Good eats after a hard day's work

Seared duck breast, Homemade french onion soup from a Jamie Oliver recipe with Lucky Cat Bakery toasted bread for the croutons, and fresh spinach salad with homemade dressing

Look at all these beautiful honeys.  The first three are from the bees at our place, the one with the comb comes from Honeyrun Farm.

Our homemade cowboy coffee.  Better than any coffee maker I've ever had!

Seed germination testing to make sure we don't over order our seeds for next year.

Cleaning out the garage, my flower studio is soon to take over!

The spinach wash area.  Don't let the picture fool you though, this greenhouse isn't heated, but it does feel better in there than it does outside, especially on a warm, sunny day.

Monday we worked like crazy while the sun was out.  The seeds will soon be arriving and seed starting will begin.  How quickly the season approaches!

Field Trip!

Now that we are home from our trip, we are enjoying the snow settling in.  It is definitely winter, but it's too bad that we don't ever officially get snowed in being so close to the city.  The farms that we just visited seemed to be far enough off the beaten path that they really would be snowed in.  First, we went to the Great Plains Growers Conference for an all day cut flower workshop with Erin Benzakein from Floret Flowers.  We learned about wedding flowers, some marketing tips, and got to be a part of a hands on workshop to learn more about how to make beautiful bouquets like Erin.

Look at my bouquet.  I'm so proud :)

Boutonneires... like little mini bouquets

That's Erin

Then we went and visited Lynn Byczynski at her farm.  This is Lake Clinton nearby in Lawrence, Kansas.

 Then we went to Dripping Springs Garden in Huntsville, Arkansas.  This farm was amazing and the Ozark Mountains were beautiful.  The snow started right when we got into the mountains.  I can't imagine what this place must look like in the middle of the farming season.

The tool shed... something we wish we had!

Their new house, timber built with earthen walls... it was so peaceful and inviting.  Hopefully we'll attain this after more years of farming.  Talk about the good life!

Some enormous pussy willow bushes... they make ours look puny.

Another shot of their beautiful house

Look at all those mushroom logs... yum!

And a shot of the Ozarks

Everything we experienced was amazing and totally inspiring.  Now we just sit inside and wait for warmer weather.  We have been doing our last changes to our seed order and getting things set up for the spring.  2011 here we come!

New Year's Resolution

So, this year I decided that for my New Year's Resolution, I want to start documenting my farming life better.  No one else is going to do it for me so I need to just stop procrastinating and get to it.  This includes pictures, blogs, writing for myself, and everything else in between.  We just recently got the memoirs of the farmer who used to farm in this area in the early 1900's until he died and the farm area was donated to the Metro Parks.  It is really cool and I thought, maybe someday somebody would want to read my story.  Who knows, right?

My holiday open house

The yearly holiday open house at Sue Renner's was a hit!  I even got some nice pictures that her daughter, Caitlin Renner took for me.  Check 'em out!

Winter is the time for organizing

So far this winter we have just spent our time trying to gather our marbles.  We fix anything that got broken during our busy summer, clean up both in and around the house, and organize.  Not only do we strive to be more organized every winter for our own sanity, it also makes it easier when it comes to tax time.  I also wrecked our Jeep in this lovely winter mess we have outside.  But have no fear, I am okay!  We actually were able to buy a Subaru Outback wagon for carting flowers around in.  And, it's all wheel drive, so no more worries about sliding around in the snow.  Now I feel like I'm ready for dealing with the winter weather, which is probably a good thing since it doesn't look like we are going to get a break until spring comes around.  But on the brighter side of things, we have been able to spend this time inside working on learning Quickbooks, but also planning our crops for next year.  In our fancy new used car, we will be going to Missouri for another grower's conference and visiting a few awesome farms on the way.  We will make sure to document our trip to share!
Have a good holiday season everyone!

ASCFG conference

We just went to the national conference held by the Association of Specialty Cut Flower Growers.  We learned a lot and look forward to adding some new things to the repertoire.  Here are some photos of our trip.  There is a lot going on at Bear Creek Farms in Stillwater, Oklahoma.  That is where the President of the ASCFG farms, and look at how red that soil is!

CSA week #18... the end

Digging our first successful sweet potato crop :)

Season's End

The little bit of frost we got on Saturday morning has killed off some of the flowers and the one expected on Thursday morning may just finish the flowers off. This is, however, the latest frost we have experienced since we have been farmers. It has been a nice little extra boost to get us ready for the winter though, so it has been appreciated.

We have lots of spinach, salad greens and root crops planted for production through the winter months. We will be producing about 3 times more than we did last winter and hope to pick up some more restaurants on our wholesale accounts. We will also be doing markets through the winter. The Granville market will be every Saturday at the Baptist church on the corner of Broadway and Main Street. The Worthington market will be every week. For more information visit the website http://www.owba.net/winter_farmers_market.htm.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone for their support through the season. This year's CSA was very enjoyable for us and we look forward to providing you all next year. We are going to spend the winter months figuring out the logistics of having a multi-farm CSA, but everything is looking promising. We will definitely let you know as soon as more information is available. The community of people we have gathered around us this year has been great and hopefully you will continue to grow with us. So, thank you again for your understanding and support throughout the season.

Hope the winter treats everyone well. And, if you feel like getting out of the house, come see us at the market. I will be doing the Granville High School craft show on November 6. Or, you can just come out to the farm and pick up some spinach or salad greens. Either way, keep in touch and thank you for being a part of this Community Supported Agriculture program.

What's included this week?

1. Braising mix- great cooked down as a side dish for dinner
2. Lettuce mix
3. Radishes
4. Honey from the bees on our farm
5. Sweet potatoes
6. Butternut Squash- although you have gotten a lot, you can use some to stock up for winter. We have been cutting them into thin medallions and baking them in the oven until they are crispy on the edges. Just put some salt, pepper, garlic, thyme, and/ or sage

Recipe of the Week

Honey Balsamic Vinagrette

3 T olive oil

1 T balsamic vinegar

1 T honey

salt, pepper, and thyme to taste

Mix all ingredients together in a jar with a lid. Then simply put the lid on and shake before use. The extra can be stored in the fridge, but make sure to shake it up before the next use. The quality of the ingredients you use will change the taste, so pick good olive oil and balsamic. It is worth it!

Thank you for your support, Gretel and Steve