Events

Great to see some of our customers at 801 Franklin Friday night then at the Green U at the Botanical Gardens on Saturday. Lots of Ideas and ways we can become more sustainable in what we do. As a sustainable farm we strive to use as little inputs from outside the farm as we can so we aren’t using some elses resources and use renewable ones on our farm as the years pass and we tweak our system it becomes more sustainable all the time.
When I was a girl I was raised on a farm and I wanted a horse real bad. I did my research, showed my parents what I could do and how to take care of it. After I made my appeal dad said no if we can’t eat it we don’t need it. Meaning that it would only use resources we didn’t have so why have something that is a drain and not contributing. That line of thought doesn’t do much for consumerism. But keeps it simple and less stressful when you don’t live beyond your means. Maybe it takes an economic problem to put a more sustainable perspective on all our minds.
Hope we see some of you this week. Dove

Fall is coming

As you have seen many of the summer crops are fading and late summer fall crops are making their entry. More winter squash,there will be late tomatoes, green beans, radishes and lettuces will be making their way. Sweet potatoes will be harvested soon.
We have had some severe storms for 3 weeks in the afternoon and it has knocked us off the website on Fridays so that is why you haven’t gotten a web blog, yesterday I was in H’ville all day doing events and will be leaving here directly to go to the Green U. See you there. Thanks for your continued support. Dove

Events

Thought I would give everyone a list of events we are going to do. Times may change as we get closer but the dates are firm.
August 19th the Art Stroll downtown Huntsville from 4:30-8:00 p.m.
August 27th 801 Franklin for a little mini farmers market that will have a few of our farmers at it. They will be highlighting our food.
August28th the Green U at the Botanical Gardens featuring all kinds of green businesses and efforts going on in the community you can get involved with, of course food. As I understand it 801 Franklin will be doing a food demo.
Come out and see us and others in your community who are making a difference and maybe like minded. It takes events like these to bring us out to get a look at what is going on in our community beyond our work a day schedules.
Continue to pray for rain! and cooler temps. We all need it the vegeables, trees, animals, water table, us. Thanks for your continued support taste for good food. Your Farmers

Thanks for the Rain!

Thanks for the rain! We have gotten a good rain, enough to fill up the mud puddles. All the plants are happy and bright. It has started to rain as I am writing this yeah! Big drops. Well tomorrow is the summer festival at the Madison City Farmres Market this Saturday. Kevin is grilling vegetables and Dove demonstrating how to make a cucumber,squash,tomato salad. Come by and see us. On Hughes Rd. in Madison in front of Discovery Middle School.
Some of our farmers are at the Mentone Market on Wednesdays and the Chattanooga market on Sundays go by and see them. If you live in Mentone you can also order from CFN and it will be delivered Wednesdays at the market and you can pick it up from Leslie Rivett of Jay’s Garden Variety.
The Hierloom tomatoes are here and the best way to eat them is by themselves. the Cherry tomatoes are like candy. Eggplant should be along soon. Have a good week and see you all later. Dove

Pray for Rain!!

Please pray for rain! Even though we irrigate our crops the air has been so dry that it is taking all the moisture out of the leaves. Some crops are heat checking, meaning if it is too hot especially at night they will not set fruit and they may stop growth for a period of time generally this doesn’t happen until late August and September. We can usually get a good first crop of eggplants, bell peppers, tomatoes, for maybe a month before they start to slow down. The blueberry farmes are hanging tight they should have a good crop of the first berries comming off but if it stays dry there may be dried berries on the bushes later. That is what is happening in the field.
We will be doing the Art Stroll the 15th of July (next Thursday)from 4:30-8:00 p.m. and August 19th at the same time, we should have some things to sample, honey, coffee, pesto, produce etc.We are your local farmers! Come see us we would be glad to see you. Thanks Your Farmers

Changes

We are attempting to make our site easier to navigate and read. We have put a BUY NOW button in the “Your Account” page. It is the best place for us to put it considering we are working with in some one else’s website and we can’t edit the ordering pages. It gives you a choice in payment methods. We have also added a How To paragraph to the market page that guides you step by step thru the process.
We would like your feedback to let us know what you think. Is it a help or a hindrance?
We will also be adding a home page in the comming weeks that will make us a little more user friendly. You will also be able to go directly to cleanfoodnetwork.com instead of the locally grown site. Let us know what you think so we can better serve you.

I know delivery times are a particular problem. Go at the later time, as on delivery day many things can hold me up, bridge construction, accidents, farmers holding me up etc. Until we get to a point where we can have another vehicle doing deliveries, it is hard to do in one day. We pick in the mornings wash and pack it, the other farmers bring it to me or I go get it and it is delivered to you in the afternoon. You can’t get any fresher than that but it requires a bit of patience.

We will have a booth at the Art Stroll on July 15th and Aug. 19th from 4:30-8:00 p.m. on the square.Come see us we will have samples of our food and some for sale.

We are in the full swing of summer with everyone’s favorite veggies. have a good time this 4th of July, stay safe and we will see you next week.

Green Beans & Cucumbers

Two of my favorite vegetables have made it at last. Green beans which I munch in the field and almost make myself sick. The Trail Of Tears variety is a Cherokee heirloom that was taken along the walk as a result they are scattered every where in the south. Great green bean when small packed with flavor. Blue Lake stringless the standard in consistent taste and production they don’t get beany as fast as the older heirlooms. Green bean salad anyone! Or how about steamed with a little salt and butter.
Cucumbers, how refreshing in this heat get them good and cold in the fridge and slice. Great with sour cream and dill. sliced and put in vinegar water leave the bowl ni the fridge and keep adding new as you eat out of it.
Patty Pan squash is great fried or the bigger ones can be stuffed with wild rice or your favorite mix of veggies and cheese melted on the top.
Enjoy the summer bounty and ignore what your mother said about not playing with your food. If you would like to share your recipes with us we would be glad to put them on the weblog every Friday. Thanks and see you all later.

Seasonal Changes

Tis the season to shift from spring produce to summer. Most of the cabbage family and root crops are bolting because of the heat while the tomatoes and cucumbers are just coming on. Usually we can get many spring things to last until July and sometimes to the 2nd week in July, not this year.

I’m looking forward to cucumber salad, first tomato sandwich and fried green tomatoes, potato salad on July fourth holiday. Burgers on the grill! This is making me hungry. Everyone have a great weekend don’t over do it outside and I am getting out of this 100 degree tent. So long. Dove

Pay Pal

Yes we have added a paypal button so you can pay to refill your account or pay for your individual order. You can use your paypal account or a credit card to pay for purchases.
We are working inside someone else’s website so you can not pay at the end of your order. If we did that the money would go thru his bank account.
So once you place your order, go to the “Your Account” page and the buy now button is there. Click on the button and you can enter the appropriate amount in the window whether you are paying for an order or to refill your account. We will be notified when your payment has gone thru then we will have to post it in your account as we do now. This is another option for those who are reluctant to send a check in the mail or want the convenience of doing it at home.We hope you find this helpful. If there are any questions our new phone number is 256-659-1315 and our new e-mail address is cleanfoodnetwork@farmerstel.com

This week we have added some more beef from the Rockin N Farms here just north of us in Fyffe, They will also be doing some chickens for us in the near future. For those who have not had grass fed beef it can be a little tougher than grain fed beef because it roams in a pasture all day and has muscle tone, feedlot animals are confined to a lot and have minimal exercise and are fed grain which causes them to be fat and have the marbling in the meat. Grass-fed is leaner, less acid, and retains a healthy combination of the good oils for your body. We have found this beef to have a good flavor and if you use a simple marinade before you grill so not to loose the flavor but enhance it you won’t be disappointed.
On another note, this week we have gotten moved completely, the tractor has made it to the farm and all is well with the world. My office is in out tent and I am down to 1 filing cabinet and a small desk, paperwork is still in totes, this week I shall be catching up on paperwork, accounts and farmers. Don’t fear I haven’t forgotten. Thanks for all your patience with the recent upheaval we are on the smooth side of this now. Will be seeing some of you this week. Thanks Dove

Cherry Mystery

Well we finally found out what happened to the cherries. A opossum climb the farmers tree the night before he was to pick and ate them. The birds of had been helping the whole time. The opossum has been trapped and released so besides being a little stressed from captivity he is free to raid some one else. During melon season the coyotes & deer always know when they are at the peak of flavor. They are out in the fields the night before taking a bite out of one melon then another bite out of a different melon. You can tell which are the sweetest melons. They go for the sugar babies first and work their way to the less desirable.
Getting closer to having a routine again. The landlord said he wanted everything out by next week, so another week without planting. Reinforcements are coming though so next week we will have help planting, getting tomato and cucumber fences up, mulch hauled in and spread. Our place looks like vagabonds live there. A tent under a hoop house,shower bag hung out in the trees (we have the only bathroom with the stars and moon in it.Out house is almost complete. Processing room is a pile of sinks, counter tops and shelving ready to be built again. A six month old puppy that is a sweetie that we got from Jay and Les, he has a fondness for ripping up newspapers. We will have to work on garden rules too. Its not a job it an adventure.