Sisterchicks Stumble Upon our Farm Stand

Today, as I was sitting on my couch, with my eyes nearly closed, waiting for Jr to fall asleep against me and listening to S4 explain the deep importance of the different match box cars lined on his leg, the phone rang.

I jolted up to get it in hopes to not startle a very much not sleeping now Jr. I seen it wasn't my hubby so I headed back to the couch.

So there is my confession...I don't usually answer my phone. Unless you are my hubby. And there are only one of those out there...

But then the phone rang again. The same odd number I hadn't recognized from before. So I answered it.

There was much chattering on the other end.

"Hello?" I finally dared to ask when there seemed to be a lull.

"Oh, yes, um, hello. Is this Full Circle Farm?" an older woman asked.

"Yes, it is." Totally thinking this is a nut case already.

"I'm looking for your farm. Do you have your name on it?"

"No, we have an arrow board with a broken arrow on it. The sign says zucchini and squash on it."

"Oh, well, I am down at the post office here and I have talked with the post man and he doesn't know where you are. Someone in line said that it is the Dykstra farm? Are you the Dykstra's?"

"Yes. Bob should know us."

"Is Bob the bald man at the post office?"

"Yes, we know Bob. He knows us." I snickered, because really, Bob is that great. And I could hear the other woman asking Bob if he knew a Dykstra...

"Oh, well, my friend and I are going to head up to see you then. We were just out for a drive and wanted to visit you...I seen your farm on Sue Cramer's facebook. I know you from that."

Well, any friend of Sue's is a friend of mine so I gave her the super simple directions. And then got off the phone giggling to myself that this was going to be a memorable stand visit. Sadly, due to the bad growing year, we didn't have much of a display but I kept an eye out for her anyhow.

I watched out for her as my sister in law arrived. I watched for her as I set the table for the pineapple, ham and onion my sister in law spoiled me with today for lunch. I watched for her as we were finishing lunch and finally heard Josie bark.

And there they were.

I had to meet them. How could I not?

These sweet, older, totally stylish women had seen on Sue's face book wall that she had plugged a farm that had a facebook page (us). I'm not even sure if they knew Sue personally. They had driven a solid half hour for sure just to arrive on our road.

Where they missed our house.

And met the worlds greatest post office clerk.

And then got lost again. So then they stopped my wonderful sweet mail lady and got directions.

But then they realized they were out of gas so they had to find a gas station.

And then they stopped into the stand to buy half a box of tomatoes and some winter squash.

And chat, of course. And let me know that Bob DOES know me. But he does not know our farm name. I am guessing Bob at the Post Office knows our farm name now.

They would have bought everything of S2's though. They knew he was saving to reach $100 dollars in farm sales this summer and just couldn't wait to help him get there. But poor S2 didn't have anything out to sell this week. School does that to a farming boy.

The ladies explained that they just love to drive and they got lost a lot but then they just have the grandest of times. They can't wait to come back for pumpkins.

True sisterchicks, those two. They totally made my day. (And I bet Bob's too.)

And I am certain that one day, that'll be me too. (my husband is rolling his eyes, because he knows this is soooo true)

(this post is dedicated to The Farmer's Wife who want to meet Bob, and asks about him regularly)

Farmer's Market Saturday

This year we have decided to branch Full Circle Farm out a bit. We went as a family to our first farm market to sell our produce there. Now is a “slow” time for us, but we thought it would be fun to try. Our first trip was Memorial Day.

It went way better than I ever imagined it going. My hubby used to own a farm market; he grew up selling on one of the busiest farm markets in the area. This market was just laid back, easy going, fun.

In fact, I was so sad when we didn’t have enough asparagus to sell the next week.

The following week I got to go…by myself with all the boys. Now just think on that. Me, four boys, asparagus and strawberries to sell. I promised the boys a fishing trip and McDonald’s if they went. They did, we did great. I was so worried about when they would have to go pee; we have to cross the road to get to a bathroom. But the boys did great. I could rave and rave about them, they did that well. It made this moma’s heart swell with pride.

It was a lot of fun too because I got to meet a fellow blogger, VS. It was so fun to meet her! I was thrilled she came down to visit us; it seemed odd to meet someone you think you know so well for the very first time. But it sure meant the world to me that she came to visit…next time I’ll have to hide a quart of our super sweet strawberries for her!

It is a lot of fun to sit there and chat with those around us. We are all there for the same reason….and we sit there chatting about the way to put salt on asparagus and how much sap it takes to make they maple syrup and how to make tea from herbs. It’s a blast! And me thinking it’s a blast just goes to show you how ‘farmer’ we really are over here.

I will try to keep ya’ll updated on the market front. It depends on what we have as to how often we can go. Later in the year I am sure we will be there every weekend but right now we just aren’t too sure, all depends on weather and what we can harvest…if we have enough we will so be there! I just wanted to give everyone a heads up on it.

Strawberries!

Here they are, strawberries! Oh, they are so yummy! I thought maybe I was just being prejudice about them, but everyone who tries them suddenly has their eyes fly open and they look at me and shockingly say “these are really really good!” So, it’s not just me, these strawberries are that good.

I’m not sure how much there will actually be. Last year we only picked a few at a time, to get a handful at any time was a rarity. Last night, Hubby and the boys picked four quarts so we are much further along than last year.

Tonight I made our first strawberry shortcake. Ahhhhhh, summer has arrived!

I keep telling my hubby that this was a brilliant idea to plant strawberries. He tells me I won’t be thinking that when they are all ripe at the same time and I have to get my butt out there to pick them. But I can enjoy them now as the boys run them into the house for me.

The other night my hubby and I were walking his fields, looking over the great garden he has gotten started and he was giving me a lay out of the field and we were just enjoying the quiet of no kids for a few minutes. We don’t date, we stroll the garden.......

As we were strolling along, we were grabbing strawberries to munch on. We picked a few and ate them as we walked along and then we went back to pick some more.

And I have absolutely no idea at all why this thought popped into my head. Ever have moments like that? But years ago, at the church we were attending, our dear Pastor had gone to Israel to visit. He took I have no idea how many photos but he set them up in this really cool way and talked us thru the trip on a Wednesday night. He talked about how this was the land that was ‘flowing with milk and honey’ and then he showed us some desolate looking spot. THIS was what the promised land looked like? And then he explained how God supplied them with just what they needed, how the shepherds moved their sheep around to find the green grass and so forth and so on.

And as I was ‘grazing’ strawberries with my husband and suddenly realized I had had my fill of them (I have no idea how many we ate, my fingers were red, that’s all I know) I thought of that. My husband and I had gone out there and not thought there were many berries and here we were both full. And it just made me think how God really does supply just what we need (example: manna in the wilderness in Old Testament times. Example: getting an unexpected check just at the very moment you needed it for some minor (that feels major) emergency) in the moment we need it. He never leaves us lacking.

The message we heard on Sunday talked about thinking about what God has done for you. To think about, does God have the right to say He is God and give us a way to live? What’s His ‘track record?’, does it prove He is indeed trustworthy? Can God say to you “Do this because I told you to….and I love you so much I’ll explain it for you (the Bible).” The pastor encouraged us to look at what God has done in my life, my families life, and assured his congregation that we would be amazed.

If God cares so greatly for us, why don’t we obey Him? Trust Him?

Something I thought of as I was picking strawberries, one of those literally sweet gifts of God, on a garden date with my Hubby and just thought I would share with you all.

ASPARAGUS !!!!!!

Here it is! The first asparagus of the season! Yum Yum Yum!

With all the rain we have gotten, it is still quite sandy. My husband, who despises sand in his food, learned this trick from his Dad. Rinse it well and then boil the asparagus til it is a rolling boil, take it out and rinse again thoroughly, boil til it's to your licking and then rinse again. It's a lot of work, but if it rains a ton it's just what you have to do do to get the sand out of it. It's worth it! Because this is so fresh (from our field) and we don't use a thing on it once it starts growing, it's safe to pick right there in the field and munch on it. I prefer it cooked...but, hey, it's worth noting! The asparagus is pretty sparse due to the colder weather, but it is coming up!

Coming up in this handmade by my creative husband greenhouse, is some of my husbands tomatoes and peppers. They don't look like much now, but, keep in mind, we have 1,000 tomato seeds here and soon this little green house is going to be overflowing. It's just thrilling to see them turning green!

And this is why we do it, for the love of it and the family we love.

First Farm Update

Drum roll please! Today is the very first for the year farm update!

This very morning, a mere half an hour ago, my handsome farmer husband ordered our first seeds. Hooray!

This is a big deal. Today is cold and windy and not feeling warm and springlike at all. But when he orders seeds it's like a vi sable conformation that spring is really on it's way. I can't wait to for the seeds to arrive!

(this was taken last fall when he hauled all the tomatoes into the house to keep them from freezing one very cold night)

He has ordered just tomatoes and peppers for the first order. Now he will be busy building a sort of greenhouse to start the seeds in - last year we used the bed of an undrived (is that a word?) pick up but we sold that so now he is going to build something more permanent since last years 'greenhouse' worked so well.

He has 8 tomato variety's arriving (equaling 1,000 seeds, last year we had 500) and 4 pepper varieties. To our farm stand customers, yes, your regular tomatoes will be here along with all the peppers you asked for last year so you could make your salsa this year!

I am thrilled and just had to share!