"Boris"

2006 saw the introduction to the area's first trebuchet or catapult for launching pumpkins  brought unprecedented attention to Our Farm. We call him Boris.

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"Boris the Trebuchet at Our Farm"

"The Challenge"

"The Rematch"
NY Pumpkin farmer Jimmy Golub takes on local newscaster in a battle of accuracy when throwing pumpkins with a huge trebuchet!

The Trebuchet

The trebuchet was used in warfare since 300 BC in China.

The crusades used this technology to knock down castle walls at a safe distance from the archers and defenses of the castle. “Huge boulders were sent crashing into the walls. Sometimes flaming objects were hurled, or even diseased bodies to spread pathogens. A true wonder of engineering, it allows a counterweight to power a projectile using extremely efficient energy. It is said to be the most powerful nonexposive weapon ever invented. Leonardo DaVinci designed one.

Boris stands some 15 feet tall and with the throwing arm in the resting position stands 27 feet high. The throwing arm is 22 feet long, and the counterweight is 1200 pounds. We estimate that he can throw an average pumpkin 150 feet high and a 200 feet distance (although this varies depending on the weight).

I would like to thank many people who helped make Boris a reality.
Doug Durfee helped me get started and also built the trigger mechanism and other componants. Jay Gianforte helped me with the sling. A special thanks to Jeff Martin, who let us use his shop and all the tools and accessories and also did some welding and fabricating. And a very very special thanks goes out to Steve Geer who first convinced me I should have a trebuchet, and then spent countless sessions putting this project from his mind into reality. Farmers are the most resourceful creative people on the planet.

This year, in a never ending quest to get attention, Our Farm is introducing a new twist to last year's Boris phenomenon. We have built a large hay castle which will bear the brunt of attacks from flying pumpkins. We will launch the pumpkins directly toward the castle.
But to make things more interesting, we will place a trampoline in front of the castle. Physicists and mathematicians have been pondering for centuries what would happen if an 18 pound pumpkin that is flying through the sky, lands dead onto a trampoline, what will happen. Will it bounce or will it smash? There are 2 schools of thought, but we'll have to wait until it happens. If you're one of the lucky ones that sees this, you will have something to tell your grandchildren (unless of course you bring your grandchildren, in which case you won't have to tell them)

I would like to thank Steve Burden, who helped build the castle, Jimmy Mason, who donated the large bales, and Lynn and Marcia Ketcham, who got us the round bales.