This is my favorite time of the year. Lovely cool mornings, lots of veggies ready to harvest and thoughts of roasting green chile. Here are some of the pics I snapped from my walk about. I hope they make you smile. Growing anything in the NM high desert is definitely next level challenging, but it absolutely can be done. AND it can be done without synthetic chemicals pesticides or fertilizers (we don't use that stuff because it's POISON for everything). Healthy soil, mulching, companion planting, drip irrigation (not overhead which often evaporates before it hits the ground) and other practices learned over time make a difference. YOU can definitely do this.
Click images below to read their captions and see a larger image.

Weather and harvesting conditions permitting, we *should* have some of each of these varieties and others available at our pop up this coming Saturday, 8/31/2024. See flyer image below for details.

Also pictured above is Echo Blue Lisianthus in the high tunnel and Lavender Lisianthus putting on a show in our outside front of house beds. This is my first year growing Lisianthus which is widely reported to be a bit fickle to start from seed (so I did not sell starts for it this year). However, I do plan to sell Lisianthus flower starts next year. Once established it is quite a hardy flower handling the harsh heat, wind and poor water conditions quite well.
   We have resumed pop-ups and plan to continue them every Saturday (weather permitting) through the fall and into the winter. We will have our freshly harvested microgreens, whatever excess produce we have from our gardens and a limited variety of plant starts. In a couple weeks we plan to have some seasonal fall/cool crop starts such as lettuce, bok choy, perpetual spinach chard, etc.. Currently, we have perennial rhubarb starts and perennial Egyptian Walking Onion starts which we will continue to bring until we sell out or the season for planting them ends. 
   Regarding our synthetic-chemical-free garden produce:

1. Our farm's focus is not produce sales. Our farm's focus is seasonal (primarily veggie/flower/herb) plant sales, developing plants that are acclimatized to our East Mountains environment and seed saving to produce healthier plants locally. We grow food for us to eat and preserve. We sell produce only from any "abundance" that we may have.
   
2. Tomatoes are just now coming in quantities that we will have a limited amount available for sale each week until the frost. 
3. Other Summer produce we *may* or *may not* have depending upon the weekly harvest: cucumbers, zucchini, pattypan, peppers, perpetual spinach chard, tuscan kale.
4. We expect to resume selling lettuce in the very late Fall to early Winter time frame depending on environmental conditions; and we will continue until early-mid Spring or when we sell out completely (whichever comes first).
5. We do not grow corn as we have neither space nor expertise in corn -- we refer folks looking for corn to Schwebach Farm in Moriarty.

If you have questions, email us: [email protected] (that's me--the visionary farmer woman) or you may also email  [email protected] (he helps with heavy things & operations around the farm).

A quick look around the farm. I took these pictures over the last couple of weeks or so. Click images for a closer view. Most of the images have captions with additional info.

With the cooler nights we have been having the tomatoes are being quite slow to ripen. We need a string of nights over 60 degrees to speed the process. I can't wait!

We are looking forward to starting pop-ups again once we have enough ripe produce to bring. I will announce that here.

Edited 6/6/2024 PLANT SALE pop-ups are cancelled for the rest of the summer growing season. When produce becomes available, *IF* we have an abundance, we will offer some for sale and announce that here.

Our farm is a small-scale kitchen/market garden, no dig, NO-synthetic chemicals, regenerative style that we started to grow our own food so we know our food is free from synthetic chemical fertilizers/pesticides. We are NOT a large scale operation and when we have produce available we do not compete on pricing with big box stores that sell produce that is trucked in from wherever and grown using synthetic chemical methods (BTW, all of that is heavily subsidized by tax dollars and if not for that corporate welfare to industrial farms the price of that poison would be astronomical). We do all the work ourselves and we know exactly what goes into growing healthy food in extremely challenging conditions of the high desert/East Mountains.

We enthusiastically encourage everyone to begin growing something for themselves--because everyone can. Yes, even in an apartment you can grow basil in a sunny window or lettuce on a patio/balcony in containers.

We are planting the farm over the long holiday weekend. We send you love, smiles & cheers of encouragement! Please stay safe and enjoy the unofficial start to summer and the long Memorial Holiday Weekend. We hope you will make time to remember those who gave their lives in service of our freedom--remembering THEM AND THE SACRIFICE THEY MADE is the real reason for the "holiday". They gave their lives. They are dead and their families lost children, grandchildren, husbands, wives, cousins, aunts & uncles.

Memorial Day in the USA was meant to be a solemn remembrance of the ultimate sacrifice by individuals (they were REAL PEOPLE of BOTH genders and many creeds). I wish it wasn't about exploiting the incredible sacrifice those individuals made as day for political gain or increased retail sales; but sadly seems so many have come to see it that way. As we plant our farm and try to maintain hope for the future, we remember the sacrifices that were made.

Farmer Jeff and I (Farmer Tracy) would love to meet you if you're out and about in Edgewood tomorrow, 5/4/2024 from 9am - 11am. It's going to be a great morning to pop in the From The Ashes Comes Amore for a delicious coffee and sweet treat then walk over to our parking lot pop up and see the plants we'll have with us tomorrow.

If you can't make it tomorrow, there are more upcoming events where you can find us. See all flyer images below for times, locations and complete details.

 In February I introduced you to our Rudbeckia seedling starts (you can read that blog post here) when I spoke about "pricking them out" to their own soil cells. Today I'm following up with a check in on the Rudbeckia transplants to show you they are coming along quite nicely. In the last couple of days they have sized up noticeably! I'm getting very excited to see these flower during the summer growing season.

This is my first year starting/growing Rudbeckia. We are growing 3 varieties: Cherry Brandy, Sahara, and Prairie Sun. We will be offering some of these seedlings for sale (when the time is right for transplanting). If you would like to be notified by email when they are ready, send me an email request to [email protected]

Our grow room is filling up with trays of beautiful, happy, healthy baby plants and it truly is my most favorite time of the year. All plants are started by seed (also a few by cuttings) by me right here on our  Edgewood, NM micro-farm.

This year we are excited to be able to offer limited quantities of more than 30 heirloom & specialty varieties of Peppers (including several native chile pepper varieties). We will also have more than 40 varieties of heirloom & specialty Tomatoes (including cherry, paste, slicer & dwarf varieties) and lots of unique and fun flowers and herbs. Stay tuned for more information on specific varieties as we get closer to planting time.  If you'd like to be notified when we begin selling plant starts, please send an email to [email protected] and tell me what kind of plants (i.e., tomatoes, peppers, flowers, herbs, cucumbers, summer squash, winter squash, rhubarb, artichokes, etc.) you want to know about when they become available for sale.

As the saying goes: Know your farmer. So (if you're curious or interested) this will help you get to know me a little better. 

This is my Grams, Myra M. Holloway Moffett, in the picture with me. The picture was taken on my high school graduation day in 1983. Grams was born on March 30, 1924 in Goshen Township, Ohio. She was born into a Quaker family and her mother passed away when she was only 3 years old. Grams was a practicing member of the Friends Church in Salem, Ohio until her passing. She was a gentle and kind yet strong woman with deep faith.

She wasn't a celebrity and she didn't have a "career" or a paying job outside the home. Her family was her priority and she showed that daily and in virtually every choice she made, even though she was often criticized and mocked for it. NOTE: NONE of what I have written should be construed to mean that I think women who work outside the home are not needed or valued. We are ALL NEEDED. We are ALL VALUED. Both she and my grandfather were so proud of my military service AND when I began working outside the home as a young wife and mother.

My grandmother's life was not easy and she endured many struggles--of which the people who mocked and criticized her knew nothing. Yet she didn't complain--at least not to her grandchildren or in any public way that I was aware of. She just did what needed to be done every day and she LOVED with grace, patience, kindness, forgiveness, commitment and the biggest kind of love I ever knew.

She was the single most important positive female role model in my life. If she were still alive, on Saturday, March 30, 2024, we would have celebrated her 100th birthday. How I wish she could have been here and I could have given her a grand birthday party celebration. I was her eldest grandchild, and in May this year I will turn the same age she was in this picture of her with me.

Oh, I miss her so.  Despite the loss of my Grams from this life, as the years have passed I feel certain I've grown much closer to her. Her words have brought comfort to me in my most difficult moments and they have helped me overcome other tragic losses. She taught me so many wonderful things: Baking, sewing, quilting, how to love and forgive; and how to do my best & keep going no matter how hard life feels. She was a quilter and made a quilt for each of her children and grandchildren. I still have mine though it is tattered from years of loving use--a source of comfort always.

She was also famous in our family for making the most delicious rolls from scratch for every family gathering/holiday meal. Even to this day, my cousins in Ohio still lament her big family holiday meals and her most wonderful rolls. Ohhhh, yes. I absolutely did make some homemade rolls on her birthday in honor of her legacy of kindness, goodness, patience, creativity and love. This I do each year, but  this year was especially special to me: Her 100th Birthday.

The best I can do is share her love, her example, and the goodness she shared with me. I celebrate the LOVE that is and was the essence of Myra M. Holloway Moffett, my grandmother. 

One more little tid-bit related to my grandmother. Her father was a farmer in Ohio--so it literally *is* in my blood.

I'm often asked how I use microgreens. Honestly, there are virtually unlimited ways to use them; from fresh snacking to adding to soups, stews, salads, stirfry dishes or sandwiches. Here's one way I use them for breakfast. Isn't this such a pretty St. Patty's Breakfast plate?! It's super healthy and easy to make! Just one farm fresh happy egg (over medium) on a bed of lightly sauteed in extra virgin olive oil SowThankful Farm Pea Microgreens with a half slice of homemade sourdough toast. YUM! It's so good, I sometimes have it for lunch or dinner!

NOTE the time change for our pop up tomorrow: 9AM - 11AM. Location details in the flyer image below. Be sure to make time to visit From The Ashes Comes Amore while you're there. They have wonderful sweet treats, coffee, herbs and unique boutique items.

Happy FriYAY East Mountains neighbors and all of our friends far and near. We wish you a fabulous day filled with laughter. I'm SOW loving these tiny baby Rudbeckias. I affectionately call them Rude Beckies 🤣.

This is my first year growing Rudbeckia (Rudbeckia hirta - also known as Black Eyed Susans) flowers and of course I decided to grow THREE different varieties. I mean, why on earth would I stop at just one variety?!? I selected: Prairie Sun, Cherry Brandy, and Sahara. I spent some time yesterday pricking out the Cherry Brandy (sprouts pictured) placing them in their plug tray cells. Later this afternoon I will prick out Sahara and Prairie Sun.

"Pricking out" is simply a method to very carefully lift tiny sprouted seedlings and place them into their own individual cells or pots. I do this to save space and potting soil as I only want to plant (dedicate space and soil to) seeds that actually sprout.

Have you grown any of these varieties of Rudbeckia? What was your experience with them?