(EL PASO COUNTY) — One of El Paso County’s only farms that grows their own pumpkins is now open and giving tours. It is located on South Peyton Highway in Colorado Springs.
The Farm is now open to the public on Wednesdays and Saturdays, with their special 3rd annual fall festival coming up on October 14th.
“We grow farm fresh pumpkins. We have two patches,” said Linda Childers, who owns Muddy Little Cowboy Ranch with her husband and son.
The pumpkin patch sets them apart from other pumpkin patches in El Paso County.
“It is harder to grow pumpkins,” Childers said. “Plus, you have to do a lot of praying, I’m going to say. Because hail, frost, we’re prepared. We have a system.”
Not only does it include covering the pumpkins with a tarp or a frost sheet to protect against the elements, but part of the system involves her chickens, which you can visit on the farm.
“The chickens will eat tons of grasshoppers. We have we have three chicken coops, so that’s a natural way to do it.”
Another method was a little bit more surprising, and it involved her Koi pond.
“We channel the fish pond water. That is another secret. We take it down 25 percent every other week and we channel that to fertilize.”
Childers says their pond is active all year round, and the Koi will go dormant during the winter months, and come back in the spring.
In addition to this and the pumpkin patch, the farm invites kids to pick all kinds of vegetables.
“When they pull out a carrot — our carrots are three to four feet long. They keep pulling it and pulling it. They’re like ‘wow’,” Childers said. “They get to pick their own tomatoes, they get to pick their own potatoes. So, they get so much and to see them, their faces, when they go home and all this is fresh; they can make a salad.”
After grabbing the veggies, they can make their way over to the goats.
“We have baby goats right now that are in milking with their momma. Everyone gets to taste a bottle of goat’s milk,” Childers said, adding goat’s milk is sweeter, and arguably better tasting than traditional cow’s milk.
The last stop on the tour is the bunny tunnel. Childers said she loves when she gets groups of special needs kids to come and be able to cuddle a rabbit, which they might not get the chance to do anywhere else.
Through this tour, Childers said she hopes it can inspire kids to make healthier choices as the joy of picking their own food translates to getting to be able to eat it later. She also said she hopes it can inspire people who want to farm, to just get their hands dirty and dive right in to the lifestyle.
“I sit out on this back porch and I look at the sunsets. I get up in the morning, I have a cup of coffee and I see the sunrises,” Childers said thoughtfully. “You don’t get that in the city. If you’re going to do it for your own health, go for it.”
