Desert Song Urban Farm

23/03/2025

Harvest is in full swing here in Phoenix. A micro farm here can produce all the eggs, herbs, vegetables, and fruit you could ever eat— and then some! Carrots, fresh picked from the garden, are dramatically superior in taste, and offering them to kids who think they don’t like carrots is one of my favorite things to do. (They gobble them up!) Pictured, in no particular order: carrots, beets, celery, eggs, dill, cilantro, mint, chamomile, cornflower, calendula, and three types of lavender.

04/03/2025

When life gives you lemons…
These last couple of months I have found myself in an unexpectedly rough season. My physical health has been up and down. My capacity has been… disappointing. It’s affected my mental health as well. As a result, I’ve had to set new boundaries, and accept new limitations and a new and unfamiliar version of ME. But— when life gives you lemons, it’s time to find a way forward. Make lemonade. And lemon curd. And salt- preserved lemons. Sorbet. Dried lemons for herbal tea. Zesty lemon soap. Get creative. Find a way to make THIS season beautiful. And, on the many days when even that is too much— Look for the blue blue sky above it all, held up by The One who never tires or ails or fails.

26/02/2025

Been enjoying a couple of shows these past weeks, while also enjoying the sunshine and the garden that’s beginning to grow! Here’s some of our teas (all herbs from our garden or wild harvested), tallow lotion, and goat milk soaps!

22/02/2025

Tomorrow! I’ll have a spot at this event, selling my soaps, lotions, and more. This is my last public show before fall, and everything is my low “friends and family” pricing.

Can’t make it, or want a preview? My online store is here: https://www.desertsong-urbanfarm.com/

Online prices include free shipping and handling for orders over $45.

Join us tomorrow, Sunday, February 23rd from 10am-4pm! Kids parade will kick off at 10am. There will be artists/makers/vendors, food trucks, live music, & a beer garden. FREE admission to the street fair; purchase tickets to tour the historically/modern homes being showcased online or at the CNA booth at the street fair. We can’t wait!!

10/01/2025

I’m SO excited to finally offer these beautiful beeswax essential oil sachets!

Flowers picked from my garden, pressed and preserved; they are arranged into unique flower portraits in their molds. Then locally sourced beeswax and a generous measure of high quality essential oils are poured over them.

The result: A beautiful, natural work of art that’s so wonderful to hang in bathrooms, closets, or anywhere you’d like essential oils to add health and quality to your world. They are especially pretty hanging in a window to let the light softly filter through.

Currently, I’m only offering one scent combination: lavender- geranium- may chang. What other essential oil combinations should I consider? I’d love your suggestions!

Link here: https://www.desertsong-urbanfarm.com/product-page/beeswax-sachet

08/01/2025

A warm and windy morning has created a chartreuse carpet of African sumac flowers in my east garden. The last of the autumn leaves are falling too. We don’t have winter here: just autumn moving smoothly into spring. I’ve been pressing flowers from this garden— pansies, geraniums, and more. On Friday I’ll show you what I’m doing with them— and will be adding a BEAUTIFUL new product to my online store. Stay tuned!

08/01/2025

My onion starts arrived in the mail from Dixondale Farms! I took a break from everything else to get them in the ground today. It’s important to choose varieties that are suited to your latitude. Here in Phoenix, latitude 33, we must plant short day onions. From left to right, there are three varieties here in my garden: 54 of Yellow Granex, 54 of Red Creole, 54 of Texas Early White, and then 45 more Red Creole. Dixondale Farms is super helpful with figuring out what to plant for your location and how to succeed with growing onions. (Hint: They are super easy! Give them full sun and plant in early winter here in the low desert.)

01/01/2025

Tallow making, day 2: Today, twenty-four hours later, the beef fat is very soft— like jello, or pudding. It’s even less pleasant than it was yesterday, and I’m still days away from having anything I’d want on my skin or in my food. I push the whole cooked mass through a cone-shaped sieve, crushing and pressing and pouring until all but large impurities are through. (This is my dog’s favorite day of the week. He stays close by. 🙂) The pot goes on the stove to boil, and the foam gets skimmed off the top. Finally, the contents get poured into stainless steel bowls to cool overnight. I toss those large pieces still in the cone to the dog and to the chickens, and my longest and least pleasant tallow-processing day is done.

31/12/2024

Not really a “pretty” day on the farm. I started the first stage of processing new tallow. It’s my least pleasant task— messy and very time consuming— and it doesn’t look or smell very pleasant at this stage. It amazes me that this mess of locally sourced beef fat can turn into to a wonderful lotion that has literally saved my skin. Many of you have messaged to say the same thing. It does make it all worth it in the end. I also started re-stocking, after selling out of so many things during the holidays. Today it was all about making Creosote lotion. Tomorrow I’ll get it packaged and pretty and ready to nourish your skin and mine.

30/12/2024

It’s a rest day, so no farm work. My husband still lets the chickens out in the late afternoons, and the light was nice, so I got a few photos.

This is the season of rest for chickens, too: The short days tell their bodies to take a break from egg laying, so we only get one or two per day from the whole flock right now. In the spring they will begin laying again, and by Easter we’ll feel a little desperate to get all those eggs eaten or sold.
For now, they get a free pass, resting their bodies and re-energizing for the next season.

A fun fact: The new spring eggs will have more strongly tinted eggshells ( blues, greens, browns, and olives) because of this rest time.

28/12/2024

Farm log today: I turned an old weedy garden bed into new space for chamomile; put nine plants in to supplement the ones that will come up naturally next month. Chamomile is extremely important to my business: It’s a main component in our best-selling Most Soothing Salve, in our chamomile-infused tallow lotions, and in some of our herbal teas. Also harvested a little lemongrass to dry for herbal tea. The plant is looking ragged and needs to be cleaned up and divided and transplanted in February.

28/12/2024

Farm log for today: Busy day, and so exciting! I put together a new seed starting area, and got lots of seeds planted. Taking photos like this helps with keeping records of what was started and when. It doesn’t look very pretty now— just a lot of soil— but it’ll (hopefully!) make for a beautiful grade this spring

26/12/2024

Merry Christmas to you all. May you find peace in your hearts because of His coming.

12/12/2024

Just a friendly reminder that you have until December 14th to order our Simple Christmas Box or our Christmas Box Extravaganza!!

Order at our website: https://www.desertsong-urbanfarm.com/product-page/cozy-autumn-gift-boxes

Peace 🤍

10/12/2024

Exciting news! I was invited to have a vendor spot at this intriguing event. Come and enjoy some relaxing mama time (tickets in the link provided) or come shop from 12:30-2:00 when the event is open to the public.

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/sip-shop-self-care-womens-social-tickets-1102313662839

10/12/2024

Packaging Plain & Simple tallow lotion tonight. I’d sold out completely, in the middle of my busiest season, so I’m here tonight making origami boxes and wrapping lotion sticks with pretty paper. Seems a shame that I’ll have to put labels on them, eh? My husband is nearby, playing Christmas music, and the vibe tonight is pleasant. Cozy. Earlier today I looked, with horror, deep into an ugly part of my soul that I hadn’t known existed. Processing it, getting to the bottom of it, I found that the grace of God was still there, compassionate and loving me so so deeply. I’m feeling lighter, cleaner, refreshed in that grace and love. I hope you have these moments too, finding yourself loved by a God who so wildly loves you that he would sacrifice his life to have you safe and loved in him.