Not-So-Boring Family Farm

20/07/2024

Market nights in the summer are some of our favorite ways to end a busy week. For all those who stopped by, we thank and love you! ❤️❤️

Yellow Snow Phoenician Mickova

20/07/2024

Stop by the Mother Road Farmers Market tonight for your weekly fix of produce fresh from the garden - we have hot Jalopeanos, poblanos, shisito peppers, sweet peppers, beans, cherry tomatoes, pickling cucumbers, squash and zucchini! Also this week, we’re debuting TWO new herb blends alongside our popular bread dipping herb blend - a sweet & spicy BBQ rub and a dill & herb blend. We have freshly made croutons seasoned so you can sample before you buy. Hope to see you all soon!

** Prices in the comments

18/07/2024

As an Australian, this cracked me up! Bees take their jobs seriously … there’s no drinking in the job! 🐝

18/07/2024

It wasn’t a big harvest today but hellloooo, check out the size of the SURPRISE zucchini!! We snipped a lot of basil to dry for our different herb blends. The smell is so intoxicating! Thank you garden ❤️

18/07/2024

🪱 Say hello to some of our new friends! 🪱

Sometimes things don’t survive and that’s what happened to my 2 dill plants. Because it was pretty much dead and dry, I rubbed the flowers gently between my fingers and scattered it through the small raised bed - to see whether I could get new growth from the seeds. I legit found a huge family of worms just wiggly about which makes us happy in returns because it signals that we’re doing something good with our soil! So cross your fingers the worms continue to be happy and we’ll see some new dill sprouts in the near future. ❤️

17/07/2024

Another helpful tip from our family to yours! 🤣

17/07/2024

Look at what the garden gave us today … our first pickling cucumber! We’re excited to see our tomatoes are ripening as well as another squash and more hot peppers!

17/07/2024

So the Boss called for an impromptu business meeting to discuss a possible new service we can provide the community … a mud bath for your clothes and feet! After much back and forth, we agreed that maybe this was the best use of our energy and resources.

Side note: Can’t fault him for wanting to give me some spa treatment! 🤣🤣

15/07/2024

One of the first lessons I learned in the garden came from a cousin who told me there was no such thing as failing … that it was experimenting to see what worked and what didn’t. I took that advice to heart and it popped back up this afternoon when we finally harvested our 10 grow bags. We’ve been impatiently waiting and watching our potato plants grow, flower, and then begin to die so we could see what grew …. 23 SMALL POTATOES!! Now, at first glance, it’s a little disappointing because we were sure that this year would be truly abundant. Then I remembered - treat it like an experiment - so this is what we walked away with …

🥔 Last year we grew 13 potatoes so we definitely had an increase! Whether big or teeny tiny, we grew potatoes. That’s a big deal!

🥔 Last year we used mesh hampers and switched to grow bags this season to test if it would be better. What we learned was we needed to factor in the heat and research more about when the truly ideal time to harvest is, more precise watering, and any other nutrients that might be needed.

🥔 Next year we’ll move to the next growing option we wanted to try - in ground/raised beds. We’ll give it a third attempt to see if it’s the better option for where we live. Perhaps adding a shade cloth to shield it from full sun. If that doesn’t work, it might be time to put growing potatoes on the back burner and use our efforts with a different vegetable.

🥔We had a blast trying to grow potatoes this year. The toddler helped as well as a dear family member. Memories were created. A sense of pride was received. To me, that’s priceless.

So looking at the different things we learned, we’re grateful for the new experience and can’t wait to try again next season. Switching our perspective definitely made it easier to see the silver lining and keep us motivated to explore.

Plus - we can’t wait to eat them! Only question is … what to make? Potato salad? Baked potatoes? Mashed potatoes? Or toss them in the oven with butter, garlic, and Parmesan cheese? mmmm, decisions ❤️

15/07/2024

Look what was spotted this afternoon in the garden?? I shrieked so unbelievably loud … maybe you heard it? 🤣🤣 Did you know that cucumbers have SPIKES on them??

13/07/2024

The toddler is debuting his NEW booth tonight at the Mother Road Farmers Market with 50c water and DIY Sunflower kits for $5! Stop by and say hello … you’ll also find tomatoes, hot peppers, and beans!

11/07/2024

❤️ QUESTION & ANSWERS POST ❤️

One of the things we love doing - aside from working in our garden/farm, is sharing the things we’ve been learning. It’s why we love going to the Mother Road Farmers Market each week because we get to chat with others and celebrate the growth happening. So … does anyone have any questions for us? Something that you’re curious about … perhaps a question about your own garden? Comment below and let’s see what we can learn together ❤️

11/07/2024

Look how cute these canvas market bags look! Why use plastic ones when you can shop with style! 👩🏻‍🍳💋

11/07/2024

🐝 HELPFUL HINTS 🐝 Pollinating squash and pumpkin plants …

Unlike tomato plants, squash and pumpkins rely on pollinators to move the needed pollen from the male flower to the female - this means insects such as bees and butterflies etc. If you’re worried that none are visiting your garden, you can hand pollinate by taking the male flower, removing the petals carefully, and then rubbing the inside stick of pollen over the inside of the female flower. The below photos show how to tell each apart. The female flower will also be attached to the fruit!

We hope you’re all having an amazing time in your gardens!

10/07/2024

Yep! 100% TRUTH!

10/07/2024

It’s definitely a work out!

10/07/2024

There’s a reason why our toddler is the boss of our family farm …

a) We were harvesting some peppers and one had gotten burnt a little by the sun. “Take to the doctor, Daddy!”
b) We had a new flower in one of the beds. “Hello flower. I Aidan.”
c) Coming home from the store with things for the garden. “I help, Mum. I on it.”

We love seeing the love he has for the things we grow and how involved he is with each task. Know that when we bring things to market … it truly is from our hearts to yours ❤️❤️

09/07/2024

Look what was hiding underneath a squash leaf! I’ve been working on my spider fear ( thanks Mickova!) and left my new little friend where he was. Hopefully he’ll repay that kindness by snacking on bugs.

09/07/2024

I’m so grateful for the pollinators that visit our plants! Looks like we have butternut and tomboncino squash in our near future 🐝🐝

08/07/2024

We took 3 green bell peppers to market this past Friday night and they were instantly bought. Look at the size of them!! So grateful for the abundance we’re already seeing. Were doing something right which excites us!

08/07/2024

I spy with my little eye, something beginning with S … 🥰

08/07/2024

Guys, you have no idea just how excited we were when we found female fruit from our tromboncino squash plants! Cross your fingers the flowers get pollinated properly (we may need to get up early and do it ourselves) so we can bring these amazing vegetables to market.

Every year we pick a few seeds from plants we watched our favorite social media gardeners grow and this squash variety is courtesy of Brian from Redleaf Ranch ❤️

06/07/2024

We’re set up … #16 on the market’s handy dandy map! Come say hi!

05/07/2024

HUGE NEWS FROM THE FAMILY FARM … we have a ripened cherry tomato!! It might just be one but it marks the beginning. As per usual, it went straight into the boss’s (toddlers) mouth. We like to think it tasted like hope, summer, and abundance! Yay!

05/07/2024

Tonight’s the night … the Mother Road Farmers Market starts 6pm-9pm! Were debuting our BRAND NEW bread dipping herb blend as well as … PEPPERS fresh from the garden! Eep! This is going to be such a fun family night. See you there!

The MAP! Come on out for a free night of Family Fun! 6pm - 9pm at Eagle Pavilion in Winslow, behind the visitors center! Live music with everyone’s favorite BORDERTOWN! FRESH PRODUCE, all your favorite vendors, food trucks - don’t miss out!

We will also be signing up eligible recipients for the AZ Famrers Market Nutrition Program at the front gate! Stop by for more information!

SEE YOU AT THE MARKET!

03/07/2024

If the size of these two peppers is any indication … we’re going to have an incredible season!

03/07/2024

What’s on my mind, Facebook? Our potatoes. I’m so impatient right now and want to peek in the grow bags! This is rough side of gardening. Mark feels the same about all the tomatoes currently growing on the vine. He can’t wait for them to be ready.

Ugh! 🤣🤣🤣

02/07/2024

Testing out a new recipe for Dill Refrigerator Pickles. We seriously LOVE the smell of dill. The sucky thing is now we have to wait at least 48 hours to taste them! 🥒🥒🥒

Side note: a few ingredients are missing from the photo. 😃

02/07/2024

Keep rosemary by your front gate …

02/07/2024

Seems fitting considering I’m also a bestselling, award winning romance author! 🤣