We would like to thank everyone who worked so hard to make the summer market at Tower Grove Park such a success!  We look forward to next year's market season.

November 1, 2012
Come join us this Saturday for the last day of the Tower Grove Farmers' Market this year. We still have lots of beautiful, delicious, heirloom tomatoes. We also have plenty of greens, rainbow swiss chard, spinach, several varieties of lettuce & our spicy greens mix.

We are loving this cooler weather! This is the first year that Danny has been working on the farm full-time. He actually has the time to do the things we always planned on doing with the gardens, but never had time to carry out. He has really gotten into succession planting. He tries to keep something new sprouting all the time. Then, as soon as he has an open space available, he gets the sprouts into the ground. The cooler weather has really been helping with the new greens. He has several varieties of lettuce, spinach and spicy mustard greens all looking beautiful now. The bugs are also beginning to let up a little, maybe the swiss chard and kale can finally recover.


Come enjoy the fruits of all this labor at the market on Saturday!

September 12, 2012
The yard and gardens are looking greener everyday. I'm so thankful for the rain that we've gotten recently. The gardens are beginning to reward us again for all the hard work this summer.


We were finally able to harvest potatoes after the first rain. They taste wonderful. We've been eating potatoes almost everyday for the past 2 weeks. So far we've had them mashed, baked, scalloped and yes...terday, pressure-cooked with a roast and carrots. Tomorrow it's supposed to cool off, so we're planning on potato soup. If you missed out getting some of them for yourself last Saturday, don't miss out this weekend. We have 5 different varieties, all organically-grown, in assorted sizes. Come pick out your favorite at the Tower Grove Farmers' Market this Saturday. We're open from 8am to noon.

August 16, 2012
The gardens are looking much better now. A friend has been helping us to get rid of lots of weeds. If we get rain tomorrow, we'll start digging potatoes on Friday and then we'll be bringing some of them to the market on Saturday. It's been months since we've gotten any new potatoes because of the extreme heat and lack of rain.

August 10, 2012
We'll be back at the market tomorrow.


Last Saturday, Nate won first place in the talent show at the Washington Fair! He played the Maple Leaf Rag in the key of F, then C & then finished it off in the key of G. We're very proud of his accomplishment!

Get ready to stock up, we'll be bringing lots of veges tomorrow!

July 25, 2012
Will this heat ever end? We have been crunching our way all over the farm. Danny's watering what he can, but there's no way to water everything. The gardens look like an oasis in a sea of dead grass.


Danny crunched his way out to check on the bees several times this week. The hive is thriving, but we've had to start feeding them again due to the lack of rain. There's very little blooming for them to collect from. I sure hope we get some of the rain the weatherman says is a possibility for tomorrow!!!!

July 20,2012
We need rain!!!!! I spent so much time today watering the gardens. Thankfully Danny usually takes of the watering, but he was busy elsewhere. His watering has been paying off, most of the plants are continuing to produce quite nicely now in spite of the never-ending, oppressive heat. The peppers and cucumbers and the chinese long red noodle beans are thriving. I started making dill pickles this past week. I made old-fashioned and spicy dills. If you'd like to make your own, come get cucumbers from us at the market this Saturday. We grow an heirloom variety that we really like and we think you will too.

June 21, 2012
Big picking day tomorrow! Come get your fresh produce at the market Saturday! The weather forecast looks much better than earlier predicted. It should be really pleasant in the morning. Remember, we open at 8am.

June 20,2012
The gardens are looking great despite the lack of rain. Danny or I are watering something everyday. This past week we picked the first ripe tomatoes and cucumbers. There's nothing better than a vine ripened heirloom tomato. We've been picking and eating as we're working in the gardens.

Just want to let everyone know, I have added two new kinds of flour.  After many, many requests, this past weekend I added Almond Flour.  This weekend I will also be bringing Tapioca Flour. 

The number of people who need gluten-free products just keeps on growing.  I'm doing my best to try to fill that need.  The past few weeks I have been making Gluten-Free Muffins for the market.  I'm using my Gluten-Free Mixed Grain Flour.  So far, the response has been very favorable.  I'm considering making a different kind each week.  Thus far I've brought Banana and Banana Chocolate Chip, and this past weekend I made Low Sugar, Dark Chocolate Chocolate-Chip.

I'd love to hear some feed-back on them, as well as suggestions on what variety of muffin you'd like me to make.  This week I'm thinking about Blueberry.

Hope to see you at the market in the morning!

We're just about to pack it in for the night.  Danny has been picking since the early afternoon.  Bonnie has been picking for hours and Colin and the kids came to help too.  We got the very first new potatoes this afternoon and the kids had fun picking them up and carrying them inside.

The gardens are bountiful right now.  Besides new potatoes, we will be bringing Rainbow Swiss Chard, several varieties of kale, a spicy greens mix, baby bok choy, beet greens, red leaf lettuce, fava beans and snow peas.  We will also be bringing a few dozen eggs, so be fast if you want them.

The beans have sprouted! It's taken a couple of plantings, but they are finally out of the ground. Just seeing the sprouts make me hungry for the beans. We are growing long stringless green beans as well as Chinese Long Red Noodle Beans. Both are tasty and I am ready to eat them. Too bad I'll have to wait for a while for them to produce.




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It's been a busy planting week here at the farm. Danny's been starting numerous things from seed, and I've been doing lots of transplanting. We'll be bringing more plants with us to this week's market, get your gardens or pots ready and pick up what you need to get started planting at your house. See you Saturday!

Opening Day of the Tower Grove Farmers' Market was a huge success. We hope you managed to be one of the first 500 who got the free $10 tokens. It was very nice to see our returning customers and to meet so many new people. We hope it is just the beginning of a wonderful market season!

What a hot day!  I spent the morning weeding and watering in the hoophouse until I couldn't take the heat in there anymore.  At first, the breeze felt so good I didn't notice the temperature was climbing fast.  When I gave up and came inside, the sensor showed it was 105 degrees in the hoophouse. 

The plants are loving the heat.  Everything is growing quickly and looks beautiful.  The Rainbow Swiss Chard and Kale look as good as they did at the April market.  So far, for the most part the bugs are still leaving them alone.  The Fava Beans are growing like crazy and they're loaded with beans ready to pick.  The tomato plants that we have transplanted in the ground are getting big and lots of them have blooms already, a few even have little green tomatoes on them.

We have plenty more planted in and out of the hoophouse.  I hope the weather stays nice this week so we can bring lots of produce with us to the market!

Well, the push is on.  Opening day of the Tower Grove Farmers' Market is this Saturday!  The hours are extended for Opening Day, we begin at 8am and continue until 2pm. 

We recently got an e-mail from the market, you'll want to be there early, the first 500 shoppers will get a $10 token to use at any vendor booth at the market that day! Come early, they will go fast.  If you haven't signed up to get their weekly e-mails, I encourage you to do so.  Just go to http://www.tgmarket.org/   You can see a list of vendors, activities and a whole lot more.

Danny is working on improvements for our set-up under the tent.  I think everyone will appreciate the new look, stop by and say "Hi" and check it out.  Let us know what you think.

Hope to see you Saturday!

Another beautiful day!  Danny's out weeding the potato patch! 

What amazing weather we're having, everything is growing like crazy and all the trees are in bloom!  I just can't believe this is March.  Even the potatoes have sprouted already!

I spent most of the day today weeding flower beds and transplanting perennials.  I'm looking forward to seeing them bloom. Tomorrow I'll be transplanting trees and bushes.

We have lots of tomato plants that are hardening off in the hoophouse.  By next week they should be ready to start planting in the ground.  I'll be bringing quite a few to the market in April.  We also have pepper seedlings that have finally sprouted, it seemed to take forever.  I guess I'm just overanxious because it's already so hot.  It's been getting over 100 degrees in the hoophouse--with the sides open!  I forgot to open it Saturday morning and when I got home at noon it was 118 degrees in there!

We had a great day at the market on Saturday!

It was so nice to see everyone. What a beautiful sunny day it turned out to be. We hope you enjoyed all the wonderful swiss chard and kale. I'm anxious to get feedback on the new Gluten-Free Mixed-Grain Flour.

Market tomorrow! Come join us!

We'll be at the St. Louis Community Farmers' Market tomorrow from 9am to 1pm. 

We're bringing all the usual items.  We have lots of bright, beautiful veges.  The Rainbow Swiss Chard and all the different varieties of Kale are loving this weather and the lack of bugs and are growing like crazy.  They both taste so wonderful we've been eating them almost everyday. I've been combining them together and adding chopped onions, seasalt and a little butter.  Mmmmmmmm delicious!  Get some for yourself tomorrow!

I also finally decided to let everyone try my Gluten-Free Mixed-Grain Flour.  We've been cooking gluten-free now for a couple of months and I had to come up with a good flour mix.  After lots of requests, I'm bringing some for others to try tomorrow.  I'll be waiting for comments and suggestions.

We will also have our Kimker Hill Farm raised, grass (& tomato)-fed, antibiotic-free, hormone-free, beef again.  If you missed it last month, you have another chance tomorrow.  It's available for a limited time, it will be a while before we raise more.

Danny will have his candles, I'll have handmade soap, freshly-ground flours, mixes, grains, jellies, jams, gift baskets and more! 

Hope to see you!

Thank you for the comment on The Virtues of Mulch

Here's the comment that caught my attention today.

Interesting, I read a book called lasagna gardening and I follow the book every steps. First, gather all your newspaper or even junk mail soak them in water. I soaked mine in a cooler. Then, I just lay them in the ground no digging at all after I just keep piling on top with different organic matter. Your leaves, grass clippings, kitcthen scrap, egg shell, fish scraps, coffee grinds. After I saw the outcome of my summer garden I believe on lasagna gardening now. Check them out..


I read that book years ago, and I love the concept.  We've been working on applying it in the hoophouse the past couple weeks.  First, we finished clearing out the dead tomato plants.  Surprisingly, a few of the plants in the middle row were still alive, a couple of them even had new shoots growing up from the roots.  I didn't like having to pull them out, but I knew they wouldn't survive the extreme cold on the way.  Then, Danny and the boys layered on the compost and manure they emptied out of the chicken coop.  This week, I put on a new layer of junk mail and newspapers, then I started covering the walkways with cardboard.  When the weather permits again, we will layer on the big pile of leaves we collected in the fall.

It's great to be getting a head start for the spring!  This time last year, we didn't even have the hoophouse finished.

We won't be at the Winter Market this weekend

Sorry to dissapoint, but we won't be at the St. Louis Community Farmers' Market this weekend.  We'll plan to see everyone next month.