Good morning everyone!  It's a beautiful sunny day here in the country!  The rooster and quite a few hens are clucking right outside the window in front of me.  Birds are flitting back and forth to the bird feeders on the front porch.  The little wind mills in the flower bed are turning steadily.  All in all it's a very peaceful setting.  Almost all the snow has melted, there are just little patches left here and there. 

Over the weekend, the boys successfully talked me into making gluten-free bread.  The first loaf was good, but very dense and crumbly.  Then, I tried a new recipe my friend has been using for a while now.  She uses my Gluten-Free Mixed Grain Flour.  It turned out wonderful.  Thank you Pam!  It was so light and tasted great, it wasn't as crumbly and sliced very well.  In fact, it was so good I made another double batch the next day.

Danny had me set one loaf back (I had to hide it so it didn't just disappear the way the first loaves did.)  We wanted to see how well it would slice after a couple days.  It was perfect. We had it for breakfast this morning with butter and jam. 

Now I'm wondering how many of our customers would be interested in getting gluten-free bread at the market.  I've had numerous requests for a bread mix in the past, especially gluten-free.  I would really appreciate feedback on this!

Have a great day!  I'm looking forward to your comments.

Just sitting here enjoying the view!

As far as I can see everything is covered in white.  It's really pretty! It's still cloudy and everything is so peaceful. The bright red cardinals are flitting from tree to tree. The chickens are all nestled in the coop, the dogs are snuggled up in their doghouse, the cats are curled up inside the shop. There are no footprints to mar the surface of the snow.
What a great day to stay inside. I made waffles for breakfast with frozen fruit topping. Now my guys are trying to talk me into making homemade bread, gluten-free of course so Danny can enjoy it as well.
It's strange to be at home after a whole week of preparing to go to the market.

We won't be at the Farmers' Market today after all

Good Morning!  The snow has successfully changed our plans for today.  We won't be at the new Tower Grove Winter Farmers' Market after all.  We hope to see you there in January!

What a beautiful snow-covered day!

What a beautiful day! I love watching it snow! Nate is having a blast playing in it! I especially love it when I don't have to go anywhere and I can stay inside and just enjoy the view!

The chickens seem to be happy with their new spot, they are finally laying more eggs! I should actually have some to bring to the market with us next weekend. Enjoy this lovely day!

Crazy weather this week!

What crazy weather we've had in the past week. Over the weekend it was sunny and cool and finally dry enough that we were able to dig the last of the sweet potatoes, plus we found some yukon gold potatoes we missed earlier in the summer. It is so great to still be eating right out of the garden in December!


Then we had 3 days with temperatures over 60. We went to work clearing out the gardens, ...pulling out old plants, picking up all the plant markers, collecting forgotten and scattered gardening tools, pulling out bamboo stakes and so much more.

We cleaned out the asparagus bed, layered on fertilizer from the chickens and covered the whole bed with a thick layer of hay. Then I finally got the strawberry bed mulched. Now we just wait for spring.

My dad came and helped move the chicken coop over onto the big garden right behind the house. I love being able to watch the chickens as I work in the kitchen. Unfortunately, now they can't seem to find their way home when the sun goes down.

The boys and I spent hours last night as the temperature kept dropping and the wind picked up searching for them with flashlights and carrying them back to the coop. We finally had to give up on the last one. Tonight, we had to brave the cold and blowing snow and wind to go find them and carry them back to the coop again. At least this time they were more cooperative and it didn't take too long.

Now I'm looking forward to waking up to everything covered in a blanket of snow!

We will be back at the Tower Grove Farmers' Market tomorrow morning!

Have you missed us?

Hi everyone! Just a reminder that we will be back at the Tower Grove Farmers' Market tomorrow morning.
We have lots of produce we will be bringing with us. There are 22 varieties of heirloom tomatoes, including lots of cherry & grape tomatoes. There are tomatillos, verde & purple, lots of green beans, purple royalty beans & Chinese long red noodle beans, lettuce, kale, beets, yellow squash, zucchini, cucumbers, okra, Rainbow Swiss Chard, bell peppers in several colors, plus herbs.
On top of all that, I will have all my mixes, regular & gluten-free, as well as all the freshly ground, organic flours & organic grains, beans & peas.
Don't forget to stop by & see what Danny & Nate will be sampling.
Hope to see you tomorrow!

Good news for the market tomorrow!

In case you didn't get the e-mail from the market, here's the great news:

The extremely popular Chipotle token giveaway is back this Saturday at 8am! The first 300 shoppers will receive a FREE $10 token that they can use at any of the vendor booths at the market that day.


Hope you can join us!

New veges are ripe!

Hey, we are excited now!  In spite of a very slow start to our growing season this year, we now have green beans and Chinese long red noodle beans!  We also finally have cucumbers.  I made Bread & Butter Pickles today (using my Great Grandma's recipe.)  We have yellow squash & zucchini & for the past few days we have been picking everyone's favorite, heirloom tomatoes!  They taste amazing!!!!  Definitely worth the wait! 

Well, we just finally finished preparations for the market in the morning. Hope to see everyone there!

I'm not sure why, but we got left off the Occassional Vendor list on the Tower Grove Market e-mail. However, we will be there.

This will be the first week we have zucchini and yellow squash. We'll also be bringing eggs! and a lot more!

The market opens at 8:00.

No market tomorrow!

Hey everybody, we've had a change in plans. We won't be at the market tomorrow after all.

We will be back July 20th! Fully stocked and ready to go.

Hope to see everyone then!

Come visit us at the farm!

We have our little shop set up in the garage and we're ready for visitors. We'll be available this Saturday afternoon if you'd like to stop by. Or, just give us a call at 636-629-7838 to see if we'll be available when you have time to come.

Right now we have Rainbow Swiss Chard, curly kale, mesclun mix and several varieties of lettuce ready to pick when you call, and Bonnie just picked broccoli this afternoon.

Also, if you'd like to buy grains, beans, peas... in bulk, you can bring your own containers to put them in and get a per pound discount.

We also have about 17 varieties of heirloom tomato plants for sale. They are ready to go right into your garden!

Come check it out!

We had a great turnout at the market Saturday. The weather was perfect. We are really loving our new spot.

Did you manage to get any of the baby kale, or the spinach? It disappeared quickly. How about the fava beans? or the spring salad mix? or the Rainbow Swiss Chard?

I managed to get 2 new mixes ready in time for the market, Gluten-Free Healthy Waffle Mix and Gluten-Free Spice Muffin Mix. Did you get one? I'm anxious to get feedback from those who did. I've been using the recipes at home for over a year now. We actually prefer them over the originals.

We'll be back at the market again on June 1st!

In the meantime, give us a call (636-629-7838) and we'll let you know when you can come pick up on the farm. Just let us know what you'd like and we'll pick it just for you and have it ready when you arrive.

Market tomorrow morning!

Quick reminder, we will be back at the Tower Grove Farmers' Market tomorrow morning! 

Danny and Bonnie have been picking for hours.  We have lots of fresh, organically grown produce!

I have also been working on my new Gluten-Free Mixes this week.  I've been grinding flour for days.  Come try them out!

Hope to see you tomorrow!

May 16, 2013

You should see how quickly the gardens are changing. We are getting more beds prepared every day and more plants transplanted into their new homes. Now if we could just keep the chickens from getting through the fence and scratching them up.

Well, it worked, we made it through the market without getting soaked. Thanks to everyone who joined us. The market season got off to a good start.

Did you find us Saturday? Our new spot for the season is right near the main entrance, close to the pavillion. We're very pleased with the new location. We will have shade all season and a little more room to spread out! We're also close enough to hear the music this year.

Did you manage to get one of our flyers with our schedule for the season? We thought we brought plenty, but we ran out halfway through the morning.

Our plan is to be at the market on the first Saturday of each month as well as a few select days for special events.

We will be back again next Saturday, May 18th.

Rain, rain and more rain! Please let it stop by morning!

Tower Grove Farmers' Market begins it's 8th season tomorrow!

Rain or shine. We'll be there bright and early, ready to set up. We found out our new spot will be near the main entrance. Don't forget to look for us!

We are very grateful right now to have the hoophouse. Danny and Bonnie won't have to do the picking in the rain.

We will be bringing lots of fresh veges. We have Rainbow Swiss Chard, a variety of lettuces, spinach, several types of kale, spicy mustard greens and herbs.

We will also have numerous varieties of heirloom tomato plants for your own garden. Come check them out.

Hope to see you tomorrow!!!

May 2, 2013

Hey, cheer with us. This time we beat the rain and actually got the potatoes planted! We completely filled garden #3 and still had seed potatoes left. Now if we get the rain they're forecasting, it will just help them grow.

I also managed to weed my asparagus bed today. To my surprise and delight, there were quite a few ready to munch on while I worked! By the time I went back in the house, I didn't even need lunch. They are very tasty this year. I hope they keep on producing for a while, you wait all year for them and then it seems like the harvest is over way too fast.

Tomorrow we finish preparing for the market.

Getting ready for Opening Day at Tower Grove Farmers' Market

Hi everyone! We have a very busy week planned. We will be preparing for opening day at Tower Grove Farmers' Market.  It begins this Saturday, May 4th. Opening day will have extra shopping hours. The market opens at 8am and stays open until 2pm.

Have you been missing all the fresh, local and organic produce? Time to stock up on fresh vegetables, grains and freshly ground flours, as well as my healthy mixes. I will be working on them all week.

Hope to see you there!

New chicks in a new home!

Our new little chicks have outgrown their brooder.  Bear and Danny had to build them a new home this evening.  It should work for a little while, but they'll be flying out of it before long.  They're already getting their first real feathers.  I went out and took pictures a little while ago.

If it ever stops raining we're going to move all the chickens onto garden #5 for a while and let them fertilize it for us.  We're doing a lot of rotation this year within the gardens. 

March 21, 2013

Everthing has sprouted, I have hundreds of seedlings that now need to be transplanted.

 Danny & Zach & I have been working in the hoophouse. There is so much weeding & mulching to be done. We're also moving trellises so we can rotate crops. The greens are continuing to be harvested, as well as carrots, radishes & turnips. Danny's also been direct seeding new crops.

We're looking forward to the new marketing season. We'll be changing our schedule quite a bit this year. More info on that coming soon.

Getting started for the new season!

It's official.  Yesterday I finally made myself begin the planting season.  I've started 7 varieties of cherry & grape tomatoes, broccoli & cabbage.  Now I'm working on roma & large tomatoes. 

We've already had a couple pickings this year in the hoophouse.  Zachary has been whetting everyone's appetite with pictures of what's growing on Facebook.  He went out during the sleet storm & picked & ate a salad with everything straight out of the hoophouse.  Soon we'll be bringing some of it to the market again.

Time to go get busy again!