Martin's Hillside Orchard

Explore the Orchard

The Pumpkin Haus Rules!

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How did this bit of silliness come about?

pumpkin hausThe inspiration: Simple. P Allen Smith’s Pumpkin House It’s awesome. We tried to find the frame he used but it had been discontinued 🙁

No worries, we are Nebraska Strong! In the midst of the coldest winter in quite some time (last February) Barb suggested: “Why don’t we use the gazebo out front?” That’s the one we built back when we grew strawberries? Booyah! Lightning in a bottle, etc, etc

Flowerpot rings

The build: So, September 17th Jen and Christy (Martin kids/adults) got together to do a bit of decorating. Armed with a power drill, 70 flower pot rings, lots of straw bales, and a boatload of heirloom pumpkins, they got to work. Not exactly following a blueprint, but that was half the fun.

Photo Ops: We had a family approach us halfway through our build asking if they could take a pic. We cleared out the supplies and stepped aside. We figured we must be onto something good. We hope you enjoy!

It’s the last weekend of the season

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This weekend, 10/17-18 will be our last of the season

Thank you to everyone who visited the orchard this fall. We really appreciate your support! 

Looking for a great photo op? Grab a pic next to this giant – Meet Big Andy! He weighs in at over 800 lbs.

Grab a cup of our killer hot cider and let the kids roam the patch. Plenty of other activities to enjoy – like our kid-sized corn maze, discovery trail, straw tower and tire mountain to name a few. 

 Reminder: U-pick apple season  has already come to a close this year. More details here.

How to stay safe at the orchard? Please be sure to bring masks for your group. For the most part, you should be a-okay to roam the orchard without a mask, but at check-in and check-out or where you can’t social distance, you will want to use that mask. Here’s how you can help us make the fall orchard experience as safe as possible.

Meet Wally!

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Tamra Ziems (Wally’s mom) and Alex

Wally is a 3-month old, Atlantic Giant pumpkin raised in Ewing, Nebraska by family members of our very own Sheila Ziems, Tamra and Larry Ziems, in preparation for a pumpkin competition in Rapid City.

  • At one point, Wally was gaining 23 lbs/day!
  • How do you move a one thousand lb pumpkin? With a John Deere, of course!

For more information on how to grow your own giant pumpkin check out this segment from “Backyard Farmer” featuring Wally and some other pumpkins Tamra and her husband grew this summer.

Tamra and Larry wanted to make sure Wally got to enjoy the limelight post-competition so we are lucky to have them choose Martin’s Hillside Orchard for his forever home. Come on out and meet Wally. Great photo opportunity!

Follow the Ziems on Facebook, Instagram and twitter – their handle is “craZpumpkins” for photos of the recent pumpkin weigh-in and more info on raising these giants

We can’t wait to collect a few seeds and try to grow one of these for ourselves 🙂

A BIG thanks to Tamra and Larry!

 

Butterflies Galore!

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The butterfly garden is in full swing these days with plants as high (tall) as an elephant’s eye. Plenty of butterflies around, including monarchs on sunny, warm days as they fuel up for their migration south for the winter.

Monarch on butterfly bush

We finally got around to adding signs out in the garden to identify some of the more unusual plants and fun facts about butterflies. They smell with their feet? Yes, indeed! Here are some pics of the winged visitors we’ve captured the last couple of years.

Bring your cameras!

Check out our Facebook page for additional photos

 

 

American Lady
Painted Lady, American Lady? Not sure

Apple Hand Pie

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Love this video tutorial that walks you through how to make hand pies. Just follow this step-by-step and you will have the most adorable and flavorful apple hand pies ever. Crimping is a cinch!

Ingredients:

  • Store-bought pie crust – you can make your own, but we took the shortcut
  • Butter – a bit of bacon fat* is an excellent addition. See note below
  • Apples – something flavorful like a Honeycrisp or Jonathan
  • Salt
  • White sugar
  • Brown sugar
  • Cinnamon
  • Water

*Bacon twist – We had some bacon drippings left from breakfast so we used them in place of some of the butter. Wow, bacon and apples are a great combination! We need to explore this combination in more recipes