Pumpkin Chunker

A little compressed air, a target, and the sound of the horn will alert the Corn Maze and Pumpkin Patch goers that the Great Pumpkin Chunker is ready to launch another flying pumpkin into the air! Farmer Bob is at the ready!

The next Chunker is in line and rubbing his hands anxiously to get at the control panel, adjust the aim of the target a bit more, increase pressure and the challenge has begun! Who can hit the target first? Who can hit the furthest target away? The Pumpkin Chunker has even entertained, oops, educated high school physics students who tried to calculate the trajectory of the pumpkin!

Here is the impressive control panel with all of the technical information that a Champion Chunker would need to successfully smash a pumpkin into pie on a target.

The large assortment of ammunition for the Pumpkin Chunker is already at the station. There is a highly sophisticated tool used to choose the size of pumpkin for the Chunker. It has something to do with diameter and an old feed bucket!

Another successfully launched pumpkin. Now for the most commonly asked question: Do you really use the Pumpkin Chunker to plant the Pumpkin Patch? Well, come on out to the farm and we will talk about it while we sort the seeds!

The Corn Maze Craze

Who would have thought when Fort Vannoy Farms was in the early stages of dairy farming that one day many people would be coming to enjoy the farm life on a fall weekend? Well, now Fort Vannoy Farms offers the amazing Corn Maze and Pumpkin Patch weekends from mid September through the end of October. Something that the Crouse Family didn't expect has grown into a very rewarding harvest celebration for families of the Rogue Valley. The cows are still being milked for the delicious rich milk, and they continue to be fed chop from the fields of corn grown specifically to feed the herd. Now, before the corn reaches the chopping and silage stage, it is a fun place for families to bring their kids and enjoy a day out in the fresh air on the farm!

Farmer Bob is the sculptor of the magnificent mazes each year. The initial pattern for the maze starts within weeks of planting the corn seeds. Farmer Bob has a genius vision for such things. Creating a maze that the older kids love as much as the little kids and their parents has become one of his favorite jobs on the farm. Bring the family out for a day on the farm and enjoy our 2011 Corn Maze and Pumpkin Patch! You will also find the Pumpkin Cannon, tractor rides, draft horse hay wagons, petting zoo of some of the farm animals, open air cooked food by our local high school FFA, a Zipline, and many memories for your family to share for many years!

Sweet Corn is Coming!

There is a lot of extra hustle and bustle happening at the farm these days! Yes, the sweet corn is on its way and will be ready for you to take home on WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 10! Mmmmm, the sweetest corn grown in the Rogue Valley right at your back door! See you at the farm stand everyday from 10 am to 6 pm.

Rows and Rows of Great Food

There are many, many rows of delicious, rich, tasty food growing at Fort Vannoy Farms. Here is a shot of some of the cabbage, peppers, broccoli and cauliflower. Other vegetables that are ready and ripe on the farm include carrots, onions, garlic, green beans, peas, strawberries, and tomatoes. The corn is growing silently in the background...get ready because it is almost ripe and ready to roast! Corn Days are coming soon!

Got Sunshine?

Do you need a little sunshine? We have brilliant yellows, bright orange, and plenty of sunshine wrapped into our summer squash, ready and ripe on the farm! The golden sweet corn is secretly waiting its grand appearance on August first!! Come on out to the farm stand for all of the sunshine you need.

Life on the Farm Right Now

The flowers are in full, colorful bloom, strawberries are bursting with juicy, red flavor, and picked early in the morning, the sweet corn is planted in the newest rows in the field, the cattle are grazing along the creek. What are you waiting for? Come on out to see us at the Farm Stand. It is a perfect day to be outside. See you soon!

Happy Fourth of July

Independence and farming go hand in hand. We hope you find yourselves celebrating a life of independence and freedom with family and friends in the beauty of Southern Oregon. We are farming and harvesting, so if you need to add to your picnic or BBQ with locally grown food, come on out to the farmstand for some "just picked this morning" strawberries, tomatoes, lettuce, onions, snap peas, sweet peas, garlic, lettuce, and cherries! Enjoy your celebrations today and be safe. Happy Independence Day from your local farmer!

Summer Colors

Summer colors are on the farm. We have brilliant yellows, oranges, and reds or cool purples, pinks, and whites. When you drive out to the farm stand you will also be treated to the ever changing landscape. The fields of corn are blankets of green and the sweet corn promises to be ripe by August 1. Nibble on the snap peas or the snow peas, pick out a hanging basket of cherry tomatoes, and select a basket of strawberries before you head home. See you at the farm!

Hello, Sweet Pea!

Here is a perfect sweet pea blossom. The vegetable crops are producing very well now and the sweet peas love the June weather. There are plenty to pick for snacking, salads, lunch, or dinner. The sweet peas are so juicy, crunchy, and sweet they are gobbled up like candy. Come on out to the farm stand for the harvest!

Happy Father's Day!

Here is Farmer Walt, the man who started Fort Vannoy Farms. You will find him on a tractor, digging ditches, riding quads, working the fields, helping with the harvest, building the Tower of Fun, or Zip Lining over the corn fields. Here is to the Granddaddy of Dads, Happy Father's Day, Walt!

Meet Farmer Nancy

Here is Farmer Nancy of Fort Vannoy Farms. She is a runner! She runs the Farm Stand, she runs a tractor, she runs the cows from pasture to pasture, she runs the field trucks full of silage, she runs a quad, she runs to pick, clean, cook, wash, and stock. Farmer Nancy is an icon on the farm like Rosie the Riveter was to the agricultural front in the 1940's. She can do it all and she keeps on smiling. If you need help picking out the right flowers or plants for your garden, she can do it. If you need a tip on animal husbandry, milking dairy cows or goats, shearing sheep, she is your Go-To-Gal. If you need a soulful laugh, Farmer Nancy has a story to warm your heart. She is on duty around the clock and we are so grateful for our very own Farmer Nancy!

Can You Say Triticale?

Triticale (trit-ih-kay'-lee) is a cross between a grass and a grain that is used for feeding the dairy cows at the farm. It has a higher protein content than a single grain, and it is a hybrid of wheat and rye grains. Triticale helps reduce erosion levels and it helps improve soil health and structure that is important for the other crops grown on the farm.

Dairy cows need high energy forage. Triticale offers a very beneficial high sugar and moderate protein feed. This highly nutritious feed for the cows is especially good for the young heifers as they receive quality nutrients with less fat which grow into healthy milk cows.

When triticale is ready to be harvested, the crops are cut, raked, chopped, and stored in the silos. Triticale is cut in a green stage which is called flag leaf harvest. It is harvested in the early spring and produces about 10 tons of feed per acre! That is a lot of food for the cows! It is important to produce and feed quality silage to the milking cows. The harvest of triticale comes just before it is time for the corn to be planted at Fort Vannoy Farms.

Come on out and visit the farms and the fields to see what is growing and changing everyday!

Saturday Farmer's Market

Fresh basil starts and plenty of other plants to get your garden planting well underway are available at the Grants Pass Grower's Market on Saturday. The are also many different varieties of tomatoes, lettuce, melons and much, much more.

Here is another sample of our beautiful hanging baskets to add color to home. These mixed flowers will bloom all summer long with a little bit of watering and sunshine.

Here is part of the strawberry field and there are literally thousands of plants in this section. Over ten thousand berries were planted a year ago. The ripe sweet flavor is evident in abundance. Be sure to pick up local fresh strawberries, cauliflower, onions, and more at the Grants Pass Grower's Market on Saturday.

Berries Galore for Memorial Day!

Just in time for a festive Memorial Day Weekend, Fort Vannoy Farms have plenty of sweet, ripe strawberries freshly picked from the local fields. The berries are available at the Medford Grower's Market on Thursday, at the Grants Pass Grower's Market on Saturday, and everyday at the Farm Stand.

You will also find the beautiful strawberry baskets full of the tasty-sweet, juicy-ripe fruit! They add color to your deck or patio and the strawberries will ripen continuously throughout the summer months, or if you prefer your own little strawberry patch, we have plenty of transplants full of blossoms.

There are also blue and pink petunia baskets that will add the summer color we have all been waiting for this spring. Come on out to the market this week and gather all of the colors of Old Glory: RED strawberries, WHITE blossoms, and BLUE petunias. Fort Vannoy Farms would like to extend a special thanks to all of the men and women who serve our country. Happy Memorial Day, see you at the market!

Meet Us at the Market

We have been farming all week to bring you bunches of yummy fresh produce and healthy plants for your garden starts. Meet us at the Grants Pass Grower's Market, Saturday, 9-1. We will be the ones with big smiles on our faces!

Visit us at the Market

Here the farmers are laying out row covers as the soil and air temperatures are warm enough for tender transplants. Speaking of transplants, visit us at the Grower's Market today in Grants Pass. There will be many hanging baskets, tomatoes, strawberry baskets and more to delight your senses! See you at the market.

Perfect Weather

Life on the farm is busy with the plowing and the tilling and the cutting and the hauling and the planting and the list goes on for the farmers hard at work. The days are getting longer, the wind is getting warmer and the weather is perfect for all of the work in a farmer's day.

Salad Bar Selections

Mmmm, so many choices of vegetables just for your salad garden! There are candy onions and red onions, early Dutch and late Dutch cabbage, purple cabbage, lemon cucumber starts, and tomatoes galore just to mention a few! Then there is the leafy red and green lettuce, oak lettuce, butter head lettuce and the list goes on. Stop by the living salad bar at the farm stand today to get your own salad bar garden started!

See You at the Market

There will be a big variety of plants, hanging baskets, garden starts, and flowers everywhere! Don't forget about our famous strawberry hanging baskets too! All of these healthy starts are just in time for Mother's Day! See you at the Grants Pass Grower's Market, 9-1, Saturday.

Future Farmer!

This little guy had a great time at the Spring Farm Days thanks to Floyd A. Boyd and John Deere. Tom from Floyd A. Boyd brought a variety of tractors and implements to test out and this future farmer picked his favorite tractor out! Many thanks to Tom who provided his expertise and the fleet of John Deere tractors!

ZIPPING ON DOWN

The zip line is ready for all you riders.
What a BLAST!!!!

COUNTING THE DAYS

All of us at Fort Vannoy Farms are getting ready for our big weekend.  Come enjoy a nice weekend with us.  Test drive a John Deere tractor, ride our zip line, get your face painted, play paint ball in our hay field, eat some good food, visit the booths of our local vendors, learn about farming and how it impacts you, and don't forget to check out our Farm Stand with our beautiful hanging flower and strawberry baskets.

OUR ZIP LINE POLES ARE IN THE GROUND!

Bob is digging the first hole for our new Zip Line!

And the first pole is in!!! 

Spring Farm Days!

Coming soon to the farm: Spring Farm Days! You will get to see all of the crops in the fields growing, plants in the greenhouses ready for gardens, flowers in pots full of color, strawberries in baskets hanging and ripening, a new ZIPLINE ready to zipping...Make plans now to come out to the farm for more fun and family time! April 29, April 30, and May 1!

In the Greenhouses

In the greenhouses there are tender little plants waiting for a patch of rich brown soil! Come out to the farm and pick from many varieties. This is just a small sampling of the starts ready to be planted.

April Fools

Thanks to all of the Market Go-ers today! Mother Nature has a sense of humor and played her April Fools on us at the market. We ended up with every kind of weather from sunshine to rain to wind to hail to sunshine. What was the best part of the market today? Happy people looking for good food! It was great to see all of you at the market!

Grower's Market for Saturday 4-2-11

It is April and we are full of surprises here at the farm and for the market! At the market this week be sure to ask for our Farm Bucks. Time is running out to get the best deal. You will also find many more seedling starts for the garden, flower starts, hanging strawberry baskets, broccoli, cauliflower, Swiss chard and more and more and more! Happy Weekending! See you at the market.

Grower's Market for Saturday 3-26-11

Fresh at the Grower's Market we will have sweet purple broccoli, cauliflower, swiss chard, broccoli, and many starter plants for your garden, deck, or flower pots. We hope to see you there from 9-1! Come on out and support your local farmers!

Plants and Plows

The soil is nearly ready for tilling and we are wondering: Do you have plants? Well, Fort Vannoy Farms is hosting a Spring Community Fair on April 29, 30 and May 1. Come on out to the farm to find the perfect vegetable plants and flowers to fill that freshly plowed plot or to fill a pot!

Foggy Morning

It was a beautifully foggy morning early at Fort Vannoy Farms.  One of the farmers started working the strawberry fields as everything around him was cloaked in white. By midday the sun was shining brightly and the farmer was still tending the berry fields.

Transplants

Tiny, tender plants are making their way in the spring fields now. Cauliflower, broccoli, red cabbage and green cabbage are bordered by their stout radish friends. All this water will lead to a healthy harvest. We'll see you at the market!

Where the Rainbow Ends

Fort Vannoy Farms is the lucky winner of the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow today! Yesterday, in the late afternoon, the rainbow came to rest on the fields of purple broccoli, cauliflower, and swiss chard!

The First Day of Spring

The first day of spring at Fort Vannoy Farms is full of hope and moisture! The next month will be full of heavy "green" fertilizer as we use the by-products from the dairy cows to enrich the soil. Farmer Bob is out on the tractor on the first day of spring!

Market a Success!

The Grants Pass Grower's Market was a successful day on the last day of winter, 2011. Thanks to everyone for coming out and supporting the farm!

Grower's Market for Saturday 3-19-11

Visit Fort Vannoy Farms at the Grants Pass Grower's Market between 9am and 1pm.  This week fresh from the farm broccoli, purple broccoli, cauliflower, and early season garden plants.

A Change of Seasons

We are experiencing an open range of weather and activity at Fort Vannoy Farms. As the seasons shift from winter to spring, there is a dramatic backdrop of snow covered mountains and just above the strawberry fields, the osprey have have returned to rebuild their nest.  Under the watchful eyes of the osprey in the fields, broccoli, cauliflower, and swiss chard are ripe and ready to eat.  We will have peas, spring onions, and lettuce very soon too. The fields of strawberries are just starting to spring up with greens and will burst forth with the perfect snowy white blossoms as soon as the soil temperatures and air temperatures warm up a bit more. Change is definitely in the air. Come and visit us on the farm to witness firsthand the amazing change in seasons.