The History of Bishop's Pumpkin Farm

In 1971 Bill and Sandy Bishop moved to Wheatland, CA and purchased 40 acres and a rather run down farmstead. Bill farmed corn, alfalfa, beans, and hogs on adjoining rented property; but in 1973 Sandy convinced him that pumpkins were the way to go. Sandy was a trained school teacher and wanted to find ways for students to spend some time on the farm and have hands on exposure to California agriculture. She just had an intuition that offering curriculum about pumpkins would bring schools out. With the help of her Aunt Nell and their 3 children, Mrs. B planted about one acre of pumpkins and invited the local school children out for a visit. After he saw them struggling with planting seeds by hand for days, Bill came around to Mrs. B's vision and eventually even helped out in the planting phase! 

The field trips proved popular and Bill and Sandy soon learned that many of the children wanted to bring their families back to the farm on weekends. More pumpkins including bigger varieties were planted the following year and word was also getting out around town about the mouthwatering pumpkin pies that Mrs. B was baking from scratch in her kitchen.

An old farm wagon was put into service for hayrides and the Bishop kiddos' ponies were saddled and tied to a tree for self-service pony rides. By this time, Bill and Sandy's sons, Bruce (9 years old) and Wayne (8 years old), were put into service driving the hayrides and pulling the jumbo pumpkins out of the field. Younger sister, Barbara, would later help out in the bakery and food service areas of the operation. Sandy’s parents, Frank and Babe Mullins, helped out every weekend for many years as did Bill’s father. 

The farm continued its growth from there with big additions to the grounds being the bakery built in 1982, the first train in 1991, and the Cider Mill that same year. The train was upgraded with a new locomotive in 1999 and a second loop to the track was added. Coyote Mountain and our first Corn Maze were created in 2001 and Hamburger Farm field trips debuted in the spring of 2002. Pig racing came to the farm in 2006 (NASPIG starts in 2008); PigaDeli Square with its myriad of dining options was added in 2007; the sunflower field and Fanny Annie’s Candy Shop opened in 2009. The farm was annexed into the City of Wheatland in 2011 allowing us to build permanent bathrooms in 2012.

We built the play area known as Coyote Bend in 2013 and Charlie’s Carousel and Babe’s Cookieactory came in 2014. In 2015 Wayne and Ann were able to purchase an additional 42 acres of land adjacent to the farm giving us a new crop: almonds! Fire pits and the Harvest Barn were introduced in 2016 with much more planned for the coming years.

Farmer Bill retired in 2004 with Mrs. B following suit in 2013. Today our farm is run by Wayne and Ann Bishop along with their sons, Austin and Lee, and Lee's wife, Courtney. The 5 Bishop family members, with the help of 12 full-time employees, and approximately 800 more seasonal team members, continue to operate the farm seasonally every September-November for 8 weeks of harvesting memories. Keep an eye out for the Bishop’s great-grandchildren in the fall as well; Austin has 3 girls, Khloe, Carlie-Ann and Charlie.

In 2021 we created 2 custom rides: Bishop's Flying Service and Farmer Bill's Tootling Tractors. The tractor ride is especially meaningful to our family as it was designed as a tribute to our founder, Farmer Bill, who passed away in May 2021.