Winter market this weekend! Hope you can join us!

This Saturday we will be at the St. Louis Community Farmers' Market in Tower Grove.  This will be the second winter market for the season.  Surprisingly, we will still have a limited amount of fresh produce.  Bonnie checked the hoophouse this afternoon and said she will be picking tomatoes, lettuce, swiss chard, bok choy, kale, green beans and fava beans tomorrow afternoon.

We will also be bringing handmade soaps and candles with us.  Danny has been making candles in wonderful scents that make the house smell amazing.  Come and check them out!

We are also working on gift baskets!  If you have a favorite product (or products) of ours you would like to see in a basket, please let us know!

Grass-Fed Beef available soon!

Sir Loin of Beef, The Duke of Hamburger and Secretary of Steak are all about to live up to their names.  They are all being "processed" and will be ready for pickup next week. 

We are looking forward to enjoying our very first Kimker Hill Farm raised, grass (& tomato)-fed, antibiotic-free, hormone-free, beef.  If you would like to enjoy some too, I will know prices soon.  You can e-mail me if you'd like to be on the list of buyers.

We'll be back at the market this weekend with lots of heirloom tomatoes!

We're back from vacation.  We had a great time!

We came home to lots of ripe and ripening tomatoes!  I've been busy preserving as many of them as I can this week.  Bonnie says I will have lots more to take to market on Saturday.  Come and stock up for yourself!  It's really easy to freeze them.  Just core and quarter and place in a ziploc freezer bag.  Squeeze out as much air as you can, then close and place in freezer.  You just take out what you need, as you need them, all winter long.

Get them before they're gone!

Hope to see you Saturday!  Don't forget, you can now use your credit or debit card.

Great day at the market today!

What wonderful weather we all enjoyed at the market today!  It was a very welcome change after the heat wave we have all been enduring and the storm we got hit with two weeks ago at the market.  It was nice to see so many return to the market and so many new visitors.  We hope to see you all again this next week!

Beginning next weekend, we will be able to start taking credit cards.  We hope this will make it easier to shop with us. We will be able to take Mastercard, Visa, American Express and Discover.

Come see what the cooler weather predicted for the week does for the produce.  Hopefully the tomatoes will finally ripen.  We have 22 heirloom varieties growing in the new hoophouse, they are all full of green tomatoes that have been just staying green.  We've been told that they need below 90 degree weather to ripen so the forecast has us anticipating a bountiful harvest by the end of the week.

Meanwhile, the basil and cucumbers have been loving the heat.  Even the kale and swiss chard have been surviving fairly well, at least when the bugs allow it.  If you got some of these from us today, Enjoy! 

Here's a recipe we've been enjoying lately.  It's a wonderful Summer Salad.  It includes kale, cucumbers, onions, tomatoes and fresh basil.
 
Begin with the kale, wash in cold water, then remove the stems and cut into small pieces.  Cut the cucumber into small slices.  Chop  the tomatoes.  Finely chop a small onion.  Finely chop fresh basil.  Add minced garlic if you like.  Sprinkle with olive oil and apple cider vinegar.  Toss it all together and enjoy!

By the way, if you missed us last weekend, we were at the Washington Fair.  Nate competed in the talent competition for the first time.  He played a ragtime classic, "Cleanin' Up In Georgia."  He wore a tux and we spiked his blond hair.  He looked adorable.  He got 2nd place in his age group!  We are very proud of him! He's looking forward to doing it again next year.  He's already started practicing a new ragtime piece.

We'll Be Missing From the Market For the Next 2 Weeks

Just want to let everyone know that we are taking a much needed little break from the market. We will be back on July 16th!
Hope to see you then!

HARD WINTER , HARDER SPRING

(As I was writing this, Denise had posted her own entry about Grandma…oh well she was worth the press.)

We had high hopes for this spring here on the farm…the new hoop house…all the planning…all the prep work last fall...we really thought we were going to hit the ground running this spring. But it hasn’t worked out that way.

It is with great reservation that I complain about the weather, considering what others are going through, but all this rain has washed away (sometimes literally) much of our work and many of our plans. Just about the time things dry out enough to do some work; here comes more rain. And all the while the weeds grow taller and thicker.



The darkest clouds this spring were not related to the weather.

As Denise posted earlier, this spring we lost our dear friend and adopted grandma Sally Murphy. Sally had truly become part of our family. She lived right on the farm in Great Grandma Gerke’s house which is just across our front yard. She was a fixture here. Her smile was always there. Everyone who knew her couldn’t help but love her. Though her body had been ravaged by cancer, I personally will remember her as being one of the “strongest” persons I have ever known. We will miss her very much.

The storm wasn’t over.

Early last fall Great Grandma Gerke (Denise’s grandmother) came to live with us in our home. True, it was an adjustment but it proved to be a beautiful experience for our family. Our son’s had opportunity to become so much closer to Grandma and the respect and compassion they learned for their elders is priceless. Although the doctors would report that her heart was very weak and frail, you would never know it by the love it held. The effect she had on others was evident during her last days as an almost constant stream of friends and family came to spend time at her side.

Grandma was 88 when she passed away on May 4th. She was at peace in her own bed, with her family at her side and my little sister Bonnie holding her hand. It won’t be the same without Grandma, but she and Sally shared the same unwavering faith in the Bibles promises (John 5:25-29). We look forward to seeing them again soon.

Down but not out.

Yes, it’s been a rough spring. But we are slowly making progress. We will keep at it and try to keep you up to date.
Thanks to all our regular customers for your support at the market.
Stop by and give Denise a hug. She could use it.

Dan

In Memory of My Wonderful Grandma

This morning the last of our third batch of chicks hatched and was waiting for me in the incubator when I came downstairs. All the chicks are so cute and so much fun to watch. A couple of them seem to think the water dish is a wading pool. Each time we check on them, there is one sitting or standing in the water.

I'm writing this in memory of Grandma. We lost her in death earlier this month. She loved watching as the chicks hatched. I have a funny picture of her watching with the kids. Each time she was able to get up, she would check the incubator and the chicks' box. Sometimes, I'd come in the kitchen and she'd just be sitting on her walker watching them. She said they were better than TV. One night, with the second batch, she beat me to the incubator and lifted the new one out and put it in the box. When I came down to check and do a chick count, she started laughing at the confused look on my face.

Grandma had a very good sense of humor. She liked to tease, especially Nate. The last few months when she would get up and the kids would ask, "Grandma did you have a good nap?" she would answer, "I don't know, if I did I slept through it."

We loved having her live with us. She always had a smile and a hug ready to share and something nice to say. We all miss her! She was a very important part of our family and part of our daily lives. Now, we look forward to seeing her and Sally again in the paradise. We hope that time comes very soon!

Baby chicks have hatched!

Yesterday morning the first chick for the year hatched with another following closely behind. Throughout the day, one by one, more followed. They were the entertainment for the day. My mom, Grandma, sister and her kids all crowded around the incubator to watch as one of the chicks was actually hatching. It was the first time any of them had witnessed a chick's arrival into the world. During the night and all day today more have been hatching. So far, there are 15 new little fluffballs in my kitchen and we have all taken turns just sitting and watching them. Hopefully there will be even more to greet me in the morning!

In Memory of Our Dear Friend Sally

This has been a very difficult time for all of us here at Kimker Hill Farm. Our wonderful friend, Sally, has been battling cancer for quite some time now. Earlier this month she lost the fight. We all miss her terribly. Many of you have benefitted from her hard work here at the farm. She used to come and help pick tomatoes. When she couldn't work in the garden anymore, she came inside to help. She started early in the spring, helping to transplant seedlings into larger containers. As the summer progressed, she helped sort vegetables for selling at the market. She also cut up lots and lots of veges for processing or freezing. Sally was very generous sharing her experiences and advice and many of her recipes. She was always able to look on the bright side of things and always encouraging to others. She kept me company through many, many long workdays. I loved hearing the stories of her life and I hope I can remember them well enough to pass them on. Now, as Grandma and I transplant seedlings, we reminisce about all the seedlings Sally helped us with in past years and how much she was looking forward to doing it again this spring. Even in the hospital we were talking about the seeds I had ordered and what other ones she wanted me to order for this year.

First winter market of the year this Saturday!

Hi Everyone! Hope you're enjoying the new year and the sunshine today! We're busy getting ready for the market coming up this Saturday. It sounds like it's going to be cold but otherwise a nice day.

We hope as many as possible will be able to join us. I've heard from a couple of people already who need to stock up. I'll be bringing lots of freshly ground flours and plenty of healthy mixes. I'll also have my healthy muffins to tempt your tastebuds.

If there is anything in particular you'd like me to be sure to have enough of, or if you'd like to place an order in advance, just e-mail me today or tomorrow and I'll bring it with me. The address is drwissman@sbcglobal.net.

It's been a very eventful fall and winter so far and we have lots of pictures to share. We'll try to post some of them soon.