Woohoo!  Our first 2 chicks this year just hatched.  One looks like a Buff Orpington & the other like one of our "chickmunks."  I love this time of year!

Hi everyone, we won't be at the Market today. Hope to be there in 3 weeks.

To those who were looking for almond flour and rye flour, I am bringing them with me tomorrow! I am also well stocked on all the beans and peas again!

Gluten-Free Muffins tomorrow!

Don't forget, we'll be at the market first thing in the morning.
Come get your delicious, homemade gluten-free muffins for breakfast! Choose from Banana, Banana Chocolate-Chip or Chocolate Chocolate-Chip! All are made with my Gluten-Free Mixed-Grain Flour and our free-range eggs. Don't miss out!

Come see us at the market tomorrow!

Hello Everyone! Good news for our customers...we decided to do one more market for this season. 
We will be at the Tower Grove Farmers' Market tomorrow, 
October 25th. We realize many of our customers like to stock up for the winter, so we hope to see all of you tomorrow!
We still have heirloom tomatoes, especially the cherry & grape varieties, And we are excited that the Rainbow Swiss Chard is looking beautiful and tasting wonderful again. The bugs have finally left it alone long enough to recover. Stop by our stand and get some to enjoy at home.

Come see us at the market tomorrow!

Have you missed us at the market?? We will be back tomorrow, October 4th at the Tower Grove Farmers' Market, 8am to noon. Stop by and stock up on all your favorites! This may be our last market (we may be at the Harvest Festival? but not sure yet.)
Don't miss out!!! Hope to see you tomorrow!!!!

Green Tomato Cake Recipe

Here is a reposting of an old recipe, with my modifications. Thanks for the request.

GREEN TOMATO CAKE
This spiced green tomato cake is surprisingly delicious! 
Ingredients:
1 3/4 cups sugar
1 cup vegetable oil or melted shortening
3 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
3 cups  whole-grain flour  (Denise's Combo Flour or 10-Grain Flour) or if you're gluten-free, try (Denise's Gluten-Free Multi-Grain Flour)
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
2 1/2 cups diced green tomatoes
1 cup pecans or walnuts (optional)
1 cup raisins (optional)
coconut (optional)
Preparation:
Preheat oven to 350°. In mixing bowl, beat sugar, vegetable oil or shortening, eggs and vanilla until smooth and creamy. Sift together the flour, salt, baking powder, cinnamon and nutmeg; slowly beat into egg mixture. Blend well. Stir in green tomatoes, nuts and raisins.
Pour into greased 9x13-inch pan. Top with coconut if desired. Bake for one hour, or until a wooden pick or cake tester inserted in center comes out clean. .
Serves 12.

Good morning everyone! It's that time again, we will be back at the Tower Grove Farmers' Market tomorrow.

It's time to stock up on all your favorites!

Try my new recipe!

Denise's Grilled Chicken, Split Pea & Spinach Soup

Begin with 1 package of Kimker Hill Farm Yellow Split Peas.  
Put entire package into a stock pot & rinse well.  Then cover with about 10 cups water.
Add about 1 tablespoon granulated garlic, a sprinkle of italian seasoning, 2 teaspoons lemon juice
& 1 teaspoon salt.
Begin cooking on medium-high heat.
Chop 2 large onions & 2 stalks celery, then add to soup.
When it comes to a low boil, reduce heat to low & let simmer about 1 hour.
Add more water if necessary during cooking.
About 10 minutes before serving, add:
One grilled chicken breast cut into small pieces & 1/2 pound chopped fresh spinach.
Turn off heat & cover, allow it to remain on the hot burner until ready to serve.

It got rave reviews from my family this evening.  I served it with my Gluten-Free Multi-Grain Bread.

You can get the Kimker Hill Farm Yellow Split Peas, the fresh spinach & my Gluten-Free Multi-Grain Bread 
(already baked or the mix to bake yourself) from us at the next market!

Hello everyone!  Sorry I haven't had time to post for a while, we have all been so busy I even forgot to remind everyone we were going to the market on Saturday.  We were happy to see so many of our regular customers anyway!

In case you missed us, we will be back again on July 12th!

Once again I forgot about the eggs. We have plenty of Free-Range Eggs we will be bringing with us!!!

Tomorrow is the official Opening Day at the Tower Grove Farmers' Market. It runs from 8 am to noon.

We have been busily preparing for the past two weeks. All the greens are producing abundantly! We are bringing lots of kale, spinach, rainbow swiss chard, a variety of lettuces and even some herbs, as well as assorted radishes.

I have also been preparing plenty of freshly ground flours and healthy mixes.

Did you get a sample of my Gluten-Free Multi Grain Bread at our last market? I will be sampling again tomorrow. I have baked more loaves this time, but it sold out quickly last time. If you miss out, you can still get the mixes to make it at home.

Hope to see you tomorrow! It looks like the weather will be perfect.

Here's the current link: tgmarket.org

Opening Day at Tower Grove Farmers' Market this Saturday, May 3rd

Please come and join us for the opening day celebration at the market!

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

I forgot to say, we have lots of free-range eggs we will be bringing tomorrow as well.  The  eggs are a pretty mix of colors and spots.

Tomorrow is our first preseason market at the Tower Grove Park. The weather has really helped us out with our preparations.
We are bringing lots of beautiful rainbow swiss chard. We also have several varieties of kale, spinach, and an assortment of spring lettuces and radishes.

In addition, I will be bringing the new mixes, Gluten-Free Cookie Dough Mix and Gluten-Free Multi-Grain Bread Mix. I also have 4 loaves of Gluten-Free Multi-Grain Bread freshly baked and ready to enjoy. I will be sampling it tomorrow, stop by & give it a try!

Hope to see you there! It's from 8:00am to noon. Here's a link:
www.tgmarket.org

New Babies!

We're having a very busy week!! Our first outdoor farmers' market is tomorrow. We've been making lots of preparations!
We also have baby chicks hatching again. They're so cute to watch!
Nate managed to catch the first one as it hatched. We thought we'd share the video.

MARCH 31ST

Look how creative Danny is, he just finished a new, larger brooder for the chicks! They are almost 2 weeks old and were way too crowded in their brooder box.

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MARCH 26TH

We woke up this morning to an "escapee" chick out of the brooder.   Now they are all in a new brooder box with taller sides!

MARCH 26TH

Here are some pictures of them during the past week

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MARCH 19TH

The incubator is half empty now, the brooder box is filling up! 6 chicks hatched during the night & 3 more this morning. Another one looks like it should pop out any time now.

Chick #11 just hatched!!
The first 10 are very happy with their surrogate mommy!!!!!

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Here are a few posts that I forgot to put on here:
MARCH 18TH

Second chick hatched!

The fun begins!

Spring arrived 2 days early here!!!

Our first chick hatched this morning! We can here the others "talking to each other" in the incubator. We are excited, the fun has begun!!!

March 7,2014

Oh, I forgot to say, we will be bringing LOTS OF FREE-RANGE EGGS with us. The chickens are cooperating nicely, all the different breeds are laying, and the eggs are a pretty mix of colors.

March 7, 2014

Hi everyone! We're all busy here getting ready for market in the morning. Hope you can join us!

Have you tried my Gluten-Free Multi-Grain Bread Mix yet? Not ready to bake your own? Well, tomorrow I will be bringing the actual Gluten-Free Multi-Grain Bread. It is rising in the oven right now! I'm only making a few loaves this time, I want to find out how much interest there is before I make too many.

Come get yours at the Tower Grove Winter Farmers' Market tomorrow. It runs from 9am to 1pm. Need more info? Check out http://www.tgmarket.org/

Come hungry and get your muffins for breakfast!

I made Chocolate, Chocolate-Chip Muffins and Blueberry Muffins for the morning.  Come get some for yourself and your family!  Both are gluten-free, made with my Gluten-Free Mixed Grain Flour and our free-range eggs.
Remember the new winter market is at the City Garden School gym.  It's bright and spacious with plenty of parking.

Winter market tomorrow morning!

Eggs, eggs & more eggs!!!! Our chickens have really been cooperating, we will be bringing lots of eggs with us to the market tomorrow! Hope to see you there!  Open 9am to 1 pm
For more info check out http://www.tgmarket.org/

Muffins for breakfast!

Hope you're hungry in the morning. I just finished baking muffins for the market. I'm bringing Gluten-Free Chocolate, Chocolate-Chip Muffins & Green Tomato Spice Muffins with raisins.

Don't miss out! See you tomorrow!

Another new mix for the market tomorrow!

And now I have finished the new Gluten-Free Cookie Mix!

Please stop by the market tomorrow and get some to try at home. The market runs from 9:00am to 1:00pm. Hope to see you there!

Need more info? Check out http://www.tgmarket.org/

Tower Grove Farmers' Market

www.tgmarket.org

Don't forget, we are in a new location! We will be in the gymnasium of the City Garden Montessori Charter School located at 1618 Tower Grove Avenue. That is just north of I-44.

Exciting news!

One good thing about this crazy weather has been my having time to perfect the recipes for new mixes.

 I just finished making the first batch of my new Gluten-Free Bread Mix! 

I'm trying to decide if I should make more.  I'd love some feedback, if you will be at the Tower Grove Winter Farmers' Market tomorrow and are interested in getting the new mix, could you let me know?  I would greatly appreciate it.

Back to work.

What wild weather we are having this winter!

 Last weekend we started out sunny with temps in the 40's. Then we got a few flurries and the temps dropped quickly. By Sunday morning we were in the middle of a blizzard, lots of snow with high winds. We ended up officially with 12" snow, but it was such a dry snow the wind just kept blowing it around. We had places with just a dusting and places w...ith 5 feet of snow. We still can't see the end of the hoophouse, the snow piled up against it almost as high as the top of the door on one end. By nightfall, the temperature fell below 0, with a low of -9. Monday only got up to 4 degrees. It's slowly been warming up, high of 34. 

 This morning started out cloudy, then boom! Thunder, lightning and rain! and the snow is finally starting to melt, it's 43 degrees. You just never know what to expect with Missouri weather!

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!