This is one of my favorite seed companies and they are offering free shipping TODAY Only. www.rareseeds.com
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Posted in 2013 Harvest
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2 days until the Creekside Natural Farm Open House!
We will be hosting an Open House on Sunday, May 18th from 9am until 4 pm. We’ve had many requests for farm tours and can’t always accommodate them during the busy summer season. So, if you would like to come out and see the animals, gardens, greenhouse, high tunnels or just have some questions and want to visit – This is your chance!
Posted in 2014 Harvest, Main Menu
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Happy Easter
Happy Easter from us, Merideth (grey hen) and all the other lovely ladies at Creekside Natural Farm.
Posted in 2013 Harvest
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This week at Creekside Natural Farm
The season begins! Beets, radishes and sugar-snap peas growing in the tunnel and Tiger keeping me company. Tuesday we brought 3 Katahdin sheep home from Graze N grow in Scheffield. They love the creep feeder where They can eat alfalfa without the alpacas bothering them. Wednesday we planted 240 cabbage and broccoli plants and covered them to keep the bunnies and bugs off. Today we planted spinach and lettuce and started some zinnias in the green house.
Posted in 2013 Harvest
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Alpaca Fiber Weekend
I spent the weekend in Flora, Indiana at Heritage Farms learning how to wash, dye and card Suri Alpaca fiber. Thank you to Elizabeth and Liz from Alpaca Fiber Solutions for the great workshop and to Beth and Tim Sheets for the hospitality!
The blue/green fiber is from our alpaca Freedom. I added a little sparkle and put it through a fine tooth carder three times. The lavender batt came from this fiber.
The pink batt was carded on a different carder and sent through twice so you can see more separation of the colors.
Posted in 2013 Harvest
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Spring at Creekside Natural Farm!
We think it may FINALLY be here! The pussy willows are about to open, the young hens are thinking about coming out of their house, the alpaca coats are off and washed and the vegetable plants are getting bigger in the greenhouse. AND… We planted a few things (spinach, lettuce, snap peas, radishes, beets and green beans in the high tunnel!
Posted in 2013 Harvest
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Heirloom corn and Sunflowers
Today we ordered the seed for Floriani Red Flint corn! It’s a beautiful Italian heirloom that will make fantastic polenta and corn meal. It’s higher in protein than most corn so we will also use it to feed our chickens. To prevent cross pollination with our other field corn, we plan to surround the patch with sunflowers. Can’t wait to see what it looks like!
Posted in 2014 Harvest, Main Menu
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Animal Welfare Approved
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Posted in 2014 Harvest, Main Menu
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Good Food Festival
Some of the things we got at the Good Food Festival today. Also learned about growing old grain varieties that haven’t been altered.
Posted in 2013 Harvest
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Hopefully – the last snow day of the year @ Creekside natural Farm!
Snow Day!
Baron is the only animal who wanted to play in the snow today. The chickens, kittys and even the alpacas prefer to stay inside. Baron loves the snow and sticks and ESPECIALLY a snow covered stick!
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Basil and Rosemary
The first sign of new life in the greenhouse is the basil. It sprouted in 2 days on the heat mat! This is the first time our rosemary has flowered.
Posted in 2013 Harvest
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Another Recipe for our Heirloom Stone Ground Cornmeal
Creamy Polenta with Roasted Mushrooms
Yield: Serves 4 (makes about 3 cups polenta)
Creamy polenta with roasted mushrooms-an easy and comforting meal.
Ingredients:
For the Roasted Mushrooms:
1 lb. Baby Bella mushrooms, stems removed and cut in half 2 tablespoons olive oil 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar 1 tablespoon minced garlic Salt and black pepper, to taste 1/4 cup chopped flat leaf Italian parsley
For the Creamy Polenta:
2 cups milk 1 1/2 cups water 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt 3/4 cup stoneground polenta (not instant) 2 tablespoons butter 3/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese Extra Parmesan cheese for serving, optional
Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Place mushrooms in a medium bowl and drizzle with olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Add in garlic and toss. Season with salt and pepper. Spread mushrooms evenly onto a large greased baking sheet. Roast for 15-20 minutes or until mushrooms are tender, stirring once. Remove from the oven and stir in parsley.
2. While the mushrooms are roasting, make the polenta. In a medium saucepan, combine milk, water, and salt over medium-high heat and bring to a simmer. When it simmers, slowly pour in the polenta and whisk to combine. Reduce heat to low and partially cover the pan with a lid and cook, whisking vigorously every 5 minutes. Make sure you scrape the sides of the pan. Cook until liquid is absorbed and polenta is creamy, about 30 minutes total. Remove from heat and stir in the butter and Parmesan cheese.
3. Divide the polenta into four bowls. Top with roasted mushrooms and garnish with Parmesan cheese, if desired. Serve immediately.
Yield: Serves 4 (makes about 3 cups polenta)
Creamy polenta with roasted mushrooms-an easy and comforting meal.
Ingredients:
For the Roasted Mushrooms:
1 lb. Baby Bella mushrooms, stems removed and cut in half 2 tablespoons olive oil 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar 1 tablespoon minced garlic Salt and black pepper, to taste 1/4 cup chopped flat leaf Italian parsley
For the Creamy Polenta:
2 cups milk 1 1/2 cups water 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt 3/4 cup stoneground polenta (not instant) 2 tablespoons butter 3/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese Extra Parmesan cheese for serving, optional
Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Place mushrooms in a medium bowl and drizzle with olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Add in garlic and toss. Season with salt and pepper. Spread mushrooms evenly onto a large greased baking sheet. Roast for 15-20 minutes or until mushrooms are tender, stirring once. Remove from the oven and stir in parsley.
2. While the mushrooms are roasting, make the polenta. In a medium saucepan, combine milk, water, and salt over medium-high heat and bring to a simmer. When it simmers, slowly pour in the polenta and whisk to combine. Reduce heat to low and partially cover the pan with a lid and cook, whisking vigorously every 5 minutes. Make sure you scrape the sides of the pan. Cook until liquid is absorbed and polenta is creamy, about 30 minutes total. Remove from heat and stir in the butter and Parmesan cheese.
3. Divide the polenta into four bowls. Top with roasted mushrooms and garnish with Parmesan cheese, if desired. Serve immediately.
Posted in 2014 Harvest, Main Menu, Recipes
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Heirloom Corn Meal
Just finished grinding more heirloom corn into cornmeal with our stone grinder. We are grinding small batches so it will be fresh and have its full nutrition. This is a multi-colored heirloom corn from Sandhill Preservation (non GMO) grown by us with no chemicals.
I used some last week to make polenta and am now addicted! I will add the recipe I used to this site.
We will be selling it upon request for $2.50 per pound.
call 815-467-5259
or e-mail pam@creeksidenaturalfarm.com
Posted in 2013 Harvest
6 Comments
Beautiful seed packets!
In addition to the fantastic seeds varieties they carry, Bakers Creek Heirloom Seeds clearly has the most beautiful packages! Some of the new varieties we will be growing this season are Black Krim, Paul Robeson, Comstock Sauce and Mariglobe tomatoes. Pasilla Basil and Purple Jalapeño peppers, Listada De Gandia, Prosperosa and Little Fingers eggplant. We will also be trying a fantastic heirloom zucchini type squash called Zucchino Rampicante. I’ve tried it a couple of times and it is a favorite of squash bugs, but it’s so good I guess I’ll try again! These varieties all came from Bakers creek, so if you would like to dream of what you’ll be enjoying in a few short months, check them out on their website : www.RareSeeds.com
Posted in 2013 Harvest
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Grandpa Harris’ Cornbread
1/2 tsp. baking soda
2 large eggs
3 heaping tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
2 1/2 cups buttermilk
3 cups cornmeal
Preheat oven to 450 degrees
Put skillet in the oven to heat with 2 tablespoons of lard or bacon grease
Mix 1st 4 ingredients together
Stir in buttermilk
Stir in cornmeal
Pour batter into hot skillet and bake for 18 minutes
Makes 2 skillets – I usually make a half recipe
If you like it browned on top and bottom, take the pan out after 10 minutes of baking and flip it onto a plate then back into the skillet with what was the top now on the bottom. That process is a little tricky when you’re dealing with a hot and heavy skillet.
Posted in Recipes
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Heirloom Corn Meal
We are finished with the long process of growing, picking (by hand), shelling (with our antique corn sheller), drying (with our dehydrator) and grinding (with our stone grinder) our heirloom cornmeal and now are ready to sell it! It’s a multicolored heirloom from Sand Hill Preservation and was grown @ Creekside Natural Farm with no sprays or chemical fertilizer (just like everything else we sell). It was ground on our stone grinder to a medium grind that made an excellent cornbread.
We will be selling is upon request for $2.50 per pound.
call 815-467-5259
ore-mail pam@creeksidenaturalfarm.com
*The cornbread recipe was my grandfathers and is a true southern style cornbread – no flour or sugar and baked in a cast iron skillet. You can find it in the “Recipe” section of our page.
Posted in Main Menu
14 Comments
Seed ordering
Today I plan to sit in front of the wood stove and order seeds from a few of my favorite companies and go outside a little as possible!
Posted in 2013 Harvest
5 Comments
New winter coats
I bought a new coat for Betsy and then heard the weather forecast for next week and decided that Apollo also needed a coat. Too late to order him one, so I used Betsy’s as a pattern and made one for him. Not as pretty or quite as heavy, but a lot less money and he didn’t have to wait for it!
Posted in 2013 Harvest
4 Comments
New Egg Price and Hen House
Bill’s first project of the winter was a new portable home for the additional 100 hens who will be laying eggs for us this spring. He started with an old boat trailer and built a beautiful hen house that we can move to fresh pasture as needed. Hopefully this will improve our egg inventory so we won’t sell out every day!
Because of the cost of the house and the need to purchase egg cartons to accommodate the additional eggs, we will be raising the price of our eggs to $5.00 per dozen on January 1st.
Our hens are fed certified organic feed and organic oats that we grow and harvest on our farm. They also get organic veggies from our garden and vegetation from their pasture during warm weather. They have free access to pasture from sun-up to sun-down.
Our hens are certified Animal Welfare Approved and also Certified Humane Raised and Handled.
Posted in Main Menu
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Fiber processing time
Santa delivered the last piece of my fiber processing equipment – my Patrick Green blender/carder. Now I have lots of work to do!
Posted in 2013 Harvest
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Betsy needs a new coat,
I had to make an emergency alteration to Betsy’s coat. She seems to have here mamas appetite! Clearly, She’s still little miss independent. She’s laying by herself while Apollo rests his head on his mama’s back.
Our e-mail is currently not working so if you need to reach us you will need to either send a message on FB or call 815-467-5259. I’ll update when it’s working again.
Posted in 2013 Harvest
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Winter Egg Program
It has gotten to cold too leave eggs in the cooler, so starting today we will be on the “Winter Egg Program”.
You will need to either:
call 815-467-5259 or
e-mail pam@creeksidenaturalfarm.com
Let us know how many eggs you are looking for and when you would like to pick them up. We will put them in a cooler on the back steps of the house where you can pick them up and leave your money.
As the weather gets colder, the hens will lay fewer eggs, so it will be best if you can give a couple days advance notice.
Posted in 2013 Harvest, Main Menu
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Betsy Ross
Betsy was 1 month old on Tuesday and has gained 11lbs. I think she got her appetite from her mama. Her personality is so different from our 1st born cria Apollo. She’s far more independent even though he is 6 months older!
Posted in 2013 Harvest
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Getting ready for winter
This is Bill’s winter project. He will be building a portable home for the new hens on this old boat trailer. These are Rhode Island Red and Black Australorp. They are both a heritage breed that we chose for their nice personalities as well as their nice brown eggs. We are increasing our hen population to try to meet the great demand for our eggs. Looking forward to watching the Heritage chicks grow up. It will be a nice change from the Red Star hens we’ve raised in the past. Also part of our Animal Welfare Approved program!
Posted in 2013 Harvest, Main Menu
3 Comments
The making of an apple pie
I have 1 lattice top apple pie available today. Made with organic apples, organic sugar, organic cinnamon, pastry flour, organic lard, butter, organic egg, vinegar and water.
$13.00
We will be home today but may not be outside, so it’s best to call ahead or e-mail.
815-467-5259
pam@creeksidenaturalfarm.com
Posted in 2013 Harvest, Main Menu, What's Available This Week?
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Christmas Pie
We will be selling fresh pies made from scratch for Christmas (including hand rolling the home-made crust) using my mothers fabulous crust recipe! The available filling will be organic apples or organic pumpkin. You can choose between a lattice top or a crumb style topping on the apple pie.
The filling ingredients will be organic apples, organic brown and white sugar, organic cinnamon and organic nutmeg.
The filling for the pumpkin will be organic pumpkin purée, organic eggs, organic milk, organic cinnamon and organic nutmeg.
Crust ingredients: flour, lard, butter, vinegar, water, salt
Crumb topping: rolled oats, butter, flour, salt
The price is $13.00 for a 9″ pie
You can order starting today for pick-up Saturday through Tuesday.
You will need to order by either e-mail pam@creeksidenaturalfarm.com
Or call 815-467-5259 (leave a message)
Posted in 2013 Harvest, Main Menu, What's Available This Week?
9 Comments
This week
Here’s what we have this week: Kale, pears, butternut squash, bell peppers, poblano peppers, Italian Frying peppers and eggs. We also have lamb chops and leg of lamb from our pasture raised Katahdin sheep. If you’re coming out for lamb, e-mail pam@creeksidenaturalfarm.com or call 815-467-5259 ahead.
Posted in 2013 Harvest, Main Menu
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