OUR FARM STORY | JCF Sept 5 2024

the Barlogios

Our Farm Story

Miles Barlogio (born September 30th, 1898) was the first in our family to plant pumpkins along the fertile banks of Jack Creek west of Templeton and Paso Robles in rural San Luis Obispo County. We are continuing the family tradition of growing and selling produce directly from our farm to your table.

On the Central California Coast, it is almost impossible in today's market to make a living growing dry-land hay, grain and cattle as past generations of Barlogio's have. Based on Great-Grandpa's earlier successes with pumpkin farming, we have been exploring furthering that concept by diversifying, planting more row-crops and committing more ground to the orchard and farm market project.

HOWDY! WE ARE

Our family values, our way of life, and our Christian beliefs have a deep rooted faith in God. What is important to us is working together as a family, and creating a future; so the next generation and generations beyond will be able to preserve our land and continue our family tradition of farming.

Becky & Mandy many years ago with trout they caught in Jack Creek

Our goal is to create a successful business that can support our children, and down the line their children, while preserving the land around us. We hope in the process to be able to educate our visitors about the importance of farming and its contribution to our community. Supporting local farmers not only results in better tasting and healthier food; it helps to grow a vibrant local economy and preserves open space and the rural character we all cherish.

We believe in sustainable agriculture. We use natural based sprays, we plant untreated seeds, and we employ organic methods of pest control whenever possible. An example is, we use sunflowers planted around our pumpkin fields as a lure crop to attract those pesky cucumber beetles away from our pumpkins and squash.

We rinse old milk jugs, cut a hole near the top and fill them with a mixture of molasses and apple cider vinegar. These make a great natural coddling moth trap!

Whenever possible we use dormant and summer oils as opposed to insecticides, and we use mineral oil for corn earworms. We use nitrogen fixing cover crops like vetch and clover as a natural fertilizer. We have been experiamenting with highly concentrated vinegar as an herbicide for fencelines. We have owl houses 9with owl families in them!) and are in the process of building hawk perches to encourage larger predator bird populations for mice and gopher control.

When it comes to the actual farm operation as a familiy we do almost the work ourselves. We couldn't do it without our two daughters Becky and Mandy, and their husbands Casey and Matt. Even our little 6th generation farmer Callahan helps out on the farm. His favorite farm chore is feeding the goats.

The entire family helps in every aspect of the operation. From choosing seed and new varieties to plant next year, planting bare roots, pruning trees, painting trunks, staking, hoeing, mowing, harvesting, collecting eggs, caring for the farm animals ... whew! ... every aspect! It is a never ending year-round project, and we couldn't do it without them. We are truly a "Family Farm" and we feel blessed to work together doing something we love.

We rotate the crops on different areas of the farm, so one year you might see safflower (used for oil) growing in the adjoining field, other years it might be oat hay, seed oats, wheat or barley. This year oat hay is growing in the field east of us, wheat behind us and vetch further north. The far hills are planted in barley that you can see waving in the breeze. Portions of the field are summer fallowed (farm lingo for allowed to rest).

The front pumpkin field is annually planted with a cover crop of vetch and barley. It will be worked into the soil before we plant pumpkins in early June. The orchards and row crops have to be planted in areas closer to our house or the farm store which both have deer fencing. Only a few acres are fenced for this purpose, allowing the native wildlife to continue to utilize 98% of the farm.

In the past we planted the creek fields you see to the west of us with pumpkins, as Grandpa did in the 1950s through the 1960s. They do well there as they love the rich loamy soil. Unfortunately deer adore pumpkins, and will eat every morsel, leaving only the woody stem. As the deer have become more prolific, and developed a fondness for those tasty orange meals, we've had to move the pumpkin and squash project back to the house and protected area adjacent to the farm store. Deer don't bother Indian corn or gourds, so we still have some options open to us. It depends though upon the amount of rainfall we've had and the moisture content in the soil.

Currently we have nearly 600 fruit trees on the farm, the many of which are old fashioned heirloom varieties. We offer u-pick for peaches, plums and apples. We also have u-pick blackberry, raspberry and olallieberry patches.

In the summer we grow a number of garden vegetables including sweet onions, bell peppers, sweet peppers, summer squash, cucumbers and herbs. This year look for over 40 different varieties of heirloom tomatoes. What a taste treat!

All of our produce is allowed to vine ripen. After eating a vine-ripened tomato you will never want to go back to store bought again.

Fresher not only means it tastes better ... but it's better for you! (Fresh produce is proven to be higher in nutrients.)

In the fall we gear up for our main harvest of the year. Pumpkins, pumpkins and more pumpkins! Fortunately for us, with our unique micro-climate here on the Central Coast, we can grow awesome pumpkins. We are planting over 120 different varieties of pumpkins, gourds and winter squash this year to ensure that we have the perfect pumpkin for you. We'll have sugar pie pumpkins for pie making, jack-o-lantern type for carving, huge pumpkins, tiny pumpkins, heirloom Cinderella pumpkins, orange, yellow, green, cream and white pumpkins. We even have striped pumpkins! We are confident when it comes to selection, we have more varieties than any other pumpkin patch on the Central Coast! We were voted by house beautiful magazine to be the best pumpkin patch in the whole state of California! How cool is that?!?

We grow many different varieties of baking winter squash (lots of traditional heirloom and specialty varieties ... the kind Grandma used to bake), Indian corn (both large and small), wheat sheaves, corn shocks, a multitude of decorative gourds and straw bales. We grow everything you need for fall entertaining and decorating. Our belief in God runs deep, and as a Christian Family we have chosen to emphasize a Harvest theme in lieu of traditional Halloween celebrations.

We enjoy taking time to answer any questions you may have about storing, drying or preparing any of the produce we grow. We are happy to share favorite family recipes, including Great-grandma's Squash Pie recipe, Nani's Apple Crisp and my sister Janie's award winning to die for Backyard Apple Tree Cake. Check our recipe page for these recipes as well as many others.

Farm History

Great-Grandpa James Barlogio first immigrated from Switzerland in 1889. He settled in San Luis Obispo County, 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.

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 on the Templeton side of the farm. 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.

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!!!

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.

The pumpkins above were grown along the banks of Jack Creek in Templeton. Pictured in the photo are Grandpa Miles, David, Tim (6 yrs old) and his sister, Cindy. Harvesting was a family affair.

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.

The picture above shows a Pumpkin Center (they called the pumpkin patch the Barlogio 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. Granny's shape changed from year to year, and each fall she came back to welcome visitors to the pumpkin patch and gourd garden.

This is a photo of Miles with Pumpkin Granny. Those large turban squash are only 50 cents each.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

In the late 1980s 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. Below is a photo of Tim with "Red" our faithful farm pickup.

Above is a photo of our grandpa's roadside stand taken in the 1960s. Continuing the family tradition, each year we have added new crops and activities to our farm . . . just like Grandpa did!

Current farm activities include upick fruits and vegetables. Guests will enjoy the gardens, and the many pieces of antique farm equipment on display. There are lots of backdrops for great photo opportunities too!

Thank you for the opportunity to share our farm story and our farm history with you. We are located just west of Templeton and Paso Robles in San Luis Obispo (SLO) County, on the beautiful Central California Coast.