Tree mushrooms

I wrote about the large box elder tree I was cutting up. I failed to mention that the box elders in this area have a mushroom that grows in them. In August you find neat gilled mushroom sticking out from points where the tree has been injured in storms and such. Then when the tree dies the core wood has turned a beautiful red color. The ones I have encountered earlier in my life have just plain old tan wood color.

Farmers Pal

We just registered with a new organic site called "Farmers Pal". Check it out!

Boxelder tree

Didn't get a chance to cut firewood last summer for the heating season this winter. Have been cutting daily, no small task in the cold when you have Parkinson's. The tree I'm cutting on came down in a wind storm two years ago, and has a trunk about 3 feet in diameter. Been around for a lot of life. It was the home for much of the native wildlife in the area, hard to imagine how many species and how many generations of each are here today because that tree was there. How many children, including or now grown web master, have climbed up in the branches to plan and marvel at their life, or be a part of nature to help them heal from the ravages of being a teenager growing up. And now... it's helping one more time in allowing us to heat the house without using gas or oil. Wisconsin winters can be tough! This old tree is tougher!! (and now warmer!)

Packer - Bears game

I happened to be held up in Jefferson, outside with the animals when the game started. General life as we know it came to a standstill. I didn't realize the amount of random noise we as people, (all of us) make every day, all day. When the game began, the sun happened to come out, and the birds and everything alive outside seemed at peace. A peace I haven't seen or felt since I was a young child. No stray noise to speak of, no traffic, and no real airliner traffic, and the real world became visible to my ears! It was great!! A silence of sounds I had forgotten existed!

Sometimes we need experiences like this to remind us that we need to step back sometimes to understand our past, and allow us to effectively use the pasts lessons to shape our future. We seem to get buried in the random noise. As the comic strip Pogo used to say, "We have met the enemy, and he is us!" Enjoy life daily.

Keep warm. Les

Pumpkins for supper!!

Squash and pumpkins organically have a limited storage life. Ours are starting to go the trip so we feed daily to the livestock. No waste from the production, and excellent feed for them, as is shown b the group running to meet us for their daily treat!!

Note the sunshine. We don't see much of it this time of year!!

Digging out from a nice snow yesterday.  Planting wheatgrass when done.  Have a great day.

Wheat Grass for juicing

We were asked about WHEAT GRASS by several people at the Janesville Basic Store on Sunday when we did the sampling of three types of squash. Yes we are still in production. Yes, we produce using organic materials and methods. No we cannot directly claim a health benefit from it's use, but we do have numerous customers that say it has helped them with everything from cancer to just staying healthy. We have a sheet on the vitamins and minerals that wheat grass provides. I'll try to post that soon.

Now about cat grass. We produce ours the same way we produce wheat grass. Our own cats really go for it during times of "stress" in their lives. You will also notice we do not accept the blame for those who grow cat grass in flimsy low containers. WE ONLY USE TALL CONTAINERS FILLED WITH SOIL!! The lighter ones have a tendency to be drug around the house leaving a mess behind. Not fun to come home to after a hard day at work and have to sweep up after the cat. We use tall containers with enough weight to keep them where you put them, and allow you to re-hydrate them, (water them) every couple days to allow them to last longer and stay where you put them..

Samples at Basics

Hi,  Noticed today that tomorrows taste sampling at Basics in Janesville was not of the calendar.  You don't have to be a member to come. but it is a members sale.  So come, bring a friend, sample, say Hi, and have a good time. See you there!

Community Supported Agriculture 2.1

Just a reminder to cheek out the web site for the CSA 2.1 information. For some background, Pat and I have marketed with Farmers market venue's. We found that unless you didn't value your time as a business person, you didn't really even cover the true costs of production. Great to see your customers one on one, but expensive if you hired or valued the labor to sell and prepare. We are also purists, in that we could not see bringing product back to the farm that had been handed by many people and selling as "fresh" produce through another sales source. (It happens!)

We also listened to our own customers and other CSA customers on what they didn't like about their current CSA.
#1 "I really can't afford so much money up front, not knowing for sure what I will get and how much I can/will use."
CSA 2.1 is set up that you are now buying like the grocery store - wholesale - for the items you want from a list of what is available. It is first come first served, but you don't have to take items that "we, BlackSheep Enterprises,"want to give you for that week. Our system is set to be activated by an up-front $300, of which $15 is used every week for 20 weeks to purchase items you choose at current wholesale price. If you want more, you can buy more - AT WHOLESALE - and pay at the time you order. In my household, when we can accomplish the same thing, (or better),and hang onto $300 to $500 for an extra 6 months we jump at the chance! We also try to be frugal, and not pay again and again for items we cannot, or do not know, how to use.

#2 "My family works and plays hard, and we get only 2 weeks in the summer for a vacation. I have to find someone or place to take my "Box" to."
CSA 2.1 runs over a 22 week period, and your account is credited for $15 of purchases over a 20 week period. Let us know in advance if possible, and there is no penalty or other effort on your part to skip the weeks you have chosen. If you buy product on all 22 weeks, you still get wholesale pricing for the extra two weeks, just you pay for the full order, WHOLESALE.

#3 "I end up throwing up to half of every box out due to not knowing what it is, no one really likes to eat a certain item, or we just weren't home enough to fix everything before it spoiled!"
C SA 2.1 is set up for the family to look at schedules, what they like to eat, and chose their items accordingly. If you have relatives/guests coming and know you will be needing much more, you are no longer limited by the "box" and can order $60 or $70 worth. You still pay wholesale, can adjust to the week you need extra in, and would only pay $45 to $55 that week! (ex: $60 - $15 = $45 paid as much as 18 or more weeks later in the calender year! And the $45 was spent WHOLESALE on-line at a very busy time in your hectic schedule! )

Become a part of this improved system now!!!

Flowers in January

The hardest job I have is to clean out a bed before it has quit producing, but just the same past it's prime.  Today I had to  clean out tomato and culinary flowers on the south side of the lower house.  As I was getting ready to go up to the house I noticed the flowers I had saved to take up laying with my winter gloves.  Flowers in January, not so bad after all.  PS  there are lots more culinary flowers in the upper house.  So give us a call or ask your local produce manager to give us call, if your looking to brighten your salads or desserts.  

Fresh veggies in WI. in January!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

We are one of the few Wisconsin producers crazy enough to keep producing in this cold weather. We currently operate two cool houses and produce cool season crops all winter long. We are in discussions that will bring about the construction of three more houses in the near future as well!

These houses allow us to produce spinach, kale. and other greens and herbs that you normally would have to get from Mexico, Florida, or California. As an example, we will probably pick the last of our brussel sprouts, and heritage tomatoes in the next two weeks. Moved some of our growing production trays back to East Troy, WI. Will be planting more spinach and other cool season greens this week.