Meet the Chickens Behind the Eggs!!

Here is the flock from Three Willows Farm, where we're proud to be able to share their eggs with you!! April and Mark love their chickens A LOT, I can definitely atest to the fact that they are members of their family, guaranteed. I asked her to tell me a little about the chicken "business" and here's what she shared with me .

"The chicken in the photos that has the white mantle is our rooster. We call him The White Cowl. He is *very* protective of the hens and is never far from them. If a hen wanders away, he will bring them back to the flock. You can see that the rooster is larger and showier than the hens. Ideally, we would not have a rooster because he crows about 1,000 times/day, but he protects the flock like no hen would be able to.Often, a rooster will compete with a human male, trying to attack him, but The White Cowl really seems to like Mark and often will follow him around the yard. The hens need 14 hours of light in order to produce a single egg. We have a light on an automatic timer in the barn. In good conditions, they will usually produce an egg about every 28 hours, so a "good layer" will lay about 5 eggs/week until they are 2-3 years old, then fewer until they only lay about an egg/week at age 5. Although our hens will live their entire lives here-living until they are around 8 years old, most hens don't live more than a few years. "

I wonder what the chickens and the White Cowl are doing today, what with the freezing rain and all. Yuck!! I suppose they are like my dogs . . . . all cuddled up in their hen house sleeping away the day. The dogs are enjoying a day on the couch . . . . . although we will get out for a walk in the woods yet today.

Mark and April also have chunk honey available for sale from their bee hives. If you'd care for some please feel free to mention it to us and we'll include it with your order. It is a great substitute for sugar in all of those holiday breads.

Holiday Recipe Ideas

Somehow I missed wishing everyone a Happy Thanksgiving!! We had a nice holiday filled with family and friends. I do have to share that we did try the Fruity Rutabaga recipe that Duane shared in our market e-mails. It was outstanding. So I think I will try and include recipes that we mail out to our market friends in this blog as well. The blog can now be your virtual Veges from the Ledges cookbook. This recipe is courtesy of Jenny Sanders ---

Fruity Rutabaga

Serves 6

4 cups peeled diced rutabagas
1/2 cup apple cider or juice
3/4 cup halved cranberries
2 apples, cored and diced
1/4 cup dark brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
2 Tablespoons butter

1. Cover the rutabaga with water and boil until tender.
2. Drain well, and add all the remaining ingredients to the rutabage.
3. Simmer, stirring frequently, until well amalgamated.

We found this tasty, but did have the debate over the Thanksgiving dinner table if this should be eaten cold or warm. The consensus was it should be eaten cold. That's what we did with the leftovers and we loved it that way. Give it a try and let us know what you think!!!

Diamondale's Holiday Craft Show

Don't forget we'll be at Dimondale's Holiday Craft Show, next Saturday November 21st from 12:00 pm - 4:00 pm. Our table can be found within the First Presbyterian Church, 162 N. Bridge Street, Dimondale MI. Please stop in and say hi. We still have gourds available for fall decorating, they are a nice way to spruce up that Thanksgiving buffet table. I've also got cotton twill vegetable bags for sale. I've always been irritated by the plastic bags that grocery stores use in their produce section . . . . . well, one of our customers this summer at the farmer's market had great cotton bags that you can reuse for your produce. Well, I grabbed that idea and made a few. If those plastic bags bug you, you might want to check these out.

A Potluck of Ideas

Since I've just started this blog, my mind is swimming with possibilities and ideas. I want this space to be a Potluck of ideas for all of our friends, from all of our friends that are out there interested in sustainable agriculture and buying locally. Feel free to send me your favorite places to shop, websites for our local area that encourange buying local, or recipes you'd like to share with others. I have found that people in general love to try new things, they just need to know how the heck to cook it, or what to eat it with. So help us, help everyone by sharing ideas, and recipes.

Turnips . . . .

Take a look at these babies . . . . they are beautiful. It's hard for me to believe that anything can grow in the earth and come out of the ground and be so pure white . . . . when you wash these up they are beautiful, and oh so tasty!! We have these coming out of our ears, so drop us a note if you'd like a bunch or two. We've been enjoying them cooked and raw in salads. This is the Hakurei variety of turnip. The best thing about the turnip, is it's a 2 for 1 deal. You can eat the turnip AND the greens! Keep an eye out here for recipes in the future, and if you have some to share, feel free to e-mail me and I'll add them to this blog to share with others, and I'll give credit where credit is due.

Since a picture can say a thousand words

Since I have been meaning to create a blog all summer long, and just haven't made the time to do it . . . I have accumulated photos upon photos of produce that I wished to share with everyone. One thing you'll learn about me is I love photos!!!!!!! Especially of things that I find in nature, I'm the kind of gal that enjoys the small things in life that you find each and every day in the world around you. That being said, take a stroll through my produce photo album from this summer and fall :)

Cherry Tomatoes

Take a look at our cherry tomatoes, these were Duane's babies to begin with, he grew them from seed under grow lights in the basement. As you can see we had a LOT of cherry tomatoes. They were a great seller at the markets this summer, but honestly I know we could have made a LOT more money if Duane hadn't eaten one for every one he picked. But that is one of the bonuses to being the Radish Wrangler. I think it's in his contract that he can eat as he picks.

Then there was the Broccoli, I couldn't imagine all the broccoli we might have when we planted that in the outdoor garden. But you all LOVED it. We didn't really get any for ourselves. Next year we plan to grow LOTS of broccoli. Believe it or not, I even got a cutting off the plants last week, so I have been enjoying some broccoli, even in November. It's been great.

In The Beginning . . . . . .

So it all started by an idea tossed around in some conversation, and the next thing you know we've got a 37 foot greenhouse, we're working farmer's markets and talking about a 100 foot greenhouse. I'd heard of 2 foot-itis when it came to buying a boat but didn't think greenhouses would be the same way! Here's a photo of our first crop of leafy green lettuce mix, in the small hoop house.We enjoyed a summer of farmer's markets, got to know our friends (customers) and started to gather ideas for the produce we could grow, things we could offer the people in our area; what they wanted to be able to buy locally all year round.We definately decided we would have to have more growing area for the winter. Hence the large hoop house. Many of you know this summer we worked from our small hoop house, and three outdoor gardens. One dedicated to an assortment of vegetables as well as a crop of popcorn, a seperate tomato garden and our ghourd garden. It was a great summer, for us garden wise. But that got Duane thinking about the fall/winter (in about late July). Thank goodness that he plans ahead, I'm a procrastinator . . . . so he made an executive decision and started getting ready for the big hoop house -- see the slideshow on the right for the progression of that project. Before I knew it we had a great crop of greens and root vegetables ready for the picking this fall. It was nice to be able to offer an abundance of leafy greens this fall as the pickings began to slim down at the farmer's markets. We continued to have produce to sell, and we have been able to create excitement about the winter long harvest amoung our friends who are buying the product.Now we're settling into a winter routine of taking orders from friends and distributing the produce that way. I find it very satisfying to know who I'm cutting the salad mix for. This one is for Lauri or Nancy, I think that's cool :) Make sure to e-mail us, if you'd like to join our circle of friends.