Sample Sunday News! John Whitson, or neighbor and organic farmer, has got a BUMPER crop of basil and tomatoes - all certified organic!!! He will have basil and tomatoes for sale at our farm this weekend, at VERY good prices. If you wanted to freeze/can tomatoes, or make oodles of pesto (I personally cannot get through the winter with out a few quarts of frozen pesto...and I'm very serious about that!), come on out and we'll get you fixed up. Oh, he has delicious and wonderful organic garlic for sale too!

Now. I'm off to make a big 'ol mess doing some batiking with natural dyes (see post below). I'll take pics and let you know how it goes!

oh.

My.


GOODNESS!


Just back from our annual judging at the State fair - we host and judge a herbal cooking contest every year, and every year the entries were PHENOMENAL!!! This year, some highlights include: super-deliciously garlicky herb bread (one loaf contained SIX CLOVES of garlic!!!!!!!!!!), a most amazing and delicious lavender-chocolate torte, fabulous lemon balm pound cake, a delicious pecan/mint tea bread (it tastes much better than it sounded!), and a fantastic bread containing an interesting mix of herbs such as juniper berries, mustard, thyme, peppercorns and allspice - paired with a dark beer and some sharp cheddar...oh my!!!

A good friend/customer of ours always enters oodles of contests at the state fair and she sent us home with one of the seven (!!!!) cakes she had entered in the fair today...I'm including a picture so you can see the caliber of stuff I'm talking about. Is this cake gorgeous, or what? And, I assure you - it tastes even better than it looks!!!!!!!!



in other news! We stil have space in our Batik With Natural Dyes class this Saturday, August 11th - come learn to batik with natural dyes and make and take home a gorgeous window charmer such as this:



or this:





in FURTHER news (gosh, aren't we busy this week??) We have a SAMPLE SUNDAY this weekened, Sunday, August 12th, from 12-5 PM - all three farms are involved, here's what's going on!

At Prairieland Herbs:
LIVE MUSIC! Super-talened Sarah Johnson of Adel, Iowa will be playing beautiful music for us!!

Samples of our Fiesta Dip and Garlic Herb butter - perfect for summer veggies and corn on the cob! Body powders will be on sale, and we'll be giving out samples of soaps and whatever else we have time to make up and throw in the sample basket. :)

Northern Prairie Chevre will have:
* Professional Tribal-Style dancers, Benu Dance Company from Lincoln, Nebraska will entertain at 1:00 and 3:00 and have items for sale.
* Jasper Winery will be sampling their award winning wines.
* Anthofer Family Farms ironworks decorations and The Atlantean ethnic jewelry.
* Milton from Sheeder Farms will be sampling his free-range meats.
* Lots of meats for grilling season.
* NEW! Kramer's Gourmet Salsas.
* Tour the barn, visit the kids and girls and view either a milking or kidding video.
* Lots of kid-friendly activities.
* Lots of samples and much more to see and do!

Picket Fence Creamery will have:

ICE CREAM SUNDAES ONLY $2! That's right...we'll be making sundaes with our famous vanilla ice cream and your favorite toppings! Choose from caramel, chocolate, or crushed cookies...ONLY $2! We'll have a kids' size available for the children too!

TRY LOCAL FOOD SAMPLES GALORE! Our own fresh white cheddar cheese curds (regular, dill, garlic, hot pepper, and a garden herb blend (created by our friends at Prairieland Herbs), cream cheese ball, elk sticks, creamery butter, local honey, and of course..."the best chocolate milk this side of the Milky Way!"

TRY OUR FRESH GRILLED MEAT! Jeff will once again be grilling some of our delicious beef and pork, raised right here at the farm without the use of artificial hormones or chemicals. Burgers off the grill - $2! Hotdogs for the kids - $1.

TRY OUR PICKET FENCE ALL-PURPOSE SAUCE! Dip your meat sample in some of our Picket Fence All-Purpose Sauce - great for beef, pork, chicken, and your other favorite meats, and for dipping. Wonderful! Only $4 a bottle.

FROM JENNA'S ORGANIC GARDEN- Fresh radishes! We'll also have fresh organic garlic from our neighbor, John! Radishes: $1/bag. Garlic: 75 cents/bulb. Feel free to browse around our garden. And get ready for tomatoes - Jenna has 120 tomato plants!

FRESH FROM VANDERPLOEG BAKERY IN PELLA- Dutch letters and apple cinnamon pecan bread! Also Pella bologna, beef jerky, and beef sticks.

SUPER DEAL! A fresh cherry, berry, or cherry-berry fruit crisp (made from scratch with REAL fruit), and a quart of iced cream...ONLY $10. Enjoy dessert!

OTHER GOODIES- Sour cream cinnamon rolls (made with our cream!), $3.90 for plate of four; single serve berry crisps, $1.49; fresh Lillie Mae caramels from Marshalltown (made with our cream!), $5.99/bag; your favorite Iowa wines; and a nice selection of certified organic foods.

FOR THE GRILL- Look over our selection of beef, pork, lamb, elk, buffalo, chicken and goat meat. All local meats from animals NOT injected with artificial hormones. We have fresh farm eggs, too...brown and green!

KIDS! See the calves, pigs, & kittens, hay maze, 00100355

and run through the sprinkler to stay cool! Free pencils and posters, too!

FREE KITTENS! We have about 16 kittens. We will be giving them away FREE on Sunday, July 15! Pick any size, shape, or color that you want! (We have three black Halloween cats!)

Music will be provided by HB Productions, Altoona, Iowa.

Whew. with all that suff, why *wouldn't* you come see us on Sunday??

Hey gang! We still have 3 spots open in our Soapmaking 101 Class this Saturday, August 4th - if you're interested, please do sign up!!

And, here is a wonderful summer recipe for all that zucchini I know you have in your garden...Enjoy! I will get it posted on the website pretty soon!

You need:
zucchini or summer squash
cheese (whatever kind you want)
herbs (whatever kind you want)
salt and pepper (if you want).

I made this last saturday for 10 people, for a dyeing class we had at
our shop. I made a huge 9x13 pan and they ate it all and I thought
there might be a fight over who got to lick the pan.

Slice zucchini or summer squash into 1/4 inch thick slices or rounds.
I like to do it longways, so the slices are kind of like lasagna
noodles, but the rounds work too. Place one layer of sliced zucchini
in the bottom of a pan. Sprinkle with salt and/or pepper (if you
like), a generous sprinkling of whatever chopped fresh or dried herbs
you have, and a layer of cheese. Repeat, until you are out of zucchini
or cheese or your pan is full - but end with a layer of cheese. Cover
with foil and cook at 375 until cheese is melted and zucchini is al
dente. If you want to be fancy, remove the foil for a few minutes and
broil the cheese on top.

My best rendition of this recipe, to date, used green zucchini, a
combo of sharp cheddar, mozzarella and feta cheeses, seasoned sea
salt, freshly cracked black pepper, plenty of dried toasted minced
onion, a bit of granulated garlic, and lots of thyme.

The good thing about having regular classes held in our classroom is that it regularly forces us to clean our classroom. Because otherwise it tends to be come the catch-all place where all manner of boxes, supplies, herbs, and other random strange things get dumped. So Friday, before our dyeing class, we spent ALL DAY cleaning the classroom! it's still not perfect, but we did clean and install the new fridge and stove we just got. We now have 2 full sized fridges and one large dorm fridge, and they're all 100% chock-full of oils, essential oils, and dried herbs. We had an orgaizing spree with the EO's and dried herbs, shown off in these pictures. Dried herbs are all on the top freezers - herbs starting with A through L are in the left freezer, and the rest in the right freezer. You can't see it, but on the front of each fridge/freezer door is a list of what herbs, eo's and hydrosols are in it, and what quantity. the thought being that if someone removed, say, a pound dried lavender or two lbs. of tea tree eo, then that person would mark it off the list on the front of the fridge/freezer, and that will help us keep better track of of all our stock. Instead of saying (as we do now) - "Hey! where is the dried lavender? are we out? did i have some in the back corner over there?" followed by much muttering, rummaging, swearing, hair-pulling, and frantic phonecalls to Ameriherb......

Also...you can now find a selection of our herbal wares at Morning Light Books, on 73rd St. in Windsor Heights. We're pleased and proud to be affiliated with this wonderful store!! They have a really great selection of classes too - be sure to check them out!

DYEING WOOL WITH JACQUARD ACID DYES - this Saturday, July 29th!
This is a pic of all the roving, yarn, fleece and fabric I dyed and took home after last year's Dyeing With Jacquard Acid Dyes class. it was a BLAST! We played all day, and splashed color willy-nilly, hither and yon!


This is what John took home from the same class last year. We are holding the class again, this Saturday July 28th - we still have room for a very few students! If you're interested please register online!

We just pulled a few weeds, so our annual herbs are looking pretty good! Most of these are destined either for the still (lemongrass), hair vinegars (rosemary), or my mouth (basil!). :)



Here is our little Go cat. Isn't she sweet? She's graceful and muscular - a true Iowa Ditch Tiger!



Beaker is SO big! He's just fun to have around. His voice has quit breaking (mostly) so he can honk like a big goose whenever he likes! He's trying to learn to fly...he'll take off running, wings flapping, get a few inches off the ground, before he lands....and then spends the rest of the day walking around the farm, eating grass and bugs. :) He loves when we work outside and hangs out with us all day, then quietly goes in his pen with the ducks at night. What a spoiled goose!



The popcorn plants grow so FAST!!!!



Here is the rain garden Donna planted in front of the shop just last year. It's entirely prairie plants/native plants, and it's gorgeous!! She did an outstanding job, I think.

These sunflowers were actually accidents...just spilled birdseed, really, but they're one of the most cheery things on the farm right now! I was trying to explain to Toby, my 6 year old nephew, that these big yellow flowers will make the black seeds that both he and the birds like to eat. He was skeptical. :)



Here's Toby mowing! (with a little guidance from John). He sure has been enjoying helping on the farm lately...pulling weeds, digging holes, mowing, and just generally messing around. Ahhh, to be six again!



Here is Beaker! My gosh, he is SO big! He honks now! For a few weeks, his voice was breaking...he'd say "weet weet HONK" :) Now he can do "big goose" honks just about anytime! Also, he is starting to *think* about flying....he will run a few feet, then sort of take off and glide a bit, then touch down and run some more. But you know what? We think he thinks he's a dog. But our dogs think they're people, so really...it's very confusing. But if, say, Donna leaves in the car with a dog or two, the other 2 dogs, AND BEAKER, will run after her as she drives away. And when I drive to work in the morning, I usually am greeted by 3 dogs and a goose running towards the car, full speed, to say hello! It's really all very amusing. :) But Beaker is quite happy to go into his pen with the ducks at night (He thinks they're boring, but they keep him company well enough at night). By the way, even though I refer to him as "he", we have no idea what sex he, uh, she, uh, it?? is.



Speaking of grandpas, my grandpa (Donna's dad) is here, and has been here for a few months, helping out and hanging out. (I call him Bakka, by the way, so if I refer to him as such, that's just my name for him). Anyway, he's been doing an *amazing* job of going through our back land and old farm buildings and finding old, interesting stuff to use for decoration and/or landscaping. He totally landscaped the front of our classroom using some rocks and old "stuff" we had laying around the farm. That, a bit of mulch, and a few plants, and all of a sudden it looks like someone came and professionally landscaped the barn. it's wonderful! I'll get some pictures of the other side of the classroom when he gets it finished.

SAMPLE SUNDAY!!! Sunday, July 15th, from 12-4 PM. And GUESS WHAT?!?!

TEMPLETON RYE IS COMING! I could NOT be more excited. I have loved their micro-distilled rye whiskey (made just down the road from us, in Templeton, Iowa) since I discovered it earlier this year. We could NOT be prouder to have them come visit us for a Sample Sunday! They'll have merchandise for sale and, hopefully, will be sampling a bit of their wonderful, smooth, delicious whiskey!
I strongly suggest you check out their website -it's wonderful!

We will also be giving away samples of our Herbal Healing wands (perfect for summertime bugbites, scrapes, and sunburn!), and will of course be sampling our very own Prairieland Popcorn - grown in our backyard, popped in our kitchen, and flavored with fresh Picket Fence butter and a bit of sea salt. YUM!

Picket Fence Creamery and Northern Prairie Chevre will also have vendors, activities, and sales, so please come out and visit all 3 farms!

Prairieland Herbs products now available at Chit and Chat coffeehouse in Waukee!!! :)

Our (still unnamed) boy duck now has a girlfriend!!! She's very quiet and laid back, and REFUSES To get into the pond. Silly girl! But, she's been laying eggs for us!! And they are very good company for Beaker (our rescued Canada Goose).



Donna has been nurturing this buckeye tree since it was a tiny sapling, and now it has it's first buckeyes! We're very excited. :)



OMG, the cuteness! Why hasn't anyone taken these adorable kitties home yet????

Happy Midsummer, everyone!!

The wet spring has messed things up a little bit here at PLH. Normally, our St. John's Wort and our Lavender would be blooming on midsummer, but not this year....both plants are kind of scraggy and struggling. They're "late bloomers", haha. :)

The roses and thyme, however (as you can see above) are blooming like mad! That's why we LOVE to plant them together...the thyme makes a beautiful carpet of blooms all around the roses. It takes a few years, but I think the effect is really nice.

In other news - we still have room in our fabulous fiber classes!
We have 2 classes on Saturday, June 30th. In the morning, we're going to have fun spinning with exotic fibers - alpaca, silk, wool, mohair, etc. In the afternoon, you can learn to play with color and roving, to create gorgeous and unique yarns! These classes are taught by Abi Hutchison, from High Prairie Fibers, and they are *always* fabulous. These classes are informal, fun, and wonderful! You'll learn alot and take home a TON of fiber.



On Sunday, July 1, we're also having a fun Spinning Clinic, also taught by Abi. If you're interested in spinning but have never spun before, come on over! We'll get you started. If you're a beginning, intermediate or advanced spinner, this is an excellent time to "play" - share ideas, try other people's wheels, explore new techniqes and fiber types, etc. Abi will be providing fiber to play with...just bring a wheel, drop spindle, or any other type of equipment or project you want, and we'll PLAY! Show-and-tell encouraged, and I will make sure to have some fun snacks on hand too!

We certainly know who is in charge around here! (This little fella is *still* looking for a home, by the way!)



Donna, weeding, in her famous red hat (That's what happens when you let the grandson pick out your weeding hat!)


Plants destined for the still! Lemongrass, lemon verbena, rosemary, and more...


Popcorn!!! (Those of you who have visited the farm on a recent Sample Sunday have had the pleasure of tasting last year's crop, which is delicious!)



Our patch of sweetgrass (destined for the still - I hear it makes a lovely hydrosol!)

Goose Update! Here is a picture of Beaker, our rescued-and-now-thinks-he's-people Canada Goose. He's probably about 6 weeks old now, and is fully into his "geeky teenage" stage! The furry cuteness is gone, and he's getting all his feathers in, and changing colors. (By the way - we refer to him as "he" but we actually have no idea what sex he is!). He still loves people and wants to be around us ALL the time. He doesn't really like to be touched our petted, but he is constantly at our sides, and will even "groom" us if we let him (nibbles to the legs and feet).



There are few things funnier than sitting alone in the shop...all is quiet, cats are asleep, door open, filling orders....and then hearing the "slap slap slap" of big goose feet, as he comes in to see what you are doing. :) He trys to eat the cat food every chance he gets, but we don't let him if we can help it!



We did get Beaker an adult male duck for a friend, and they do tolerate each other, but dont' seem to have "bonded" very well. But this adult male duck (who still needs a name...got any suggestions? and NO we are not going to name him Donald!) was getting picked on by another male duck at his old home, so he's going to stay here with us...we hope to get him a "lady friend" very shortly. He is free to come and go in our farm pond anytime he likes, but he seems very shy and reserved, so we gave him his own mini-pond in his pen, and he really likes it!



Here we are building a bigger and better pen for our fowl. They get out to roam around the farm with us while we are here, but we wanted a bigger outdoors area for them to enjoy on evenings and weekends. Are they spoiled, or what??

OMG, is there anything cute than a sleeping kitten? Yes! A kitten sleeping in a pile of roving. :) Isn't he adorable? We have 2 kittens available for adoption here at the farm. All of our shop/house cats are spayed/neutered, of course, but this is a farm, and we occasionally have feral cats that come here and have babies. So this fella and his brother (or sister....we're not really sure) are 8 weeks old, litter-trained, used to kids, cats, and dogs, and looking for good homes!



Donna has a small fetish for cacti, and this is one of her houseplants that is blooming. isn't that a gorgeous, and bizzare, bloom??

Prairieland Herbs Customer Service Department. :) (Aka Toby! Donna's grandson, Maggie's nephew, and all-around good kid).

Farm cleanup continues...as does the rain! We actually got some things planted last Friday, and had hoped to do some tilling today (wednesday), and a bunch more planted. But we got DUMPED on (random 5:30 AM thundershower), and it's raining again this morning, so....no tilling and planting today. *sigh* Maybe we'll get the garden in by the 4th of July!!

But the farm cleanup is going well. We hired a fellow with a beautiful John Deere tractor (shown above) and he spent a few hours at our place digging out HUGE rocks that we couldnt' get with a skid loaded, pulling out trees and stumps that were in the way of mowing or were too near out buildings, and removing old fenceposts that were no longer in use. Then he tilled our back pasture area (behind the barn, for those of you that are familiar with our farm). That machine is amazing! Even though we spent 2 weeks in May digging out rocks and old concrete, the back area is still loaded with rocks. that tiller was just spitting out rocks the size of volleyballs - it didn't even slow it down. incredible! We hope to seed that area to pasture really soon, so we can care for it ourselves from now on.

Fowl update!!! Beaker, the fellow shown above (who used to be yellow and fuzzy but is not getting his feathers!!!) is a Canada Goose - thanks to all of you who called or emailed to help us identify him! He is, I think, the world's most spoiled goose. He has his own huge and comfy pen in the barn for at night, and during the day he wanders around at will, eating just about anything he can find (grass, dandelions and bedstraw are favorites, as are worms, ants, and crackers) and getting lots of attention from us and our customers. He gets in our little pond several times a day and has a good swim, and eats the water lily leaves. he sure is handsome! He chases the cats and will even snitch their food - he is one onery goose!

Sadly, we lost his duck brother, Stu...the neighbor dogs came over and, well....we never saw Stu again. Our dogs are fine with the fowl, but the neighbor dogs...not so much. We are keeping a very close eye on the situation. Our most fabulous neighbor and postal-delivery guy has offered us a few of his ducks to keep Beaker company, so we think we are going to take him up on that offer. We'll keep you posted on their progress!

The other day when Donna FINALLY got to plant a few things (it's been so wet here, we haven't even gotten our garden in....can you believe it?), Beaker discovered very quickly that when she digs up soil, there are worms....here you can see just how eagerly he is awaiting each turn of the pitchfork. Aahhh..gardening with a goose. Every day is a new adventure around here!!

Sample Sunday! Come on out to the farm this Sunday and see what we have to offer!
+++++++++++++++++++++++

3-Farm Tour spotlights Dairy month...
3 Woodward farm families
offer 'A day in the Country'
You are invited to bring the kids to see the dairy calves, baby goats, and sample some of the finest local foods available at a 3-farm tour near Woodward, Sunday, June 3, from noon to 5 p.m.
Admission is free to this "June is Dairy Month" event.
The three farms, Picket Fence Creamery, Prairieland Herbs, and Northern Prairie Chevre, invite you to enjoy a day in the country, complete with live animals, kids' activities, wine tasting, guest vendors, and the enjoyment of fresh air and wide open spaces!
At Picket Fence Creamery, 14583 S Ave., the kids can see the new calves, make their way through a hay maze, decorate cupcakes, and get free posters and pencils. There will be local food samples galore, including orange-pineapple ice cream, swiss chocolate milk, fresh white cheddar cheese curds, elk sticks, Russ 'n' Franks BBQ, and wine tasting from Rosey Acres Winery, Runnells. The country store offers local meats and foods from 85 Iowa families.
Prairieland Herbs, just up the road at 13505 S Ave., will sample handmade herbal luxuries as visitors browse their line of milk baths, shampoo bars, natural baby care, organic chocolates and teas, jams, and more. Check out their summer schedule of classes as well!
Northern Prairie Chevre will offer a glimpse of a goat farm including the kids, and sample cheeses, confections, dipping oils, jams, and other local foods, and crafts. The Onion Creek Cloggers will perform from 1 to 3 p.m., and there will be barn tours

Just some pretty pictures from around the farm!