month, and it's raining again today. Two local groups still came out between storms, but two big schools that were coming from a distance rescheduled.

Our first two weekends of the maze season were hot and windy, and then the weather changed. Now we're working around cool and wet days instead. We've had some weather perfect days for some schools, like yesterday. The groups rode the tram out to see the buffalo herd, each shot the pumpkin slingshot, and walked through the maze. And of course their biggest thrill is picking out their own personal pumpkin from the pumpkin fields.

Weather is to improve for Friday and Saturday, so we'll hope for the best.

The area United Way had scheduled a fundraiser out here last Friday, and had to postpone until this Friday because of the weather. Let's hope the weather cooperates for them this time. We're making buffalo chili and fresh fruit pies for the event, so visitors will have a great meal before they walk through the maze and venture into the Haunted Trail.

If you're coming out to our maze this weekend, except a little mud, and a lot of fun!

881 lb. Pumpkin wins Kansas Contest

Weekend Two of our maze and pumpkin season is over and I'm catching up today. Both weekends have been hot and windy, with beautiful Mondays the next day.
Crowds have been pretty good considering the weather. Attendance is usually light until the middle of the month when the temperatures cool down and people in the mood for fall decorations and halloween.
People have enjoyed our maze and theme, and spend a relaxing 3-5 hours on our farm to walk through the maze, do all the activities, and ride the Prairie Tram to see the buffalo herd. Many stay for a meal and then go through the maze again with a Glow Stick, and finish the night with the Haunted Trial.
We hosted the Official Kansas Giant Pumpkin Contest this last Saturday. How do you weigh a giant pumpkin? Very carefully, and with a skid loader! We had seven entries, ranging from an 881 lber from a seasoned grower, to a 52 lb. pumpkin grown in a little girl's garden. (She did great for her first year, and I think it weighed about as much as she did.)
The winning pumpkin weighed in at a whopping 881 pounds, but the contest was kind of bittersweet for all of us. A family was supposed to bring a bigger pumpkin, measuring to weigh over 1000 lbs, which would have been Kansas' first ever grown that large. But the family didn't show up, so we starting weighing the pumpkins, hoping they had some kind of delay and were just running late.

Turns out their pumpkin, plus their Kansas State fair winning entry was smashed by vandals. We felt so bad for them. The young daughter had won second place at last year's contest, so we knew of the family and were rooting for this big accomplishment.

There was an article about the contest, and the vandalism in the newspapers, so we all "made the news", but not how we had planned.

We growers always worry about the weather when tending to our giants, but not about someone smashing our summer's efforts. The family were able to save some seeds, so I hope they can grow a winner for next year's contest.

Gearing up the Maze

We got company on the porch! Actually it's a few of 50 scarecrow cowboys we're posting as greeters around the bison farm for our maze weekends. Our theme this year is the Wild West of Kansas, so we got a rough and ready posse to assist us. They will help draw attention to signs, pointing visitors to the various activities on the farm. They are cheap labor, but well worth their keep.

Last weekend we started moving pumpkins from one of the patches to make displays around the building and farm. Glad we have good strong help for all the work around here.

Our crew set up bale mazes, Spookley's Play Patch, the corn cannon, pumpkin sling shot, and finished the Haunted Trail.

We're into "countdown" with less than a week to be ready for the thousands of people that will visit our maze and pumpkin patch the next five weeks.

I still have a long list to do, but the season will happen no matter what, so we'll just jump in, do our best, and have fun!

If you're within the state, please come one of the next weekends to go through the maze, see the bison herd, enjoy our buffalo chili and fresh fruit pies, and pick a pumpkin to take home too.

We'll (including the scarecrow cowboy crew) will be ready for your visit!

Flying into Fall

Got a slow, but noisy rain shower this morning. Perfect moisture for the pasture grass, and the growing maze and pumpkins. Fall has crept up on us with the lower temperatures and shorter days.

We've been busy getting signs and activities ready for the start of our maze, so all doing work inside today. We'll start hanging out the haunted trail decorations tomorrow if weather cooperates.

Noticed that bird flocks have been traveling through the area alot now. I took my camera with me to check the water tank the other day, and the birds hung on the fence wire, drooping it down with their combined weight. The birds like to stop by the herd for food- flies and insects in the pasture and manure, so both are part of the cycle of nature we see daily.

Such different weather, both by looks and feel than a week or two ago, and it will change rapidly as we move into October. The calves have lost their baby wool and are growing their first winter coat to get ready for the cooler season too.

Where did the summer go?

Wrapping Snake with Electrical Tape

Sept. 1, 2007
Where did August go?! I've spent many days and hours working on the updates for our website, getting advertising lined up for the fall activities, … and looking for leaks to fix in the drip tape watering system in the pumpkin field.
Our high school help went back to school Aug. 16th, so it's been me out with electrical tape in hand, listening for leaks. When we plant the fields, we lay down a drip tape and 4 ft wide strip of black plastic down each row before we plant the seed. This helps conserve water usage, and keeps weeds from growing around the vines.
Every now and then a weak spot or puncture happens, and we poke through the plastic with our fingers, dig around in the mud to find and lift the drip tape just high enough to wrap black electrical tape around the damaged area. It works well enough to seal most holes. It the leak is too bad, we cut and splice the tape with a coupler.
Yesterday I could hear the spraying of water against the inside of the plastic in a certain spot. Of course its under a big twist of vines, and my feet are sinking in the mud which the leak had created.
I'm hunched down, pressing along the tape (expanded round with water) to find the source of the leak, and then I poked a hole and ripped open the plastic along the tape.
Ahh! I hadn't been pressing along the tape but along the body of a brown and black rat snake! I just about grabbed it to wrap tape around its middle! Needless to say I waited until the snake moved on before I searched for the leaking tape again.

Hot Buffalo

Hello from the Bison Farm!

It's been a hot miserable week, heat wise. Heat index has been around 108 to 110 the last few days.

I just went out to check the bison since I couldn't see the water tank from my view from the Visitors Center porch. All the herd was crowding in front of the tank.

Was it upright? Had they tipped the portable rubber tank over? I drove out to check because we can't have them going without water.

The animals were panting from the heat, but they rarely seek shade- they want to see "what's coming". They had tipped the tank enough times to splash out water, and were taking turns cooling down in the soupy mud.

Cow Freda (back end showing in the snapshot) is always hogging the puddle, and as you can see from the photo, her little female calf is learning the same trick with her muddy little face. Wouldn't little Flicka be a mess to clean- if you could catch her!

We're still working on the new website. Please look around and let me know if things aren't linked right, info you'd like to see, etc. School group information is up, but more info will be added to the Giant Pumpkin Contest.

At least I'm inside my air conditioned pasture office while updating things, instead of being in the pasture heat, so I won't complain.

Until next time, direct from the hot Kansas prairie...where the buffalo are keeping cool in the mud...

Linda

P.S. Please sign up under the "Bison Tracks" to continue receiving my Farm Kansas Diary via this blog. We'll be switching over eventually from my old system, and that way you can still keep up with the buffalo and the farm activities.

Hot days makes big pumpkins

Our hot humid August days is really making the pumpkins grow. Verne and I took a four day break from the farm and headed to cool Colorado last week. Now coming home, and going out to the pumpkin fields, they have exploded with vines and pumpkins. Where there were alleyways, now it's solid leaves. We also got 3 inches of rain while we were gone, so of course that helped too.

We don't have very many competetion pumpkins over hundred pounders yet, but I had someone email yesterday that will be coming to our Giant Pumpkin Contest on Oct. 6th. He already had two 400 lb. pumpkins that were gaining 25 lbs a day. Wow, just think how many pumpkin pies that would make! Hopefully these giants will keep growing and not have any problems. I'd love to see a 1000 pounder at our contest this year. The top weight last year was 691 lbs.

Do you have a pumpkin that you'd like to bring? Last year we had cash prizes of $250, $150 and $100 for the top three weights, and contestants from three states. It was quite a show and lots of fun and photos.

Our herd bull Tonka LOVES pumpkins, and I'd love to see him tackle (literally) a giant pumpkin. But right now he's into the breeding season, so he has other things on his mind.... He'll be ready for pumpkins in October.

Bull Problems

Another hot July day in the 90's. We got good moisture this spring and into June, but now the pasture grass is showing the stress.

And so is Tonka...the breeding season has started and some mornings I can hear our herd bull's low rumble growl echoing across the air.

One of the reason's for his dispostion is that he has another bull temporarily in his herd. This weekend we moved the cow herd passed the paddock where the meat bull herd was watching the parade of mommas and their babies going by. Young bull 1634 tore through a gate when they went by and he jumped into the mix.

And of course the whole bull herd followed him, merging into a jumble mess. The cows soon told the young bulls who was boss (by lots of horning and shoving around), but then it was too dangerous for us to try to separate the herds while they were fighting.

Anyway, we moved the cow herd a day later and all the bulls stayed behind, except for 1634. Darned if he didn't get through the gate again.

So he'll stay with the group for a while until we get the opportunity to separate him, and Tonka can growl and keep him in his place.