Getting ready for some company - a family wants to come take pictures with the sheep for their holiday card!

Unearthed Gems

Digging around and weeding during this gorgeous weekend, my mom unearthed more crops she hadn't known that had grown in her garden. The summer was so hot that often times, the idea of weeding did not just seem unfun, it was dangerous! However, with fall here and cooler weather on the way, today was a great day.

In her side garden, today my mom found:
red onions
parsley
oregano
asparagus
beets
spinach
bib lettuce
hot peppers
tomatos
Rhubarb

Withe the help of these new found treasures and my mom's excitement over them, I have a feeling the farmer's market will be back next summer!

Wordless Wednesday

My cell phone's now connected to my blog!

Water Awareness

2010 Blog Action Day is for water and so I thought to add something here. I wanted to keep this a simple post though. Please read and keep these facts in mind every day.

Simple tips you can keep in mind and (hopefully) change in your every day life to make a difference:

- For hanging baskets, planters and pots, place those ice cubes that dropped on the floor or were left over in your glass under the moss or dirt to give your plants a cool drink of water and help eliminate water overflow.
- Avoid watering your landscape during the hottest hours of the day (10 am until 6 pm) to minimize evaporation.
- Plant during the spring or fall when the watering requirements are lower.
- Use the garbage disposal sparingly. Compost vegetable food waste instead to save gallons and use this organic material as a layer on the surface of your planting beds to minimize weed growth that competes for water.
- (For my pet lovers:) Wash your pets outdoors in an area of your lawn that needs water.
-Peat moss, composted leaves (leaf mold), composted manure, composted kitchen vegetable scraps and grass clippings will all improve soil structure and enhance moisture-retaining capabilities (add organic matter into your flower and vegetable beds, preferably 12"-18" deep)
- Divide your watering cycle into shorter periods to reduce runoff and allow for better absorption every time you water.
- Turn your sprinkler system off during or after a rainstorm and leave it off until the plants need to be watered again OR consider installing an automatic rain shutoff device on your sprinkler system.
- Adjust your lawn mower to a higher setting. Longer grass shades root systems and holds soil moisture better than a closely clipped lawn.

Shocking facts that will maybe encourage you to keep the above simple facts in mind:

- In the developing world, 24,000 children under the age of five die every day from preventable causes like diarrhea contracted from unclean water. (from here)
- 884 million people lack access to safe water supplies; approximately one in eight people. (more here)
- Humans largely influence the factors that determine water quality, as they depose off their waste in water and add all kinds of substances and contaminants that are not naturally present. We now know more than 70.000 water pollutants. (from here)
- 17% of the world's population lack access to clean drinking water. (from here)
- The UN estimates that by 2025, forty-eight nations, with combined population of 2.8 billion, will face freshwater “stress” or “scarcity” (from here)

Some sites for you to check out
- Backyard Conservation
- charity water (one of my favorites)
- Global Water Awareness & Action Campaign
- Environmentally conscious agricultural practices by U.S. farmers would ease drain on world water supply, Cornell ecologists report

Make way for ... Ducks?!

I wanted to update on the adorable ducklings we had this summer and went to toss them some food the other day to get them all together for some great photo shots to share here. They came charging over, right with their mom like they have been all summer and I was surprised.


Just when I go to post on and on about how cute these babies are and prove it with updated photos, I find that they're not ducklings anymore ... they're ducks!

I'm absolutely astounded!

And, please, don't even try to make explain how...

this boy







and this girl







made this crazy combination!

Whatever they're adorable ... now anyone know how to socialize them more or, perhaps, even better, want to offer one or two a good (spoiled) life with you??

Closed for the season(?)

And so the time has come that we are now closing up our farm stand for the season... Sales started to slow, items to sell started to dwindle, the produce is mostly gone and, as you can see, we even dragged the sign up away from the road and back to the garage. Empty boxes and adorable Norman (one of our farm feral cats) definitely add to the sadness of this photo shot, I think.

Hope to see some new faces next season : )

This week

These week at the farm stand, we have...

- our own fresh chicken eggs for $2/dozen
- white sweet corn for $4/dozen OR $0.35/ear
- tomatoes for $3/6 OR $0.50 each
- cantaloupes for $1.75
- a qt of peaches or nectarines for $2.75
- seedless watermelon for $4
- blueberries for $1.75 each
- large sweet onions for $0.50 each
- fresh basil right from our garden for $2 a bunch
- fresh mint from our garden for $2 a bunch
- yellow squash or green zucchini for $0.50 - $0.25 each (lg or sm)
- qt of red potatoes for $2.25
- cucumber for $0.50 - $0.25 each (lg or sm)
- eggplant for $0.75
- local honey of various flavors for $2 - $5 per jar