How It All Started...
Greg, Tammie, Hollie, Emilie, Maggie, Joseph, Daniel, and Stephen Earnest.
In April of 2000, we moved to a our 27-acre farm nestled in rural Putnam County, Indiana. About 10 acres of the property is open and the rest of the property is wooded. On the open property, we have 2 separate fields about 2 acres each. In 2003, we decided to start a you-pick vegetable garden. After some research, we found that a cover crop of pumpkins would prepare the soil for other vegetables. After planting a field full of pumpkins, we ended up with over 500 pumpkins. What to do with them all?? Up went a small table and some signs, and we had a pick-your-own pumpkin patch. The few customers we had loved it so much, they asked us if we would keep doing it, and many said they would be back next year. We were not expecting this, but we realized this was an open door from God to start our own pumpkin patch business.
We are not a typical pumpkin patch that has Halloween decorations and ghoulish activites. We want to promote God's harvest and the Thanksgiving theme. We want to recognize all of God's blessings to us and be thankful for them!
A special thing that we do with the pumpkins is we place on each pumpkin a laminated colored leaf tag that has a verse from the book of Proverbs printed on it. We take the time to cut out the leaves and laminate them. We then go out to the patch and tie the tags on the pumpkins. Each pumpkin is donned with its own tag, red, yellow, or green, depending on its size. We have been doing this every year since we started, hence our name, The Proverbial Pumpkin Patch!
Our pumpkin patch is not a huge operation, but each year we have been able to expand a little more.
We still plant the pumpkin seeds by hand, and pull and hoe the weeds as a family.
One big step that we were excited about, was adding our Country Gift and Bake Shop. We are able to sell different varieties of baked goods and we also sell various quilted items sewn by Tammie. Maggie has made lots of crocheted items and is selling them in the shop. Our store is packed full of lovely items ready to decorate for harvest time, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and other holidays!
We also have been able to add family games which include pumpkin bowling and a gourd slingshot.
We are not a typical pumpkin patch that has Halloween decorations and ghoulish activites. We want to promote God's harvest and the Thanksgiving theme. We want to recognize all of God's blessings to us and be thankful for them!
A special thing that we do with the pumpkins is we place on each pumpkin a laminated colored leaf tag that has a verse from the book of Proverbs printed on it. We take the time to cut out the leaves and laminate them. We then go out to the patch and tie the tags on the pumpkins. Each pumpkin is donned with its own tag, red, yellow, or green, depending on its size. We have been doing this every year since we started, hence our name, The Proverbial Pumpkin Patch!
Our pumpkin patch is not a huge operation, but each year we have been able to expand a little more.
We still plant the pumpkin seeds by hand, and pull and hoe the weeds as a family.
One big step that we were excited about, was adding our Country Gift and Bake Shop. We are able to sell different varieties of baked goods and we also sell various quilted items sewn by Tammie. Maggie has made lots of crocheted items and is selling them in the shop. Our store is packed full of lovely items ready to decorate for harvest time, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and other holidays!
We also have been able to add family games which include pumpkin bowling and a gourd slingshot.
