We've got a party going on out here, or dare I say a FEASTIVAL!
Mark your calendars for Sunday, July 12, 2009 from 1:00 - 7:00 pm for ...
The 1st Annual Whitton Farms Feastival.
Come out to the farm for a feast for the senses! See, smell, taste, touch, and hear what farm life has to offer, even if its just for a day!
Keith and I have commitments from 10 Memphis chefs, 3 regional artists, and a great band to come out to the farm and work their magic! Expect to see a pig roast, organically raised beef grilled on the barbie, heirloom vegetable tastings, desserts galore, handmade pasta, and beautiful art on display and available for purchase! Farm tours/hay rides will given too!
All food served at this event will be locally grown & prepared!
Chef, Artist, and Musician list coming in a couple days!
Tomato growing and tasting contest! If you have a killer tomato plant and its producing big, tasty, and beautiful tomatoes, bring a sample (tomato) out to the farm and submit it in the contest! 1st, 2nd, & 3rd place prizes will be given!
Pie Eating Contest! Do you think you have what it takes to eat a pie faster than anyone else in the region. Sign up for the pie eating contest and we'll see who walks away as the Delta's one and only Pie Eating Champ! A prize will be awarded!
Proceeds from this event will go to the farm (we hope to purchase a pea sheller, haybaler, and a cold frame). Also, we want a portion of the proceeds to go to one of our favorite nonprofit organizations.
We hope to make this an annual event, each year choosing a new nonprofit to support.
Tickets are $30.00 each. Kids 10 and under $5.00 and babies get in free! Tickets can be purchased at at our booth at the area farmers market we attend: Memphis Farmers Market on Saturdays and Memphis Botanic Garden Farmers Market Wednesdays, or you can email for reservations. Tickets are already going fast. A couple dozen have sold today, so don't wait too long to get in on the feastivities. :)
Any questions email me at whittonfarms@live.com!
Newspapers and Jars!
For all of you who have donated newspapers, jars, and boxes... thanks so much for helping me get my herb garden under control, and many seeds stored in jars. Right now we are at capacity so hold off on bringing anymore goodies. I think Keith wants to strangle me cause we still have a mountain of newspapers to use out here on the farm ;) Again thanks for thinking of us, and everything you have given has or will certainly be put to good use! I'll let ya'll know when we need more!
Remember if you know your farmer, you know your food!
Alright gotta get back to the dirt.
Peace ya'll,
JillBilly
Monday, May 18, 2009
Sunday, May 3, 2009
STOP!!! Don't throw that away!!!
Hey Friends,
So I was strolling through my herb garden this morning and noticed a ton of little weed seedlings rearing their little heads out of the soft, wet soil. The first thing that came to mind was to get down on all fours and commence to pulling the little boogers out one by one, but I would be there all day if I did that. I went to the back porch where we store our old newspapers and realized we have exhausted our supply!!! Oh the humanity! :)
Mulching and composting have taken a toll on the grand newspaper pile we once had, so if you have any old newspapers, glossy inserts removed, PLLLLLLEASE save them for me!!! If you aren't already using newspaper for mulch in your own garden, save your newspaper for Whitton Farms and we will gladly put them to good use, rather than have them accumulate at the landfill.
You can drop off your stack to us at the Memphis Botanic Garden on Wednesdays, 2:00 - 6:00pm or Saturdays at the Memphis Farmers Market 7:00 am - 1:00 pm. Jonesboro folks you can drop off at the ASU Regional Farmers Market every Saturday 7:00 am - 1:00 pm. We also take clear glass jars and old tin cans. I guess the old saying of one man's trash is another man's treasure rings true here.
So the rain has come and gone, come and gone, come and... well, its still here. Our crops still look fantastic, but I would really prefer less mud in between my toes, ankles, shins, in the hair, etc... in the coming week. The dogs are a mess as well, but they seem totally at ease in the grit and grime of it all. Our shoes are caked with mud so barefootin' is how we roll for the time being. Just another day on the farm I guess, always at the mercy of the weather. I really wouldn't want it any other way.
Well, just felt the need to send a little message out to everyone. I am relaxing hard on a Sunday afternoon and hope you are as well. Many blessings and thanks to you who care to read this. I am heading to a soft chair with a good cookbook to pilfer through.
Peace ya'll,
JillBilly
So I was strolling through my herb garden this morning and noticed a ton of little weed seedlings rearing their little heads out of the soft, wet soil. The first thing that came to mind was to get down on all fours and commence to pulling the little boogers out one by one, but I would be there all day if I did that. I went to the back porch where we store our old newspapers and realized we have exhausted our supply!!! Oh the humanity! :)
Mulching and composting have taken a toll on the grand newspaper pile we once had, so if you have any old newspapers, glossy inserts removed, PLLLLLLEASE save them for me!!! If you aren't already using newspaper for mulch in your own garden, save your newspaper for Whitton Farms and we will gladly put them to good use, rather than have them accumulate at the landfill.
You can drop off your stack to us at the Memphis Botanic Garden on Wednesdays, 2:00 - 6:00pm or Saturdays at the Memphis Farmers Market 7:00 am - 1:00 pm. Jonesboro folks you can drop off at the ASU Regional Farmers Market every Saturday 7:00 am - 1:00 pm. We also take clear glass jars and old tin cans. I guess the old saying of one man's trash is another man's treasure rings true here.
So the rain has come and gone, come and gone, come and... well, its still here. Our crops still look fantastic, but I would really prefer less mud in between my toes, ankles, shins, in the hair, etc... in the coming week. The dogs are a mess as well, but they seem totally at ease in the grit and grime of it all. Our shoes are caked with mud so barefootin' is how we roll for the time being. Just another day on the farm I guess, always at the mercy of the weather. I really wouldn't want it any other way.
Well, just felt the need to send a little message out to everyone. I am relaxing hard on a Sunday afternoon and hope you are as well. Many blessings and thanks to you who care to read this. I am heading to a soft chair with a good cookbook to pilfer through.
Peace ya'll,
JillBilly
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Life as we know it
Hi Friends,
Yesterday marked the opening the Memphis Botanic Garden Farmers Market. It was a busy and eventful day. I heard many visitors stating it was their first visit to this afternoon market. There was plenty of spring produce out there. I saw mustard & turnip greens, collards, radishes, spring onions, baby garlic, swiss chard, dried peas, mizuna, sweet potatoes, mushrooms, strawberries, lettuce mixes, edible flowers, beet greens, honey, granola, plenty of jams, jellies, breads, pies, and shaved ice. Oh, and the flowers, peonies, bachelors button, iris, poppies, verbascum, blooming sage, and the potted plants/transplants were amazing as well. If you get hungry on Wednesday afternoons, do something nice for your state of mind and general health. The MBG is astonishingly beautiful, the produce is incredibly fresh & nutritious, and with that atmosphere it's sure to be the perfect way to wind down the afternoon. The Memphis Botanic Garden Farmers Market will be open May - the end of October, every Wednesday 2- 6 pm - rain or shine! Come on out, you'll be hooked.
Today is wet on the farm. We got a nice rain yesterday which certainly pleased the vegetation round here. Just checked on our fennel and kohlrabi and its lookin good. Most of the day we will work on transplanting in the greenhouse. We still have thousands of tomato transplants to work up and herbs, cut flowers, the list goes on. I love to check the babies (that's what I call my seedlings) each morning. Every day they grow at little more, spreading there leaves, putting on tendrils, or a stem rising, whatever the plant, its thrilling to watch them all grow to maturity. Keith and I get very attatched to our plants. I don't know if I've shared this with you guys but Keith will walk out to the tomato field to tell his tomatoes goodnight, every night throughout the growing season. They're always on his mind, even during the winter I can ask Keith, "What are you thinking about?", and he will reply, "Tomatoes." He is always thinking. Very crafty that man.
Tomorrow marks a special day for me. For the last 2 years I have had the pleasure of being a board member for the ASU Regional Farmers Market, which is located in Jonesboro, Arkansas, my hometown. Our board has been working very hard to promote and grow our little market on a shoestring budget, no doubt, and tomorrow marks the day of our ground breaking ceremony for the construction of a facility that will house our market!!! Yippee!!! For the last 4 years, we the vendors, have been lining up under the shade of trees in the middle of a cow pasture. It's really beautiful, don't get me wrong, but we wanted a building that protect all visitors from the weather, serve as a meeting place for various organizations, house a commercial kitchen we could rent out to bakers etc, have public restrooms, stage for live music, and hopefully one day, be home to a year round market!!! On top of all that, the facility itself will be a "green" building built from hay bales! How cool is that!?! We have been blessed with grant dollars and the support from our regional and state politicians. Hopefully we will have a our new home ready by next spring.
Monday, May 4, we have 56 kindergartners from Memphis coming to Whitton Farms for a field trip! We are absolutely thrilled to have these youngsters out to the farm to look at our spring crops, tour the greenhouses, hunt for mushrooms, and check on the chickens. They will even do a transplanting session with yours truly, and then have a nice picnic in the pecan orchard. Hopefully we can spark a "growing" interest in these little minds!
That's all I've got for today. Gotta get back to the endless, yet fulfilling cycle of farming.
Cheerios,
Jill
Yesterday marked the opening the Memphis Botanic Garden Farmers Market. It was a busy and eventful day. I heard many visitors stating it was their first visit to this afternoon market. There was plenty of spring produce out there. I saw mustard & turnip greens, collards, radishes, spring onions, baby garlic, swiss chard, dried peas, mizuna, sweet potatoes, mushrooms, strawberries, lettuce mixes, edible flowers, beet greens, honey, granola, plenty of jams, jellies, breads, pies, and shaved ice. Oh, and the flowers, peonies, bachelors button, iris, poppies, verbascum, blooming sage, and the potted plants/transplants were amazing as well. If you get hungry on Wednesday afternoons, do something nice for your state of mind and general health. The MBG is astonishingly beautiful, the produce is incredibly fresh & nutritious, and with that atmosphere it's sure to be the perfect way to wind down the afternoon. The Memphis Botanic Garden Farmers Market will be open May - the end of October, every Wednesday 2- 6 pm - rain or shine! Come on out, you'll be hooked.
Today is wet on the farm. We got a nice rain yesterday which certainly pleased the vegetation round here. Just checked on our fennel and kohlrabi and its lookin good. Most of the day we will work on transplanting in the greenhouse. We still have thousands of tomato transplants to work up and herbs, cut flowers, the list goes on. I love to check the babies (that's what I call my seedlings) each morning. Every day they grow at little more, spreading there leaves, putting on tendrils, or a stem rising, whatever the plant, its thrilling to watch them all grow to maturity. Keith and I get very attatched to our plants. I don't know if I've shared this with you guys but Keith will walk out to the tomato field to tell his tomatoes goodnight, every night throughout the growing season. They're always on his mind, even during the winter I can ask Keith, "What are you thinking about?", and he will reply, "Tomatoes." He is always thinking. Very crafty that man.
Tomorrow marks a special day for me. For the last 2 years I have had the pleasure of being a board member for the ASU Regional Farmers Market, which is located in Jonesboro, Arkansas, my hometown. Our board has been working very hard to promote and grow our little market on a shoestring budget, no doubt, and tomorrow marks the day of our ground breaking ceremony for the construction of a facility that will house our market!!! Yippee!!! For the last 4 years, we the vendors, have been lining up under the shade of trees in the middle of a cow pasture. It's really beautiful, don't get me wrong, but we wanted a building that protect all visitors from the weather, serve as a meeting place for various organizations, house a commercial kitchen we could rent out to bakers etc, have public restrooms, stage for live music, and hopefully one day, be home to a year round market!!! On top of all that, the facility itself will be a "green" building built from hay bales! How cool is that!?! We have been blessed with grant dollars and the support from our regional and state politicians. Hopefully we will have a our new home ready by next spring.
Monday, May 4, we have 56 kindergartners from Memphis coming to Whitton Farms for a field trip! We are absolutely thrilled to have these youngsters out to the farm to look at our spring crops, tour the greenhouses, hunt for mushrooms, and check on the chickens. They will even do a transplanting session with yours truly, and then have a nice picnic in the pecan orchard. Hopefully we can spark a "growing" interest in these little minds!
That's all I've got for today. Gotta get back to the endless, yet fulfilling cycle of farming.
Cheerios,
Jill
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