Sara Rippe’s farm north of Lincoln runs on a simple idea: you pick it yourself, and it’s fresher than anything shipped in — a fact worth remembering when 80% of cut flowers bought in the US are grown abroad. Spring brings a field exploding with tens of thousands of daffodils and tulips; summer brings more than two acres of flowers, most planted by hand from seed in her own grow room; fall brings 200-plus varieties of pumpkins and decorative squash and the famous fill-our-wheelbarrow u-pick sale.
There’s no admission fee — just pay for what you pick. They add no harsh chemicals to anything they grow, out of care for the bees and butterflies that fill the rows. Bring shears if you have them (pumpkin stems are thick), and check the farm’s schedule before you go: the seasons are precise and the u-pick fields close when they’re picked out.