Lucas Lane Farm

12/11/2024

A favorite pie recipe of ours uses the old fashioned Cushaw squash. It most likely originated in Mesoamerica, Mexico or thereabouts. In the midwest, Tennessee, and North Carolina, the Native Americans especially the Cherokee grew this winter crop for all it's great nutritional benefits as well as storage. They can be found either all white or white with green stripes, We lucked into finding an all white variety a few years ago, which seems to be the oldest heirloom variety in our area and saved the seeds. The Cushaw are large, with orange flesh, and to me the best pulp for making a squash pie. We just finished processing and putting up the last of ours and will have a wonderful Christmas Squash pie for our table!

12/11/2024

Is there anything better than December tomatoes? YES. August ones. However, they are better than any tomatoes in a store at the moment. We grew these in a cold frame high tunnel, with timing and extended fall weather. No heat source. So, hello Christmas. We have about 60 lbs ripening now.

12/11/2024

Sometimes, when you decide to grow something new and you have no idea how it will respond and you have no idea what you are really doing, the end result can surprise you. Case in point, growing Oriental Okra (as it was told to me), or Silk Squash( as someone else called it), started out as a cool "What if?". Edible at 5-6 inches in length, great in stir fry etc. As the season moved along, nobody wanted to try or buy them, we were tired of eating them and they started to vine out of control. The gourds then grew large, inedible and took over our entire enclosure horizontally and vertically. Then, someone who saw them, who was much smarter than we said that they resembled Luffa.
Yep, they were right.
They were Luffa.
So, we let them go and harvested them right before the first freeze. Some were still a bit green, so of course there were some good hacks online on how to speed up the drying process in our shorter growing season. Did it work?
Yep.
One of us in the family around mid August politely mentioned that "We will never be growing these again." "Ever." "Remember the Bitter Melon growing disaster of 2023?"
Yep.
However, after drying, peeling, washing, de-seeding, this same family member has been having fun, creating Luffa wash and scour pads for friends, etc.
The farm is happy now.
Just in time for the holidays.

12/11/2024

These will be growing on our farm next season. Guicoy Squash. Native to Guatemala and Central America, in the early small stages, right after the flower drop, the squash tastes like zucchini. Boiled whole, it's tender and can be added to soups, fresh eating and more. Letting it mature it becomes a nice winter squash.

12/01/2024

Putting the blueberries to rest for the winter. We use pine needles to mulch and to help the acidity of our soil. This enclosure of the berries takes 18, 52 gallon contractor bags of raked needles to allow about 3" of depth.

11/09/2024

LOOFAH. We grew loofah this year to eat in the early stage of it, which is called Silk Squash, Chinese Okra as well as many other regional names in Asia. It has a cucumber/zuchinni flavor at 3-4" long. Now is about the time people take it, dry it and make loofah sponges out of it. Soap makers and others interested in trying this, or have done it before, are welcome to reach out to us, so we can set aside some time to harvest these. Nice fun project! Text or fb message us. 812.606.0224

11/08/2024

FRESH GREENS. The weather has been very kind and has helped us with a late fall crop of fresh greens. We have a nice 4 variety lettuce and spinach mix for $4. Frisee in a bag for $3. There will be peppers available too, a few Lesya sweets, as well as hot peppers. Also, there will be japanese eggplant and fresh eggs , while they last. HOURS-10 am until 5pm, today and Saturday. At our stand.

10/19/2024

LAST DAY FOR THE STAND. We have tubs of peppers both hot and sweet, along with other produce. Anything not marked by a sign feel free to take what you need. If it does have a sign, well, that's what the cost is. 9am until 7pm. Thanks!

10/17/2024

We have and will harvest the following peppers. The varieties are somewhat rare but very purposeful in the home and culinary eating world. First we have the elusive Malawi Piquante also known in the international food world as "peppadews". This is the same pepper that you see on a store shelf, or at a salad bar, pickled and stuffed with cheeses. We can sell by the lb. or lbs. Pickle these little sweet treats!!
The second pepper is the famous Korean Bbq pepper they used dried and for spice. The Red Gochu is a great medium heat pepper. For anyone grilling, process these fun guys and add to your grilling arsenal.
The orange peppers shown are Aji Peach, aka., Aji "Sugar Rush", from the Peruvian mountain areas. A bit more heat, we process them for hot sauce. We have plenty of these and more coming on. Make your own hot sauce, or dry them for spice. Let me know what everyone might be interested in, the quantity and we can work out a very fair price for you! Really, it will be fair...
The last and the most coveted pepper is the Aji Charapita pepper from Peru. It is a small yellow dynamo and is absolutely a smash hit when combined with mustards and honey for an amazing somewhat hot cooking, or topping sauce. Rare, in this area for sure. The harvesting of these are a pain. They are small and you will need latex gloves. But, to alleviate the completely time consuming part of harvest on our end, we might just uproot each plant as it sells and you get to have the fun. Price will be deducted of course. Again, reach out with your wants and we can go from there.

10/15/2024

WE WILL NOT BE PLAYING "CLOSING TIME", BY DAVE MATTHEWS, NO WE SURELY WILL NOT. HOWEVER, WE WILL BE CLOSING FOR THIS SEASON, THIS SATURDAY THE 19th AT 7pm.
BUT, PLEASE FEEL FREE TO HUM THAT SONG IF YOU STOP BY ONE MORE TIME...
THE SEASON FOR US IS WINDING DOWN. IT HAS BEEN A BIT OF A CHALLENGE THIS GROWING PERIOD DUE TO OUR LACK OF RAINFALL, AT PEAK NEED TIMES, BUT, WE TRIED TO PLOUGH THROUGH AND GROW WHAT MOTHER NATURE ALLOWED US TO.

SO, MANY, MANY THANKS TO EVERYONE WHO FREQUENTED OUR FARM OVER THIS PAST SEASON. IT HAS BEEN WONDERFUL TO GET TO KNOW NEW FOLKS AND OF COURSE WE ALWAYS HAVE APPRECIATED OUR LONG TIME FRIENDS OF THE FARM. YOUR WONDERFUL RESPONSES TO WHAT WE ARE ATTEMPTING TO DO HERE HAVE BEEN VERY KIND AND CERTAINLY, WE HOPE TO CONTINUE THIS FOODIE RELATIONSHIP WITH EVERYONE AGAIN NEXT YEAR.

FROM THE FOLKS AT LUCAS LANE FARM (basically it's just Kim and Kevin), THANK YOU.

10/12/2024

LAST DAY FOR THE YARD SALE! Great items from antiques, primitives, clothing, books, toys, household items and more. Until 3pm, at 7125 S. Lucas Road.

10/09/2024

YARD SALE-FARM, BARN, ANTIQUES, PRIMITIVES, CLOTHING, HOUSEHOLD, TOYS, ART, GAMES, BOOKS, MEMORABILIA ETC. FUN STUFF FOR EVERYONE. THIS FRIDAY and SATURDAY FROM 9am until 3 pm each day.
No early sales. Thanks.
AND YES, WE STILL HAVE TOMATOES, AND EGGS, ETC.

10/01/2024

HOT SAUCE AFICIONADOS!
We are starting to harvest in stages, as they ripen, the Peruvian Aji Sugar Rush Pepper. The Sugar Rush, is a fruity peach tasting pepper with some medium to hotter heat. The Scoville is usually 10k-20k, which places them around a Serrano on the scale. We use this pepper many ways, such as for Hot Sauce, chili powder, pickling, or fresh eating slices with a white cheese. We have an abundance of them and are selling a salad bag size for $6. Bargain. But, we'd really like people to try these since we feel they are very special pepper with many flavorful options. In our stand and if someone needs more in bulk, just reach out. Thanks.

09/28/2024

CHICHIQUELETE HUCKLEBERRY Preserves.
We had a nice harvest of these rare ground berries from the Chichiquelete area in Mexico. It's an absolutely off the chart antioxidant berry, being a super vibrant blue/purple. Yes, we do add sugar, cane sugar to extract the great flavor. Lemon zest and pectin round out the ingredients. We usually process enough for our friends and family, but this year we stayed in the kitchen a bit longer to bring these to you. It's a Home Based Vendor product, crafted with care, labeled and ready to be adopted. Thanks. $8 a jar.

09/28/2024

PERSIMMON PULP and more
We are still open. We have fresh
ly processed persimmon pulp frozen, in the white cooler, $10 each. We have just harvested Kentucky Pole Beans, at $3. a bag. We have Trionfo Violetto Italian Purple Beans, $3 a bag as well. Tomatoes are still available. Asian eggplant varieties, lettuce and more. We also have Cushaw Squash, and Pennsylvania Dutch Crooknecked squash, limited. We are still open! Thanks.

08/28/2024

CHICHIQUELETE GARDEN HUCKLEBERRIES.
This small purple fruit which is in the nightshade family makes the absolutely most vibrant purple jams, jellies, pie filling etc. Originating from Mexico, the name once again is a misnomer and is no way affiliated with the wild huckleberries here in the states. Each year we harvest these to make preserves. They are not for fresh eating due to their blandness, however once cooked and with sugar added, the process is magical. We will have these in the stand in 2 lb increments for $5, which is what the normal 7-8 cup recipe calls for. Please wash and de-stem them before use. Recipes are printed and in the stand, or just go online!

08/28/2024

WE WILL BE CLOSED ON LABOR DAY. Also, our hours now will be 9am until 6pm daily except 12-6 on Sunday. Thanks!

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08/26/2024

CHINESE OKRA, SILK SQUASH, VIETNAMESE GOURD, ANGLED LUFFA, a vegetable with many names. This is not okra. It's a misnomer, so anyone who has a distaste for okra and it's slime, feel relieved. This amazingly productive vine gourd is used many ways. First, it tastes like zucchini, yet the middle is spongy so sopping up the liquids and flavors you are cooking with is easily absorbed. You can slice it up for stir fry, as the spongy middle captures the flavors. You can dice it, use it in soup, or as a tasty snack, deep fried in a chickpea batter and dipped into your favorite sauce. These are just coming on but we will inventory them in the stand as soon as they are harvested.