July Third The cool weather this week was a pleasant break from the heat that allowed us to play catch up in the garden without melting in the hot sun. The lettuce favors cooler weather, so we lucked out getting to hold onto the lettuce an extra week or so. The lettuce will bolt, or […]
June Twenty-Sixth I have not missed the heat in the way that I miss strawberries out of season or the way that I miss fresh greens in the winter, or the way that miss my cousin in Baghdad. I have only missed the heat because of what I know what it brings with it. […]
June Neneteenth I’ve never seen our third CSA deliveries looking so good! We actually had to do a little tossing up on what to put in the boxes this week. We took a look at what all it was that we had to give, and had to decided to not to give a few things […]
June Twelfth Another dazzling week of farm fresh food! With almost three inches of rain on the farm in the last week we’ve been catching up on our inside chores. Just before we had to start harvesting on Thursday we were able to catch up on the weeding in the onion patch. With the […]
Left to right, top to bottom: Adam, Momma Jane, Drew, Jillian and Julie. Plus our three dogs. June Fifth Oh, what a feeling it is, like being re-united with old friends. How I have missed you all, how I have missed the life of the garden and how I have missed the connection we […]
Instead of listening to me blab this week, I want you to read this. Mark Spoke in Viroqua a couple weeks ago. This article was published in the Kickapoo Free Press a three weeks ago: http://www.kickapoofreepress.com/cms/node/170 The pinnacle of good taste by Mark Kastel No community in this country has more at stake, in […]
The man born to Farming, by Wendel Berry The grower of trees, the gardener, the man born to farming, Whose hands reach into the ground and sprout, To him the soil is a divine drug. He enters into death yearly, and comes back rejoicing. He has seen the light lie down In the dung […]
To some it is taken for granted, like the children who simply expect to find it on the table whenever they are hungry. But to some others, it is a rarity and a special occurrence saved only for when they have the time and energy to prepare it. The home cooked meal is the soul […]
Take your hat off to the Heirlooms An Heirloom Tomato? What’s that? What’s an heirloom? And why do some of your tomatoes look so funny? Well, ya see, if I was your grandfather, I’d sit you on my lap and tell you about when I was a boy. Once upon a time, before the industrialization […]
The feel of the season is changing. For the first time this week, I felt a fall breeze in the air. I wasn’t imagining it either! There were others in the garden that noticed as well and confirmed my observation to be true. It was still full sun outside, but when the wind blew, you […]
The arrival of the cicadas marks the beginning of the most difficult time of the season. They are here to sing the high notes while the rest of us are passed out on a lawn chair somewhere with watered down lemonade from too many melted ice cubes. The cicadas pulse their buzzes on and off, […]
Eating meat in general is a very controversial subject in some circles, and one that arouses passionate voices from both side of the spectrum amongst vegetarians and carnivores alike. Here at the Small Family CSA farm, we eat meat. We’re quite picky, if you will, about what sorts of meat we eat; and to cover […]
I usually do the deliveries to La Crosse, Onalaska and West Salem on Fridays, but this past Friday I did the deliveries to Dubuque and Galena so I could stop and see some close friends of mine who just returned from living in Hawaii for about 8 months. So when I was back in Dubuque last […]
It’s hard to believe that it’s already week three and I haven’t gotten around to introducing myself and the other members of our Small Family Farm. I’m Jillian, the youngest member of the farm. I’m the full-time, over-timer here that works every-day-all-day long , devoting my every waking hour to the gardens and the success […]
I remember when I was a child and *they* told me that what goes up, must come back down again. And even as the years have been passing me by, in my rebellious nature I am still trying to come up with something that goes up and does not come back down again. Isn’t there […]
It feels as though this full moon past has been one last protest to the summer’s end. It stands to shine on us, even as we sleep, reminding me of the light-filled days that seemed to never end. The 18-hour days are just about over for me now. The darkness is winning again and so […]
My favorite month, September. The temperatures are starting to cool off now and I am reveling. The balloon that has been inflating all summer long is finally beginning to deflate a little. The pressure is letting off we’re even getting a little more sleep now! I love September! We spent the week continuing the green […]
On our small little six acre plot of vegetables, we manage the garden fairly primitively. By primitive, I mean mostly using manual labor to plant, cultivate and harvest the crops. We do have a 75 horse power tractor and a spading machine that we use for tilling up the soil and we have a large […]
We made it half way through with only blessings abound remaining. The weather looks promising with plenty of bearable temperatures, plenty of rain, and harvests flourishing. I probably couldn’t have asked for a more wonderful summer if I had planned it myself. I’m feeling a bit better about things this week as we are catching […]
Zat is zee question! Did you know that we cannot legally say that we are an organic farm? We can’t write it on our advertising material or put it on our farm label. There’s a pretty hefty fine if I get caught doing so too. Last time I checked, it was somewhere in the neighborhood […]