Farm
History
Great-Grandpa James Barlogio first immigrated
from Switzerland in 1889. He settled in Green
Valley near Harmony, California
where he was a founding member of the Harmony
Valley Creamery. The family raised and milked
dairy cows and grew beans as well as hay to feed
the cattle. While there, son Miles was born
in 1898. They flourished and eventully purchased
property with the two-story Victorian house you
see directly behind the town of Harmony. It is still
owned by the family today, where fifth and sixth
generations of Barlogios live.
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| Miles
continued the family tradition of dairying and farming.
After Miles married Great-Grandma Helen
Couchman he settled on this side of the hill,
as the slightly drier/warmer climate eased his arthritis.
He also found therapeutic the sulfur hot springs
and mud baths in Paso Robles. |
| Miles
had two children - David and Milene.
David, born in 1934, still lives in the farmhouse
where he grew up. Grandson Tim (my husband)
was born in 1956 and lives on the farm near David
and Milene. |
In
the late 1950s is when the pumpkin legacy began.
Miles was the first in our family to plant
pumpkins along the fertile banks of Jack Creek.
He opened his roadside stand in 1960 and offered
pumpkins for sale to the public. His stand was known
as the "Barlogio Pumpkin Center"
and was located on what was then called York
Mountain Road.
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We
still have the original sign that is nearly 50 years
old. If you look carefully you will see that the
pumpkins on the wagon and in the foreground sold
for 25 cents each!!!
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| This
photo shows the roadside stand in its early days.
The little shed you see was an "honor-system"
stand. Customers would choose their pumpkin, weigh
it on the provided scale, and place their money
in a quart jar. Customers were responsible to weigh,
make their own change and carry their purchases
to their cars. |
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The
pumpkins above were grown along the banks of Jack
Creek. Pictured in the photo are Grandpa
Miles, David, Tim (6 yrs old)
and his sister, Cindy. Harvesting was a family
affair.
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| Each
year Grandpa added a new attraction for customers
to enjoy. Miles and Helen are shown
with their life-size homemade horses. These horses
were made using old mattresses, straw, burlap, canvas
and wood. The horses are wearing a full set of real
leather team harnesses. They were used in the farm's
fall display and were placed in front of an antique
freight wagon filled with pumpkins (and sometimes
kids!). This photo was taken in 1969. |
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| The
picture above shows a Pumpkin Center visitor
favorite - Pumpkin Granny. She was made from a large
misshapen pumpkin. Her legs are made from pink banana
squash and her nose is a gourd. She is wearing one
of Grandma's old aprons and scarf. Behind her is
a display of turban squash. Grandma made turban
squash into a family meal. She would hollow out
the center, fill it with a meatloaf mixture, and
bake it in the oven. Tim remembers it as
being very tasty. |
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| This
is a photo of Miles with Pumpkin Granny.
Those large turban squash are only 50 cents each. |
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This
photo show Miles in front of a teepee made
from corn stalks. It was a favorite of the visiting
children. It had a 3-foot-tall little homemade boy
inside appropriately dressed as an Indian. Next
to him is a large pink banana squash that measured
nearly 4 feet tall. They placed a head on the squash
and painted it like a man's face. Milene
painted the roadside stand's signs and was the artist
responsible for the painted pumpkin and gourd figures.
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| This
photo was taken in 1965. It shows Miles Barlogio
standing on an old Cat 30 Crawler. He bought
this tractor brand new in Paso Robles in
1932. It stills runs and is used on the farm today.
It will be on display at our farm store during the
month of September.
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In
1969 the State of California exercised imminent
domain and condemned the land in the center of the
farm. They wanted the land to build a new highway,
State Highway 46 West. York Mountain Road
was narrow and windy, and they wanted to provide
passage straight through the mountains all the way
to Highway 1. Grandpa did not want to sell,
especially at the price they offered, however he
had no choice.
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He
was very disheartened. The new highway would effectively
divide the farm in half, with the best bottom land
now on either side of the highway. What was one
big field was now two smaller fields. The fertile
soil along Jack Creek was now covered in
fill dirt, blacktop and a new cement bridge with
rip rap. It was hard to move the many pieces of
equipment across the highway to farm both sides
of the road. He eventually sold the farm land to
the south in the early 70s.
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Miles
tried to continue the honor-system pumpkin
farm. Visitors didn't want to make the detour on
the old York Mountain Road, and went whizzing
by on the new wider straight road that bypassed
the farm house. York Mountain Road was now
severed by the new highway in several places.
It was confusing to give directions to the farm.
Grandpa moved the honor-system stand down
to the "new" highway. Only now the stand
couldn't be observed closely from the house. The
road brought new people to the area, but sadly also
brought theft problems. He made the decision to
close the stand.
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In
the years that followed the portion of York Mountain
Road that the farm was on was renamed Jack
Creek Road after the creek that ran through
the center of the farm and under the new highway.
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Grandson
Tim always fondly remembers following Grandpa
in the creek fields and helping to plant pumpkin
seed by hand. Grandpa would carefully pull a bit
of soil away with a hoe, Tim would drop a
seed in the shallow trough, and then Grandpa would
pull the dirt back over it. Then he would step on
it "just so" - to compact the soil and
moisture around the seed.
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| In
the early 1990s Tim and I were exploring
ways to supplement our farm income, and we decided
to re-open the roadside stand. The highway had more
and more traffic, and the local wine industry was
bringing many tourists to the area. |
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This
is a photo of our roadside stand taken in 1996.
Continuing the family tradition, each year we have
added new crops and activities to our farm . . .
just like Grandpa did!
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| Our
stand now includes a small health department certified
kitchen which we use to bake treats made from apples,
pumpkins, wheat, walnuts, olallieberries,
and eggs all grown on our farm. |
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Current
farm activities include u-pick berries, flowers,
vegetables and herbs. Farm
animals are on site. Visitors can try roping
a dummy steer, play checkers or pitch
horseshoes. Kids can try their hand pumping
water the old-fashioned way, or climb on
a haystack. Guests will enjoy the demonstration
gardens, the scarlet runner bean teepees,
and the self guided antique farm equipment tour.
There are lots of backdrops for great photo opportunities
too!
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Watch
for other new activities as our farm continues to
grow.
Thanks for the opportunity to share our farm history
with you.
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| Tim,
Joy, Becky & Mandy Barlogio
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