gardening Archives - Archie's Acres

Life has been great lately at Archie’s Acres and we have some fun updates from the farm.

Weather is slightly more cooperative

We’re happy to report that the rains have finally given us some time to dry out. That said, we still get a little rain almost daily, but the 1-4 inch torrential rainstorms have slowed and the plants are finally looking and feeling healthy. Aaaaaand because of that it’s been a real tomato and pepper party over here!

We love having so many different varieties!

Which leads me to happily announce that we have begun selling produce to The Log Cabin Restaurant in Galena, IL! How exciting is that?! It’s such an honor! We’re over the moon about it!

Farmer’s markets are fun!

Farmers market life has been great. We’re enjoying our time at the Rockford City Market every 2nd and 4th Friday and we’re loving our guest vendor spots at the Glenwood Sunday Market in Chicago! The next time we’ll be at the Glenwood Sunday Market is September 24th. We meet so many amazing people at these events and we love being able to learn from the vendors and local farmers around us.

It’s great when friends stop by to see us at the market! Bernie and Nancy it was so good to see you!

Exciting development for next year

We’ve also decided to begin a CSA program starting next Spring! For anyone unfamiliar, CSA stands for Community Supported Agriculture. Members sign up to receive a box containing fresh, organic, seasonal goodies from our farm. Once or twice a month (depending on your preference), we will deliver it to a convenient pick-up location.

We’ve created a form in the “Shop” section of our website where you can add your information and we’ll email you when we finalize plans. In the meantime, we’d still like to share our chicken and quail eggs with people after the Farmers Market season is over. But that’s all a work-in-progress.

Critters everywhere

Our farm pets are doing well. Moose is growing by the literal second! He’s as big as Archie right now and he’s not even 4 months old! He’s fitting in with the goats and Tilly very well.

On that note, Tilly is a diva. She demands treats and pets and she regularly steals Moose’s dog bed. She shouts at us from the pasture every time she sees us. It’s hard to believe that she’s only 4 months old (born April 21st) because she’s such a presence on the farm already that we can’t imagine life without her!

Another hen has hatched a couple of babies in the last week. She has 2 beautiful little chicks and she’s momming like a champ! Just today I watched her teach her babies about the automatic waterer that we have setup in front of their coop. It was really sweet to watch.

Nelly teaching her baby how to be a chicken

Well that’s it for now! Keep following us on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/archiesacres/

Nothing beats Springtime in the Midwest!

As Midwesterners, after struggling through blizzards and freezing temps all Winter, springtime is always welcomed with open arms. However, this Spring is extra special, because we now have a yard (5 acres of it) with copious amounts of garden space. And we are over the moon about it!!! At our apartment in Chicago, I only had a 4′ by 5′ area on our deck to use as my personal garden. I had just enough space to grow a couple pepper and tomato plants. But now our current setup is a lower vegetable/fruit garden of 150′ by 30′ and an upper herb/flower garden about 18′ by 18!’ I’ve always hoped to be able to put my green thumb to work!

150′ by 30′ garden?! Only in my wildest dreams!

Having this much gardening space is amazing. And because of the endless space opportunities, I went a little crazy on seed buying. We have some very pretty and unique plant seedlings growing in our indoor greenhouse right now. Tomatoes and peppers are taking up the vast majority of pods at the moment. Mainly because they are best started indoors before transferring outside, unlike our radishes, kale, mesculin greens, melons, arugula, corn, peas etc which are best grown from direct sowing.

100+ starter pods are sprouting!

Greenhouse sprouting success! 22 varieties of happy little tomatoes.

22 varieties of tomatoes

We have blue, tie-dye, green, chocolate brown, yellow, orange, pink, orange /red striped, purple of all sizes…the list is a lot longer. We’re so excited for you to see them! And we’re even more excited to sell them at farmer’s markets this summer! Here is just one of the 22 varieties that I’m super pumped about…

Tigerella tomatoes. These are going to be beauties.

We also have 7 bright and colorful varieties of belle peppers. Purple and chocolate varieties included, of course. Here’s one of my favorites…

Purple belle peppers; not only yummy but super pretty too!

We have 7 varieties of hot peppers. The shishito peppers are a personal highlight, I’ve been obsessed with them for over a year now! Shishito peppers are small Japanese peppers that have the sweetest/most pungent flavor, they taste like a belle pepper x 100, but they’re considered a hot pepper because 1 out of 10 is spicy. They’re so delicious, even if you get a hot one, which isn’t really that hot. I first tried them at Bangers & Lace in Evanston, IL. The head chef at the time, Justin Schaub, sautéed them and tossed them in with the fried cheese curds. The app was a real showstopper.

the color Purple looks great on food!

Not only do we have purple tomatoes and peppers but we have purple broccoli, kale, potatoes, cauliflower, green beans, Brussels sprouts, corn and tomatillos! We are not only growing delicious, organic food but we want it to be pretty food!

Tag: gardening

Exciting Times at Archie’s Acres