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?

We are "ON" for popping up in Edgewood tomorrow, 2/17/2024.  If you love fresh, locally grown, synthetic chemical free lettuce and microgreens, be sure to come see us tomorrow, Saturday 2/17/2024, in Edgewood and say hello! Time and location details in flyer image attached.

***WEATHER NOTE: If we have a terrible freak storm (snow or otherwise) and the roads are dangerous, please know it will be cancelled automatically. We love our community and we want everyone to be safe.***

Blue Disc African Daisies are my favorite daisies to grow. They are not perennial here in Edgewood, New Mexico, USA, but they often drop seeds and self sow for me. I also collect their seeds to pot up each year. I love their joyful, bright energy and electric blue-purple centers.

These heat-loving daisies are easy to grow and thrive for a long season. Plants and stems grow up to 24+ inches tall and they make a lovely cut flower. Blue Disc African Daisies are quite striking and bloom beautifully all summer long. Regular dead heading promotes new growth and more blooms.

Oh it's January and like many growers, I'm starting to feel the itch to plant. It's a bit too early to do that so I thought I'd start a new series of posts and share a bit more about some of the things we grow on our micro-farm.

I absolutely love growing flowers. They attract pollinators and make everything so pretty. These pictures are of cactus-flowered dahlias I grew from seed a couple years ago. Their bright twisty petals are so unusual and remind me of beautiful neon colored sea anemones. There were single and double blooms and many exceeded 5" in diameter. We will definitely be growing them again this year -- and selling potted starts in the spring, of course.

Dahlias are generally NOT perennial in New Mexico. That said, I have heard that some growers have been able to create protected micro-climates that allow dahlias to grow perennially. I'm doing some experimenting with this right now and I'm excited to see if it will work. Yet another reason I'm super excited for the 2024 summer growing season.

All that said, dahlias started from seed absolutely do produce tubers that may be lifted from the ground after the first frost in fall and stored for planting the following spring--if you want to ensure the cold and frost doesn't kill off your plants and/or you wish to grow bigger plants and blooms the following year. Alternatively, you may wish to simply treat dahlias as annuals and either purchase starts or start them from seed yourself each year.

If you like tuna salad and you like wasabi (or horseradish flavors), you will LOVE this super easy to make Open Face Tuna Sandwich with Wasabi Mustard Microgreens. I toasted a slice of homemade sourdough bread, spread some homemade fresh mayo (made using our farm fresh eggs), placed dehydrated tomato slices (made from our summer tomato harvest), spread a thick layer of tuna salad and topped it with wasabi mustard microgreens piled high on top.  Fresh. Delicious. FLAVOR BOMBASTIC.

If you need some wasabi mustard microgreens, be sure to come see us on Saturday when we pop up in the parking lot at 95 NM-344 (the old Independent Newspaper Building, where From The Ashes Comes Amore and Desert Edge Barbershop are located). As long as the weather cooperates--and right now it's looking great--we'll be there from 11am - 1pm or when we sell out, whichever comes first.

Make sure you also make time to check out From The Ashes Comes Amore. They usually have delicious pastries & coffee to enjoy on Saturday and an incredible selection of used books, herbs, and boutique items.

See all the details in the event flyer image below. Be sure to stop by the From The Ashes Comes Amore boutique shop while you're visiting with us. Lots of neat stuff to see there. Plus, I heard they're going to have freshly made danishes and croissants. We had one last week that was simply Aaaaamazing.

It's currently the OFF season (sort of) for us. Right now, we're growing Microgreens & Lettuce. We are planning to have pop-ups through the winter and spring and we will increase our offerings as more produce becomes available during the cold season.

Reflecting on the 2023 growing season, I can sum it up with just one word: CRAZY!
It started out great and we had our earliest set of tomatoes ever in the high tunnel. We even had ripe tomatoes before the end of June; but right after that temperatures skyrocketed for weeks without rain. All of our plants suffered due to the heat even though we have shade cloth and drip irrigation and we mulch. Most plants just don't do great with consecutive WEEKS of 100+ degree temperatures.  We lost more tomato plants than we ever have.

It's not all complaints and bad news, though. After the heat died back (and after Farmer's Market Season was over) we had the hugest harvests of tomatoes that we've ever had. I learned how to make some really incredible recipes with the glut of green tomatoes at the end of the season. And we had a ton of ripe tomatoes for our freezer & also dehydrated lots for the pantry. OH my...if you've never had dehydrated tomatoes on your sandwich in the middle of winter, you are missing out. They plump right up once in contact with mustard or mayo (or moisture from lettuce, etc.) .  Blew my mind, they are SOOOO good.

The crazy weather also served as a teacher to help me select what I believe will be more hardy varieties for this coming year. While we won't be growing 75 different varieties of tomatoes for plant starts this year, there will still be A LOT of amazing varieties to choose from--the best of last year and some new ones we want to trial this year. There will also be new several fabulous, exciting new additions to our plant start offerings for: cucumbers, squash, peppers, herbs, and flowers.

As for the summer growing season, stay tuned for our adventures in 2024. We are really excited about the possibilities. We hope you'll have fun growing with us. 🌼

 The holidays are over and I definitely need to cut back on the bread & potatoes.

So, how do you make a fast & easy, delicious, nutrition-packed, healthy breakfast without either bread or potatoes?  My answer is this No-Bread Bird's Nest Skillet. For size reference, the skillet in the pic is 6 inches.

Simply saute lightly in olive oil: finely sliced onion, sliced/chopped fresh cabbage, and green chile for a couple minutes. You can also add other sliced/chopped greens such as: spinach, kale, chard or bok choy, etc. Chopped zucchini also works really well.

Once your cabbage and/or other greens are slightly warmed and brightly colored, add as much microgreens as you like and toss around for 30 seconds to 1 minute on medium heat; then, make a well (hole) in the center and crack an egg into it; cover the egg with a small, clear glass lid so you can watch the egg cooking, trying not to take the lid off too often. Once the egg is cooked to your liking, you can add fresh pico (or salsa). Other delicious optional add-ons: a smidge of finely grated cheddar or crumbles of goat cheese or queso fresco. Enjoy. It is YUMMMMMOlicious.

DATES: Saturday, 1/13/2024 *and* Sunday, 1/14/24
TIME: Each day from 11am - 1pm or we sell out, whichever comes first.
LOCATION:  In the parking lot at 95 NM-344, Edgewood, NM.
That's the old "Independent Newspaper" building; it's where From The Ashes Comes Amore and the Desert Edge Barbershop are. YES--we have spoken with and received written permission from the property owner.

WHAT will we have available:
Limited amounts each day-->Farm Fresh Lettuce and Microgreens. Microgreen varieties will include: Sunflower, Pea, Broccoli, Rambo Radish, Wasabi Mustard, Sandia Spicy Mix, and East Mountains Mix.
I will also have a limited number of Gaillardia seed packets available for sale. Gaillardia (pictured above growing on our farm in 2023) is also known as Blanket Flower and it is a wonderful, beautiful perennial flower.

Is it ORGANIC?
SowThankful Farm is not certified organic. There are very strict USDA RULES about labeling products as organic and that comes with lots of hoops and a hefty price tag for the certification process. Additionally, there's a lot of ummm "uncertainty" about the integrity of the "organic" labeling system -- reference: https://www.newyorker.com/.../the-great-organic-food-fraud 
There are other articles out there if one spends some time researching, including this one: https://reason.com/2023/02/04/the-usda-cant-stop-organic-food-fraud/ 
And this one: https://modernfarmer.com/2023/10/can-you-trust-organic-label/
And there are others.
For the amount we produce (we grow crops on less than 3/4 acre at this time) it's not worth the hassle and expense for the certification. I can tell you this: We do NOT use any synthetic chemical fertilizers. We do NOT use any synthetic chemical pesticides. I started growing food because I don't want to consume pesticides and other nasty synthetic chemicals. We eat the same lettuce, veggies & produce that we sell.

Lion's Tail is also known as Wild Dagga or Leonotis leonurus  is such a fun, unique and beautiful plant to grow. And an incredible pollinator and hummingbird attractor. Reported to have herbal and medicinal uses (we make no claims but internet searches will give you information).

While Lion's Tail is  not a perennial in the East Mountains climate, it self-seeds readily. Every location we had a plant last year has hundreds of seedlings this year. And the good thing about it being an annual is that it's very easy to remove those seedlings (or transplant them to a new location) if you ever don't want it in a particular area. Not so easy to do that with other perennial bushes, shrubs and trees.