Happy National Farmers Market Week!

This week is National Farmers Market week, and we can’t miss the chance to give a great big shout out to the amazing neighborhood farmers market that we were lucky to find 8 years ago when we first started our homestead journey. The Corner Farmers Market has been our home away from home for all of these years, and our kids have been there with us since they were born! We love our farmers market!

Anise Hyssop & Samples!

This week our plant feature is anise hyssop, and this Saturday we’re bringing plants for you to taste and sample at the Corner Farmers Market! We’re excited to be participating in the market’s first ever Sampling Saturday event along with lots of our other vendor friends.

Here’s what you need to know about the awesome anise hyssop plant:

It’s a native, perennial wildflower with edible, medicinal, and pollinator value. The blue summer flowers are highly preferred by native bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds. Finches also love to eat the seeds in fall!

Anise hyssop is easy to grow in the sun and will tolerate some shade. It has an anise/licorice flavor and can be eaten raw—as an addition to salads—or added to cooked dishes for a unique flavor.

It is often used medicinally in teas for cold/flu relief and for it’s pleasant minty/licorice flavor when steeped. It also can be dried for potpourri.

We are growing the very ornamental variety, called Golden Jubilee that has a chartreuse leaf color and a coleus-like look. The blue flowers really pop with the contrast!

Homestead Apple Update

Arkansas Black is a late ripening apple variety, and we’re getting excited to eat these plentiful fruits later in the season when they’re ready!

It’s an heirloom apple that stored really well, and even makes great cider! It’s sweet with a little tartness, and it’s crisp. 😉

Happy 3rd Birthday to the Twins!

Join us in wishing Theron and Ygritte a super happy 3rd birthday (which is coming up this Monday). 😄 We can’t believe it’s already been 3 years.

An Egg Thief!

Hello there, friend! Yesterday we found this beauty in one of our chicken nests, and she had already swallowed 2 eggs at least, maybe more. Check out the 2 very visible lumps in her body!

Because our egg operation produces around 60 eggs a day, we’re not worried about her eating a couple eggs periodically. The benefits she brings our farm like rodent control and copperhead deterrent far outweigh the price of a couple eggs.

Did you know… Even though rat snakes don’t kill copperheads, one theory is that because black rat snakes look like black racers and kingsnakes which do hunt poisonous snakes, copperheads try to stay away!

With these cool snake facts in mind, we hope you’ll join us tomorrow at the Corner Farmers Market for chicken eggs (this snake gives them a 5 ⭐ review).