When the Fulks family opened up Belvedere for the public to pick pumpkins in 1983 there wasn’t a whole lot to do. Nowadays of course there is more things to do than you can shake a stick at in a whole month of Sundays.

Back then though you rode the hayride out to the Great Pumpkin Patch, picked your pumpkins, visited the animals, and swung on the ropes in the Fun Barn! The Fun Barn was originally used to store hay. Built in the early 1920s the barn is just a few years shy of a century old and was built to store fodder. During the summer months the middle bay where the rope swings are now, was filled with hay up to the rafters . During the cold months cattle were moved into the side bays and ate the stored hay all winter.

Come spring when the pastures greened up the cows were herded out of the barn and you can believe the farmers had a mess to clean up then! During the 1950s a tremendous wind storm came out of the west and nearly blew the barn down. Tractors and horse teams pulled the leaning barn back up, and whole sycamore trunks were cut down and used in the side bays to brace the barn and keep any future storms from blowing it all the way down.

It seems to have worked because the barn still stands straight and true today. By the 1980s the Fulks family had ceased raising beef cattle as they were too busy growing grain, pick your own strawberries, and pumpkins. Farmer Donnie came up with the bright idea of installing rope swings and straw for cushioning and so the Fun Barn was born.

Still one of the most popular activities,
no visit to Belvedere is complete without a swing in the Fun Barn.

Belvedere Plantation is now hiring for its 2010 Fall Harvest Festival.  The season starts September 25th and runs through November 7th.   Numerous types of positions are available — including attraction attendants, cashiers, field trip guides, food service, custodial, and tractor drivers.  We are hiring for weekends (Friday nights 5-10, Saturdays 10-10, and Sundays 10-6) and/or weekday mornings (9am-2pm).  No experience is necessary — just a smiling face and positive attitude! We provide all of the training.  Hourly pay ranges from $7.25 to$8.25 per hour.  For consideration, please complete the application online.  Once we receive your application, you will be contacted for an interview.

For more information, go to   Employment FAQ’s.

Our local John Deere dealer Greenline Service Corp, is hosting the Drive Green Tractor Experience at Belvedere tomorrow July 29th from 10am-5pm. Come enjoy lunch courtesy of Greenline, and test drive some of their wonderful equipment. Remember trucks are RED, tractors are GREEN!

As the summer heat comes upon us in full and preparations for the Fall Harvest Festival ramp up into full gear, we farmers think back to the brisk chill of winter.

The farm kids have a great deal of fun here on the farm during the winter, especially this past winter with it’s abundant snow, and accompanying snowball fights, sledding, and warm chicken soup for afters. In fact there was so much fun in the snow, which required so much chicken soup to warm them up, that we ultimately ran out of chickens for the pot. Of course, a farm with out chickens is simply impossible to imagine.

Farmer Donnie immediately delegated the task of procuring chickens to Farmer Ian.  ”Get us chickens!” he cried, “good looking and tasty ones!”  So Farmer Ian with all due diligence began his search for chickens that are not only good looking but also good for soup.

It was a difficult task for while one can see what chickens look like before purchasing them one can not taste them before buying them. Every chicken hatchery (which, dear reader, is where one obtains chickens) that Farmer Ian visited had beautiful chickens, but upon inquiring whether or not he could taste the chickens he was firmly told — “You eat it you buy it”.

Soon Farmer Ian was left with only one solution, “I’ll just have to buy a selection of good looking chickens, raise ‘em to soup size, and try em out”.  And so the saga continues.

Will Farmer Ian successfully raise his chickens?
Can he keep the fox out of the hen house?
Will he count his eggs before they hatch?
Will his chicken’s feathers get ruffled, or keep his hens dry?
Will Farmer Ian grow too attached to his chickens to eat them?
Will the farm kids have to warm up with egg drop soup instead of chicken this coming winter?

We don’t know! Learn about and see the chickens on YouTube and follow the Farmer Ian in his search for “A Chicken That Tastes as Good as it Looks!”

The Chickens Arrive

Growing Feathers or Not so Cute Anymore

New Honey Bees were moved into the observation hives last week!

Beekeeping has been a struggle the last few years on the farm due to the Colony Collapse Disorder that has affected bee hives the world over.  With so many local commercial bee keepers leaving the business we had no bees at all in 2009.

Farmer Donnie decided to try again himself this spring. He took an online beekeeping class from Brushy Mountain Bee Farm! He could get everything he needed from Brushy Mountain’s website, his bee suit, comb starter, bee starter food, and even the bees!  Spring rolled around and it was time to go pick up the bees a couple of weeks ago. Farmer Ryan began preparing the observation hives while Farmer Donnie traveled to Pennsylvania to pick up the bees. While Farmer Ian recorded the event, Donnie and Ryan transferred the bees into their new home. Everything went smoothly, and the bees are safe and happy in their new hives. The bee suits are hot to wear, but no one even got stung once!

See all the action on Youtube and choose “Like” Belvedere on Facebook to see updates on the bees!

A week and a half later, the bees are busy making wax comb and have already begun to make the first cells of honey.  Soon the queen in each hive will emerge from her cage and begin to lay eggs to expand her colony.  While it is an encouraging start, we’ll have to be vigilant to help keep the new hives healthy so you can enjoy watching them this fall.

We hope you enjoy this little slideshow (slideSNOW?!) of winter scenes from Belvedere Plantation, taken by Donnie Fulks.

Sadly, we must announce that there will be no strawberries this Spring at Belvedere Plantation.  After careful thought, we have chosen to focus all of our efforts on our pumpkin crop and our Fall Festival in 2010.

We offer our sincere appreciation to our many loyal strawberry customers, some who span generations, for choosing Belvedere Plantation strawberries over the past 37 years.  We look forward to seeing you again in the Fall.

This is an interesting receip for Argentine Pumpkin Stew, served in a pumpkin shell!  Sounds great for a cold Fall day!

2 lb. beef stew meat, cut in 1 1/2″ cubes
1 lg. onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
3 tbsp. oil
2 lg. tomatoes, chopped
1 lg. green pepper, chopped
2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
1 tsp. sugar
1 c. dried apricots
3 white potatoes, peeled & diced
3 sweet potatoes, peeled & diced
2 c. beef broth
1 med. pumpkin
butter, melted
1/4 c. dry sherry, optional
1 (16 oz.) can whole kernel corn

Cook beef with onion and garlic in oil until browned. Add tomatoes and pepper, 2 teaspoons salt, 1/2 teaspoon pepper, sugar, apricots, white potatoes, sweet potatoes and broth. Cover and simmer for 1 1/2 hours.

Meanwhile, cut off pumpkin top and discard. Scoop out seeds and stringy membrane. Brush inside of pumpkin with melted butter and sprinkle lightly with salt and pepper. Stir sherry and corn into stew and spoon into pumpkin shell.

Place shell in shallow pan and bake at 325 degrees for 1 hour or until pumpkin meat is tender. Place pumpkin in large bowl and ladle out stew, scooping out some of the pumpkin with each serving. Makes 6-8 servings.

Source:  Cooks.com

Baking with Fresh Pumpkin: Big pumpkins, small pumpkins, white pumpkins, Cinderella pumpkins: what’s best for baking?

Avoid field pumpkins, which are bred for perfect jack o’ lanterns: they tend to be too large and stringy for baking. Ask your grocer or farmer for sugar pie pumpkins or other flavorful varieties: small and sweet, with dark orange-colored flesh, they’re perfect for pies, soups, muffins and breads. A medium-sized (4-pound) sugar pumpkin should yield around 1½ cups of mashed pumpkin. This puree can be used in all your recipes calling for canned pumpkin.

There are three ways to transform an uncooked pumpkin into the puree used in baking:

Baking Method
Cut the pumpkin in half and discard the stem section and stringy pulp. Save the seeds to dry and roast.
In a shallow baking dish, place the two halves face down and cover with foil.
Bake in a preheated 375 degrees F (190 degrees C) oven for about 1½ hours for a medium-sized sugar pumpkin, or until tender.
Once the baked pumpkin has cooled, scoop out the flesh and puree or mash it.
For silky smooth custards or soups, press the pumpkin puree through a sieve.

Boiling Method
Cut the pumpkin in half, discarding the stringy insides.
Peel the pumpkin and cut it into chunks.
Place in a saucepan and cover with water.
Bring to a boil and cook until the pumpkin chunks are tender.
Let the chunks cool, and then puree the flesh in a food processor or mash it with a potato masher or food mill.

Microwave Method
Cut the pumpkin in half, discarding the stringy insides.
Microwave on high power for seven minutes per pound, turning pieces every few minutes to promote even cooking. Process as above.
You can refrigerate your fresh pumpkin puree for up to three days, or store it in the freezer up to six months, enabling you to enjoy fall pumpkins for months to come.
up to six months, enabling you to enjoy fall pumpkins for months to come.

Source:  AllRecipes.com

So, where were hayrides “invented” and how did they get to be such popular events?

A hayride is a pleasure ride in an open truck, wagon or sleigh which has been decorated with hay or straw and similar farmlife paraphernalia. In modern times it is usually organized commercially and takes place at night.  It is said that the hayride originated in Kansas, but any area with farmers could likely claim the same thing.  It is considered as an instance of Americana,– all according to Wikipedia.

Folks have a great time touring the farm on our tractor-drawn hayrides.  We are collecting Hayride Stories for our blog here at Belvedere Plantation!  Send us yours!