Mom's Farm, Inc.

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Last year near the end was pretty busy for us, which caused us to cut back on posting. We are back around this year with new plans:

• We will be shrinking the timeframe and pickup location for our CSA’s. Last year our CSA customers picked up at the farmer’s markets, which made it difficult for us to change to more productive markets. This year we will have pickup at our home in Joliet and a shorter CSA share period from May 14th through July 2nd for a total of 8 weeks. It will consist of spring crops only. More details are available on our CSA page.
• We will be going to more markets in the spring, but we will be closing for the year earlier. With 2 little ones and the heat of the summer, we feel it is wise to end the July 4th weekend. We are currently investigating the following markets: New Lenox, Homer Glen, Naperville, Tinley Park, and Kankakee. If there is a market that you would like to see us at, let us know.
• With the change of the period we will be at market, we will be growing the following: Lettuce, Broccoli Raab, Broccoli, Radishes, Beets, Carrots, Onions, Spinach, Endive, Kohlrabi, Cabbage, Zucchini, Cucumbers, Alfalfa and Mung Bean Sprouts, Corn, Garlic, and Herbs.
• We are including pincushions into our product line. Check out our store on Etsy to see what is available.

We are still farming a half acre in Lockport as well as at our home in Joliet. The plants have already been started inside and we are planting more today.

We’re ready for the New Lenox Farmers Market tomorrow with the items below:

Lettuce 4 oz: Loose leaf ($2.00)
Spinach 4 oz: Loose leaf ($2.00)
Endive 4 oz: Loose leaf, it can be used as a lettuce or cooked ($2.00)
Radishes: These are 1″ to 3″ round radishes with the tops still on them. You can cut the radishes and put them into a salad, then use the leaves in the soup listed before($2.00 bunch of 10)
Parsley 3/4 oz: Great for soups and turkey roasts, gives the broth a rich taste to it ($2.00)
Chives 3/4 oz: Besides potatoes, we use on top of omelets or hispanic rice, best fresh ($2.00)
Dill 3/4 oz: We use in tuna salad ($2.00)
Green Onions: We use the as a salad topping, many other uses ($2.00 bunch of 10)
Rosemary 3/4 oz: We use for meats to give them a unique taste, nowhere near the dry stuff available elsewhere ($2.00)

Any three $2 items are $5. All grown chemical pesticide free.

Come and see our booth with the largest radish you have ever seen.

We are no longer accepting customers of our CSA shares as we would not have enough time to plant more with the shares starting in three weeks. Thank you for all that have signed up, you can start your shares early if you would like, just let us know. We’re going to try to get more photos up, our snap peas are 5 ft tall already and we picked 20 strawberries this morning.

With the Lockport and Homer Glen Farmer’s Markets over three weeks away, we decided this past week to signup for the New Lenox Farmer’s Market located in the City Hall parking lot. We will be there from 8 AM to 1 PM on Saturday and will be selling lettuce, endive, spinach, radishes, and Rosemary. Our prices for the upcoming week are:

Lettuce 4 oz: Loose leaf and first picking of spring ($2.00)
Spinach 4 oz: Loose leaf and first picking of spring ($2.00)
Endive 4 oz: Loose leaf, it can be used as a lettuce or cooked ($2.00)
Radishes: These are 1″ round radishes with the tops still on them. You can cut the radishes and put them into a salad, then use the leaves in the soup listed before($1.00 bunch of 10, $2.00 container of 20 radish bottoms)
Parsley 3/4 oz: Great for soups and turkey roasts, gives the broth a rich taste to it ($2.00)
Chives 3/4 oz: Besides potatoes, we use on top of omelets or hispanic rice, best fresh ($2.00)
Rosemary 3/4 oz: We use for meats to give them a unique taste, nowhere near the dry stuff available elsewhere ($2.00)

Any three $2 items are $5. All grown chemical pesticide free.

With the farmers markets not open yet, our fridges are overflowing with vegetables. We decided to bring our prices lower to help us get some more room.

Here is what we have available:

Lettuce 8 oz: Loose leaf and first picking of spring ($1.00)
Spinach 8 oz: Loose leaf and first picking of spring ($1.00)
Endive 8 oz: Loose leaf, it can be used as a lettuce or cooked ($1.00)
Radishes: These are 1″ round radishes with the tops still on them. You can cut the radishes and put them into a salad, then use the leaves in the soup listed before($1.00 bunch of 10, $1.50 container of 20 radish bottoms)
Parsley 3/4 oz: Great for soups and turkey roasts, gives the broth a rich taste to it ($2.00)
Chives 3/4 oz: Besides potatoes, we use on top of omelets or hispanic rice, best fresh ($2.00)
Rosemary 3/4 oz: We use for meats to give them a unique taste, nowhere near the dry stuff available elsewhere ($2.00)

Any three $2 items are $5. All grown chemical pesticide free.

The weather has been great the past couple of days with plenty of rain in the evenings and warm during the days. We planted 250 pepper plants this weekend and will be doing some tomatoes this week. We double-checked the radishes and they are ready to be eaten. The spinach is ready as well. We no longer have strawberry or Rosemary plants available, thanks to customers buying strawberry plants this weekend.

Here is what we have available:

Parsley 3/4 oz: Great for soups and turkey roasts, gives the broth a rich taste to it ($2.00)
Chives 3/4 oz: Besides potatoes, we use on top of omelets or hispanic rice, best fresh ($2.00)
Rosemary 3/4 oz: We use for meats to give them a unique taste, nowhere near the dry stuff available elsewhere ($2.00)
Spring Onion Tops 2 oz: these work great in salads or in the soup listed before. We don’t have too many currently, but will have more soon ($2.00)
Lettuce 4 oz: Loose leaf and first picking of spring ($2.00)
Spinach 4 oz: Loose leaf and first picking of spring, these work in the soup listed before as a substitute for radish leaves ($2.00)
Radishes Bunch of 10: These are 1″ round radishes with the tops still on them. You can cut the radishes and put them into a salad, then use the leaves in the soup listed before($1.25 special pricing)

Any three $2 items are $5. All grown chemical pesticide free.

As you know, this is our first year in business and we’re just learning what is a reasonable size/price. We had a request for some of our herbs and have realized the sizes listed were too big. The herbs listed as 3 oz should have been listed as 1 or 1/2 oz instead. The picture above gives you an idea what an ounce of rosemary, chives and parsley.

It’s been a little while since we put some photos up, here are some of them from our back/front yard.

Radish plants with some true leaves, we have a couple thousand more plants at the farm:

Strawberry plants along the house, last year we had to pick them before the feral cats got to them. I’m thinking of ways to protect them this year, I may put a translucent fabric over the plants.

Our front yard has garlic, asparagus, chives, rosemary, parsley, oregano, peas, lettuce and a little wild dill:

Closer view of front yard:

Another day’s harvest of brocolli raab, we’re increasing the size we’re selling to 8 oz for $1.50. We had 4 oz last night mixed with asparagus, onions and garlic, we recommend it with sweeter vegetables such as carrots or corn.

Last year we had grown some broccoli raab and started it late in the spring. It did not turned out well because by the time they were big enough to eat, it was too warm and the bugs were out in full force. They ended up going to seed and we pulled the plants, thinking about it no more.

We got home this evening after being out to the farm all day and noticed some of the “weeds” growing along the fence looked a lot like broccoli raab. After a taste and comparison to the photos online, it was. We picked some and now have it available for you. We’re selling it in 5 oz packages as a little bit of it goes a long way. It is used in some Italian dishes. The price for it is $1.50.

Another “weed” available in 5 oz packages for $1.50 is dandelion leaves. They work great as part of a salad.

It is early in the season, but we already have some items available for purchase. We currently are only selling out of our home as the farmers markets have not opened up yet, but are in the works on a partnership with a local grocery store. The items we have available this week are the following:

Parsley 3 oz: Great for soups and turkey roasts, gives the broth a rich taste to it ($1.25)
Chives 3 oz: Besides potatoes, we use on top of omelets or hispanic rice, best fresh ($1.25)
Rosemary 3 oz: We use for meats to give them a unique taste, nowhere near the dry stuff available elsewhere ($1.25)
Rosemary 6″ tall plant: This is the size our Rosemary plant was last spring and is now a 3 foot tall plant with many children plants ($2.50)
Strawberry plant in 3″ plastic pot: Already has green leaves and one of them thought it was June due to some warm days we have had and bloomed ($2.00)
Strawberry plant in self-watering ceramic pot: Same as above, but in a decorative pot, great gift idea ($6.00)

Let us know what you think of what we have right now, this is our first year doing this. Photos coming later today while we work on setting up the irrigation system.