Any Guesses on our Sweet Potato Harvest?

We have grown 2,000 sweet potato slips for 3 or 4 years in a row now and have been happy with our results every year. We plant organic slips in May and eat some greens from them in August when other greens aren’t thriving and then in October we dig a few to see how they are sizing up. Mostly to get a taste of those nice roots that we’ve been missing! Around mid October we get serious and set aside a day or two to cut all the vines and move them and then begin the digging. We cure them in a heated room at 90 degrees for two weeks and then store them and enjoy all winter!

This year we decided to be wise and set aside two full days for this project…..then on the second day we realized it would take at least another whole day to finish, so we plodded along. Each root gets turned over with a plow or shovel, then gently wiped by hand and left to dry for a few hours, then picked up by hand and placed in a box and carried by hand to our storage room. These babies are grown and harvested with a lot of love and hand work. So as the rain prediction grew stronger and the night went on we had dinner and put the farmer children to bed. Farmer Sean and I headed back out with headlamps to finish the harvest and not ruin the potatoes. As it started to sprinkle a little past midnight we were hauling in the last of them! We pulled out the tarps we use for weed and erosion control and covered as much of the bare dirt as we could so as to lesson the amount of damage to the earth with the rain coming. We were happy to see the next morning that it worked and the lovely soil was well protected! Now, a few long days later have turned our sweet potato field into lovely garden beds ready for our garlic to be planted this week. By the end we harvested 4,400 pounds of sweet potatoes!!!!

Big projects feel so good to finish! Friends came by and offered a hand at popping all the garlic so the cloves are ready to go in later today! Speaking of other big projects, we have had a week to regroup, spend a fun day off the farm and are ready to roll with the winter CSA. It begins tomorrow! We have changed the farm store hours for pick up on meat weeks to 2-5 both Saturday and Thursday to make it easier. We are open for sales of any kind in the farm store then as well, so if you aren’t a member and want some thing please come on by!

We will be enjoying lots of sweet potato recipes, but here is the first soup we are going to try:

4 large sweet potatoes(2 1/2 pounds), cut in half

  • cooking oil

  • 2 tablespoons butter

  • 1 cup finely diced yellow onion (about 1 medium onion)

  • 1/2 cup finely diced celery, (about 2 celery stalks)

  • 3 garlic cloves

  • 1 teaspoon dried oregano

  • 3/4 teaspoon ground ginger

  • 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

  • 1/2 teaspoon salt

  • 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

  • 3 cups chicken broth from the farm store

  • 14 ounces milk

  • Additional salt and black pepper to taste

Begin by roasting the sweet potatoes. Preheat oven to 400-degrees F. Line a baking sheet with baking parchment. Coat sweet potato halves with oil. Place down on lined baking sheet. Roast for 30 minutes at 400-degrees F. Discard peels. Transfer to a bowl and thoroughly mash. Or use your favorite instant pot recipe to cook them for a faster method!

  1. While sweet potatoes are roasting, heat a large saucepan over medium heat. Add butter and allow to melt. Add diced onion and celery; cook, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes. Grate garlic cloves directly into pan. Sprinkle in dried oregano, ground ginger, ground cumin, salt and pepper. Cook, stirring constantly for 1 minute.

  2. Stir in stock and milk. Bring to a low simmer; continue to simmer on low heat until potatoes are ready.

  3. Whisk in mashed sweet potatoes until combined. Salt and pepper to taste. For a smoother consistency, carefully transfer soup to a food processor or use an immersion blender!

Enjoy and we’ll see you at the cabin!

Fall Farm Tour 2019

As we begin to wrap up the summer 2019 CSA season we want to invite all our members (and any friends you want to bring) , to come see what is growing here! Really anyone interested in the farm is welcome to come see what we are all about! Come meet the piggies, cows, rabbits, horses, chickens and see the NEW huge hoop house we just finished building! FARM TOUR this weekend from 10-4 Saturday and Sunday! Come on out ya’ll!

We are excited to share the farm with you! We will be teaching a winter tincture class each day at 3 PM and doing tours all day. We will have lots of fun things to see and pet! We will have chili for sale from 11-2pm both days and the Baker girls baked goods as well. The farm store will be stocked up with goodies and CSA pick up will go on as usual.

This is the last pick up for the Summer shares and next week we are closed (except for members getting milk and egg shares). The Winter CSA will begin on October 31st and November 2nd (depending on which day you are scheduled to pick up). We look forward to growing for you all! What a wonderful community we have!

We hope you are all enjoying the cool weather, the animals and the winter greens sure are! It’s time to say goodbye to the warm season things like peppers, eggplant and okra….until next year!

Man is it hot!?!

We just got back from a wonderful weekend away with friends at their farm. It's always refreshing to enjoy their fellowship! We got to help with their hay harvest and attend a great program called Family Days on the Farm. We learned about organic orcharding, Lyme disease and some other great natural healing ideas. We are off and running again now and ready for fall planting! Isn't crazy that we think so far ahead?In the past month we have harvested our second batch of meat chickens, and started our batches of Thanksgiving turkeys! Tomorrow our next batch of meat chickens arrive and then the countdown to fall and winter really begin. Weeks of preparing to have lots of good things to eat this winter. We also had help from our friends little boy during our last chicken harvest. It was his first time experiencing it and watching his face as he pondered what was happening was amazing. At first he looked curious, then dismayed and then after being prompted by our eldest Tommy about whether or not he liked eating chicken, he triumphantly announced YES! And began to help! We take for granted that our children know and appreciate where there food comes from and how it gets to the table. Thank you to all who take the time to educate your families about this. We all love to eat and it makes sense that we should understand how that happens.We have some great veggies coming out of the garden right now! Peppers, Eggplants, Tomatoes, Okra, Rutabagas, Beets, Garlic, Onions, Potatoes, Green Beans, HOT peppers, Squash, Cucumbers, and more! Here is a fun idea for using lots of them! We have also been pickling our okra and cucumbers and look forward to enjoying them this winter!This week is meat pick up already for August, Thursday 2-4 and Saturday 3-5. Looking forward to seeing you then!Blessings,The Bakers

Week 4 CSA

Well, the saying goes "make hay while the sun shines"......so farmer Tommy cut down two fields of hay Tuesday and we prayed for the weather to hold! Today Maddie raked the hay (for the first time) with the small tractor and hay rake. After about 2 hours (enough time for it to dry sufficiently) Tommy came along behind her and started baling! The sun was blazing and things were going great so the rest of us started setting up for CSA as happy as any farmer can be! The feeling of harvesting 40 acres of hay is really like walking on water or something amazing! About 1/3 of the way into CSA we heard thunder and began to pray. The Bible says, God works all things for the good of those that love him, but in this case His plan was for half the hay to get rained on! That wasn't quite what we had hoped for, but we are so thankful to have half the hay nicely baled and safe! The rest will have to dry out and get raked 2 more times to dry again and then can get baled. The downside is some of the nutrients are leached out into the ground....think about making tea. When the rain pours over the dry hay the good qualities leach out instead of staying locked inside the stems. So the animals will have to eat a little more of it next winter to be nourished. But that's how it goes sometimes! It was quite a joy to have the hay be all down by our two biggest farmer children! Everyone else happily pitched in to help with extra chores so we could get it all done.The garden is taking off! Squash and cucumbers are coming on strong this week! Collard greens galore! I found this great post for using a whole chicken in case you are running out of ideas! We can't wait to try this collards recipe! Don't forget to use the greens on top of your beets for cooking as well!Well we hope you enjoy everything and Remember the Meat pick up dates for JUNE are coming up! Saturday June 1st 3 to 5 pm and Thursday June 6th 2 to 4 pm! Delivery for meat is June 6th.

Week 2 Summer 2019 CSA

We are enjoying seeing all the returning members and meeting the new "farm-ily" members! Thank you for being part of our farm! We have tons of great greens being harvested right now. Bok choi, Napa cabbage, chives, lettuce, radishes, and we still have some sweet potatoes, potatoes, onions. This time of year the roots all know it's been winter so please keep them in cold storage (your fridge) or they will try sprouting! To keep your greens fresh and perky you will need to keep them in plastic bags in your fridge. There are some great reusable produce bags available if you want to cut down on plastic.We have been super busy preparing for 2019 Farm tour (mark your calendars)! May 18-19th from 10-4pm both days. We look forward to doing a tour and showing you how we grow things without chemicals! The garden is looking amazing. As we were weeding the garlic and onions last evening a snake was also at work searching for mice and voles that damage our produce. I'm thankful for his help, but wish we worked different shifts!We have two new baby goats! Last night I was harvesting red clover for teas and tinctures and heard a new voice from the goat field behind the barn. Sure enough, Heidi had two new kids! Watch instagram or facebook for pictures of them! We all got them moved into the barn stall and set up with fresh water, feed and hay. The first time mother had all the right instincts to clean her babies and get them nursing. Birth is always amazing and enjoyed here on the farm!The walk in freezer was giving us trouble during the first part of the week. We had wonderful friends offer their chest freezer to help, but it would have taken 10 or more to fit all the meat! So we found some nice professionals that came and spent 10 hours trying to find the problem. We are back in good shape now and are thankful! There is a lot of yummy meat in there to protect! Whew!Our quick meals this week have been sauteed bok choi, onions and ground beef. Another fun one is chopped napa cabbage, shredded roots like beets or carrots, chopped cooked chicken, all massaged with dressing of choice and topped with chopped almonds. We are looking forward to some grilled pork chops for Mother's Day!Happy Mother's Day!The Bakers

Week 2

We are excited to get the summer 2019 Summer CSA underway. It's so nice to see so many return customers and also new "farm-ily" members! We hope you are enjoying the wide array of green things! We have been loving the napa cabbage, it's great used as cabbage or lettuce. My favorite quick meal is finely chopped napa cabbage, a handful of shredded roots (like carrots or beets), a large handful of chopped chives or onions, some cooked chopped chicken, a handful of chopped almonds and dressing of choice. All tossed together, it's so filling and quick! We also like to make a quick oriental dish by sauteing some onions and chopped bok choi with some ground beef and ginger and liquid aminos. This time of year we need quick food fast since there is much to do! The baby salad this week is so tender and mild, it's awesome salad growing weather! The cucumbers are right around the corner!We have so many new babies around here! There are two barn kittens, 3 orphan goats from a friends farm, the calves are growing and are oh so cute! Just last night as I was harvesting red clover for teas and tinctures I heard some new, high pitched goat noises and sure enough.....2 more baby nigerian dwarfs were born! Talk about cuteness! Heidi had a boy and a girl.We were weeding all the garlic and onions last evening and saw a big black snake at work for us! He or she was hunting moles and voles that like to chew on things in the garden. Thankful for his help, I think, but I wish we worked different hours! The garden is coming along so well, the tomatoes look great! The peppers are coming slowly, but given the hot days we've had they will be very happy soon!The huge freezer that stores the farm meat wasn't working right after pick up Saturday. That is on of our BIGGEST fears! We rely on it working properly to keep a lot of meat safe. The defrost cycle wouldn't work so Farmer Sean was doing it manually. This is totally out of my expertise, but it had something to do with a propane torch inside the freezer, melting ice off some coils.....doesn't sound fun! It took about two hours! So after his trip into the artic we called some professionals! We had some great friends offer their chest freezer to help, but sadly it would take about 10 chest freezers to do the job.....so we got the first repair man that could come on his way. Two guys worked tirelessly for 10 hours to get it working well. So thankful it's back to normal!Don't forget the farm tour is coming up next weekend. May 18-19th from 10-4 daily. We hope to see you there!Blessings,The Farmers

Welcome Summer CSA members

Wow, we are always excited to serve our members with nourishing, chemical and GMO, soy free food, but this year we are super excited! Not only do we have a new crew member, Farmer Johnny, but we are off to a great start this year! Each year we concentrate on learning something new and improving how we do things so that we can farm better, and improve the part of the earth that we are stewarding. This winter Farmer Sean has been studying soil a lot and like most things in life, the more you know the more you realize there is so much more to know! We've been implementing what he has learned and are seeing great results in our crops already! We are barely disturbing any earth so the earth worms are all happy and no garden walkways are uncovered this year so that means no topsoil washing away! Yay!This time of year there are still tons of greens, but some new ones we have missed for awhile. We have chard, kale, lettuce, bok choi, minuet, collards and chives! Radishes, potatoes, onions and some other items as well! For some real fun, try our nettle pesto! We ended the winter CSA with dandelion so why not start the summer with nettle? We all want good health right? Come on mom's lets see if we can get the children and husband to like their spring tonics! Nettle gummes? Probably not! I vote for the pesto. See our facebook site for the recipe!We enjoyed a week off to organize and have lots of farm meetings to figure out what projects can get finished and what must wait for next winter. This week we are all set for getting back to seeing you all at pick ups! Remember Thursday from 2-4, Saturday from 3-5pm and the first Thursday and Saturday for meat pick up! Herbal shares: Blueberry moon milk, pain bar, and magnesium gummies!Fermented shares: Kombucha and kimchi!Animal update: We are awaiting the next three does to kid very soon! We are also fostering some nubian kids for a friend, you might get to meet them at pick up!See you this week!Blessings,The Bakers

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