Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 9 Entries. Tuesday, January 1 View Page Happy "Moo" Year - from our barn to yours! I am starting to get seed catalogs in the mail and all of us know what that means. Getting ready think about the garden and pumpkin patch plans for this 2013 year. Good luck to all the growers. I hope you reach your PB. Wednesday, January 9 View Page This week is the Pennsylvania Farm Show. Growers and producers (and the public in general) from all over the state come together to check out the new farm equipment, watch animals being judged, and eat food that is produced in PA. This year is one of the first that I can remember where the largest pumpkin is the one with the purple ribbon - and that seems small. However, a grower would have to keep that pumpkin from the fall months, and that's a hard thing to do. Remember that MAGPG's seed auction is Friday. Check out what is available and grow a monster this year. Wednesday, January 16 View Page Ice storm here during the night. We live in a slightly higher elevation so the ice stayed on the trees all day. I am doing some figuring as to how I want my gardens/patches placed, fenced, and watering systems put together. Compost piles are looking good and I plan to use them in March. Saturday, January 26 View Page We are going through a deep freeze here in the North East U.S. I started a five gallon bucket of potatoes here the first week of January. The plants are spindly, but look healthy. Next to the potato plants are some pizza oregano and basil. There is also a two year hot pepper plant, but it looks kind of sick. I have a perfect sunny Southern window that keeps my houseplants very happy over the Winter. I am putting manure - cow, horse and pig - on areas of the gardens that could use it. Figuring out where all plants, especially pumpkins, will grow this year... Wednesday, March 13 View Page It's been quite a while since I last posted. The month of February was spent at Pennsylvania Association of Sustainable Agriculture conference and then I got the flu! I was so sick that I ended up in the ICU. I spent the rest of the month recovering. In the beginning of March I celebrated a birthday and my family bought me a greenhouse (pictured) and so the fun begins with setting it up, placing shelves in it, getting gravel for the floor in it and just getting plants started. In less than two months time, most of us in the Mid Atlantic states will have our PB pumpkins in the ground. I can't wait! Tuesday, March 26 View Page What did I ever do before I had a greenhouse? (Probably spent my time cleaning in the house...lol). I am slowly getting the hang of this building. A digital thermometer in the house tells me the temp inside the greenhouse 24/7. I have a small kerosene heater for cold nights and a barrel of water to help regulate the temp. I have to paint the barrel black to make it more efficient. Within two weeks we will remove the compost pile and start another one. All that's needed now is some warm temps to warm up the ground. I am getting antsy! Friday, April 12 View Page We went to Washington DC for the day on Wednesday to see number three son receive a USDA award, and also to see the famous tidal basin cherry blossoms. We hit the hot weather, in the 90s, and were told that it was the prime day to view the trees. It was packed with thousands of tourists. Seeing the USDA demonstration garden on the National Mall helped to whet my appetite for planting pumpkins. The spring vegetables and flowers are planted and doing good thanks to the warm weather and much needed rain. I am so ready to start the growing season for my PB pumpkin. I will plant the last week in April or there about - seeing what the weather is. Good luck to everyone. It is almost here for us in the Mid Atlantic states. Thursday, April 18 View Page Yesterday I finally put my herb pallet together. So far it has basil, oregano, parsley, and cilantro - those are herbs that I use. Just thought I'd try something different this year, as I had the greenhouse to start the seeds. On April 16 I started some pumpkins - a 1643 Fulk, 960 Gansert, 1155 Snyder, and a 834.5 Sandercock squash. My husband and son also planted and they won't tell me what seeds they used...it has started! Monday, June 3 View Page I promise to post photos of the pumpkin plants in my next post, but we have so much going on here at the farm that it is hard to keep up. We had a little Black Angus heifer born here late Friday afternoon. She's two weeks early and small but doing very very well. She is the first calf for her mother and they are fun to watch. We've also had extreme cold and frost two weeks ago and now are in a heat wave (whew) with 60+% humidity. Supposedly our weather will return to normal tomorrow and be in the 70s. This is the first year I can remember it being so dry so early and I actually had to water the pumpkin plants.