Weekely Produce Updates Now On Facebook!

As you can see we haven't been putting much on the blog. With John working, farmer's market, and me selling at craft shows, it has been pretty busy around here. For those of you looking for weekly updates on the produce we will have at market please check out our Facebook page by clicking on the first widget on the right side of our page. Even if you don't have a Facebook account you can still see the page.

Christmas time will probably busy for us as well but I am hoping to start posting more stuff. Hang in there with us :)

Little eco owls...

I made these little owls from re-purposed wool sweaters.  So far they have been a good seller at market which has been really exciting!  Here is a pic of them...

I am hoping to do some crafty type shows in the fall so I wanted to get a feel for how they sold.  Looks like they are a keeper!

Garden before and after...

We generally don't post too many pictures of the garden after June because by then the weeds are usually out of control.  This year is a little better then most since we have been spending so much time at the farm.  We still could do a lot more, and hopefully will be able to someday!

These are our squash we planted a month ago...

Here they are now.  Yikes!  You can't tell but we have squash and melons planted all down the length of the garden.  They are all heirloom of course and are showing really good disease resistance.

Tomatoes a month ago...

Tomatoes now.  We are really bad at staking our tomatoes so they are just laying everywhere.  This is a bummer because the tomatoes will rot if they are on the ground.  We will still get lots but next year we are really going to focus on staking!  Do you see the random sunflowers that came up from last year?

Here is our table from market this week :)

Whoopsy!

Oops I haven't posted in awhile!  We are super busy with the farm and market right now.  Both are going great.  The garden looks awesome.  I just harvested our first new potatoes yesterday, along with some okra.  I fried it up with some garlic scapes...yum!  I also made a garlic scape pizza this weekend which was awesome!!!

It amuses me that my kids are growing up in a house where taking pictures of your meals is pretty normal!  LOL!  Market has been going really well.  Not only have we been selling a lot but we have some pretty neat stuff at our market now.

Don't these look like little Easter egg candies?  They are actually Quail eggs and are super tiny and cute!  I think my kids will really like them boiled.  I might get around to that today.  We spent all day at the farm yesterday and I got some good pictures which I will try and post later.  Here is a picture of our market a couple of weeks ago.

Fall Pics

I think I am cursed.  Everytime I think..."Oh I think I have enough money to buy a Kitchen Aid stand mixer", I break something.  I am going to try and not think that anymore.  I went out and bought a new camera finally.  This is why I don't buy an expensive one.  Anyways I wanted to share some fall pics with you...

Some pumpkins..not ours.  We did ok with the mini pumpkins this year but we didn't get any winter squash and the stink bugs has destroyed the summer squash by the middle of July.  We got our truck now so we are going to get some fertilizer up at the farm.  I think the plants need some good soil.

More squash and such...same person.

Here is our table...greens, greens, and more greens!  I am really excited with how well our fall stuff did.  We tried Mustard Greens for the first time and they have grown wonderfully.  Our Basil is actually still producing with only a couple plants that were harmed by the cold nights.  We also have arugula which did well and radishes.  The radishes have been more knobby then the spring ones and a bit hotter.  The French Breakfast, as always, did the best.  I would be satisfied with just growing these but J wants to grow Cherry Bells which is probably a good idea.  This is what most people are looking for.  I also grew a fall planting of Cilantro which is doing much better then our spring crop and I think I will do this every year.  The lavender is still kicking, and so is the Chard.  Overall this year has been 10 times better then last year, even with the dry weather we have had.  I can't believe it is almost over!!!  We are, of course, already planning for next year and hope to do 2 markets.  I have some other stuff I have wanting to be posting so hopefully I will get to that in the next couple of days :) 

Farmer's Market's....here to stay?

My first experience with a "Farmer's Market" was in my hometown of 8,000.  This was back in the late 80's and I remember it being maybe 3 vendors selling from the back of their trucks.  They had the usual, sweet corn, tomatoes, zucchini, and maybe some cucumbers.  That was it.  I recently went back to my hometown for the 4th of July and went over to the Farmer's Market which had gone away for awhile I believe, but had recently been re-opened.  Due to a 4th of July festival that goes on every year my Grandma said they had a lot less vendors then usual, but I was impressed as they still had around 14!  I mean for a town of 8,000 that is pretty good.  And it wasn't just the usual garden produce either, they had chard, and all sorts of berries, different looking squash, grass fed beef, free range eggs, and even hand spun wool and yarn from llama's!  A lot different from the late 80's version!  Even in my town of 45,000ish our Farmer's Market has probably tripled or quadrupled in the last 2 years.  I think it has to have been the "perfect storm" of events in this country that has brought back this old tradition.  Food safety, poor economic times, a better understanding of where your food comes from, a desire to support one's community, and lots of people wanting to find an extra way to earn cash.  I also find it interesting how the look of the market has changed.  I think you generally have 3 main groups of people selling at market's.  Middle aged to older farmer's who have been doing it forever (the ones in the overalls and John Deere hat's who are an invaluable source of information and generally love to share it), the hippies (long skirts, rope sandals, baby wearing, odd food growing, kind of people, who generally grow some really weird stuff), and Amish or Mennonite families (probably the biggest competition as they know how to do everything farm related and they are supporting their families while doing it).  Now don't get me wrong there are some other types in there for sure, but these people seem to make up a large demographic of sellers.  Also the individual stand seems to have changed a lot recently.  You have seen pictures of our table, and this is a very typical set up...at least at our market.  People love it too.  Everything in baskets, pretty sign showing your farm name, nice table cloth, etc.  We always have people wanting to take pictures of our table which is very flattering.  I think it draws people in.  A lot different from selling out of the back of your truck (which is also still done and seems to work very well for some people).  Even the veteran farmer's seems to be spiffing up their tables to keep up with everyone else.  The biggest thing that I am hoping for is that this isn't just a trend.  I hope that all of these things have opened up people's minds and made them realize that there is a better way to get food.  You look at a lot of other countries and their market's are the heart beat of their community.  I really hope this is what the future of Farmer's Market's will be in our country as well! 

P.S. As usual I appologize for the spelling and gramatical errors.  This is being written super fast during nap time! :)

Our first sell out day!

Yes we sold every bitty bit of our produce plus some extras we bring.  It was a very very good day!  Most vendors sold out as our little market is becoming quite the happening place...

Our new sign made from an old table top.

Sour cherries for pies...

The last of the swiss chard...which wasn't even ours!  We were selling it for someone else who left so we sold out of our stuff and someone else's!

We bought this huge Napa cabbage for only $4.00!  We also got spinach, zucchini, and yellow squash.

Market

We had another great market this weekend! 

We had some lettuce, arugula, last of the radishes, fresh lavender, two kinds of kale, and some sunflower seeds for planting.  We sold out of all the lettuce and most of everything else.  Even the sunflower seeds were a hit!  We put a picture of little man standing in front of the ones from last year and people were really excited to be able to grow them too.  Some of ours were 15 feet!

These marigolds were huge!  And they were only $5 a flat...but I am really trying to only buy things that are absolutely necessary. (but I am kind of kicking myself for passing these up!)

Some pretty wildflowers...

Gorgeous roses....

Yummy baked goods (those are muffins with mulberries in them..yummm!)...

Hope you had a good Memorial weekend!

First Farmers Market

We had a WONDERFUL first market!  There were so many vendor and customers.  We had a little rain at the end but we did very very well.  We got to meet some great people...including another young couple who will be selling at the market so it was a really great start to the year.  I am constantly surprised and encouraged by the willingness of people in our town to try new things...and buy them!  I love to plant unusual heirloom plants so this should work out quite well.  We took about 20 bunches of collard greens, quite a bit of curled cress, 4 or so bunches of baby arugula, and 8 bunches of radishes.  We sold out of all but a little bit of the cress and 4 bunches of collards!  I think we might have sold completely out had it not been for the rain about 2 hours before the market closed.  Anyways here are some pics for you....

Oh and whole wheat and oat dog biscuits which went over pretty well!  I also took some crocheted coffee sleeves and sold 2 of those which was really exciting because I have never sold, or attempted to sell anything I have made so this was pretty cool!  Also it was babies first market.  She just "hung around" (hehe) but loooved it!

This is only about half the vedorson this side of the street.  The other side was filled as well!

Yes, I do believe it will be a great season!  We will be going to the farm this week so hopefully I can let you know the goings on up there later in the week.

-Mama G