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!

Spring on Antiquity Oaks Farm

This is what spring looks like on Antiquity Oaks! 

Plum tree blooming

New at M2A Farm: WeeDee Goats

Buddy, Ipana and Flashlight with Stick at the bottom of the picture.

 Joining the rest of the critter gang this year on M2A Farm is a very small herd of Spanish cashmere goats. Ipana, Buddy, and Stick arrived last fall, and Flashlight was born one night in late December. A few younger boys will become part of the group this spring. Their primary job is landscaping – clearing brush and weeds by eating them and fertilizing the soil as a by-product. As an added bonus, they have an undercoat of fine cashmere fibers. Yes, cashmere comes from goats!

Newborn Flashlight wearing a coat made from a sweatshirt sleeve.

Mark your calendars for 2015 Farm Crawl!

Agnes the goat with her quintuplets at Antiquity Oaks

The dates have been set for the 2015 Farm Crawl. It will be held Saturday, August 22 and Sunday, August 23. The same five farms will once again be opening their gates to visitors for the weekend. Planning meetings are underway, and more details will be coming soon!

Type your email address into the box at right to receive new posts by email.

The Gift Basket Winner

The winner of the Farm Crawl Gift Basket is the Swink Family of Dwight, IL!  They received the following items:  Two bars of goat milk soap from Antiquity Oaks.  A $10 gift certificate for garden produce from Eden Harvest Farm.  A bottle of goat milk lotion from Cherokee Wind.  Sugar scrub, lip balm, and a tube of herbal salve from Farmer in Odell.  AND a coffee mug with a picture of a cute alpaca cria from M2A Farm!  Congratulations!! 

Thank you all for supporting the Livingston County Farm Crawl this year.  We're already thinking ahead to 2015!

Get your free tickets on Eventbrite!

Although it is free to attend the Farm Crawl, we do ask that you get tickets on Eventbrite so that we will have an idea of how many people to expect. Trade in your ticket for a passport at the first farm you visit, and then as you visit each farm, get the passport punched. When you visit the last farm, drop your passport into their box to be entered into a drawing to win a gift basket of prizes from all five farms.

And in case you didn't know yet, we have a Facebook page. To see more pictures of the farms, visit us on Facebook today.

What's up at Farmer in Odell

It seemed so far off for so long, but now here we are - just under 4 weeks until the 3rd Annual Livingston County Farm Crawl!  That sounds like a long time, but there's a lot to do this time of year on the farm, plus whatever else life throws at us between now and then, and whatever preparations we have to make specifically for Farm Crawl Weekend.  Four weeks is going to fly by.  Here are some pictures and notes about what is going on here at Farmer in Odell:

At the end of June, I attended a workshop at the U of I Extension office on straw bale gardening.  We'd happened to have just gotten several bales of straw, so we got to work and set up two straw bale gardens.  We planted zucchini, several types of beans, carrots, beets, radishes and parsley.  It's now been a month and here is a picture of one of the gardens.  The zucchini on each end have been growing in this one.  The zucchini in the other "garden" didn't ever germinate.  The only other plants that sprouted are beans and radishes.  I can't blame the straw bales for that, as the seeds never sprouted at all.  We'd been hanging on to older seeds for many years.  We kept them in the freezer for years, but last year I just left them in a box in the cool basement.  I have a feeling that was a bad thing as our germination rate on the old seeds was poor everywhere - not just the straw bales.  In 2015 we're going to start with all brand-new seeds.  Today we gave them some more fertilizer.  I'm hoping that by the Crawl, we'll have flowers on all the beans and zucchini so we can actually harvest some before fall.

These three pictures are of the garden between the driveways - behind the straw bales.  This garden has 9 rows of fencing for things that climb.  We started with peas on 7 of the fences.  Some of those are still producing, but about a month ago I planted pole beans and cucumbers where there were gaps or where the peas were just about done.  Now some of them are simply huge - growing taller than the fence.  Another variety isn't really climbing at all, but they are growing very well.  I'm actually impressed with all the pole beans, and they are flowering, which makes me very happy.  We haven't had enough beans for several years to allow us to can or freeze any for winter.  I'm thinking that this year we will.  The cukes aren't quite as thick as the beans, but we'll get enough for eating fresh, and maybe even be able to make a few jars of pickles.  Between the fences we've planted a variety of other plants - broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, kohlrabi, fennel, onions, chard, kohlrabi, turnips, and beets.  They are doing well and this week I'll be harvesting our first baby beets and broccoli.  Today I picked and ate a kohlrabi.  Last week I picked 3 turnips which are the size of my hand!  And the chard has been used several times over the past few weeks.  The nice thing about chard is that it just keeps coming back all year :)

Behind this garden (and past the strawberry patch) are the tomatoes and peppers.  They are in buckets which are half buried in the ground.  We did this last year for the first time in order to eliminate the weeding around the plants.  It's done a good job of that, but they don't grow very well in the buckets.  I've since learned that they have a large root system and need a lot of room to grow.  The buckets don't accommodate that and they also dry out fast.  But this year we're actually getting tomatoes from some of the plants.  Here's a picture of the first one ripening.  Today we got about a dozen of these little tomatoes - without the bites.

We have more garden space than this, but I'll move on to a few pictures of the animals.  If I show you EVERYthing now, you'll have no reason to come to the Crawl!  First is York giving you a smile.

Goats eating their dinner, chickens eating theirs, too.  These chickens are our meat birds.  They are a little crowded in the tractors, which means they are ready to take a trip down to Arthur.  They are going to the processor this week so they'll be frozen and ready for you to buy at the farm crawl.  Be sure to bring a cooler with you!  We'll have chicken and eggs as well as some produce available to purchase.  Most of the other farms will also have food for you to buy - so maybe two coolers would be better ;)

More planned for this year's Farm Crawl

In addition to expanding the Farm Crawl to two days this year, there will also be more demonstrations at the various farms. Although the schedule has not yet been finalized, here are some of the things visitors can expect at this year's farms.

At the Farmer in Odell, visitors can see how to milk a goat, grind your own flour, make bread, and make soap.

At Antiquity Oaks, there will be goat milking, mozzarella making, solar oven cooking, soapmaking, and scything (cutting grass hay with a long blade).

Visitors to Cherokee Winds will learn about goat milking, needle felting, making felted soap, soapmaking, and beekeeping.

M2A Farm has a new resident -- Olivia the emu -- that visitors will be able to see, and there will also be spinning demonstrations.

There will again be a corn maze at Eden's Harvest Farm for a $3 fee, and there will be lunch available as a fundraiser.

Mark your calendar for 2014 Farm Crawl

The date has been set for the Third Annual Livingston County Farm Crawl. We are expanding to two days this year and moving it to the fourth weekend of August, rather than the third. This year's event will be Saturday, August 23, and Sunday, August 24!

Stay tuned for details as plans are finalized! Type your email address into the box at right to receive new posts by email.

And the winners are ...

Spinning demonstration at Antiquity Oaks

The Second Annual Farm Crawl was a success, according to farmers and guests alike.

Raffle winners were:
Marlana Sokolovich - The Country Mansion
Taylor and Logan Conger - The Country Mansion
C. L. Gukeisen - The Country Mansion
Mike & Elena Cummings - Station 343
Sherri Sachs - Station 343
Lesa Namchick - The Basket of Homegrown Products
Mike Sinks - Pet Products

Planning for the Third Annual Farm Crawl will begin soon!

Look For These Signs Tomorrow!

Each farm has several out on the main intersections near their place, as well as one at the driveway.  Keep your eyes peeled!

A Few More New Babies

Farmer in Odell has 4 new ducklings!

Born just in time to show them off at the crawl, they hatched on Thursday in our incubator.  Here is a picture of our Andrew holding 3 of them.  Sorry for the blurry one - it's hard to get 3 newborns to all stay still at once!

Farmer in Odell is also going to have a limited amount of kale and chard available for sale and we regret to say we will not have lemon balm tea.  The lemon balm isn't looking too good and we don't want to sell you poor tea.  The oregano is slowly taking over the yard and is crowding out the lemon balm.  That, coupled with the lack of rain over the past 3 weeks, has made it turn yellow.  Next spring we'll have to do some serious work on the herb garden!j

We're so excited about meeting you all tomorrow - drive safe and ENJOY your day on the farms!

Last minute updates!

When heading out to Saturday's Farm Crawl, if you are coming from up north, be sure to check an online traffic map to make sure that the traffic on I-55 isn't backed up too far due to the construction on the DesPlaines River bridge. If it is backed up, you can take alternate routes through Seneca or Morris, and that will only add about five minutes to the normal travel time down I-55. If you live farther east you can take I-57 south and then go west on Rt. 17 from Kankakee.

We also have a couple of additions to the items for sale. Melinda at Cherokee Winds will have beeswax candles available, and Kat at M2A Farm has handmade tote bags, which are made from repurposed feed bags.

There is a corn maze this year at Eden's Harvest Farm, and the entrance is only $3 per person.

To get your free tickets to the Farm Crawl, go to EventBrite! Although tickets are not required, we do appreciate having an idea of how many people to expect. So, to thank you for getting tickets, we will have a special drawing for the EventBrite ticket holders. The winner will receive a gift bag of pet car products, including oatmeal soap, conditioner, oatmeal conditioning spray, ear and eye wipes, full body and paw wipes, and a leash. And as much as we all love animals, please don't bring your dogs to the event.

Looking forward to seeing you all soon!

New babies on the farms

There have been a few new additions to a couple of the farms! At Eden's Harvest, Princess the bantam hen hatched a chick. Yes, just one chick, and yes, that's unusual to hatch only one.

On Antiquity Oaks, the two llamas have recently given birth to babies. Sitara gave birth to this pretty little thing on Monday! This picture was taken when she was only a few hours old.

And Katydid gave birth to this lovely male a couple weeks ago.