A True Family Farm




When our boys help in the gardens they represent the fifth generation of the family to work the soil on Kimker Hill. Four generations still live on the farm today. Strong family bonds and a deep love and respect for the earth influence all of our farm practices.

Our gardens provide us with the best and purest of food, matchless beauty, and the ultimate earth science classroom for our homeschooled boys.

Sustainability is a popular buzz word among small scale agriculture. To us it means giving more than you take. Putting back what you use. Remembering that this beautiful earth will last forever and it's our commision to care for. In our gardens we try hard to follow these ideals and work with the earth's design, not against it.



Wednesday, December 18, 2013

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.

Saturday, December 14, 2013

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!

Friday, December 6, 2013

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!