This morning we left Beckley West Virginia and drove home with our camper through the mountains. That wasn’t enough excitement for one day so Bill decided to work up the 20 acres where he will be planting our pollinator habitat seed tomorrow.
Bill made me a cold frame using some old windows from our house and also some from my grandpa’s house that was built by my great grandpa. All ready for my cabbage family seedlings !
Either call 815-467-5259 or email pam@creeksidenaturalfarm.com to set up a pick-up time.
Happy Easter and Happy Spring to all of our friends and customers. We love raising healthy food and appreciate all of you who love eating it!
The stand is open and we have eggs in the cooler! Our prices are the same as last year -$5.00 per dozen of mixed sizes and for a limited time we have medium-sized eggs for $4.00 per dozen. They are on a separate shelf and are clearly marked.
We also have frozen stewing hens for $4.00 per pound, Floriani Red Flint cornmeal (2 lb. Bag for $5.00) and Turkey Red whole wheat flour (3 lb bag for $6.00). Both are freshly stone ground on our farm. The meat and ground items are available by prior arrangement. Either email pam@creeksidenaturalfarm.com or call 815-467-5259.
Garlic is coming up nicely
Rosemary is blooming in the greenhouse.
And thanks to Renee who made all the soil blocks for me today – cauliflower, cabbage and kohlrabi are planted in their soil blocks.
Luna Lu and Thomas wearing halters for the first time. One little spit from Thomas, but pretty smoothly after that. I think they bring comport to each other and Thomas is more confident because he can see that Luna is not afraid of the people. The Stress Away oil, soothing music on my phone and small catch pen helped also.
Our neighbor is restoring his dad’s 1948 Alis Chalmers G tractor and it will soon be coming to live at Creekside Natural Farm! Can’t wait to use it for planting and cultivating sweet corn and other veggies.
Today we had a meeting with Jill who has been our main help here for the past 2 years. We are all excited and looking forward to the 2016 season! She will be planting some of our ground with her own crops in an effort to get some experience from the beginning to end. We are thrilled to see someone much younger than us (and with a better back) express an interest in growing healthy food!
Now is the perfect time of year to make stock, soup, chicken and dumplings, chicken and noodles, chicken casserole, chicken enchiladas, ect…
We have frozen whole stewing hens available that were raised with full pasture access and supplemented with organic feed. These chickens make a rich nutritious broth and the cooked meat can be removed and used in any recipe where you would use chicken.
We sell them for $4.00 per pound
either call 815-467-5259 or send a message to pam@creeksidenaturalfarm.com to set up a pick-up time
We also have Floriani Red Flint cornmeal – $5.00 for a 2 lb bag
and Turkey Red wheat flour – $6.00 for a 3 pound bag
All of our grains are heritage varieties raised using organic practices and stoneground in small batches
Luna Lu is officially a big girl and tonight she had her last bottle feeding. It’s a bittersweet night.
We are starting a new adventure this year – Biodynamic farming. According to the calander, today is a “root” day, so I will be starting some onions.
It’s warm and sunny in the greenhouse
Time to start some seeds!
It turns out I have no self control when it comes to ordering seed – especially tomatoes! My original plan was to cut back on the number of varieties but I just can’t help myself. Too many awesome heirloom varieties with equally awesome names. New for us this year will be Piglet Willie’s French Black tomato (pictured), Royal Hillbilly, Strawberry Leopard, Cherokee Tiger, Mule Team and my old favorite – Mortgage Lifter.
Piglet Willie’s French Black tomato
We also have freshly stone ground Turkey Red wheat flour in a 3 pound bag for $6.00 and Floriani Red Flint cornmeal in a 2 pound bag for $5.00. We grind in small batches. Because these are whole grain flours with their full nutrition (germ) intact – You will need to refrigerate them to prevent nutrient loss and spoilage.
We decided it was time to move our favorite rooster Uncle Smoky in with the alpacas so he could spend his retirement in peace. Our younger rooster wanted to be the boss and we didn’t want our boy to be picked on. We also moved a hen in with him so he wouldn’t be lonely.
Happy 6 month birthday to Luna Lu! She has a pretty purple coat and a warm barn, alfalfa hay and apples for breakfast and a bottle of warm milk coming for dinner.
Winter is finally coming to Creekside Natural Farm and the little ones are ready with their coats on.
We will also be closing the stand but will still have eggs available. We ask that you either call or email ahead to make sure we will be home and have eggs. Our avalability for egg pick up will be daylight hours only.
815-467-5259
Pam@creeksidenaturalfarm.com
Please leave a message if you call and no one answers. Sometimes we are just outside making sure all is well with our hens and alpacas.
For the next couple of days we will be leaving the eggs in the stand only until dark because of the cold weather.
They will still be in during the day and it looks like the tempature will be going back up so we will continue to keep them in the stand until it is consistently below freezing.
If you come for eggs before dark and there are none in the stand, please call
815-715-3590
For safety reasons , we ask that you not come by after dark.
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all of our friends and family.
Happy 5 month birthday to our sweet girl Luna Lu. She had a rough start but with a little help from her friends, she’s made a full recovery and weighed in at 62 pounds this morning!
The lovely Meredith is loving the kale. Our cover crop serves double duty. The chickens and alpacas love it and it also improves our soil for next year’s crops.
Luna is thankful for APPLES! And Thomas wishes he was brave enough to eat from my hand.
Happy Thanksgiving to all our friends and family.
Stewing hens are $4.00 per pound and average 3 to 4 pounds. They were raised with free access to grass and clovee pasture and supplemented with organic feed .
We also have lamb chops, leg of lamb and stew meat from our pasture raised Katahdin sheep. Katadhin sheep are a breed that was developed especially for mild flavor and our spend their entire life on grass pasture. The only supplement they receive is kelp meal – never any grain and never any type of growth hormone or antibiotic.
Chops are $20.00 per pound and come in a 1/2 pound package of 2 chops
Stew meat is $10.00 per pound in aprox 1 pound package
Leg of lamb is $12.00 per pound and is aprox 3 – 4 pounds
In addition to meat, we will be grinding our Turkey Red wheat and Floriani Red Flint corn. Both are heirloom grains raised using organic practices.
And we will have potatoes, garlic, herbs and eggs available .
We currently are keeping the eggs in the stand until it gets too cold. There may be a few nights this week when we will take them out for the over night. When we take them out for the winter, they will be available by contacting us ahead of coming out.
All of the items above are available by contacting us at 815-467-5259
Or pam@creeksidenaturalfarm.com Continue reading
Our most beautiful new garlic variety for this year is Belarus. I will be finishing up the garlic planting on Monday and hopefully it will get a nice rain on Tuesday to get it going.
Beautiful peppers for the last batch of heirloom tomato salsa for the season.
We also have okra, potatoes, garlic and plenty of eggs.
The tomatoes, peppers and okra really enjoyed the warm temps of the last couple of weeks and we’re picking lots. Also, still getting some eggplant and put a few bags of green beans in the stand this morning. That will be the last of the beans for this year.
If you would like to freeze, pickle, dehydrate or can peppers, we have plenty. We have Italian frying peppers, poblano and jalapeno available in larger quantities. You can also easily freeze or pickle okra. If you’re interested in a larger quantity, contact us by email at pam@creeksidenaturalfarm.com or phone at 815-467-5259
We are finally picking heirloom tomatoes and have them in the stand for $3.00 per tray.
We also have sweet peppers, Poland and jalapeño peppers, bell peppers, okra, zucchini, potatoes, garlic and eggs from our Animal Welfare Approved hens.
All set up at the market with garlic, potatoes, tomatoes, okra, peppers, eggplant, beans and Sri alpaca yarn. Lots of vendors with beautiful fall decorations and beautiful weather!
We finally had enough tomatoes for a batch of fresh salsa.
