Sowing Seeds 2024! Celebrating local foods & local skills

Sowing Seeds: Celebrating local foods & lost skills

Together let's plant the seeds of a more sustainable and resilient future!

Join us - and may like minded folks - for the second annual Sowing Seeds event!!

Tickets: Under 12 free, 12 and over $20, tickets are required
https://sfa-mn.org/minnesota-river/

Join the Minnesota River Chapter SFA, and Alternative Roots Farm, for a fun and memorable afternoon that’s all about celebrating local foods and rediscovering traditional self-sufficiency skills!

Featuring our community’s farmers and makers and set on a working farm, you’ll experience:

*Pop-Up Farmers Market*
....Barefoot Lane MN, Bartsch's Deep Roots Farm, Rebel Rooster Farm, Carlsonville Farm & Garden, Blue Dirt Farm, Moody Bees Honey, Under the Sun Herbs, Butter Cream Soaps., Alternative Roots Farm!!

*Skills demos*
...Sourdough Starter & Baking Basics, Maple Tapping 101, Using a Whole Chicken, Homemade Broth, Drying & Storing Herbs, Canning 101, Growing Great Garlic in Minnesota, Rendering & Using Lard, Wrapped Wood Basket, Homemade Soap and More!! and more!

*Kids Activities - craft, face painting with Making Faces Mankato, games and more!

*Wool to fleece fiber demo 11-2 with Dané Hiniker, Something New Farm

*TNT EATS Food Truck

*Farm Tours on a working Organic farm

Tickets: Under 12 free, 12 and over $20, tickets are required
https://sfa-mn.org/minnesota-river/

-->All ticket sales go to support the Minnesota River Sustainable Farming Association and their work locally.<--

Address: Alterative Roots Farm, 11197 130th St. Madelia, MN 56062
Parking: along the gravel road.

*Volunteers get in free!*
https://www.signupgenius.com/.../10C084CAFAF28A3F9C43...

Fall Apple Share Offerings for 2024

Fall Apple Share Offerings for 2024

*Sign up is currently open for returning members & wait list folks! If shares remain they will be opened up the end of the month!

Each week enjoy a 4 lb bag of fresh & local apples.

Each bag sports 1-2 varieties of our organic apples. A mix of standard, lesser known and old heritage types - 2021 harvest included 33 varieties! We'll send out a short weekly newsletter, with apple facts, orchard notes and a recipe. Begins the first week of September.

Weekly pick up locations:

A.R.F. farm store (Th., Fri., or Sat.) - 6 or 8 weeks

New Ulm Pick Up, Turner Halle Lot (Th. at 5:00pm) - 6 or 8 weeks

Saturdays at the Mankato Farmers Market - 6 weeks

$60 :: 6 week Fall Apple Share

$78 :: 8 week Fall Apple Share *best price

*4 lbs not enough? The option to sign up for 2 shares is available.

*New ... first dibs on other Fruit Shares that may become available (raspberries, plums).

SIGN ME UP! (coming soon)

Add to your Fall Apple Share Experience

Add on apple products and Winter Apple Shares.

Applesauce Share  ::  $88

A dozen jars of our clean-eating applesauce. Made with our delicious organic apples, a touch of local honey and organic lemon juice. Choose preferred month of pick up.

November Apple Share  ::  $25

A 10 lb bag of table apples for fresh eating, baking or preserving. Primarily late-season storage varieties. This share will land 2-3 weeks following the 8 week Fall Apple Shares and 1-2 weeks before Thanksgiving.

December Apple Share  ::  $25

A 10 lb bag of table apples for fresh eating, baking or preserving. Primarily late-season storage varieties. This share will land a month after the November Apple Share and 1-2 weeks before Christmas.

Storage Bushel  ::  $94

Stock the larder for winter! Receive a waxed box containing 40 lbs of table apples to store for fresh winter eating, at wholesale price. Select interest in sign up form. Final reservations made in October, for pick up by arrangement in early-mid winter.

SIGN ME UP! (coming soon)

Farm Store Inventory May 16

 

HOT this week...

Bug Bite Salve - well at least for me. :D Bugs are starting to come out and this is providing me with some relief!

Stinging Nettles Tincture - For seasonal allergy support. Supporting healthy histamine response and relief. Take a dropperful in a shot of water 1-3xday. John feels relief soon after taking a dose.

Garden plants - see the list below!

The orchard is passing full bloom, with some flowers still on the trees and fruitlets starting to show on the earliest bloomers!

Read on for this week's farm store inventory...

Tips & directions to the farm store.

Eggs $6/dozen - free ranged & fed Organic feed
Asparagus $7 bunch
Rhubarb $4 bunch
Garden plants 4pk $5 - lettuce, kale, broccoli, kohlrabi, cabbage, ground cherries, tomatillo, 8 Varieties tomatoes (listed below, more deets in previous blog post!), NEW - green slicing cukes, picking cukes, basil, parsley.

Herbal Salves $10
—Bruise salve - prevent/treat bruises, fresh/deep wounds, burns, hemorrhoids
—Knitbone salve - sprains, strains, broken bones, arthritis/tendonitis, muskuloskeletal remedy
—Bug Bite Salve $10

Applesauce $8
Apple butter $6
Apricot Jam $8 Back in stock!

Calendula Lotion Bar $10
Herbal Bug Spray $7
Cool It Essential Oil Spray $5
Summer Gift Pack $21 - bug spray, bug bite salve, cool it spray

Elderberry syrup kit $25
Sore Throat Spray $10
Tincture 1oz/$15 - stinging nettles, holy basil, Ashwaganda, willow bark, astragalus, elderberry
Tincture 2oz/$25 - stinging nettles, Ashwaganda, holy basil, willow bark Applewood $10/10.5lb bag

Tomato Varieties *More plants at Total Landscape Supply

German Johnson 8-16oz Brandywine type slicer *BLT fav

Kellogg’s breakfast 1-2lb beefsteak type

Valencia low acid yellow slicer

Sun Gold cherry type, delicious & prolific

Amish Paste 8-12oz, meaty, juicy few seeds *fav

Brandywine 1lb+ great taste, popular

San Marzano 4oz paste type, few seeds, easy peel

Weavers Black Brandywine rush black tomato flavor, beefsteak type *farmer fav ever black tomato

Farm Store Inventory May 7

I planted 50 new rhubarb plants last year!! My old patches needed a little rehab and who can really have too much??!! The asparagus patch is a few years old and will only get more and more productive now -I'll lump these into all the perennial fruits we have to offer throughout the year! This means preservation season has officially kicked off - both of these need to get in my freezer for year round seasonal eating! So far I've been working on drying and tincturing nettles.

The orchard is in FULL BLOOM this week!! You won't want to miss it.

Read on for this week's farm store inventory...

Tips & directions to the farm store.

Eggs $6/dozen - free ranged & fed Organic feed
Asparagus $7 bunch
Rhubarb $4 bunch
Garden plants 4pk $5 - lettuce, kale, broccoli, kohlrabi, cabbage, ground cherries, tomatillo, 8 Varieties tomatoes (listed below, more deets in previous blog post!)

Herbal Salves $10
—Bruise salve - prevent/treat bruises, fresh/deep wounds, burns, hemorrhoids
—Knitbone salve - sprains, strains, broken bones, arthritis/tendonitis, muskuloskeletal remedy
—Bug Bite Salve $10

Applesauce $8
Apple butter $6
Apricot Jam $8 Back in stock!

Calendula Lotion Bar $10
Herbal Bug Spray $7
Cool It Essential Oil Spray $5
Summer Gift Pack $21 - bug spray, bug bite salve, cool it spray

Elderberry syrup kit $25
Sore Throat Spray $10
Tincture 1oz/$15 - stinging nettles, holy basil, Ashwaganda, willow bark, astragalus, elderberry
Tincture 2oz/$25 - stinging nettles, Ashwaganda, holy basil, willow bark Applewood $10/10.5lb bag

Tomato Varieties *More plants at Total Landscape Supply

German Johnson 8-16oz Brandywine type slicer *BLT fav

Kellogg’s breakfast 1-2lb beefsteak type

Valencia low acid yellow slicer

Sun Gold cherry type, delicious & prolific

Amish Paste 8-12oz, meaty, juicy few seeds *fav

Brandywine 1lb+ great taste, popular

San marzano 4oz paste type, few seeds, easy peel

Weavers Black Brandywine rush black tomato flavor, beefsteak type *farmer fav ever black tomato

Garden Plants Have Arrived!

Garden plants have arrived at the farm store!

Grab your salsa and BLT tomatoes, plant some lettuce, cabbage for kraut and more! The sun is shining and things are going to take off with this spring weather.

Do you spy my helper?! Leo helped me get the load of tomatoes, ground cherries, tomatillos and more brassicas this morning for opening the farm store for the week. Full list of plants below.

Every year I enjoy watching the sea of tomatoes grow in the deep winter greenhouse! It is so full and abundant with promise for the gardening season ahead!!

At the farm store the plants are either right inside the breezeway (picture), especially  on windy or rainy days, or right outside of the quonset, next to the farm store door. We do our best with the set up we have!! They are also at The Greenhouse at Total Landscape Supply, Madelia!

We hope you'll stop out this week and grab some Organic garden plants to nourish your bodies and souls this week! Each 4 pack container is $5. Rhubarb and asparagus are in season too, and our egg laying ladies are staying busy.

Garden plants available at the farm:

All come in 4-pack containers for $5

Noted below are extra plants available at Total Landscape!

Lettuce

Kale

Broccoli

Kohlrabi

Cabbage

Ground Cherries

Tomatillo

Tomatoes - 8 varieties

-German Johnson 8-16oz Brandywine type slicer *BLT fav -Kellogg’s Breakfast 1-2lb beefsteak type -Valencia low acid yellow slicer -Sun Gold cherry type, delicious & prolific -Amish Paste 8-12oz, meaty, juicy few seeds *fav -Brandywine 1lb+ great taste, popular -San Marzano 4oz paste type, few seeds, easy peel -Weavers Black Brandywine rush black tomato flavor, beefsteak type *farmer fav ever black

**Coming later this week: green slicer, white slicer & picking cucumbers!!

**Also available at Total Landscape Supply, Madelia: our famous Celery, Cauliflower, Jalapenos (delivering 5/9)

Look for this sign when you are there shopping!!

Field Day: Animal Husbandry and Raising Pigs Outdoors

 

Animal Husbandry and Raising Pigs Outdoors

At Alternative Roots Farm, Madelia

At Alternative Roots Farm we have been raising pigs outdoors since 2012.  Over the years we have raised 6 different heritage breeds (Gloucestershire Old Spots, North American Guinea Hogs, Red Wattle, Mangalitza, Ossabaw Island, Mulefoot) and many mixes in-between.  On our small farm acreage, we have been forced to learn, sometimes the hard way, the best practices in raising a small herd of pigs outdoors, and on pasture. 

Our experience has taught us about good pasture rotation, breeding and farrowing, electric fence training, feed rations, pasture forage options, winter housing, trailer loading and animal health.  This summer we are hosting a workshop on raising pigs on pasture with a hands-on focus to get you started in raising your own pigs. 

This field day is focused on getting you hands-on and a real-world experience in electric fence set-ups, pasture rotation, loading animals, separating stock, checking heat cycles in gilts/sows, feed rations, pasture forage options, breed characteristics and a number of curveballs you can expect the pigs to throw at you.  Class will include hand-outs of the presentation. 

Participants are expected to bring their own lunches and workwear suitable for working with pigs hands-on.  If you already raise pigs, please practice good biosecurity measures and come in clean and sanitized workwear – lets keep our animals and your animals healthy together.

 

Sunday, August 25

8:00 AM – 2:00 PM

Rain day back up: Sunday, September 1

Class Cost:  $75/Participant or $100/couple (With the full field day, no tag along kiddos please.)

Maximum number of Participants:  20

Pre-registration is required, email us directly at info@alternativerootsfarm.com

2024 Organic Garden Plants!

Happy garden harvest!

Here is our list of bedding plants we'll be growing this year, so you can plan them into your gardens!! Select items will be available at the farm store come early spring, the majority will be available at the Greenhouse at Total Landscape Supply, in Madelia.

All of our garden plants are Certified Organic!

Brooke with tomato

-Celery, Ventura (veeery popular, you may become addicted to "real" MN grown celery)
-Ground Cherry, Goldie
-Tomatillo, Toma Verde  

Kohlrabi transplants

Some cool season crops you can plant early...

-Cabbage, Copenhagen
-Kohlrabi, Terek
-Cauliflower, Snow Crown
-Broccoli, DeCicco (side-shooting type for continual harvest)

Amish Paste

A number of delicious heirloom tomatoes great for fresh eating and processing...
-Amish Paste
-German Johnson (dusky pink, my favorite for BLTs) 
-Kellogs breakfast (orange) 
-Sun Gold, cherry type (very prolific)
-Valencia (yellow, low-acid)
-Weavers Black Brandywine (the BEST black tomato I've grown, 2nd fav for BLTs)
-Brandywine
-San Marzano, paste type

-Jalapeno, Early 

Cooling cucumbers!
-M-76 (classic green slicer)
-H-19 Pickling
-Silver Slicer (white, my favorite for flavor)

Follow along as spring approaches! (Slowly but surely, and I'm okay with that. :) There will likely be other plants available at the farm not listed here, depending on what strikes me, but usually some basil, kale, sweet peppers and other "extras" from my home garden!

Ready to process tomatoes!