Tom Tasselmyer and Family at Valley View Farms for the Pumpkin Seed Contest

 On October 29th, Tom Tasselmyer, with his wife Laurie, will be here to cut open this year's giant pumpkin, Miss Amelia, and count the seeds. She weighs in at 2005 lbs, not our biggest, but one of two we've had weighing over one ton. While this tradition began with Norm Lewis back in the '80s, Tom has been doing the counting for decades since. I've collected a few photos over the years to share here. These are not in any order, but you can see the subtle changes over the years as Tom's boys get older, and the pumpkins get larger.

Norm Lewis oversees as Alan cuts the pumpkin

The Tasselmayer Family a few years ago

Tom and Bill

The Tasselmyer Boys (-1)

Taking the pumpkin a section at a time

The family is here to help

Concentration is key to getting the count correct

The seeds are grouped together in containers, then added up to get the final count

The VVF guys lend a helping hand to scout for seeds that may have been missed

Gloves are optional to sift through the goo

We look forward to seeing these two every year

The Sawzall is the tool that opens up the pumpkin

The Tasselmyers are experts

Pumpkin goo anyone?

Contemplation

Tim adds more seeds from the pumpkin

Thank you, Tasselmyer family!

The big question is how many seeds are in Miss Amelia? We will find out when the seeds are counted on Saturday. In the meantime, get your guesses in our book. 1st prize is a $300 Valley View Farms Gift Card, 2nd is a $200 card, and 3rd is a $100  card. Your guess needs to be in the book at the time of the counting. Winners will be notified with a phone call. Your name and phone number will not be used by Valley View Farms for any marketing or tracking information. 

Miss Amelia, the 13-year-old that our pumpkin is named after

Amelia will get all the seeds from her pumpkin sent back to her so she can grow another behemoth pumpkin next year. 

Pumpkin seeds are sent back to the grower

The rest of the big pumpkins (minus the seeds) will be donated to Whispering Rise Farm and Animal Sanctuary, a home for rescued Potbelly Pigs. The pigs love the pumpkins.  

It may take a few trips to get the pumpkins to the pig farm

We hope to see you Saturday! 

Tomato Tornado to Touch Down This Weekend

Next weekend on May 2 and 3, a Tomato Tornado will touch down at Valley View Farms' greenhouse. Our usual selection of 36 varieties of tomatoes will almost double for Saturday and Sunday, but wait too long, and you'll miss them. A limited selection of mostly heirloom varieties has been grown by our grower John Miller at our farm greenhouses out in Hydes, MD for this special event.

Our grower, John, stands in front of thousands of tomato transplants

If you can't make it, rest assured that our usual 36 varieties will still be available through of the month of May.

Those of you who are 'regulars' at Valley View Farms in the spring know that we are a little bit crazy when it comes to tomato plants. Our founder, Bill Foard, spends his spare time growing tomatoes at his home.

Billy's summer garden

Plum Crimsons make great sauce according to Billy

 He loves the Celebrity and Plum Crimson varieties for their great taste and productive vines. In fact, Billy brings buckets full of tomatoes all summer long for some of us lucky enough to be on his 'nice' list. His garden shed even contains a full kitchen for canning and processing tomatoes.

My co-worker Dotty enjoys growing her tomatoes, too. She and her daughter, Suzanne, love the heirlooms. Japanese Black Trifle, Big Rainbow, Oxheart and Black Cherry are some of Dotty's favorite heirloom varieties.

Mmmmmm---Sunsugar tomatoes

 She also likes the hybrid Sunsugar, a very sweet orange cherry tomato that we started growing last year when we were unable to get Sungold seeds. It's a winner according to our tomato gardeners.

Jan, recently retired from Valley View, likes the German Johnsons, Brandywines  and Mr. Stripey, all large slicing tomatoes with fantastic flavor. The Sungold orange cherry is on her favorite's list too.
Our perennial specialist and graphic/web designer Marian's garden in northern Baltimore County boasts heirlooms as well. Her favorites include Black Krim, Pineapple, Box Car Willie and Tomatoberry. I love the descriptive names of these wonderful tomatoes.

Summer produce from Marian's garden

Don, who takes care of all of our plants that come in from our own farm before they reach the sales floor, loves Brandywine and Mortgage Lifter. Both the tomatoes and the plants can get quite large over the summer. Don says the taste of the fruit is fantastic!

Stop by next weekend and talk to our tomato and vegetable experts.

Eddie, Nat and Sheila, ready to help gardeners choose from our tomato selection

 We have put together a special handout profiling each of our varieties and will have some recipes from Chef Tom Schwarzweller, Executive Chef at Wegmans. Please keep in touch this summer and share your tomato growing tips, recipes, and gardening stories on facebook. . This is our 1st Annual Tomato Tornado event; we hope to have many more.