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Joan Madsen and her husband Louie
have been raising cattle for many years on their small ranch
near Livermore, California, by Mocho Creek. “My husband has been
in either the sheep or cattle business since he was 10 years
old. We’ve been married 45 years. He started with Suffolk sheep,
then we had commercial cattle when we were first married, in the
1960’s,” says Joan. “We
started in the purebred Hereford business in 1973 and sell bulls
in local sales and by private treaty. Then 5 years ago my
husband bought his first Angus. Now we raise both Herefords and
Angus. We’re not a large operation; we have 55 acres and our
daughter has 100 acres, and we rent some other property.
Altogether our operation is about 230 acres,” says Joan. They
are still in the cattle business, but much of Joan’s focus for
the past 20 years has been a unique sideline that attracts many
families and school children to their farm every year in
October.
In 1985 she began selling fruits
and vegetables from a roadside stand, to augment their cattle
income. “I had a partner in this venture, Wanda Finn, and our
stand was known as Joan and Wanda’s. I also had a fulltime job
until 1997, and my husband had a fulltime job until 1990, in
order to make our cattle operation work.”
In 1990 a farm advisor told her
they should also grow pumpkins. “We had a berry patch at that
time, and some extra space in that patch, so we planted a few
pumpkins. We knew some preschool teachers, and invited them to
bring their classes out to our pumpkin patch in October. We had
125 children there, and did some story telling and had a few
farm animals for them to see, and a couple of goats. It was a
fun and educational experience for those kids,” explains Joan,
and she decided to keep doing this.
From that beginning, the Madsen
“pumpkin farm” has grown tremendously. “In 1997 my partner
retired, and my husband and I decided that if we were going to
continue it, we’d go all out. So we create a little western town
in conjunction with the pumpkin patch. We now have a jailhouse,
mercantile-trading post, blacksmith shop, saddle shop, a
boarding house, etc. These are actual buildings, but no one goes
into them,” she says.
In all these buildings are
mannequins—showing people doing what they would have been doing
in those early days. It’s a peek back into history. “There are
old desks in the schoolhouse, and mannequins sitting at the
desks,” she explains. There are old farm wagons with mannequins
depicting the farmers, or people driving a wagon to town for
groceries.
In 1996 they purchased a covered wagon and brought it from
Arkansas in the back of their pickup. “We made that into a chuck
wagon, and we have a cook--and cowboys around it,” says Joan.
“We’ve accumulated all kinds of
farm animals for the children to see. These are not real; they
are cast aluminum. We have ponies, pigs, sheep, donkeys,
buffalo, an alligator, a turtle, etc. These are in an area for
the kids to play--where they enter through a culvert and through
a big pumpkin head (a pumpkin tunnel to Animal Land), and go out
through a barn. The kids can sit on the aluminum animals if they
wish. There’s another play area for the kids where we’ve put
bales of straw, each with a horse’s head, a mop for a tail, and
saddles so the kids can ride the bales,” she says.
There’s a corn maze, about an
acre in size. The children can also pan for gemstones. There are
hayrides and pony rides on the weekends. The Madsens don’t have
ponies; they contract with folks who do the pony rides, and with
a face painter.
They sell pumpkins, priced
according to size—from $2.50 on up. They also have gourds,
Indian corn, and sell all kinds of nuts and dried fruits, and
toys, in the trading post. This little store is open during
October while the pumpkin farm is open to the public. “We also
have a snack shack where we sell hot dogs, shave ice, cotton
candy, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, sodas and other
things that kids like,” says Joan.
“This year we’re building a
little train for kids to ride. It’s made out of blue plastic 55
gallon barrels. Our friends saw one in Arizona and took pictures
of their great grandkids riding on it and sent a picture home to
me. This looked like a great idea! We managed to get all the
materials together and a good friend is building it for us. It’s
called the Patriot Express because it will be red, white and
blue,” she says. There will be a little train depot created to
go with it.
The pumpkin farm is a wonderful
place for families with small children, school field trips, or
special parties. People who want to do birthday parties or club
meetings, for instance, can make arrangements for these on the
weekends. “We reserve an area for them,” she says.
“We also do tours. Tour One is for preschoolers up to first
grade. The group pays a flat fee ($7 per child) and each child
gets a cup of feed for the animals (we have lots of goats and
sheep, miniature donkeys, chickens, etc.). They don’t go in with
the animals, but can feed them from the outside of the pen and
can pet them,” she says.
“Then we gather the children
together in the theatre area, sing songs and tell them a story.
It’s not about Halloween, but is a cute little story with a
message. Then they go to the pumpkin patch and pick out their
own pumpkin. The ones for that group are in a certain area and
all the same size. Then they have to make a decision, whether
they want a gourd or Indian corn, or a mini pumpkin. After that
it’s play time and they can do whatever they want, or snack.”
Tour Two is for the older
children, grades one through five (at a cost of $8 per child).
“We take them through an old West museum with a lot of old farm
equipment that was horse drawn, and other things you’d find
around the farm—that we don’t see anymore,” she says.
“They go through the corn maze, and after that we have a
discussion. We give them little bundles of wheat and talk about
how wheat is grown, about farming in general and the different
animals”. They learn about farm animals and their value as food
and for by-products—the many other things they might not have
imagined. It’s very educational.
“Then they go to their pumpkin
patch where the pumpkins are larger, to pick out their own—then
they are free to play or go through the Old West town. We also
have a fort maze built of old timber and lodgepoles. It’s a
small maze but the kids love to run in and out of it and play.”
There’s also the Rock Creek Mine, with a fake mine shaft, ore
cart, and a little creek that runs by it.
Parking and admission is free.
Families are welcome to come and the children can do whatever
they wish. “There is a fee for the various things. If they don’t
want to do any of those things they can still play on the
children’s area; there’s no charge for that. We are dedicated to
families and are only open from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. every day
through the month of October. It’s geared for families and
younger children; we are known for ‘family fun for everyone’,”
says Joan.
“We’ve been doing this for almost
20 years and now we’re getting people who came here as children,
bringing their children to see it. Our pumpkin farm is becoming
a family tradition for some folks. I was going to close it last
year because I was sick, but my husband Louie, our daughter
Annette Warner, her husband Roy, and my loyal friend Freddy
Schoorl (who has been working for me a long time) took it over
and kept it going. So this tradition didn’t die. I’m back at it
this year, and my enthusiasm is as great as ever. My husband and
I are the main ones who operate the Pumpkin Patch, but we have a
lot of help from our daughter and her husband,” says Joan.
The Madsen farm is still
predominantly a cattle operation. “The goats and sheep are
purchased for the pumpkin patch event (during October) and we
sell them again afterward. We used to try to raise them, but
this is much easier. We do have miniature donkeys, which we
keep. The cattle operation keeps us busy the rest of the year.”
Joan’s Farm & Pumpkin Patch was
voted Best of the East Bay 2003 by the East Bay Express. The
many wonderful comments about the Pumpkin Patch help keep her
enthusiastic about the project but it also must pay its way. “We
have about 16 employees during that month. With the cutbacks and
economy I don’t expect quite the crowd this year that we’ve had
in the past. Teachers must make decisions about whether they
will be taking their classes on field trips or buy supplies. I
don’t know what will happen this year, but we’re getting some
bookings, so we hope we’ll be ok. If attendance is down, I won’t
have to hire as many people to help. We’ll find a way to make it
work,” she says.
Through the month of October, the
Pumpkin Patch at Joan’s Farm holds special events and
entertainment every weekend, with school and group tours
available daily. People come from a large area. “School groups
come from all around the Bay area (Livermore, Pleasanton,
Danville, Oakland, Alameda, Fremont, and some from San
Francisco). Even though there are larger pumpkin patches around
the area that are very well known, the Joan’s Farm patch is
different, and attracts a lot of visitors. Some of the larger
patches have bigger mazes and other attractions that cater more
to teenagers. “We have our own little niche, for small children
and for families,” says Joan.
“We have a very large area for
our Pumpkin Patch and it’s spread out, so no one feels crammed.
If the creek is running we have a nice spot down there for
family picnics, as well. It’s in the country; people have to
drive through our farm to get to the Pumpkin Patch. They see the
cattle, and drive down a lane where the bulls are getting ready
to be sold. They see cows and calves, and fields being planted
for winter,” she says. The visitors get a taste of rural
America—in farming and wine country. There are many vineyards in
the area and it’s very beautiful country.
Anyone interested in this unique
farm experience can check Joan’s website at
www.joansfarm.com or call 925-447-0794, or 925-780-7772, or
925-455-6623, or just drive out and see it at 4351 Mines Road,
Livermore, California 94550.
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