The cute little seedlings we've been following on the Blaze Blog are growing up into healthy young pumpkins, nearly ready for harvesting in anticipation of The Great Jack O'Lantern Blaze kick off which is, believe it or not, only 30 days away.

The gourds you see here are all growing at the Wallkill View Farm, Historic Hudson Valley's exclusive pumpkin provider.

Yes, the pumpkins pictured are slightly different sizes. No, it's not a progression of the same pumpkin (I don't think), but it does show a nice transition from small and yellow and onion-like to big and yellow and melon-like to big, orange, and ready for carving.

Want to reminiscence? Click here for the earlier posts when these guys were mere seedlings.

We’re continuing to track the progress of the pumpkins that will be on display at The Great Jack O’Lantern Blaze. The little gourds are starting to grow up and soon we’ll have more pictures to share. Visitors commonly ask the Blaze organizers where all these gourds come from. All of the pumpkins – thousands and thousands of pounds of pumpkins – come from the Wallkill View Farm in New Paltz, N.Y.

 

This family-owned and -operated farm is well worth a day trip, not only to check on the status of their pumpkins, but to take home a variety of tasty treats from the Wallkill View Farm Stand, which offers a bevy of fresh goods. Check out their Web site here.

Maybe the hardest thing about planting pumpkins is not succumbing to the urge to toast, salt, and munch ALL the seeds before you get them in the ground.

The folks at Wallkill View Farm, however, where Historic Hudson Valley gets pound after pound of pumpkin for The Great Jack O’Lantern Blaze, seem to have no problem planting these precious pumpkin seeds. (Perhaps they eat Corn Nuts instead?)

Here at the Blaze Blog, we’re continuing to patiently watch the little sprouts…well…sprout. Thousands of pounds of pumpkin they will soon be.

Check out this picture, taken in mid-June, of the little guy shown in the Blaze Blog’s first entry. Somehow, somewhere, a pumpkin is in there just waiting to burst out…Vibrant orange, olé!

How far ahead do the folks at Historic Hudson Valley need to start planning for the following year's Blaze? Well, let's see...the final evening of Blaze 2006 was Sunday, Oct. 22, meaning that preparations for '07's festivities began in earnest on...Oct. 23...

Well, maybe not that early, but you get the idea. There's an enormous number of things to think about, especially given the huge expansion HHV is planning for the 2007 Blaze. Nineteen nights...all new installations (mixed in with the classics, of course)...seems like the marching orders for everything Blaze-related this year are "bigger" and "better."

Of course, it all starts with the pumpkins, grown right here in the Hudson Valley. Pictured are the first seedlings, planted on May 30.

We'll watch their progress on the Blaze Blog right through pickin' time.