Come see us on the Patio at Polks Folly Market in Cedar Crest from 10am - 1pm all the Saturdays in June 2023!  Polks Folly Market is located at: 12128 Highway 14N, Cedar Crest, New Mexico. We'll have a unique selection of fantastic heirloom and specialty tomatoes, veggies, herbs and flowers you won't find anywhere else.

SowThankful Farm is a small, East Mountains local regenerative farm and tiny NM licensed nursery, we specialize in starting heirloom & specialty plants without synthetic chemical pesticides and without synthetic chemical fertilizers, synthetic stimulants, or synthetic hormones. We don't want that stuff in our soil. Period. We believe nature has held the best answers all along and working with her produces the best results. We believe in building healthy soil without synthetics. When you have healthy soil, you will have healthy plants that produce the most nutritious food. We care deeply about the health of our friends, neighbors & community.

Weather permitting, you can also find us at the Cedar Crest Farmers Market on Wednesdays from 3pm - 6pm in the lot north of the Triangle Grocery.

Wooo hooo! Summer is coming and we're holding our inaugural spring plant sale pop up event the first two Saturdays in May from 10am - 2pm at Polks Folly Farm Market in Cedar Crest. See details in the flyer image.

We hear this question a lot at Farmers Market and through social media and it's a great question--whether we're talking plant sales or produce sales.
But. This question actually brings forth more questions than answers.

A quick internet search for the definition of "organic" as it applies to farming and food turns up many variations of this one (found at merriam-webster.com):
Adjective - "of, relating to, yielding, or involving the use of food produced with the use of feed or fertilizer of plant or animal origin without employment of chemically formulated fertilizers, growth stimulants, antibiotics, or pesticides". This seems easy to understand, fair and accurate.

BUT. In the USA--the USDA determines the legal definition of "organic" and who may use that word for selling plants, produce, food, etc.

From the New Mexico Farmers Marketing Association page: Organic Rules https://www.newmexicofma.org/food_processing_permits.php
Q: Who can use the word "Organic" to sell their products?
A: Only farmers and gardeners who are certified by a USDA-accredited certifier may legally use the term "certified organic" to describe their product. Producers who gross less than $5,000/year are exempt from certification and may use the term "organic" as long as they follow organic growing practices.

To be clear, we make no accusation against any person, group of persons, agency or agencies. We simply offer food for thought. We encourage our friends, families, neighbors and communities to become informed. And we're not being dramatic when we say it really is a matter of life and death.

Let's just use our common sense. We can even set aside the multitude of opportunities for payoffs, corruption, mishandling, mislabeling, negligence, fraud, etc. I mean, here's one article, here's another, and here's another...of the many that can be found very easily. You can read and decide about all that for yourself.

So, setting all that aside, let's think seriously about this for a moment. There is NO absolute way to 100% verify if any crop has been grown "organically" no matter what any label says.  The label may be accurate, or it may not. How do we really know? We don't. What we do know is that the process to become certified organic is fairly invasive, time consuming and costly (every year).  Depending on the farmer's "free time" and excess cash (I don't know many small operation, non-subsidized farms with excess cash, do you?), this virtually eliminates new farmers and smaller operations from participating in the organic certification process. That's convenient for often subsidized "corporate" farms who can afford to pay (thanks to being subsidized) as it eliminates much of their potential competition.

Lest you think it's all the small farmers getting subsidies, please do an internet search for "Who Benefits Most From Farm Subsidies." The reality is that farm subsidies help high-income corporations, not poor rural farmers. Most of the money is directed toward large agribusinesses. Think about the implications of that. It seems the "organic" label is in and of itself nothing more than an illusion.

Further, we are also left wondering about the producers that sell less than $5K gross per year who are exempt from the certification process and may use the term as long as they follow organic growing practices. There is no indication that anyone (or any agency) checks or regulates that. So. Are they really organic? Maybe. Maybe not. How do we really know? We don't.

What's the answer?
We believe getting to know your local farmers and establishing relationships directly with them IS the answer. Ask questions. Find out why they are farming and ask about their practices. Most local farmers care about their communities. Most local, small scale farmers *ARE* actually invested in the health and well being of their families, friends, neighbors and communities. Are there occasionally bad apples to be found? Of course there are in any group. BUT when we're talking life & death health matters (food safety), WHO would you rather risk trusting? The USDA (federal government agency) and federally subsidized corporate farms? Or local farmers you can actually meet face to face, develop a relationship, support and enjoy mutual benefit in your own community? Food for thought, to be sure. Pun intended.

SOW...what about SowThankful Farm?

• Our farm is not certified organic and we have no interest in paying to be part of a system that is clearly so broken, unconcerned with transparency and seemingly fraught with apparent corruption.
  
• Our growing practices are way beyond "organic". We are a no till/no dig, regenerative farm. We believe building natural, healthy soil is the way to grow healthy vegetables, flowers & fruit. Ohhhh I wish you could see the red wigglers in our soil!
• We DO NOT use any synthetic chemical pesticides.
• We DO NOT use any synthetic chemical fertilizers.
• We DO NOT use or knowingly grow GMOs.
• We DO NOT use synthetic or artificial stimulants, hormones, antibiotics, etc.
• For liability reasons (because we must keep costs down) as well as bio security and zoning reasons, we do not offer any "on farm sales" at this time.
• We do vend at the Cedar Crest Farmers Market seasonally.
• We are looking forward to offering a couple pop-up events this year (2023) and a selection of our produce is also available at Polk's Folly Market in Cedar Crest and Lantern Ridge Farm Market in Sandia Park.

We sincerely hope you will come out to the Market this year and meet us and other local farmers face to face. Ask questions. It's important. We'd love to get to know you and tell you why we do what we do.

We are thrilled to announce we delivered freshly harvested Microgreens and a few NEW ITEMS to Polks Folly Market in Cedar Crest. Polks Folly Market is located at 12128 Highway 14N Cedar Crest, NM 87008. They are open Wednesday - Sunday from 10am - 5pm.  Scroll down for pictures & descriptions of the new items.

New items included: Freshly harvested lettuce (green heads in clamshells), a Purple Heart Houseplant in ceramic pot (would make a beautiful gift), a lovely Aloe Vera Chinensis in ceramic pot (also a sweet gift idea), and a few Rose Scented Geranium plants (Pelargonium graveolens).
NOTE: We have NO Living Lettuce Garden Bowls this week. We need the space for starting more veggie & flower plants for the upcoming growing season. We should have more Living Lettuce Garden Bowls in a month or so

Lettuce is growing so nicely in our high tunnel.

This week we harvested several of the green heads of lettuce. Red lettuce should become available in the next week or two.

Living Lettuce Garden Bowls are the way to go if you love lettuce & fresh greens, you enjoy growing your own food & especially if you have very little to no outdoor growing space. Or it happens to be the middle of Winter. OR it happens to be the super hot heat of the summer and you have a nice, bright but cool sunroom.

Beginning the 2nd week in March 2023, limited quantities of Living Lettuce Garden Bowls will be delivered to Polks Folly Market in Cedar Crest, NM each Wednesday morning. Polks Folly Market is located at 12128 NM-14 in Cedar Crest, NM. They are open Wed-Sunday 10am-5pm.

The Garden Bowls (limited quantities) will also be available directly from our SowThankful Farm booth at the Cedar Crest Farmers Market when it opens in Mid-May 2023.  The Cedar Crest Farmers' Market operates on Wednesdays from 3pm-6pm in Mid-May to Mid-October. The Farmers' Market is located in the open lot just north of the Triangle Grocery at 12183 NM-14, Cedar Crest, NM

What could be fresher than eating lettuce immediately after you harvest & wash it?!
What's even better is that with proper care, the lettuce will grow back, giving you up to 3 months or more of fresh harvests. Re-growth time after cutting varies depending upon many factors such as how deeply the leaf was cut, bowl location, temperature & humidity, and soil moisture & fertilization; but new growth is usually seen within 3 days or so with leaves ready to harvest in 2 - 4 weeks or so after that.  Once it's done, you can empty, clean and clean the garden bowl then refill & seed again with either lettuce, small herbs or small greens of your choice.

TEMPERATURE: Most lettuces and many greens can take some cold and even light frost conditions, but we recommend keeping your Living Lettuce Garden Bowl in a temperature range of 50 degrees – 70 degrees for best production.
LOCATION: Please, NOT in the refrigerator.
An ideal winter location would be a cool sun room that is bright; but do not place the bowl very close to a window that receives direct sunlight. You want bright light but not close proximity to glass receiving direct sunlight as this may burn your lettuce or cause it to bolt (go to seed). Indirect light is fine. Grow lights are fine. Another great winter location could be a bright, unheated porch. With enough light (we recommend a minimum of 6 hours) and proper care, you can continue to harvest for at least a few months and possibly much longer.
In warmer spring and summer months, choose an area with bright morning sun that offers some shade in the heat of the day. This helps prevent some of the greens from bolting (going to seed).
WATER: It’s important to NOT let the soil completely dry out. Keep the soil slightly moist but not soggy/wet. It is not necessary to water every day, but we recommend checking the moisture level each day with your finger. If the top inch or so of the soil is dry–It’s time to water.
FERTILIZER: Salad/Lettuce/Greens require food that is rich in nitrogen. We recommend feeding an appropriate compost tea, the (discarded) water you used to boil vegetables, or a weak dilution of organic fish emulsion approximately every 7-14 day.
HARVEST: Twist off--or cut--the largest individual leaves from the outer sides of the plant(s) as well as any leaves that begin to overlap each other but be careful not to over-pick so plants maintain enough leaf surface for adequate photosynthesis required for regrowth and new leaves. When harvesting, don’t cut leaves too short, you want to leave approximately 1 -2 inches of growth above the soil line. 
NOTE: Always wash/rinse produce thoroughly before serving.
After you’re finished growing lettuce, you can empty & clean the garden bowl, refill with fresh potting mix and replant with your choice of lettuce, herbs or other small greens.

It's not much longer until the first day of Spring and we are SO looking forward to a fantastic 2023 growing season. But. I would be lying if I said I'm not thankful for winter and the season of rest. We accomplished a lot last year and that's something to celebrate!

We also have accomplished some big goals already for 2023! Jeff started the Microgreens project in January and by the end of January we had our Microgreens in the cooler case at Polks Folly Market in Cedar Crest, NM.  Polks Folly Market is located at 12128 NM-14 in Cedar Crest, NM. They are open Wed-Sunday 10am-5pm. We make freshly harvested deliveries to them every Wednesday morning.  Our offerings included: Sunflower, Pea, Broccoli, Rambo Radish and the very popular East Mountain Mix.

In early March, we added NEW Microgreens products to our offerings: Wasabi Mustard, Arugula, a beautiful purple Kohlrabi, and the extremely popular Sandia Spicy Mix.

Microgreens are nutritional powerhouse veggies with early research indicating, "...that microgreens contain up to 40% more phytochemicals (beneficial nutrients and components) than their full-grown counterparts." Source: WebMD article, "What to Know about Microgreens" (click here to view article a new window).

The same article referenced above--and several other articles easily found via internet search--states that Microgreens MAY also:

• help fight cancer
• help lower cholesterol
• help support gut health
• help lower blood pressure

How to use Microgreens: Add them to soups, salads, sandwiches or snack on them plain. Since they are small, it's not necessary or recommended to cook Microgreens but you should be sure to wash them (and any produce or veggie) before serving them.

If you've never tried Microgreens before, you really should! They are so delicious and so extra good for you. If you love spicy things, be sure to grab some Sandia Spicy Mix (and an extra container of Wasabi Mustard, it's my favorite!).

Ingredients:
3/4 cup butter
1 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup molasses
1 egg
2 1/2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ginger
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 cup granulated white sugar (for rolling dough balls)

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 325 degrees
  
• Cream together butter, brown sugar, molasses and egg in a large mixing bowl.
• In 3 separate additions to the creamed mixture, sift flour, baking soda salt ginger and cinnamon. Make certain to mix dough completely.
  
• Form dough into 1″ – 1 1/2″ balls.
  
• Roll dough balls in granulated sugar until evenly coated.
  
• Place sugar-coated dough balls on un-greased cookie sheet. Make certain to space 2″ – 3″ between balls of dough.
  
• Bake approximately 10 minutes. Centers should still be soft looking.
  
• Cool slightly before removing from cookie sheet. YUMMMY…enjoy at least 1 warm cookie sample.
  

Hint: Gingersnaps have a tendency to get crunchy after they cool and begin to age.
I like them crunchy to dunk in coffee. But if you prefer to keep gingersnaps somewhat soft,
it is helpful to store them in a sealed plastic container with a slice of bread.
The slice of bread will become hard/stiff…but it will help the cookies remain soft.
Click here for a printable PDF — this file requires a RECENT version of Adobe Acrobat Reader.

Here's a GREAT COOKIE GIFTING IDEA.  Bake a batch of cookies, put a bunch in a baggie and pop them into a FabMagic Reusable Fabric Giftwrapper that you make with materials you probably already have! Tracy designed this downloadable PDF sewing pattern to be super fast & fun to make and so pretty to give. They were specifically designed to hold a variety of food storage bag sizes but they also work great for socks, t-shirts, sweatshirts and many other items. The wrappers are pretty and they're re-usable AND you can stop wasting money on paper wrap that just gets thrown away.

None of us knows how much time we will have in this life. Each day is truly a priceless gift.
I wonder. How will you choose to use yours? Me? Well...today I will "pot up" some celery and chives that need more room to grow under the lights in our indoor grow room. I'll inspect the Red Russian & Dinosaur Kale & the Leeks that are growing in the high tunnel. Hopefully, I will get a small harvest of kale. This time of year things grow very slowly, but these cool weather crops are still growing and they taste absolutely amazing. I've never had such sweet tasting kale from grocery store purchases.

Hi! My name is Tracy Chapman and SowThankful Farm is my dream come to life.  People often assume that my husband, Jeff, is the primary farmer but that is not the case. Jeff works very hard alongside me, but I am the Lead Farmer at SowThankful Farm. While I've always loved gardening and growing things, I have never had any "farming" experience or formal education. Neither of us have. In fact, I'm pretty sure Jeff thought I was off my rocker (crazy) when I first suggested we farm without a tractor and without tilling the soil. He had no idea what a no-dig, regenerative farm was at that time. Don't worry, he caught up quickly and now he understands why we DO NOT disturb the soil and why we DO NOT use synthetic fertilizers or synthetic pesticides. You see, our beautiful goats and chickens produce amazing manures that help build our soil and the chickens assist in controlling the grasshoppers and other pests. We love our animals very much and treat them well.

Our farm is small. At just 2.5 acres, some would call it a micro farm. While it's definitely not paying all the bills yet (starting a farm is expensive, labor intensive, exhausting work), it's definitely not just a hobby. I choose the plants we grow and I start 99.9% of all our veggies, fruits & flowers from seed. For the 2021 growing season we sold plant starts at the Farmers Market in Cedar Crest--a legal limitation to selling plants without a license in the State of New Mexico. Late this Fall, we obtained our license from the State of New Mexico to sell plant starts wherever we'd like within the state for the 2022 growing season. We are looking forward to offering a wide variety of heirloom plants--veggies, fruits and flowers--that you won't find at the big box stores or commercial/retail nurseries.

Farming in the New Mexico high desert is extremely challenging and sometimes overwhelming; but that makes it even more rewarding when we have successes. And we've had more than a few. The failures  though many are simply lessons to grow from. Literally. As the Lead Farmer, I try to do something to grow every day. Whether it's starting new seeds, learning new propagation/cultivation techniques and methods, starting a new compost pile, or collecting seed from a successful crop, I push myself to learn something new every day.  At the end of each day, I'm grateful for all I've learned and for my husband, Jeff,  and his continued assistance and support. Quite simply, this is the best work I've ever done.

Our newest video was uploaded last night and Tracy is hard at work preparing video from our archives of earlier this year. 

It means so much to us when you watch our videos and especially when you like and subscribe to our YouTube channel. While it costs you nothing to subscribe to the channel, it absolutely supports us in our efforts to bring you entertainment and education about our farm. We can't open the farm itself to the public for many reasons, including: Time, liability and bio security concerns. But via YouTube we're able to share with you what we do and why we do it and provide a behind the scenes look at our life here on the farm.

We're open to receiving content requests!  Do you have a question about the farm, our animals or garden? Let us know here or right on our YouTube page and we will see what we can work out for you. While we can't guarantee an in depth video on every request, we'll do our best to entertain and educate.

Here are just a few of the pumpkins we yielded from yesterday's harvest. There are lots more out on the vines still growing.

All of these heirloom pumpkins are baking and cooking varieties. The orange pumpkins are New England Sugar Pie Pumpkins. The blue/grey Cindarella style pumpkins are Jarrahdale. The warty green ones are called Buen Gusto de Horno which is a Spanish winter squash variety that is simply outstanding for baking and cooking. Last year, Buen Gusto de Horno was my FAVE for pie making. This year I added Winter Luxury Pumpkins to our garden (not shown here). So, I will test them all again and we're super excited to see if Buen Gusto de Horno will remain the favorite or there will be a new darling. I started all these from seed that was purchased from Baker Creek (rareseeds.com -- we have no affiliation with the company, just sharing a good seed supply source).

If you're in the local area and looking to purchase some wonderful, locally grown culinary pumpkins or winter squash, we will be bringing a bunch (while available) to the Cedar Crest Farmers Market on Wednesday afternoons from 3pm - 6pm. The Market is located in Cedar Crest, NM; at the vacant lot north of the Triangle grocery store/plaza.

I love pumpkins and adore autumn: The cool mornings, the colors, the flavors, celebrating the harvests and savoring all of it. Yes, Autumn truly is my favorite season.

I'd love to read your thoughts and comments. Have you tried any of these pumpkins? Do you have a different favorite heirloom baking/cooking pumpkin variety?

Heirloom Jumbo Pink Banana Squash is a large, orangey-salmon-pink colored, oblong, banana-shaped winter squash. Fruit can weigh over 40 pounds. The variety we grow is over 100 years old.

How does it taste?
This variety is fine-flavored with sweet orange flesh that is superbly fine tasting and an excellent substitute for pumpkin in any recipe. Use it for roasting, soups, stews, pies, baking, making homemade baby food and more. Home made puree freezes beautifully for use later.

How do we roast, puree and process for use in making pies, breads, muffins, scones, baby food, etc.?
Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Line baking sheet(s) with parchment paper.

On a large cutting board, carefully cut the squash in half lengthwise starting on one side of the stem, cutting outward and away from the stem around the squash to the bottom center. NOTE: Do not try to cut thru the stem, you may damage your knife. Turn the squash over and repeat on the other side of the stem until your knife meets the original cut at the bottom center. Use both hands to grasp the bottom of each half of the squash and pull apart. The stem may still be attached to either side and should be fairly easy to snap off at this point.

Scoop out all the seeds and stringy guts until the inside walls of the flesh are smooth.

Depending on the size and shape of your squash as well as the size of your oven and baking sheets, you may need to cut each half of the squash into smaller, more manageable size pieces. For example, I had a 16 pound squash in a shape where the halves would not fit on my baking sheet(s), so I cut each side in half (making a total of 4 pieces) that I could arrange on 2 large baking sheets. You may need to cut in more or less pieces.

Sprinkle the pieces lightly with salt. Note: Salt is optional, so if you don't want it, don't like it or cant have it, don't use it.

Place the squash pieces flesh side down on parchment lined baking sheet(s) and place into the preheated oven. Depending on the size of your squash pieces, you'll want to roast the squash approximately an hour +/-. You can tell the squash is done when the skin appears a bit wrinkly and you can easily pierce the squash all the way through in several places with a knife.

Once the squash is done, allow it to cool. Once cooled, scoop the soft cooked flesh into your food processor or mixing bowl and puree until smooth.

You may now use the puree in any recipe calling for pumpkin puree. You may also measure the puree into freezer bags. The puree freezes beautifully and will keep for 3-6 months or more.

TIP: When freezing the puree, measure and store in the amounts you typically use in your recipes. For example, I use 2 cups of puree to make 1 pie OR 2 loaves of "squash spice" bread. So I typically put 2 cups or 4 cups of puree into each freezer bag. That way I'm using all the puree and not wasting any.