7/11/2011

where does your food come from?

Yesterday we were invited to Blue Gate Farm's Annual Ice Cream Social out on their family farm. 

According to their website; "Blue Gate Farm is the small, family operation of Jill Beebout & Sean Skeehan.  We are Certified Naturally Grown, producing healthy fruits & vegetables, free-range eggs, raw honey, and alfalfa hay.  We run a limited membership CSA and are regular vendors at the Des Moines Downtown Farmers Market.
This season we were able to join Jill and Sean's CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) group and receive weekly boxes of their fresh produce, eggs and honey.  By season's end, we will have received about 20 deliveries.

Buying Fresh and Buying Local are two very important values for our family, so BFG is a perfect fit for us.  Having the opportunity to visit their farm and actually see the fields where our food is grown was very exciting and educational.  Oh yeah, and yummy . . . Jill made ice cream (vanilla, chocolate and goat cheese), chocolate zucchini brownies, pumpkin zucchini bread, herb and regular ice tea, and served up some of her Mom's cookies.


Jill and Luci beginning the tour of the fields with the herb garden.  Notice the 'blue gate'! 



The new storage/utility/all purpose shed.  They need use of the old one, so the new structure is being built around the old one.  Very creative!



Hey, that's our food out there in those fields . . . safely behind an electric fence to keep the predators out.



The farm also utilized two high tunnels in order to maximize their yields.


Happy Bees make Happy Honey! 


We were really lucky to interact with a 10 day old Nubbin goat from Reichert's Dairy Air; a neighboring goat farmer who makes fabulous artisan goat cheese products.  Ben and CJ were fast friends and explaining to Ben why we couldn't just 'take the kid goat' home was a toughie.



And here is dear Blue, the reason the farm is turkey vulture free.  Thank you Blue for all the hard work you do to keep the riff-raff out.


Other than the yucky heat and humidity, it was a fine day.  I am looking forward to the Fall Harvest Pot-Luck so I can spend some more time hanging out and learning about my beloved CSA.

8 comments:

Valerie said...

Very cool! I really want to join a CSA.

Lora said...

I probably don't even WANT to know where my food comes from :/

Denise aka Mom of Bean said...

So cool to see where all that yummy goodness comes from!

Holly said...

Ha-I want a CSA!! : ) (and can I ask what kind of predators require an electric fence? They are serious!)
: )
Love that sweet goat too! : )

Unknown said...

Maybe I should do a post and link over. We have been going to a wonderful CSA for the past few years. The kids and I drive out weekly and pick-up our food AND they even get to harvest some of the bounty. They love it, I love it. It is one of the many things I am crazy about here in Vermont.

Looks like a great time was had by you and the kids (human and goats). xoxo

Amy@Diapeepees said...

I feel bad when my kids feed goldfish crackers and other stuff to wildlife, because I wonder what it will do to their bodies...yet I feed it to my kids! Luckily, we have our own little garden patch to find some redemption.

Sarah said...

the two closest CSA's here have a year waiting list...so instead we just make more trips to farmers markets or their farms.
I love being at farms and actually use to dream of living on one, until I realized that meant I had to be the one mucking up after the birds...no thanks!
Glad you guys had such a great time together, despite the extra hot weather :)

Football and Fried Rice said...

I wish that was my back yard!!