Creekside Natural Farm, Minooka, IL – Blog

Today was a perfect day to do some “bread lab” work. This was the result!

I used our own stone ground Turkey Red wheat flour that I sifted once. 

We grow our heirloom wheat with minimal natural fertilizer  (horse manure) and no insecticides ,  herbicides, or fungicides. It’s stone ground in small batches.

Turkey Red is a hard red winter wheat from Ukrain that has not been altered. it makes a fabulous bread.

Flour is available in a 3 pound bag for $6.00. Please call 815-467-5259 or email pam@creeksidenaturalfarm.com 

It is officially too cold to keep eggs in the cooler so we are now on the “Winter egg program”.

We still have plenty of eggs, but you will need to either call or send a message before you come out. We hate to have you come out in the cold to find no one home. For insurance reasons, we will limit pick-up to daylight hours.

You can call us @ 815-467-5259

email pam@creeksidenaturalfarm.com

send a message on Facebook

Our eggs are $5.00 per dozen and Animal Welfare Approved certified – That means our hens live like a hen was meant to live – free access to grass pasture (when it’s not covered in snow), organic (Non GMO) feed and no antibiotics in their feed, water or given directly. You can check out the Animal Welfare Approved website for more information on the long list of requirements we follow. AWA has the most rigorous standards for farm animal welfare in the U.S.

www.animalwelfareapproved.org

Yay! We are now the proud owners of a New Idea 1 row corn picker! It’s a great improvement over picking by hand. 7 minutes for for rows compared to 2 hours for 4 rows! Now on to shelling and grinding our heirloom organic corn.

We picked all of our peppers yesterday in anticipation of the frost. LOTS of nice poblanos, jalapenos, sweet frying peppers, sweet Melrose and sweet minis. 

The poblanos are the most abundant so we are selling them by the half bushel for the fantastic price of $10.00! They can be used fresh, dehydrated, canned, frozen or my favorite – roasted and canned.

If you would like a half or full bushel, contact us ahead of coming out at 815-715-3590 or pam@creeksidenaturalfarm.com 

We also have potatoes, garlic, kale, Turkey Red wheat berries and a variety of herbs.

Some of our harvest of Glass Gem corn. This is our first year growing it so most of it will be saved as seed for next year.

This spectacular flint corn was developed by Carl Barnes who was half Cherokee and half Scotch/Irish. He passed away in April.

We are starting to pick the poblano peppers and tomatillios and continuing with the jalapeno and sweet peppers. 

We have a half bushel of Melrose peppers available this week for $20.00. They are the peppers that were used on the beef sandwiches at the Melrose Market in Chicago and are fantastic. I have frozen and canned them and love them both ways!

Luna Lu says Come out and see us on September 25th from 9 am till 3 pm!

We are having an “Open Farm” as part of national Alpaca Farm Days. In addition to our beautiful Suri alpacas, you will see our laying hens, our handsome Uncle Smoky, our very small herd of Katahdin sheep, our greenhouse and vegetable beds and you can take a walk over the bridge, past all of our newly planted trees and shrubs and back to our new 20 acre pollinator habitat!

We will have fiber and yarn from our alpacas and finished alpaca products, a variety of vegetables, frozen whole chicken and Turkey Red wheat for sale. We will also have hay available in small amounts tomorrow – or you can reserve a larger order for later pick-up.

Most people like to wear something that looks good and pleasing. Apart from trending custom t shirts and fashion outfits, what’s important in clothing is the comfort and chance to express oneself. When visiting a farm, it shouldn’t be the case, find great shoes at vessi.com.

Whatever kind of farm it is, it’s expected to get dirt, stains, and other reasons that can cause damage to the clothes. However, the farm shouldn’t be something that limits in wearing fashion staples. You may wear any custom T-shirts if you want, but be sure to wear in the proper way.

There are clothes that are intended for the farm. Aside from them being especially useful on the farm, they are also made for a reason. Visiting a farm could be an exciting adventure.

https://www.alpacainfo.com/alpaca-farm-days

We have bushel or half bushel quantities of heirloom tomatoes and potatoes available. The potatoes will store for several months in a cool/dark place and the tomatoes can be used for canning, freezing, sauce, salsa – mixed with peppers, onions and garlic for a chili, soup or stew base.

Tomatoes are $1.00 per pound for a bushel (53 lbs.) and $1.25 per pound for a half

Potatoes are $1.25 per pound for a bushel (60 lbs.) and $1.50 per pound for a half

We currently have Nicola and Purple Viking available and there are many more varieties still waiting to be dug!

Please call 815-467-5259 or e-mail pam@creeksidenaturalfarm.com to check on availability

Bill picked lots of sweet corn this morning! It’s bagged and in the cooler for $6.00 per dz.

And, this is what you get when you don’t spray poison – lady bugs on the sweet corn

We also have peaches this year! We have one tree and it has lots of lovely peaches.

They are bagged and in the cooler for $3.00 per pound

In addition, we have plenty of heirloom tomatoes, potatoes, green beans, several types of summer squash, sweet peppers, jalapeo peppers, garlic and cucumbers.

Bill picked sweet corn this morning! 

This is calico corn. Non GMO, never sprayed, no herbicide, no fungicide and very sweet. Bill picks in the morning when the corn is at its sweetest.

This is our early variety and the ears are smaller than our later corn will be, so there are 15 ears in a bag for $6.00