Fresh Free Range Eggs

I have always loved animals, and I hate to see them mistreated. I grew up with pets, like dogs and cats and I was taught to treat them with kindness and respect. Animals after all are similar to us, with varied personalities, having likes and dislikes as well as the ability to experience emotions.

So, this year, on the farm, we decided to purchase some laying hens. It has been a great experience. We set up a safe place for them to sleep and lay eggs and we ensure that they have ample opportunities to graze and scratch around or just lay in the dust in the field. They have access to fresh water and feed, but they prefer to spend their day hunting, in search of young grasses or tasty tidbits in the yard.

The hens are such fun to have around and the eggs are a bonus. If you are interested in purchasing free range eggs, give us a call before you come to make sure that we have some available.

2009 Season

We had a good growing season this year but lots of rainy, cloudy days made produce ripening a slow process. We purchased some chickens in the spring and they were a pleasure to have around. We plan to have more next year, so if you are interested in free range brown eggs, be sure to stop by.

We have decided to grow Squash, Yellow Beans, Roma and Cherry Tomatoes again next season. Now we are busy preparing for the winter season and cleaning up the garden. If you have any requests for specific fresh local no-spray produce, please do not hesitate to send us an e-mail.

Have a wonderful holiday season.

the Stand is Open

We decided to grow "no spray" produce again for the second year. Some plants are lush, while others are growing more slowly this year. If we get some hot days things will pick up.

The stand officially opens today. We will have yellow beans, broccoli florets, radishes, yellow zucchini, peppers and maybe some Rhubarb.

Tomatoes are growing but they are not ripe yet.

If you have a chance please stop by the stand and be sure to send us an e-mail with your feedback.

Have a great summer.

The Garden is Growing!!

We have been busy preparing the garden over the last few weeks and have just begun to plant. So far we have beans, peas, tomatoes, peppers, onions, and eggplants planted. Aside from the vegetable garden we have started a small Apple orchard this year. It will take a few years to get established but it should be nice when the trees start to produce fruit.

If the weather cooperates between now and the end of June, we will probably put out our vegetable Stand early in July.

Hope you have a chance to stop by the Stand.
Have a Great Spring!!

December.....

The breezy Fall days are gone and now we face the chills of December. When I think about the warmer days of summer, I realize that we learned a lot about managing a small vegetable garden. We had the chance to experiment with produce we had never grown before. What an experience. Fresh, vibrant, sweet or hot - the flavors were exploding with each bite. It was a pleasing experience, but a lot of work!

My family can still enjoy the garden fresh flavors of summer at diner time - Italian Tomato Sauce -amazing stuff -I know I am gong to run out. Dill Pickles that have a bit of a kick, frozen Peppers, Yellow Beans or Squash. Enough variety to enjoy through the cold winter months.

Hope you had a chance to store some summer freshness yourselves.

Next...on to dreaming about next years garden......if you have any requests, please let me know.

Where did the time go?

I can not believe it is almost the end of October... where did the time go?

We had a great growing season however Septembers' cooler weather and rain wrapped things up in the garden quickly. Tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers were all done. Squash was still growning, and we were hoping produce would mature before frost hit but it was not as plentiful as planned.

So, now the stand is packed away, and we are busy trying to clean up the garden. We have had a plentiful Thanksgiving and many things to be grateful for, like good times with family and friends.

Remember to enjoy the Fall Colors and have a glorious season.

September Already!

We come from a long line of small garden farmers who believe that foods grown and cared for with love and picked at their peak taste better than those foods produced by volume and picked to ship great distances.... And so far, it seems we are right!!

We have cherry tomatoes and carrots that are just so incredible! The flavor is so bright. The low acid tomatoes we planted, Golden Girl, have been a great variety! sweet and juicy. Unfortunately, I think people are not attracted to the colour, yellow or orange. I guess it is just something about tomatoes are supposed to be RED. Give them a try, you'll be surprised.

Anyway the yellow beans were a great success, sweet and juicy - even right off the plant. We have a few left but they are really at the end of their season. Spaghetti squash and Cucumbers are almost at the end of their run to.

Just starting now we have a great crop of Roma tomatoes and various Sweet Peppers. We have already been making tomato sauce for the winter - this is just soooooo good!!!- like a rose sauce less the heavy cream or wine and even our 5 year old loves it!. If you are looking to make sauce, these tomatoes and peppers are the ones you need - No Spray, fresh and sweet.

We also have hot peppers, Kung Pao and Jalapenos that pack a punch and are necessary for any really good sauce. Our beef steak tomatoes and red beauty peppers are just starting to get ripe.

Latter down the road we should have some butternut squash - sooooo.. tasty with red onion, red potato and olive oil, maybe some basil, oregano and salt. Sorry but the zucchinis have already been spoken for (bread and pasta).

And hopefully in October we will have a few pumpkins for sale, unless our son picks them all early and we have pumpkin pie, pumpkin bread, pumpkin seeds and fall pumpkin display.

If you have a chance, let us know which vegetables you liked best and would like to see again. Maybe you could even suggest some new ones for next year. So far we have a request for Beets and Garlic.

Enjoy your fall!