Omaha Exploration

Over the past couple of years, we’ve explored both Vala’s and Markman’s Pumpkin Patch. This year, we’re taking a look at Bellevue Berry Farm and Pumpkin Ranch.

Agriculture was in Ed Schaefer’s blood. Before starting his farm in 1983, he spent summers on his grandparents’ ranch in Wall, South Dakota—home to none other than Wall Drug. After graduating from Colorado State University, he worked for USAID in Latin America, followed by a stint focusing on farm and agricultural issues for the government. While working in Washington, D.C., he lived on a farm in Maryland, where he first began growing strawberries.

Ed eventually made his way to Nebraska, where he planted 30 acres of strawberries on land owned by his father, who previously used it to grow soybeans and corn. It didn’t take long before it became the largest strawberry farm in the state. In addition to Ed, the family business was operated by his wife, Fabiola, and their sons, Tyson and Zach. Due to its proximity to Offutt Air Force Base, the farm attracted service members as well as local Bellevue families.

As the business grew, Ed began planting other crops, including raspberries, blackberries, snap peas, asparagus, apple trees, and pumpkins. He continued to turn the farm into a local attraction, dismantling, relocating, and repurposing old barns from Sarpy and Cass Counties, which he decorated with antique farming tools and implements. Today, the farm features four rentable venues—each unique and popular for weddings, receptions, reunions, and other celebrations.

Like the Vala family, the Schaefers continued to add attractions as pumpkin patches grew in popularity. The farm truly comes alive in the fall, when guests can pick their own pumpkins, wander the corn maze, jump on the giant pillow, ride the barrel train, zip line, and slide down giant farm slides. At night, it transforms into the Ranch of Terror, featuring a haunted house, caves, hayrack rides, a ghost town, and even a zombie jail. If you need a bite to eat, Bellevue Berry Farm prepares and cooks its food on-site.

Throughout the rest of the year, the farm hosts a variety of events, including taco rides, fish fries, the Renaissance Festival of Nebraska, Mud Factor, the Harry Potter Festival, Western Days, Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead), and Christmas in the Country, among others.

Operating the farm is a year-round effort. Work on the next year’s crop begins soon after the current harvest ends. From December through February, the team maintains equipment, cares for livestock, orders supplies, and prepares paperwork and taxes.

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