Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 179 Entries. Tuesday, January 1 View Page Happy New Year, first post of year, working on the Midwest giant pumpkin growers seed auction. Going to have a lot of great lots on Sunday January 20th! Thank You to all the Growers that donated seeds this winter!   Saturday, January 12 View Page Fun time up in Wisconsin last night, great group of growers! Stayed up till almost 4 am socializing and now I find myself in bed at 8 pm on a Saturday, getting old sucks   Saturday, February 16 View Page 8 hrs of overtime should cover my beer in Green bay?   Sunday, March 3 View Page Well got most of my lumber for operation turn screenhouse into greenhouse. Of course I forgot 8 16' 2x4's, but it's a start!   Sunday, March 3 View Page 2° out -14° tonight. Guess I wont be getting my soil sample anytime soon. Or getting any 4x4's in the ground in near future. Ready for warmer weather! Less than 2 weeks till Green Bay!!!!   Thursday, March 7 View Page So, I went to college for 4 years, I have a degree in Graphic design, with a minor in art, and played football for 4 years. And this is my new office! My summer job in college has led me to a career in the mining industry (18 years in june) and this is the 1st brand new pit loader in our company in over 15 years. Going to be a great year!   Friday, March 15 View Page Having fun at the big show! May have had to much fun last night   Monday, March 18 View Page Theres a story to this one, Thursday night in Green bay we partied hard! I will never forget the time I met Jim Hazeltine!   Monday, March 18 View Page The big show attendees!   Monday, March 18 View Page My Wisconsin Club family!   Monday, March 18 View Page My wife did her own thing, but we both had a great time!   Monday, March 18 View Page I photobombed Joe's Stillwater Howard dill winner in the slide show. Pretty sure no one noticed. It was a beautiful pumpkin   Monday, March 18 View Page Take one of these shots every year. Forgot to do it in wilkes barre   Monday, March 18 View Page Ken Received a well deserved Award! Nice to have a chat with you Ken!   Monday, March 18 View Page Another one with the wife   Monday, March 18 View Page Way better trophies tour than the one Minnesota   Monday, March 18 View Page Eddy Z! You are the man! Look forward to your Diary and drinks in Vegas!   Monday, March 18 View Page Now to figure out how to get this big bag of perlite out of truck closer to patch without driving through the yard   Tuesday, March 19 View Page Well I finally got the new machine dirty!   Saturday, March 23 View Page Still not thawed or dry enough to start upgrading. Was able to get my soil sample, my pvc collector hit frozen ground at 6" in a few places, but kept going in the rest of my dozen spot. Dry tomorrow, on to western labs on Monday   Saturday, March 23 View Page Flags marked more support, tie in with rest of structure. Weather is not in my favor for next week but hopefully have it done and plastic on 1 month from now. Right before I put plants out   Saturday, March 30 View Page 4 x4's in their holes, lumber layed out. Might get something accomplished tomorrow afternoon.   Sunday, March 31 View Page Excited, got some big shoes to fill! Hoping I can represent the central Region well as I join a great GPC committee !   Sunday, March 31 View Page Got some work done today   Sunday, March 31 View Page And the other side, if the weather cooperates next weekend I should be ready to put the plastic on soon   Sunday, March 31 View Page And the other side, if the weather cooperates next weekend I should be ready to put the plastic on soon   Wednesday, April 3 View Page Birds eye view of my job, I'll take that 35,000 ton pile of rock and turn it in to littler rocks at 650-700 onstage per hour. New loader deffiantly helps however it broke at 59 engine hrs and went back to moline. At least they gave us a rental   Saturday, April 6 View Page North side, straightest these have ever looked. Reinforcement should work. Side boards and double channel wiggle ire up tomorrow weather permitting   Saturday, April 6 View Page South side   Sunday, April 7 View Page Rained most of the day, main reason going to a greenhouse. Got my side boards up on both sides. Plastic will go 56 ft over the middle end for end   Sunday, April 7 View Page These weren't cheap but will be nice to have. Double channel wiggle wire. Top portion will hold the main piece, then I can choose plastic or screen the bottom 7 ft down the sides. With our iowa summers definitely screen if not open. Wish this was a roll up curtain automated of course. Maybe next year   Sunday, April 14 View Page Seed starting day, 4 on left is my greenhouse line up, any fail then we replace with the ones on the right. May do a few extras just in case after 1st batch   Sunday, April 14 View Page Call me crazy, doing a 5th plant outside greenhouse. Still mostly lawn yet. Left plant is 867 Davis, 1st attempt (healthy looking seed) didnt take, so I put in another that looked like it survived a mail roller, barley. But hey it popped! The other plant is the 1458 charity f'n Marshall (1989.5 Daletas x self)   Sunday, April 14 View Page Put some plastic down over grow spots, hopefully dry up enough I can do something, pretty muddy finishing up the greenhouse. It officially is ready for plastic   Sunday, April 14 View Page Salvaged a few pieces of screen to run down the sides when it grs warmer   Tuesday, April 16 View Page The "what the hell am I thinking, your busy enough patch" has been tilled. 1458 cfm will go out here, along with melons and a few tomatoes. And iam sure albas sunflowers   Saturday, April 20 View Page Had very little wind today, so I pounced on the opportunity. 90 ft long x 56 ft wide   Saturday, April 20 View Page Need to do sides tomorrow after Alba finds her Easter eggs. Going to have some pooling on top and other tweaking. But it's on there pretty good. Lots of wiggle wire   Saturday, April 20 View Page Not sure what's going on with this 2152. Same mix as the rest. 2283 looks great, 2528, had a split on one cot leaf, but should be fine. First 2091 was a dud, but 2nd started breaking soil today. Put a 2344 Paton in today, just in case that 2152 is a no go   Sunday, April 21 View Page All sealed up, 25 mph wind gave me a chance to tighten some spots up   Sunday, April 21 View Page Got a little toasty, 85° outside   Sunday, April 21 View Page I put deck boards on top with wiggle wire, wind had them moving all over, this helped a lot on the waves   Sunday, April 21 View Page 2,283, 2528, and 2152. 2091 #2 came up yesterday will move to grow bag on Tues. Got a 1991 vanderweilen and 2433 in chamber. Not certain I want to go with that 2152   Tuesday, April 23 View Page 63° outside, 84° inside! It got up to 111° in there today. Spread perlite, should have worn a mask, cough, cough   Tuesday, April 23 View Page Had some rain last night, lots of pooling pushed off 500 gallons or more. Stuck some 8 ft 4x4's length ways in middle it helped, need to get 3 more, and got another idea to to shed the water   Saturday, April 27 View Page Long day, wet and heavy   Saturday, April 27 View Page Wind locked me in, Alba to the rescue!   Saturday, April 27 View Page See if I cant keep it a little warmer than the 24° they are talking   Friday, May 3 View Page Hopefully this weekend, outside   Saturday, May 4 View Page Been awhile since I had a camper out in the open, 1458 Charity F'n Marshall is out side. It was vines out 18" in the basement and kinked itself a little bit. Weather has been crappy. Till around it in the morning.   Saturday, May 4 View Page Amendments applied to the greenhouse according to the soil calculator (thanks Mike) CFN patch got the leftovers   Sunday, May 5 View Page Tilled both patches this morning before 8:30. Much better in green house when its 60 compared to 98   Sunday, May 5 View Page Fans are up, mister tips are soaking   Sunday, May 5 View Page My puddling, hopefully solved. Looking at radar I will find out shortly   Sunday, May 5 View Page I got 100 yards of 1" ratchet strap, strapping. I hope this is a little tougher than the rope. Definitely nice feeling it get tighter   Sunday, May 5 View Page Wasnt happy with soil temp 58°, so I put heat cables in today. Last week really cooled it off. Might put plants out after work in couple days   Sunday, May 5 View Page 1458 CFM is out   Sunday, May 5 View Page Should have been 1st pic   Sunday, May 5 View Page Raining, windy, so far so niceee   Tuesday, May 7 View Page Let the stress begin, 2091 Midthun on left, 2283 on right. Was lucky enough to see both these hit the scales. They were almost twins   Tuesday, May 7 View Page 2528 on right, and 2152 and 2433 paired up. Had some weirdness going on with 2152 early, hoping it grew out of it   Tuesday, May 7 View Page Wet and rainy next couple days. Got some heat lamps next to them. Wish I could double tent them, but hard when you leave as early as I do.   Friday, May 10 View Page Cleaning out my little water hookup shed, anybody need some zipties? LOL   Saturday, May 25 View Page Added a treestand to the patch, it's going to be nice!   Saturday, May 25 View Page 2091 on left, 2283 on right from my perch   Saturday, May 25 View Page 2433 on left, 2528 on right   Sunday, May 26 View Page Had a electrical malfunction, so plastic sides came off   Sunday, May 26 View Page Screens sides r up, feels nicer already. Gcfi outlet is fixed only electrocuted myself once and on my 2nd budlite   Sunday, May 26 View Page Alba likes the new break spot to!   Monday, May 27 View Page One little screw in every pipe, tightened the plastic up real nice, hopefully help shed some water to. Clamps looked like they had sliding up and down about 6". Order 50 more yards of 1" strapping, out here with 28 mph winds made me paranoid. The screen sides have definitely made it a better pumpkin growing environment   Wednesday, May 29 View Page I've been spotted, guess I should have worn camo   Sunday, June 9 View Page Been awhile, super busy lately. 2528, should have a pollination attempt this week some time   Sunday, June 9 View Page 2433, planted a few days behind rest after 2152 came up mutated nothing ready this week   Sunday, June 9 View Page 2283, got one in the tip   Sunday, June 9 View Page 2091, got one on the tip as well   Sunday, June 9 View Page Finally getting some side vines on the 1458 charity f'n Marshall. Missed one this morning while we were in the Wisconsin dells See what happens   Sunday, June 16 View Page Pollination time! 2528 x 2283 4 lobes 16.5 ft out   Sunday, June 16 View Page 2528 Geddes   Sunday, June 16 View Page 2091 Midthun   Sunday, June 16 View Page 2283 Barlow/Jacobus   Sunday, June 16 View Page 2433 Paton   Sunday, June 16 View Page 1458 charity fn Marshall   Sunday, June 16 View Page Long gourds hit dirt tomorrow maybe, 143.75 x 2 and a 139.5 Eaton   Tuesday, June 18 View Page I get better success when I dont do the 4 am pollinations. Alba recruited her mom today and they crossed a perfect 4 lobe with the flowers I had waiting for them, the cross is 2091 Midthun x 2283 Barlow /Jacobus set at about 13 ft   Tuesday, June 18 View Page Had to review the camera activity to confirm. Sucks being in a quarry with no cell service   Wednesday, June 19 View Page 1458 CFM x 2528 5 lobe   Friday, June 21 View Page Pollination tracker, suggested by Mike Schmit, a whole lot of 2145 -2283 x2433 (5 lobes one was a little indented) 15-18 ft. 2433 x 2528 (4 lobes 14 maybe) should have all my sets soon   Friday, June 21 View Page Alba gave papa Rusty a patch tour this morning, he seemed impressed   Sunday, June 23 View Page 2528 x 2283 6 DAP   Sunday, June 23 View Page 2091 x 2283   Sunday, June 23 View Page 2433 x 2528   Sunday, June 23 View Page 2283 x 2433   Sunday, June 23 View Page Busy pollination week   Sunday, June 23 View Page 1458 x2528/open   Sunday, June 23 View Page Long gourds   Tuesday, June 25 View Page 1st real hot day in awhile, and first mister failure. I have no cell/data service in quarry iam working in. When I got up top I noticed my boards weren't getting wet when the misters were supposed to be on. Got home and found a bad solenoid, luckily I ordered a spare 3 years ago. Several scorched leafs, was the only issue.next few days I better have 0 failures. Everything under shade cloth was fine.   Sunday, June 30 View Page F me, 80+ mph. Plants might make it. But when it pulled out and tossed some 12 ft treated 12" boards all the way on other side of the patch. House is ok, neighbors down the road had buildings leveled   Monday, July 1 View Page 2528 x 2283 10 min before armageddon   Monday, July 1 View Page 2091 x 2283 9 min before armageddon   Monday, July 1 View Page 2283x 2344 8 min before armageddon   Monday, July 1 View Page This is 2283 x 2433, previous was 2433x 2528 run for house   Monday, July 1 View Page 1458 CFM x 2528 outside and apparently better protection   Monday, July 1 View Page One of my baseboards with 3 ft post hanging, one actually made it all the way over the patch   Monday, July 1 View Page Mile down road farmer has machine shed collapse on him. 5 broken ribs. 78 mph winds. Even took a camper for a roll on to highway 151   Monday, July 1 View Page CFM unscathed 26 hrs after   Monday, July 1 View Page 2528, nervous might be aborting after stress   Monday, July 1 View Page 2091 took the worse scratched up, see if it improves on its 35" cir   Monday, July 1 View Page 2434, real good shape despite   Monday, July 1 View Page 2283, sitting ok to. Lot of bent pipes, few broken boards, I have over 200' x 55' of plastic in the garage so hoping to get it back together by Sunday. See what mother bi#$ has to say   Tuesday, July 2 View Page Got the big piece picked up, still no protection from the north, and of course look what's in the back ground, yippee. I need 2 16' 2x4's 1 16' deck board. And probably 5 or 6 pieces of metal conduit ends are find so I'll cut a 75 ft piece out of new role. Hopefully weather cooperates real soon   Thursday, July 4 View Page Got the side the 80 mph wind hit head on, back together today, at least the plants have some protection now, been nervous since it opened on Sunday. I will be getting some anchors and concrete to attach the ratchet straps to. Once that plastic got to bouncing the ratchet straps pulled the baseboards out, then it was doomed from there. Saturday project- straighten pipes. Then next chance with no wind we will get the top back on.   Thursday, July 4 View Page Neighbor just told me paper said excess 100 mph straight line, no tornado   Saturday, July 6 View Page Hopefully in morning, back to somewhat normal   Tuesday, July 9 View Page Back in business!   Tuesday, July 9 View Page 1458 on Sunday   Tuesday, July 9 View Page 2528 x 2283 hit day 20 on Sunday, 172" Ott. Really making a nice comeback after 80-100 mph winds   Tuesday, July 9 View Page 2091 x 2283 hit day 20 tonight 177" cut off backup tonight as well. This one got the worst beating in the storm but hey still growing   Tuesday, July 9 View Page 2283 x 2433 hits day 20 on 12th   Tuesday, July 9 View Page 2433 x 2528 hits day 20 on the 12th to   Wednesday, July 10 View Page CFM 20DAP 71/55/50 =176" OTT for est 130 lbs   Friday, July 12 View Page 2283 x 2433 20 DAP 70/51/50 =171" est 120 lbs   Friday, July 12 View Page 2433 x 2528 20 DAP 81/53/51 =185" est 149 lbs   Saturday, July 13 View Page Catching up on plants, and found a mushy main on the 2283, same spot I had the issues with my 1587 last year. Leave it in till it quits growing, what's really sad is it was the best looking plant after the hurricane.   Wednesday, July 17 View Page Day 30 for the 2528, 118/80/75 for 273" est 470 lbs. Only plant that doesn't have main issues. 3 days in upper 90's should show them if they are there   Wednesday, July 17 View Page Went ahead and did a day 25 measurement on the 2433 and cut the first 4 ft off the main 113/65/63 for 241" est 323 lbs. The 2283 only gre 17" total on the ott since Friday, only thing feeding is the vine connected to stem. Probably pull plant this weekend, what's left of it anyways   Friday, July 19 View Page 2091 Midthun x 2283 B/J Day 30, 118/76/73 =267" for est of 440 lbs   Saturday, July 20 View Page 1458 CFM x 2528 day 30, 102/75/68 =245" for 340 lbs est   Sunday, July 28 View Page 1458 CFM x 2528 day 39 est 496   Sunday, July 28 View Page 2528 x 2283 day 41 est 797 lbs   Sunday, July 28 View Page 2091 x 2283 day 38 ,est 714 lbs   Sunday, July 28 View Page 2433 x 2528 day 36 est 661 lbs, flat pancake with a 151.5" circ gain 20" in circ from last Sunday   Sunday, July 28 View Page 2283 x 2433 day 36 est 210 lbs, next pic will explain why so little   Sunday, July 28 View Page Cut main off day 21, only thing feeding is little sidevine going to the left. Keep it going till it quits growing   Sunday, August 4 View Page 1458 x 2528 great shape, take this patch more seriously next year   Sunday, August 4 View Page 2283 somehow gained 53 lbs this week with no main.   Sunday, August 4 View Page 2433 has got a 165.5" circ on day 43   Sunday, August 4 View Page 2091 to much new plant growth on this one, going to gradually thin it out, boulder shape is nice for heavy   Sunday, August 4 View Page 2528 is dead even with my personal best numbers on this date   Tuesday, August 6 View Page So I got hit yet again, this time confirmed tornado. I can see its path if I walk 20 yards down hill of my long gourd trellis 300 yards away in the cornfield. My patch was the furthest thing west of it that got damage. Pumpkins seem to still be ok. But a day with out their fans was noticable   Tuesday, August 6 View Page One view, side I fixed 35 days ago did good, now to fix otherside same way   Tuesday, August 6 View Page Pulled corner completely out   Tuesday, August 6 View Page Puddles on top are doing some serious scorching. Got to leave them there till I get plastic reattached. Misters on tomorrow, hopefully I didn't miss any other broken waterlines   Tuesday, August 6 View Page Yuck, pipes r bent way worst this time   Friday, August 9 View Page Well I picked the 1458 CFM and took it to Des Moines to the iowa state fair. I was hoping for top 5, but it came down to mine weighing 698 and Don Young and Tommy Rhodes taping 698. Which way would theirs tilt? It decided to go 60 lbs heavy so 2nd place for me! Congrats to Don and Tommy for the victory! Congrats to everyone else that had a entry today, and looking forward to talking to everyone in Bloomfield again next month!   Friday, August 9 View Page When I got home I had to cut the main halfway on the 2091. It hit 4 digits probably today. May be candidate for Michigan state fair   Saturday, August 10 View Page Got the greenhouse back together AGAIN, pipes aren't pretty, plastic ain't pretty. This is my neighborhood red circle is my greenhouse, solid purple line was tornado path. Light purple was the areas that seen damage   Tuesday, August 20 View Page Ready for October, 2091 no gains thurs- Sunday, noticed a pin hole on top of stem last night. Dug rot out, peroxide and got my tea brewing air bubbler in there drying it up. Hopefully it can make a scale   Sunday, August 25 View Page 2091's final day, rot in stem made it to cavity est 1048 lbs   Sunday, August 25 View Page Though I had it, 2 days to late   Sunday, August 25 View Page Vine wasnt near as bad as the stem   Sunday, August 25 View Page 2528 in mid September form, yep still August. Cut main off several feet before stem today   Sunday, August 25 View Page 2433 hit 187" in circ today   Sunday, August 25 View Page 2283 if only it had a plant before the stem, HD contender   Monday, September 2 View Page Got all the open areas planted with Ron's kodiak mustard   Sunday, September 8 View Page 2528 x 2283 still growing! Had a little scare examining around the bottom it was real wet on one side, almost cried. When I put sheet back on it confirmed a hole in plastic above.   Sunday, September 8 View Page 2433 x 2528, pancake still growing the 192" tape is now not big enough for circ   Sunday, September 8 View Page 2283 x 2433 loaded with the 2145.5 and beautiful to boot. Oh what could have been, but so glad I didn't give up on it. Now where to take it   Saturday, September 14 View Page Went over to Kenosha Wisconsin today, my little pollinator with one of the dozen 100 lbers we have on our 1458 cfm plant that had the 698 2nd place state fair pumpkin. We just let it go wild . Took 7th place out of 8 number 8 was damaged. Great time today! Thanks Margaret Martin for taking a way nicer picture than my phone!   Sunday, September 15 View Page We cant get away from the rain here lately 12" since last Saturday, lot of run off making it's way through the patch. Pumpkins are staying dry which is a must at moment. My irrometer is in what I believe a dry spot it was 70% towards dry other day but so much water in surrounding areas has pushed it very wet. Finding that plants like it around 40   Sunday, September 22 View Page Roughly approaching 18" of rain for the month of September and it's only the 22nd. Wtf   Saturday, September 28 View Page So I haven't posted much, 3 weeks ago I was happy the 2528 gave me a good 6" on the week. Then Monday happened, got to digging a little brown out of the stem which led to 2/3 of the stem being removed and a spot the size of my thumb, for the last 3 weeks I did my best to keep the hole in the 3" range, came home Thursday night and she was to deep. So here is the 1372.5 Caspers DMG despite not getting my 1st win, I had fun in Bloomfield today! Pancake looked good tonight when I got home. If anything happens to that one I will be going to the dr for depression   Saturday, September 28 View Page Picture from the good side   Monday, September 30 View Page 89°made my hole worse. So retrieved the seeds, she was pretty thick   Monday, September 30 View Page Good amount compared to last year   Wednesday, October 2 View Page 6 more inches of rain last night, greenhouse is wet. Just in time to get the pancake out here in the next couple days, yippee   Tuesday, October 8 View Page End of the season, 1152 pancake 2433 Paton x 2528 on left. Went way lite on Saturday and finished 8th. 1372.5 dmg on right, probably be mush in a few days   Saturday, October 12 View Page New Stillwater site record! Mike Schmit   Saturday, October 12 View Page 1st place long gourd! Glad I decided to bring it! My dad couldnt make the trip but sent a watermelon that weighed 125.5 good enough for 3rd as well   Wednesday, October 16 View Page Now the rush to clean patch up and broadfork before winter, in all my spare time of course   Wednesday, October 30 View Page Inside the 1152, 5ft across in the inside   Sunday, November 3 View Page Broadforking coming along nicely, chopping mustard, and broadforking in. To muddy from melting snow to till   Sunday, November 3 View Page One of the benefits of not tilling, lots of worms were seen today   Saturday, November 30 View Page Almost done   Saturday, November 30 View Page 3900 sq ft overturned 16" now for the outside 2,000   Saturday, November 30 View Page In action   Saturday, November 30 View Page Now to take the top off next weekend, was doing good till the wind we had this week and today, already thinking improvements in the battle vs mother nature   Saturday, November 30 View Page Got my SNGPG newsletter, great read as usual! Third year and I finally was lucky enough to win a little in the virtual weighoff!   Sunday, December 1 View Page Last day I could bow hunt till after Christmas, gun season opens next weekend.   Sunday, December 1 View Page 2 of the wettest years back to back, hopefully next year can see some normal weather