{"id":379,"date":"2009-07-22T03:30:00","date_gmt":"2009-07-22T03:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/2009\/07\/pumpkin-and-hops-updates.html"},"modified":"2009-07-22T03:30:00","modified_gmt":"2009-07-22T03:30:00","slug":"pumpkin-and-hops-updates","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/2009\/07\/pumpkin-and-hops-updates.html","title":{"rendered":"Pumpkin and Hops Updates"},"content":{"rendered":"

First of all, a week after the artificial insemination<\/a>, here’s what we have for a pumpkin so far:\"\"<\/a>
This is about 1.5 lbs. and about 10″ circumference. I’m so excited at this!<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, the next several female flowers haven’t been opening up, but they can be really sensitive to amounts of water it receives. There are 4-5 more buds pending, and I’m keeping tabs on it…<\/p>\n

Someone on Facebook commented about the breed of pumpkin he was growing, and it wasn’t till then I realized I don’t know what breed this pumpkin is going to be. It could be a pie pumpkin, a jack ‘o lantern pumpkin, or maybe one of those state fair pumpkins<\/a>?<\/p>\n

We’ll all just have to wait and see….<\/p>\n

Break break.<\/i><\/p>\n

I’m not sure whether I’d mentioned it on my blog, but we are also growing hops in our backyard. We ordered some rhizomes this past spring from American Brewmaster<\/a>, the store that Dave frequented for his beer-making supplies while we were living in NC. After consulting billions of websites (here’s one)<\/a> looking for how hops are grown, we learned that Nebraska is at the ideal latitude for growing them, and if the soil is good, and they’re planted in the right place, we could get enough hops to nicely augment Dave’s homebrewing<\/a>.<\/p>\n

So Dave ordered two rhizomes of Centennial hops this past March<\/a> (at $4 per rhizome, this seems a much better deal than $4 per ounce for hops cones themselves!), and we potted them in pots in April to give them a head start. This is from April 9th. \"\"<\/a>
The first week of May, Dave rigged up the trellising and we put the hops in the ground!\"\"<\/a>\"\"<\/a>
There was little progress for a month or so, Dave and I got a bit worried. By Memorial Day, nothing was climbing…<\/p>\n

Picture from May 26th.\"\"<\/a>
Just before our vacation, we saw evidence of some real climbing, and by the time we got back from our vacation, the vines had reached the tops of the trellises! From June 29th. \"\"<\/a>
Just after July 4th, flowers started to appear up at the topmost parts of the vines, and I’ve been having a pretty hard time getting good pictures of them…here’s what I got today (July 21):
\"\"<\/a>\"\"<\/a>\"\"<\/a>
We weren’t expecting flowers this year. Hops are perennial vines that usually use its first-year growth to focus on strengthening its root system and establishing itself. But whatever we get will be great, and can be preserved for future brews. We’re just starting to see the flowers, flowering is allegedly going to continue through late August\/early September, so I foresee plenty for at least one batch for Dave and his friends to enjoy this fall\/winter.<\/p>\n

After all, the world is just coming off of a hops shortage<\/a>, and the homebrewers takes the brunt of such shortages….<\/p>\n

Cheers and happy gardening!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

First of all, a week after the artificial insemination, here’s what we have for a pumpkin so far:This is about 1.5 lbs. and about 10″ circumference. I’m so excited at this! Unfortunately, the next several female flowers haven’t been opening up, but they can be really sensitive to amounts of water it receives. There are […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true},"categories":[],"tags":[620,7,86,84,85],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5ycQ0-67","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":375,"url":"http:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/2009\/07\/matchmaker-matchmaker-make-me-a-match.html","url_meta":{"origin":379,"position":0},"title":"Matchmaker, Matchmaker, Make Me a Match….","date":"14 July 09","format":false,"excerpt":"I have this incredibly HUGE pumpkin plant taking over my backyard...From 2009 07 14 Pumpkin PollinationAnd that's just the part of the one plant that's come through the fence and is actually bleeding into the front yard!Anyway, I've grown pumpkins in the past and the best I traditionally do is\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"gardening\"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":550,"url":"http:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/2011\/04\/operation-pumpkin-pollination-2011.html","url_meta":{"origin":379,"position":1},"title":"Operation PUMPKIN POLLINATION 2011","date":"26 April 11","format":false,"excerpt":"In 2009 I had tried hand-pollinating pumpkins for the first time. \u00a0(If you click the link, make sure to start at the bottom and work your way up, the posts are appearing in reverse chronological order). \u00a0After seeing award-winning pumpkins at the NC and NE State Fairs, I wanted to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"gardening\"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/lh3.googleusercontent.com\/_yz59FVsseJY\/TbbC0HSE2-I\/AAAAAAABVCc\/LRa4zVqAW98\/s640\/IMG_4563.JPG?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":381,"url":"http:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/2009\/07\/pumpkin-2.html","url_meta":{"origin":379,"position":2},"title":"Pumpkin #2","date":"26 July 09","format":false,"excerpt":"No other female flowers pending at the moment.","rel":"","context":"In \"gardening\"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2707,"url":"http:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/2013\/10\/pumpkin-carving-time.html","url_meta":{"origin":379,"position":3},"title":"Pumpkin Carving Time!","date":"29 October 13","format":false,"excerpt":"Better late than never, right? Timmy and I enjoyed carving our four pumpkins this afternoon. I'm so proud of Timmy, this year he offered to do\u00a0everything but got really nervous about gutting the pumpkins. So I did it for him...because I'm a sucker for that stuff.","rel":"","context":"In \"halloween\"","img":{"alt_text":"DSC_2829","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/DSC_2829-1024x678.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":689,"url":"http:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/2011\/11\/pumpkin-style-pie-what-will-they-think-of-next.html","url_meta":{"origin":379,"position":4},"title":"Pumpkin "Style" Pie? What WILL They Think of Next?","date":"30 November 11","format":false,"excerpt":"Took this picture yesterday at the Commissary. \u00a0I'll let the picture speak for itself. \u00a0The subtitle below says \"Creamy taste and texture of pumpkin pie flavored with natural cinnamon & ginger\".I don't know what to say about this pie-ish product. \u00a0Many times you guys have known me to whine about\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"dear husband\"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/3.bp.blogspot.com\/-rkMGglMzkck\/TtWPiXMQneI\/AAAAAAABb2A\/69AXylAUZqg\/s400\/IMG_6247.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":546,"url":"http:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/2011\/04\/the-fruits-of-our-labors-thus-far.html","url_meta":{"origin":379,"position":5},"title":"The Fruits of Our Labors…Thus Far…","date":"20 April 11","format":false,"excerpt":"I was planning to be scarce from the blogosphere while Dave and I attend a \"Squadron Commander's Course\" at the base all week. The kids were going to the before- and after-school child care. But on Tuesday, Jacob came home from school looking and feeling pretty poor, and had a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"florida\"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/lh4.googleusercontent.com\/_yz59FVsseJY\/Ta9EdAP0l_I\/AAAAAAABUuY\/t5ORV8FIrmk\/s640\/IMG_7525.JPG?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/379"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=379"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/379\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=379"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=379"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=379"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}