Show us your stuff!

Black From Tula

Mother's Day weekend is upon us. This is probably the biggest weekend for us at the market. Forecast calls for sunny and mild, so I had better get my sleep tonight because we are going to be BUSY tomorrow! I am hoping this list is our complete inventory as to what we will have at market tomorrow.

****I am looking for real customers to use in my social media settings. If you have a picture, story, or recipe that uses or pertains to our plants or produce, make yourself a part of our lives! That is what I like best about being a vendor at the market ---- our people! I love to talk about life and share the happiness and burdens we have, that is what we are meant to do.****

Muncher Cucumber (burpless variety)
Straight 8 Cucumber (salad variety)
Sumpter Cucumber (pickler)
California Wonder Bell Pepper
Pimiento Pepper
Thai Chili
Serrano Pepper
Cayanne Pepper
Jalapeno Pepper
Banana Pepper
Zucchini
Yellow Straight Neck Summer Squash
White Scallop Squash (Patty Pan)
Spaghetti Squash
Butternut Squash
Blue Curled Scotch Kale (dwarf variety)
Beauregard Sweet Potato
Black Diamond Watermelon

New Items This Year:
Ground Cherry
Tomatillo Verde
Guajillo Pepper
Amana Orange Tomato
Green Zebra Tomato
Ponderosa Pink Tomato

Tomato varieties:
Delicious
Brandywine
Red Cherry
Cherokee Purple
Big Red
Italian Pear
Rutgers
Abe Lincoln
Purple Russian
Indigo Rose
Goldie
Yellow Pear
Red Pear
Golden Jubilee
Pineapple
Black Krim
Roma
Mortgage Lifter

Spring 2016: week two

Aaron and Ethan hard at work.

I have updated the previous post with some more produce plants. Please take a look and see if there is anything that strikes your fancy. I always welcome comments, discussions, questions, recipes, and even jokes if you got 'em!
Here are some farm photos. 

Our chicken coop got an upgrade. Now their castle is lit up so the boys can see when they go out to collect the eggs. 

I'm just the supervisor - after back surgery, I don't do all the back breaking work anymore, that's what husbands and sons are for, right???

I will take credit for being the brains (a little - LOL) and I did help build this beast of a greenhouse.

Aaron's babies....

Just checking to see if anybody even reads my blog. Gotcha!

Columbia Farmers Market 2016 Kick Off!

Spring is upon us and the first farmer's market sale is tomorrow! How is it possible?! We have expanded a little and were blessed to be able to purchase a small trailer and racks so we can bring a lot more plants. I have had many of our friends asking me to list our plant varieties we have tomorrow so here goes...

Muncher Cucumber (burpless variety)
Straight 8 Cucumber (salad variety)
Sumpter Cucumber (pickler)
California Wonder Bell Pepper
Pimiento Pepper
Thai Chili
Serrano Pepper
Cayanne Pepper
Jalapeno Pepper
Banana Pepper
Zucchini
Yellow Straight Neck Summer Squash
White Scallop Squash (Patty Pan)
Spaghetti Squash
Butternut Squash
Blue Curled Scotch Kale (dwarf variety)
Beauregard Sweet Potato
Black Diamond Watermelon

New Items This Year:
Ground Cherry
Tomatillo Verde
Guajillo Pepper
Amana Orange Tomato
Green Zebra Tomato
Ponderosa Pink Tomato

Tomato varieties:
Delicious
Brandywine
Red Cherry
Cherokee Purple
Big Red
Italian Pear
Rutgers
Abe Lincoln
Purple Russian
Indigo Rose
Goldie
Yellow Pear
Red Pear
Golden Jubilee
Pineapple
Black Krim
Roma
Mortgage Lifter

This list is not complete, we have seedlings that need a couple of weeks to fill out and meet our standards. I will update the list as we add plants in future sales. I hope to see my friends at Columbia Farmer's Market!

Spring Wrap Up

Spring plant sales are officially over! Sales this spring were not as good as we hoped they would be - it rained seven of the twelve times we set up at the Columbia Farmer's Market - but we somehow seem to manage, Praise the Lord!


Friday after I got home from work, we went to town to get some change for the market. Coming back home, there was something flat laying in the road that I couldn't avoid running over. At first glance, I thought it was a flat piece of our corrugated plastic from the farm that had blown onto the road. As I ran over it, it made a noise that was definitely not "plastic-y" and sounded more like metal. I said to Aaron, "What was that? A piece of our plastic?" and he said, "I don't know what it was." and didn't seem too concerned. You see, Aaron has played in a rock-n-roll band for many years and his hearing is not what it used to be (imagine that!) and he didn't hear the metallic sound it made. I offhandedly said, "I hope that wasn't our sign." meaning our Humble Hill Heirlooms sign that we made to hang on our tent. Aaron immediately screamed, "Oh my God! It is our sign!!! I left it on top of the truck earlier and it must have blown off!!!"


I'm going to pause a moment and let that sink in.


A sign that we made by picking out a machined piece of aluminum from a junk yard, sprayed with auto body paint, lettered with vinyl lettering, and lovingly pinstriped, all for the purpose of becoming our advertising symbol to the world, was laying on 24 Highway being blasted at 60 miles an hour tires for about an hour. I was praying my heart out as I turned the car around, the same car I had flippantly zoomed over said sign, asking God to please, please, please salvage our sign. I pulled over and got out. It was laying lettered side up. I picked it up and pushed it into Aaron's hands and quickly pulled into our driveway. We got out and wiped the sign with a towel - not a scratch on it!!! The only damage was the hole at the top was bent from the metal link pressing into it. What a miracle!!!


Anyway, the gardens are planted and the boys are really stepping up in helping their dad on the farm. My body is not what it used to be and I have more bad days than good, but things always work out when it's for the Glory of God. We try to use our home business as a living ministry to our kids and anyone else that comes our way. I will update with some produce pics soon!

Spring Plant Sales Have Begun

My husband has done it again! Another fantastic batch of heirloom vegetable plants to offer for sale at the Columbia Farmers Market. I have been asked by many customers what we have to offer so I am going to post an all inclusive list. Of course, availability varies with all of our varieties according to sales.


Tomato varieties:
Abe Lincoln
Ace 55
Delicious
Italian Pear
Pineapple
Tigerella
Beefsteak
Brandywine
Ponderosa Pink
Rose
Golden Jubilee
Black Krim
Black from Tula
Purple Cherokee
Roma
Tom Boy
Red Pear
Yellow Pear
Indigo Rose
Chocolate Cherry
Red Cherry
Yellow Cherry


Peppers:
Red Bell
Purple Bell
Yellow Bell
Orange Bell
Jalapeno
Poblano Ancho
Habanero
Banana


Melons:
Iroquois Cantaloupe
Black Diamond Watermelon


Cucumbers:
Muncher
Straight 8


Squash:
Zucchini
White Scallop (Patty Pan)
Yellow Crook Neck
Spaghetti
Table Queen Acorn
Butternut


Herbs:
Salad Burnet
Genovese Basil
Sweet Basil
Lemon Basil
Cinnamon Basil
Opal Basil
Fennell


Misc:
Beauregard Sweet Potato slips
Scotch Blue Curly Leaf Kale

Seedling pictures

 Just the beginning...

As always, the ever present "garden cat" Kittums. She sneaks in the warm greenhouse whenever possible, but she can't stay because she tries to bed down in the seedlings.

Almost ready.

Spring sales are almost here

Finally! Longer hours of sunlight and the beginning of warmer days. We have started our seedlings for the Columbia Farmer's Market. Our small greenhouse has weathered another winter in very fine fashion, but the large one is looking a little rough. We will have to re-sheet the bottom three feet, but otherwise, it will make the season. We can't wait to see all of our friends at the Market - sellers and shoppers alike.

This year we have added asparagus, sweet potato slips, kale, brussel sprout, spaghetti squash, Iroquois cantaloupe, lime basil, and cinnamon basil to our list of spring seedlings for sale. We have also expanded the number of varieties of some of our standards. We will have yellow, orange, red, purple in addition to our green sweet bell peppers. We will have over twenty varieties of tomato plants this year - I won't bore you with the names! Just know that we test drive them all and pick the widest range of tastes from savory to sweet.

Now for the long awaited animal story. All winter we babied about six growing boxes with two kale plants in each in the small greenhouse. We prefer kale to lettuce, so we were all excited to have fresh salad all winter long, but it was not to be. Aaron likes to let the chickens out at the end of the day so they can get some gravel, bugs, and greens out of the big greenhouse. Unfortunately, he forgot he had propped the small greenhouse door open to keep the temperature down, and guess what..... chickens love kale! They stripped all but two plants down to the stalk. I will say though, they produced some rich eggs for a few days!

God was with us more than once when the temps were so low, as well. The small greenhouse door had a stick lodged in the bottom and the door was open a few inches on a night below freezing, but the plants did just fine. Another time, the temperature went lower than expected on a night we didn't have f ire in the boiler, and there was no heat circulating, but again, God was good and had mercy on us!

Thank you for reading our family farm blog and supporting local growers - it's good for you and good for us.

Summer 2013 Is On It's Way

Oh, it's been too, too long! Last time I wrote the boys were just going back to school and now they are just about to get out for summer! We are revving up the plots big time and I have so much to share.

We had to re-sheet the greenhouse because the hard plastic we used last year broke down faster than we thought it would. It was corrugated sheeting we bought at a liquidation sale and it didn't have any UV protection, so.....it cracked up. Literally. It made it one year, good enough!

We decided it was time to pen the chickens rather than put fences up around all the gardens this year. It broke our heart to enclose them but things are too hectic around here to go chasing chickens all day every day. We gave them a nice covered porch area in front of the coop and they are slowly accepting their fate. Our poor white leghorn, who is the smallest but most productive layer we have, laid banty sized eggs the first few times she was so upset.

We are now into market season and you can find us at the Columbia Farmer's Market every Saturday morning. If you have any questions for me please write me. I'll tell you what I know and we'll work out the rest!

I will post some pics of our season so far. God has been very gracious to us and has seen fit to bless us abundantly. If you have a need or you just need a prayer, just ask!

Where's the time gone?!

Whew! Where to begin? The boys are back in school and our second plantings are starting to rev up. Our first planting of pretty much everything: tomatoes, zucchini, patty pans, butternut, and acorn squash has given up the ghost. No amount of watering helps at a certain point. We have even had to jump start our compost pile. We have been adding broken hay bales, yard waste, and broken down manure to the pile and it has just sat and baked, instead of break down. We soaked it with the sprinkler for a whole day and have covered it with a tarp. We'll flip it around here in a while to see if it starts composting. I never dreamed I would see the day that zucchini would be hard to grow and you had to work for compost. One thing I can say with no uncertainty: whenever we have had a need, God has met it. We have food to eat, water to drink, and when a bill comes due, the money always seem to be there.

I only have a short animal adventure story this time. We moved some hay bales out of the end of our greenhouse to make room for planting, and there was a HUGE ground hog den under the pallets. My boys solution? Left over bottle rockets that couldn't be shot because of the fire hazard!! So we let the boys shoot some rockets down in the hole, in the hopes that the critter was in there somewhere and it would scare him/them off. It must have worked, because it sits empty. Now let's just hope we don't have a cave in from the dry ground and huge den!!!

Last but not least, some recipes for Patty Pan Squash:

1) Cut them in slices to make "patties" and throw them on the grill with a little oil and salt.
2) Take the patty slices and put olive oil and Parmesan cheese on them and bake until light brown.
3) Cut in half, scoop seeds out, and fill with cooked hamburger, cheddar, and BBQ sauce and bake. You could also use sausage, mozzarella, and pasta sauce.

Herb growing tips

Annual herbs are meant to be cut and used often. Once an annual herb flowers, it will put all its energy into producing seeds and the leaves will wither. I find it's best to leave at least half of the foliage when you cut some off. If you find you are using it so often it is looking bare, have more than one plant. 

If you grow your herbs outside, and decide at the end of summer you don't want to bring them in, let it flower and put the whole seed head in a zipper bag and grow your own in the spring. Or you can leave the pot or ground alone until next spring and you will have volunteer plants. 

Tomato Grow Box Tips

Here are some tips for my customers that bought "grow boxes" from us:

1) They need to be watered about every other day. If you need to go longer, you can put the whole box in a rubbermaid tub or something similar and fill it about 6 inches with water. The ends are just spot welded, and the water will seep into the box. 

2) They require fertilizer about every 3 to 4 weeks. Any vegetable or tomato fertilizer will do, just make sure they are kept wet afterwards.

3) You can use a tomato cage in the box or put a stake (broom handle, metal rod, etc) in the ground right next to the box to support it. Tie the stems to the stake with old rag strips or yarn.

4) If you have trouble telling the ripeness of the fruit by color, it is ready to pick when the shoulder of the fruit (the part next to the stem) is no longer firm. You must use this method for Cherokee Purple, Black Krim, Golden Jubilee, and Pineapple. 

5) All of our tomato plants are indeterminate, meaning they grow and produce fruit for as long as the life of the plant, they do not fruit all at once.

6) If you have any questions, please leave a comment on this blog, or go to my facebook page and like it. 

Thanks, and I truly hope these plants nourish your body and your mind!

Tomato plant trivia

Did you know:

* when planting, pinching off the shoots half way up the stem of tomato plants and burying the stem half way up will produce a stronger root system? Each "hair" on the stem is a potential root!

* a lot of tomato plant disease comes from the soil? Pinching shoots off about 6-10 inches up the bottom of the plant will keep soil from splashing on the leaves when it rains or you water. Or you can use landscape fabric around the base of the plant.

* tomato plants like calcium. This can be added by dissolving an antacid tablet in a cup of water and pouring it in the bottom of the hole you plant in.

* you can always spot the tomato farmer in the crowd: they have green skin and yellow arm pits ( from the leaves and pollen )

Random shots

Little Logan warming his bare feet in the mulch. 

Just finishing up on planting this plot.

Loaded and ready to roll. 

Another animal adventure...

Another adventurous week on the farm. Friday night our family attended a memorial service for the son of the woman who was my second mother. I had not seen her or her children and grandchildren for many years, and it was a bittersweet reunion. We get home from Kansas City at about 11:00, only to find a opossum lazily munching eggs in one of our nesting boxes. All the chickens were accounted for, all that is but Aggie, the chicken I adore, my mother hen. My husband was furious because he was sure this smelly pest has taken her from me. I was not so sure in my heart: there were no feathers on the floor, a tell tale sign of a varmint's chicken dinner. Aggie is pretty foxy, and I was hoping she was just roosting in a nearby tree until morning. Now, the story gets a little rough at this point, and I'm sorry for any trauma this story causes. Aaron decided that he was not going to use his pistol to kill the "killer" because he wasn't sure the bullet wouldn't penetrate the coop wall, so he sent the boys into the house, and decided a potato fork would be this opossum's fate. I won't give details, but needless to say, the pest will never eat another unhatched chick again. Now, back to my Aggie, that little cluck came traipsing out of the darkness after Aaron killed the opossum, and trotted right into the coop, and hopped right up onto her clutch. We had a great laugh at this point, kind of giddy from the relief that not only was she OK, but she patiently waited for us to clear the way for her. Now you have some idea as to why she is my favorite. Getting up early for the Columbia Farmer's Market was REALLY hard, but we all four did it, and as always, we met a lot of new people, gave a lot of advice (wanted or otherwise), and sold our plants. We are going to start going to the Friday market at Smiley and Providence, so I hope to see some of you there! And please, if you have any questions regarding my plants or produce, just ask!!!

Like father, like son

Another great week has passed at Humble Hill and we did a fair amount of business at the Columbia Farmers Market. The frostiness still has some skittish about putting plants in the ground so we haven't hit our peak yet. Yesterday Aaron and I were taking turns weeding in the greenhouse with a scuffle hoe, and Ethan was watching us, and it suddenly dawned on him that most of the "weeds" were actually volunteer tomato plants from last year. He called an immediate halt to the work, and proceeded to pull up all the healthier looking seedlings, and proclaimed that even though we didn't want them, HE did! So Aaron, bless his heart, tilled up a separate spot for Ethan to have his very own garden, fenced and all. Now as to whether or not Ethan will keep it cared for remains to be seen. Who knows, he may put us to shame with his spot! As for the hen house, we still don't have any chicks yet, but we now have two broody hens, or "clucks" as some call them, so we're excited for that to happen. Tonight is laundry and dishwasher soap making night, I'm out of both and I can't put it off any longer I guess.

 PS - Aaron learned the hard way that the Bible means it when it says to keep the Sabbath holy and not work: a nail in the foot and two times biting his tongue was pretty convincing.

A happy birthday

Spent my 40th birthday morning at the Columbia Farmers Market. We did even better than last weekend, even though it rained the whole time. I'm starting to get a complex, they are calling for rain next Saturday, too! We have added a couple of anchors to the big greenhouse this morning since they are calling for high winds. I do believe if the wind caught it just right, it would roll clear over our house, taking everything in it's path out with it. Ethan had a cooler with some crawfish in it in the greenhouse and a raccoon came in there and ate them. :( He was pretty sad. My favorite chicken, Aggie, is broody already, so we're going to let her hatch some chicks. We've lost 2 roosters and 2 hens to roaming dogs here lately so we have room for more. That's the pain of having open range chickens: they get to eat as much grass and bugs as they like, which produces very healthy and delicious eggs, but they're at the mercy of varmints. But the roosters sure do their best to protect their ladies! Well, I have to get off here and practice the accompaniment songs for church tonight. Drop a comment or come see me at the market, I love the encouragement!

Market, rain, and a patriotic chicken

I hope everyone has a satisfying Easter with their families. Our first day at the Columbia Farmer's Market was better than we expected. It rained for an hour and was very chilly so most shoppers were not in the mood to buy bedding plants, but there were those die hard few (people of my own heart) that bought our tomato plants to get a head start. On a side note: when we got home there was "evidence" of a chicken in our mudroom and the door was ajar. I called out and didn't hear anything, so I shut the door. Then I hear some rustling under a piece of cardboard....a chicken was nesting in a box of the boys' left over bottle rockets. I guess we'll call her Sparky.

Hoping for no frost!

We have spent a couple of hours putting insulated boxes over the tomato plants we have already put out. We have spent the week preparing our plants to sell at the farmer's market. Some of our 4" potted varieties already have small tomatoes on them! It's crazy how fast everything is happening right now. Aaron painted my sign today and we went and picked up the lettering today. I'll post a pic of our set up tomorrow. Have a quiet Good Friday tomorrow, my friends. Try to swing by the market if you're in Columbia Saturday morning - stop and say hi, I love the encouragement!

We went to the Columbia Farmer's Market vendor meeting last night, and took the plunge! We are now official vendors there. We are planning to attend the market next Saturday with some tomato bedding plants we have started from seed.

Golden Jubilee

Striped Roman Tomato

Sale table summer of 2011

Seedling trays

Finishing touches on the high tunnel

Tilling in the high tunnel

The seedling and herb greenhouse