Thursday, November 12, 2009

Planting Time Again






We are heading into winter and we're trying to finish planting our greenhouses with cold crops that will survive the temperatures here in Trenton, MO. Our son, Jeff has taken some pictures of what is growing nicely already. We have spinach, swiss chard, radishes, leeks, carrots, mache, arugula, mizuna, cress, (lots of salad mixes), kohlrabi, golden beets, tatsoi & broccoli. Enough anyway, to keep us busy along with the other field work that still needs to be done before snow flies!
We have done just a couple of our winter markets and are so thrilled there are so many of you out there who are willing to still come out on chilly days to get your fresh vegetables! Thank you so much!
Hopefully you are all getting the emails we send weekly noting what is available for that week. If you aren't, please email me and I will gladly try to fix it or add you to our list. You can email us at providencefarms@grundyec.net.
Alot of you are asking for our "sales associates" (the children) so we'll try to bring them occasionally to keep up their customer skills:)
If you decide to come visit us at one of our Winter Delivery Locations please feel free to do so. We always load up the van with lots of extra produce just in case. Here's where we are on Tuesdays only!

Crowleys Furniture Mart Parking Lot (Hwy. 152 & 291)
(same location as the farmers market originally was)
10:00am - 11:30am

BriarCliff Village Area - Green Acres Parking Lot
(same location as the farmers market originally was)
12:00 noon - 1:30pm

If you don't live close enough to come, just email me and we can easily ship what you need.

Sunday, October 25, 2009

Picking Pumpkins






These are just a few pictures of all the work....and fun we have on the farm.















Friday, October 23, 2009

FALL IS IN THE AIR!

I can't believe markets are coming to an end already. Boy, the season has really flown by this year. We are knee deep in pumpkins, squash and mums now! I thought lugging around watermelons and cantaloupe were heavy......needless to say I'm getting a workout! We have had a bumper crop of pumpkins this year, actually the best ever. We'll probaby be baking pumpkin till spring next year we grew so many. So we welcome any interesting recipes for pumpkins and squash from you all. We won't go hungry this winter, that's for sure. I'm throwing in a few pictures of the family picking pumpkins and us at a fall festival. We want to say a big "THANK YOU" to all of our customers this season and we so appreciate your business. We love what we do, but we couldn't do it without you all to buy our products. So many of you have become treasured friends and we will keep you in our prayers during the winter months and pray to see you again in the Spring. We are keeping a list of everyones email, name, or phone # so we can let you know when markets start again in the spring. Thanks again and May God Bless You!

Gerry, Lisa, Jeff, Shayla, Jesse, Josiah, Jonah, Sarai, Salome, Selah, Shemaiah, and Shekinah Newman

Thursday, August 20, 2009

The Harvest is Many but the Laborors are Few
















Wow! I can't believe summer is almost coming to an end already. It seems that when you get so busy seasons just fly! Maybe that is just getting old too!!! We've been keeping very busy picking , picking and more picking. The Harvest is in great abundance and even though we are a family of 12, we can hardly keep up sometimes. Our fall crops are coming on very nicely. Pumpkins, mums, squash and lettuces are growing by the day. Around here in Trenton, we're getting enough rain that we should be able to grow the biggest pumpkin around! Next year we need to arrange better management of our zucchini picking. It seems the standard size this year has been "Baseball Bat" size, the amount of rain we've been getting doesn't help any either. I think they grow inches by the hour!
The children have been enjoying the summer months swimming and playing. It won't be long and they will be jumping in the piles of leaves. One day at a time Lisa!
I'm going to enter some pictures of the girls out in the fields. On my next entry I'll show you how the mums and stuff are doing.
We sure enjoy talking to all our customers who chat with us at the stand. We love hearing all the interesting ways the food we grow are being prepared. I've learned alot of neat recipes from lots of you and can't wait to try all of them.
Take care for now and stop by and say "Hi" to us at one of our markets!

Thursday, June 11, 2009

Rain, Rain---Go Away!
















Well, I think we've gotten enough rain to last awhile. I can't imagine how Noah must have felt! Even though we still have to pick--rain or shine---I'm getting tired of the muddy mud boots, muddy floors and wet clothes! I'm very thankful that horrible hailstorm only got us on the tailend of the storm and we only recieved pea sized hail, still the vegetables didn't care for it much.





The pumpkins and watermelon plants are doing quite well now. Getting very big with the moisture we've been having. We picked the first of our cut flowers to sell. Beautiful colored plume celosia and multi-colored zinnias. We'll be taking those to our BriarCliff Market tomorrow. The zucchini and yellow squash are coming on full-force too. We're now picking those daily to avoid the Baseball Bat Syndrome!





We'll keep you posted on any upcoming events! Kids Night at BriarCliff Village will be the 18th of June. It should be alot of fun. Come on out and bring the family.





Just a little tidbit of our children and who we are.





My oldest son Jeff and oldest daughter Shayla run a couple of our stands in Farmers Markets, you've probably met them. Couldn't do it without their help. My 2nd oldest son, Jesse, works the BriarCliff Market with us (17). All of our younger children come to one market or another to see where our produce is sold. Josiah (13), Jonah (11), Sarai (9), Salome (7), Selah (6), Shemaiah ( 4), and Shekinah (1) (she doesn't get to go to market because she doesn't like to sit still!) I'll include some pictures to let you see a few of them.

Wednesday, June 3, 2009
















Market Madness

Vegetables are in the full swing of things now. It seems that we can hardly get everything picked in a full day. We have lots of help but there's an endless amount of work that needs to be done besides the picking. I'm going to enclose some pictures of the farm and what actually goes on here. We have our fun days too, not all work! We are really hitting the markets hard with all the fresh greens you could possibly want. The tomatoes in the greenhouses are doing well for us as well. We tried alot of new vegetables this year and we're quite happy with the result of them all except one---dwarf pak choi. We'll do the regular size one next year! Hope to see you all at the market soon!

Wednesday, May 13, 2009

Picking, Picking and more Picking!

The days are starting early for most of us around here now. We have to get up quite early to get the spinach picked and washed before it wilts. Also, the cows need to get milked before our second oldest son, Jesse, can get to the fields to get done what needs done. We are picking daily, radishes, spinach, collard greens, heirloom lettuces and tomatoes out of the greenhouse. The tomatoes are finally ripening, Yeah! All those long winter months of keeping them warm is finally paying off. The strawberries are just about ripe and then that will be added to our list as well. The greenhouse was pretty much cleaned out from what was sold as bedding plants and others that were moved to our cold frame. Now it is overfull with pumpkins, winter squash and gourds flats germinating to be planted in 2 weeks. Never a dull moment! Hope you are all enjoying this cool and WET spring. See ya at the markets!

Tuesday, May 5, 2009

Spring is in the Air!

Here on the farm it is the busiest time of the year. Everyone is coming and going every which way. One group is planting in the fields, another is discing, tilling and laying plastic and the other group is starting more seeds in the nursery greenhouse. We all work good as a complete team (family) when planting season really hits hard. We've been very fortunate about getting our vegetables out inbetween rains since we use plasticulture. Therefore, we have already been harvesting beautiful heads of lettuce. Collard greens, radishes, and pak choi are also being picked often. Markets are here and we are really having fun this year. My two oldest children, Jeff-21 and Shayla-19 have been doing a couple of markets for us. That sure lightens our load from having to leave home so often. God Bless them for it! We have also ventured out in our home town doing Providence Farms Prepaid Produce Packages. It has taken off quite well. We'll see how the next month of sign up time goes though. I've learned not to count my chickens before they hatch! If you see us at the markets just let us know if you have looked at this blog. There will be pictures on here in a week or so. I'm working on it, among other things!

Sunday, April 5, 2009

What's Up With The Weather?

Well, all the vegetables in the field were doing exceptionally well until....the April 5 & 6th freeze. We're hoping they will pull through and still be alright. We were busy all day on Saturday the 4th putting up row cover to protect as much as we could. It just goes to show you....God is still in control. I think He likes to keep us humble! No problem there!!!! The tomatoes and bedding plants are doing great and we're gearing up for the first market on Thurs. the 30th at BriarCliff Village. The men of the family have been chopping wood for the last of these freezes to keep the greenhouses warm and preparing the fields in between drenching rains. We're also constantly doing erosion repair, not by choice though. The children are getting antsy and are ready for nice weather to go play in. It seems they keep getting teased with warm then cold all the time. It will be here before we know it though. Old Man Winter can't hold on forever.

Monday, March 23, 2009

Vegetables are Growing!

The tomatoes are in the greenhouses and are about 2 ft. tall with lots of blooms and lots of quarter sized tomatoes on them. We've been busy planting lots of cold crops so our customers can enjoy several fresh lettuces, onions, broccali, cauliflower, cabbages and many more. Market dates are approaching quickly and we're doing our best to ensure we have quality products to bring. Of course, we can't control the weather, only God knows what's in store for us next month. We'll pray for a mild April so no crops suffer. We look forward to seeing you at all our markets. I'll list where we'll be for your convienance.

Wed-7 am - noon--Liberty Hwy. 152 & 291
Thurs.-3pm-7pm--BriarCliff Village Shopping Center
Fri.-7am-1pm--North Kansas City Market
Sat.-5am-1pm--Independence Farmers Market
Sat.-7am-12 noon--Historic Downtown Liberty Farmers Market

Come see us at any of our markets to enjoy fresh, local, wholesome produce straight from the farm.

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

These past weeks sure feel like spring is here already! We have been busy with planting fever! The tomatoes are doing great planted in the greenhouses and are loving this warm weather and sunshine. It seems our challenges have been reversed lately. Instead of trying to keep them warm, we have been adding fans to cool them off. We also have the broccali, collard greens and celery started. It seems that time of year has crept upon us again. Look forward to seeing and visiting with all our customers when market season opens again.

Thursday, January 29, 2009

Providence Farms

Here at Providence Farms we are enjoying the relaxing days of winter. Not all of us are though-- my husband and boys are busy chopping wood for the woodstoves, repairing farm equipment, and doing lots of "honey-do's" that are put off all summer long. We have tomatoes that are getting planted this weekend in the greenhouses. We've been doing a lot of seed ordering and we've been thinking about some of our customers and what items you'd like and not like so much! Hope you all are having a safe and warm winter and we look forward to seeing you this spring.