Fall is in full swing at Flamig Farm
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Greetings from Farmer Julie and me. Although we can never decide which is the most beautiful season at Flamig Farm, the fall is one we usually seem to have at the top of the list. In fact, my favorite color is October.
Come visit us while the weather is beautiful; the petting zoo is open for weeks to come. Hayrides and pony rides continue on the weekends. And, as always, there are new things to see. (Hint baby pigs; see below.)As always, we wish you a wonderful season; hope to see you. Farmer Nevin |
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Animals of the Month - Flamig's version of The Three Little Pigs
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Julie and I spent some quality time last Tuesday. We went to a livestock auction and came home with three little, female pigs. Cookies was the theme for naming them, so the black and white Hampshire pig became (you guessed it) Oreo. The light colored American Yorkshire pig became Snickerdoodle, and the red-colored one, perhaps a Duroc, became Gingersnap. We arrived back in town from that outing just in time to pick up Chadam from Karate, truck, trailer and pigs and all. What a lucky kid!!
The next stop was the Farm's 'Pig Palace' where we opened the gate and the trailer door; the pigs moved happily to their new home, and they stayed there for some amount of time. We don't know just how much time, but the next morning I got the phone call from my beautiful wife Julie. It's so nice, I thought, when someone calls just to say I love you. But instead of that, I heard the words that no one wants to hear. "The Pigs Are Gone." What? Oh no, plot twist.
Many years ago we had a few newly acquired pigs get out, and they were gone for several days. With the help of the, then, best dog in the world, Adam, we finally chased them back from Onion Mountain Park after some hiker reported seeing them halfway up the mountain.
Wednesday morning we hiked around a little bit searching in vain for the missing three little pigs, pretty much knowing that it was a waste of time. But when pigs get out you gotta start somewhere. That afternoon at about 5 pm, just as everyone was thinking about going home for the day, the call came. "Your pigs are up here on Pasture Lane." All hands on deck! Grab a cage, let's go see if we can catch some pigs.
Instantly after hanging up the phone another call came, this time from Tulmeadow Farm. "Your horses are out!" Boy are we gonna have some fun now. More, 'All hands on deck.' Katie and Kathy, our new mules, were probably the culprits that initiated that escape and led Koda and Jim, our beloved draft horses, over to Tulmeadow. This season of the year, with the new cool weather, the horses get a bit spunkier and 'test the fences.' I had gotten a call the day before from a neighbor that there was a gap in the fence. On my to do list was fix that gap.....
Horses and mules got captured and led back to a more secure area while some of us were having a great pig chase around the Pasture Lane neighborhood. A resident dog did a great job of helping keep the pigs surrounded under a group of trees. We got there, carefully went in to grab the pigs and within minutes we had accomplished nothing more than chasing them out from under the trees to freedom (again). Not what we were hoping for. Eventually we caught one pig and closed her in the back of a pickup truck with a cap on it. Two pigs to go. And go they did. Up hills, down hills, around houses, across brooks, through thickets (with poison ivy a plenty), along Woodchuck Hill Road and down route 309 with a police officer escort. So there we were, circling a little thicket, and we could see them...three little pigs. What? Yes, three little pigs; the one we had captured had managed to open the cap on the truck flat bed and rejoin the fun! All said and done, we eventually got all three pigs back to the Farm, installed some new pig-proof fencing, and the pigs are now waiting to welcome you to a Farm visit.
Thank you one and all for help with the big pig roundup. Cowboys have nothing on us!
The End. PS I can't remember if it was a coffee mug or bumper sticker, but I did not heed these words of advice: 'Keep your life simple. Never get anything that eats or requires paint.'
And, in case you were wondering what our three little pigs really look like, here they are:
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sScary Hayrides 2015
Our world renowned Halloweeen Hayride dates are October 9th and 10th, 23rd and 24th. Tickets are on sale on our website, and we are already on track to selling out earlier than last year, so get your tickets now so you won't be disappointed.
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| Halloweeen Hayride History
For years now people have been asking, "How many years have you been doing this?" Deep in the back closet in the EggRoom is a huge Tupperware bin full of our old scheduling books where we kept track of hayrides, carriage rides, pony rides, dentist appointments and other things that needed to be scheduled. That's were I found the answer: we've run the hayrides 28 times over 27 years.
In those books I found the first evidence of our Halloweeen Hayrides; it was 1988. That year, the Farm must have been growing almost exponentially because the schedule book was crammed with entries. We were using a book that showed a day per page, and we just didn't have enough room to write everything that we needed to. Part way through the year we could not get a bigger 1988 book so we purchased a 1989 book, crossing out and changing the date at the top of each page so we could stay somewhat organized.
There, in that book, 1988's Halloweeen Hayrides prep was in black and white. On the Wednesday before the show, we had a planning meeting. On Friday we built the skits in the woods, and on Saturday we did the show. There were about 13 people in the woods, and we sent one tractor and wagon with 20 people on it. Tickets cost $5.00 each. My, how things have changed.
Now we have two full time people setting up for 6 weeks or so in advance. There are over 100 volunteers in the woods and fields. The Lions Club provides a parking crew. There are 7 tractors and wagons running, one every 5 minutes, with a spare tractor and wagon in case of flat tires or whatever. Tickets are still a great value at only $25 for a truly unique show.
By the way, we spell Halloweeen with three Es because years ago we got a cease and desist order from someone who had coined the terribly original phrase 'Halloween Hayride.' We had always called ours Halloween Hayride with two Es,but we decided to add another one in case our caller had copyrighted the phrase.
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Employee of the Month
Some folks never outgrow the excitement of Halloween. Christy Hickey (pictured on the left with her creepy friend, Roger the Ram) is one of those people. Christy is an artist extraordinaire, especially when it involves creating Halloween stuff that just might have the chance of freaking someone out. The Hickey family have been our friends and have enjoyed and worked very hard on the variety of skits they have done for Flamig Farm's Halloweeen Hayrides throughout the years.
We have a pumpkin carving, gathering/dinner/contest the Wednesday before our weekend shows during which well over 100 pumpkins are carved for one of the skits in the woods known as 'Pumpkinville.' We do sort of a survivor type judging contest, and the winner wins a whopping $20. Christy is so creative and has such a flair at pumpkin carving that we have actually asked her not to enter her pumpkins in the contest to allow someone else to win the prize.
Christy, along with her kids and her Halloweeen sidekick, Mark Perry, have been working for weeks setting up the Halloweeen show, and it is coming together very nicely. Her eye for art and attention to detail have taken the show to a whole new level in the past few years.
The mediums that Christy uses are quite varied. Metal, wood, plastic, pipe, chains, paint, tape, paper mache, cable, ropes, pulleys and all sorts of other 'stuff.' This year Christy became proficient in the art of shrink wrap, like that used to store boats for the winter, to create the 12 foot long GREAT WHITE SHARK you will notice when you come on the ride.
Thank you, Christy, for all you do for Flamig and for the fun you create for hundreds of people enjoying Flamig's famous Halloweeen Hayrides.
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| And the winner is.....
Here is the winning pumpkin from the carving fest Wednesday October 7. We have the carving event again next week (October 14), and those pumpkins will be in the woods for our second weekend of Haloweeen Hayrides.
Adults, if you've like to carve next week and would be willing to donate your creation to the hayrides, call and reserve a place for the Oct 14 carve-in. We supply the pumpkins and carving tools. 860.658.5070.
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I hope you are enjoying our monthly newsletter as much as we are in creating and sending it to you. In closing, and in keeping with the season, here's a question:
What do skeletons say before dinner? (Wait for it..........................) "Bone Appetit."
Thanks again for being a friend of Flamig Farm,
Farmer Nevin
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