New babies on Antiquity Oaks!

Victoria the goat gave birth to this adorable little guy on Tuesday! And our three sows had piglets a couple of weeks ago.

The Farm Crawl is this Saturday and Sunday, rain or shine.

Get your free 3-farm passport tickets here!

Update on Farmer in Odell

It's August!  The month of the 5th Farm Crawl!  And we're in almost full harvesting mode here at Farmer in Odell.  Last week I harvested more green beans than ever before.  I didn't bother weighing them, but they filled more than two 13-gallon kitchen trash bags!  I canned 28 quarts of them, and froze 7 quarts.  This week will probably be slower on beans.  I hope.  I've dug up almost all the garlic.  I planted 3 varieties last fall, plus we obviously missed some last year because half of that patch had new garlic come up.  This picture is of our elephant garlic.  It's so incredibly huge!  I'm sorry, there won't be any for sale.  There were only 6 of them.  Garlic for planting is sold by weight, and since elephant garlic is so big, you get only a few when you order a small amount.  I hadn't thought of that back then.

Kale is looking good, just a little holey.  Beets are doing well.  Eggplant are just starting - I've picked two so far.  All three of these crops are going to Chicago restaurants through the Stewards of the Land LLC.  It's exciting to see more and more restaurants interested in using local, organic, chemical-free foods to serve their customers the healthiest food they can.

It's also the beginning of tomatoes, cucumbers, cabbage needs picking, zucchini.  Winter squash and gourds are setting fruit.  It's a fun time to see the actual fruits of our labor, but there's a lot to try to keep up with.

Our place is a little out-of-sorts currently.  The gardens are large and were full (the earliest crops are harvested).  We tried to keep up, but then some of us went on a two-week mission trip to the Czech Republic.  And while we were gone it got hot and rained a lot, and what we saw upon returning was a little bit crazy.  Areas that had been fully weeded when we left were 1' deep in weeds.  We haven't recovered yet (since we have to be harvesting and preserving at the same time,) but I hope to get to that this week.  Mainly so I can find onions and eggplant!

We also have this tree still laying on the dog fence and trampoline:

 

The top two pictures show it the day it fell.  There was a big wind storm with some snow/ice that morning, and it turns out that tree was almost hollow inside.  We'd noticed last year that the bark was falling off, but didn't know it was so weak.  It destroyed the trampoline, and damaged the swing set somewhat.  We were happy at the time that it hadn't damaged the dog fence.  Had we gotten to it sooner, it wouldn't have, but over the past 6 months it has slowly sunk down and you can see in the bottom picture the fence is mushed and the trunk is nearly on the ground.  We had really intended to take care of it by now, but there have been many things this year that have continually pushed that tree to the bottom of the priority list.  I just hope it's gone before winter.

We're really looking forward to seeing everyone who comes to the Crawl this year!  Pray for good weather (a break in this humidity would be great), and safe travel for everyone.  Come on out for a nice, relaxing day on the farms.  See you on the 20th and 21st!

See the new cob oven at Antiquity Oaks

One of the new things you'll be able to see this year at Antiquity Oaks is our new cob oven. Cob has nothing to do with corn or corn cobs. It's an ancient building material made of clay and straw. 

To use the oven, we build a fire inside and let it burn for a couple of hours. That heats up the walls, floor and ceiling of the oven. Then we scoop out the coals, put the door on to let the heat equalize for half an hour or so, and then we put the food in the oven to bake. The oven is usually around 350 degrees, which is perfect for most baking. 

One time we built the fire with hickory wood from fallen branches around our farm, and then pushed the coals to the sides of the oven and put a pork roast in there. It tasted just like a hickory smoked ham!

Get your free 3-Farm Passport tickets here!

Tickets now available!

Tickets are now available for the 2016 Livingston County Farm Crawl. 

Tickets are FREE, and they will be your 3-Farm Passport.  In past years, you would pick up your passport at the first farm you visited. This year, you will use your free ticket as your farm passport. Have it stamped at each farm, and leave it at the last farm to be entered into a drawing to win a bundle of goodies from all three farms!

Click here to get your 3-Farm Passport.

See you next month!

Dates set for 2016 Farm Crawl

Mark your calendars. This year's Farm Crawl will be Saturday, August 20 and Sunday, August 21. A lot of changes are happening this year, so stay tuned! Details coming soon!

Photo: One of the 19 baby goats that have been born on Antiquity Oaks so far this spring

FREE tickets now available

You can get your free tickets for the Farm Crawl here! When you visit your first farm, trade in your ticket for a Passport, which you can get punched at each of the farms you visit. When you visit the fifth farm, leave it in a designated box, and you'll be entered to win a basket of goodies (like goat milk soap!) from all the farms!

Chickens!

For the past two years, Farmer in Odell has had chickens for sale.  Frozen chickens that we raised here on our farm.  We'd planned on also having some this year - it's even in the brochure telling people what they'll see and what's available at each farm this year.

Unfortunately, we tried a new feed for the first few weeks we had the chicks and they didn't grow much.  So we've made the decision to put off processing them for a couple of weeks to give them time to grow into decent dinner-sized birds, but that means they will not be ready for the Farm Crawl.

Here's the good news:  Antiquity Oaks is raising heritage Plymouth Rock chickens and they WILL be ready for sale at the Farm Crawl.  A whole bird will be $4.50/pound and a cut-up chicken will be $4.90.  If you're planning on buying any, be sure to bring a cooler with you!