“Weather, that is it! I’m telling on you!”, I thought as I looked at the forecast and realized we would welcome the first day of Spring 2023 with a hard freeze. One of only a few that we have had all Winter long and just a few days after the projected last frost for our zone. This is just one of the many goings on since the last time we spoke that have kept us working! Let us get you up to speed.

Spring Plant Got Us Working

We were so excited to have the privilege to share our Clean Start plants with our community again this year. It has been real blessing for us to open this revenue stream. Small although it may be, it does help to offset some farm expenditures. Another benefit is that it also allows us the opportunity to grow our techniques of conveying our understanding of how to grow the plants we sell. Let’s be honest, just because you know something does not mean that you know how to teach people. No matter how skilled one may be at any trade or skill, it is another skill entirely to teach said skill. Since we have homeschooled one child who has graduated from college with an associates degree ( yes, its collar poppin’ time), and are teaching another currently, we like to thing we are pretty adept at teaching. The difference between teaching academics and agriculture for us is we truly love our connection with nature. In conversation you can readily tell we love our jobs as stewards of the earth! We have found that sometimes that passion overwhelms those to whom we are wishing to educate. They only asked for tips to grow a tomato and suddenly we are talking about how well the earth was constructed and how decaying animals feed crops! Sigh… We are learning to dial it back and be objective first, conveying need to know facts, then, if time allows, we gladly find time to express our deep love and respect for the God-given stewardship we have.

Preparing for the plant sale too means planning and planting the proper numbers of plants. Keep in mind that these are all of the SAME PLANTS WE PLANT ON OUR FARM. Hybrid varieties are planted in the high tunnel while heirloom varieties go in field beds and raised beds. So we needed to plant enough to account for losses. We needed to plant enough to sale. We also have friends and family that we usually just share our tomato, pepper, and eggplant seedlings with so we needed to account for that too. Since our hybrid varieties are very costly we do not usually sell them to the public. Those are exclusively for the high tunnel. Some of our seeds average out to be a literal dollar per seed! Our heirlooms on the other hand are more affordable and will not break the bank if we give some away or sell them for a reasonable price. Speaking of “reasonable price”, what do you think a reasonable price is for a plant that was grown from organic seed and is Certified Naturally Grown? This plant will be fertilized with OMRI Listed fertilizer and is planted in OMRI Listed soil. Even the (truly) compostable pots are OMRI Listed. Would it be more reasonable if the farmer could tell you the day the seed went into the soil? What if they could tell you the day it sprouted from the soil? How much would this care be worth to you? Give these things some thought if you find yourself balking at the cost of organic plants in your area.

This year the plant sale started off slow as many had a clue that there would be, what Southern Old Timers call, an Easter Snap. That is the last frost before Easter. Many believe it to have been on March 20, 2023. Ironically that was the first day of Spring. Now that it has passed the plants are flying off the shelves through the online store but also through Facebook Marketplace. We are adding to the current list of tomatoes with heirloom tomatoes. Feel free to pop on over and see what is in stock. The plant sale will remain active until the end of April. If you for some reason think our plants are overpriced then they probably aren’t for you and that is ok. We are not offended.

Hoopty Got Us Working

Let me tell you a thing or two about high tunnels – the heat and humidity can be unbearable! That is normally a late Spring to Summer issue. However, with the unseasonably warm Winter we had, it became a constant issue very early in the year. It was cold nights and really warm days – high tunnel closed at night and opened by mid morning at the latest. Then it was warm days and warm nights – high tunnel left open. Then of course the freezing temperatures we had which meant the high tunnel needed to be closed and we needed to add water to the crock pot to keep the seedling shelves warm so our tomato, pepper, and eggplant seedlings remained cozy. We had great success with the back and forth excluding one freezing night. In a rush to get back to warmth I didn’t not pull the frost blanket down completely over the shelf and we lost 5 or so tomatoes and several others were damaged. Considering there was over 200 seedlings being stored, we think these numbers are acceptable.

Opening and closing the high tunnel is not a difficult task, per se, as much as it is time consuming. It can also be difficult to remember to do these tasks since we are not full time farmers just yet. Most days we try to have farm chores done by 10 a.m. if the weather permits. Many times we are already in pajamas when it occurs to us, “HOOPTY HAS TO BE CLOSED!” It is quite the comedy hour, let me assure you. This is one reason I say Hoopty has had us working!

Another reason is the addition of composted soil. It is not an easy task to do but it is one way we ensure our soil is living and can feed our crops appropriately while limiting use of fertilizers. We just love the smell of a freshly prepared row!

We also needed to prepare a more extensive shelving system for our microgreen production as we have more subscribers this Spring. This included weather resistant shelving and lights. The increased temperatures made it difficult to get things set up but with lots of endurance and sweat we made it happen. As hubby & son were working and our daughter was schooling, it was up to Brian and myself to get it done. Brian distracts easy and I tire easy so imagine that pair! I’m proud of us – we got it done rather quickly. Spring MICROgreens by BHG session begins April 3rd! We are excited to share even more varieties with our BHG family!

Besides the usual work required to maintain the high tunnel the final reason we’ve been putting in overtime hours is preparing a prep area there for cleaning and packaging produce. Season after season we have brought produce indoors to be washed, brining in all kinds of dirt, debris, and BUGS! We knew how to resolve our issue. So Mr. Bain Home Gardener used his great shopping for deals skills and found a restaurant in our area that was closing. From there we were able to secure 1 plastic sink, 1 stainless steel sink, and 1 stainless steel table that would serve our needs perfectly. We are still working on the plumbing for the sink so instead of a prep station the area serves as a temporary potting space as our last area is now occupied by our microgreen shelves. It is all coming together very nicely. This makes it all worth it!

Babies Got Us Working

Our incubator project/experiment is going delightful. At present as I type this blog the 11 chicks that have already hatched are chirping away. There looks to be just 1 more that has pipped. We hope that it will hatch soon. It has been a joy to watch life come into the world by means of the Nurture Right 360 incubator. There is something so special about watching those little prehistoric feet kick of their shells once and for all! As if to say, get off, I have things to do! Right they would be! We hope these chicks (the females anyway) will be our new layers for Spring 2024!

Everything was not perfect. I didn’t know it possible, however, one of the chicks hatched prematurely and nearly drowned in the yolk. We helped him hatch and will be cutting the umbilical cord before days end. This comes as valuable advice from Harmony Farm, one of the two farms we purchased the eggs from. We also had a couple who had some bleeding from the bottom. From our research it is likely because the humidity was to high and the membraned didn’t dry enough to detach properly. One stopped bleeding rather quickly. However, the other one did not. We simply placed some corn starch on a paper towel and dipped his bottom in it to stop the bleeding. He now seems to be doing well. As of this moment we have yet to check the eggs under the broody hen outside. The plan is to sneak these chicks up under her of the course of a few hours in hopes that she will do the hard work for us. You can find out how that went by video over on our YouTube channel. Here’s hoping it all goes to plan!

As we mentioned last month, on February 10th & 11th we welcomed two litters of kits to the farm. Both sets fathered by the same buck. Both of the does had previously lost their entire first litters as commonly occurs. They both seemed to go through a little depression. We gave them lots of love but nothing replaces that desire to mother. So we were so happy for them both with the success of their second litters. Now both litters are nearly ready to hop to new homes. Caring for the grand total of 13 babies, feeding, watering, cleaning behind, and in some cases literally CLEANING BEHINDS, has worn us out! Initially these buns were going to be outside with their mothers. However, with the unpredictable and extreme weather changes we were having , we decided to err on the side of caution and bring them in! This has been quite the job. Sharing living space with any animal will have its challenges and some things we could compromise on. Cleanliness was not one of them. So yes, we have been cleaning morning, noon, and night! The little darlings are so adorable though, one cant be mad for too long. We plan to keep at least one from each litter to add to our breeding selection.

Our other, and oldest baby, Brady Smore is doing well. His training has been a little lax lately with all the planting and other projects. We saw him taking advantage of that and quickly got back on track. So far sit, stay, down, and quiet are understood commands. Brady also has a potty area which is the only area of the property he is allowed to do number two. He learned that area quickly! All we have to to is watch and see whether he goes to the left or the right when he comes off the porch to know what’s about to happen!

Currently in his training we are working on herding the chickens by command rather than for fun. This training is a little early but as Brady’s primary job will be protecting the flocks we think its never too early.

Watching him grow so fast is reminiscent of watching our own children got from newborn to infant to toddler – practically OVERNIGHT!

Fencing Got Us Working

From the moment we decided to buy our property we have wanted to fence it in. Life has made that a challenge for multiple reasons. The two primary reasons are finances and time. We tried to bypass time by outsourcing the job only to find that the first challenge – finances, was more of a challenge than we realized! So the idea has been back tabled for many years now. Only last year did we finally get the top portion of our property covered with the electric fence to protect our chickens from neighboring flocks and predators. With it finally as secure as we can get it we have been able to allow the flocks to free-range under supervision. Now with the addition of our four legged security gaurd in training, we knew we had to make fencing more of the property a priority and we did! The whole family has jumped right in doing whatever needs to be done. So far all we need to do is build the three access gates for the property and the front will be completed! We have added solar string light and landscape lights so at night the property looks like a kind of wonderland. It is very peaceful.

Farmers Markets Got Us Working

We recently attended our first market of the season! It was daunting pulling out all of the tables, chairs, coolers, bags, AND ALL THE THINGS MARKET RELATED! At some point I am bound to say, “Why do I do this to myself?!” The answer is easy. These markets put us in front of the community and helps our community put faces with the name. Hopefully it will create long term relationships that can be mutually beneficial for years to come.

We had a good time at this new market. We were able to network with some new vendors who we will hopefully see this coming market season.

For the remainder of the year we have plans to be at just one market. This is subject to change based on availability of products. On the following dates you can find us at the Poplar Head Farmers Market:

May 13th

May 27th

June 10th

July 22nd

July 29th

CNG Annual Certification Got Us Working

Most of this work is truthfully encapsuled in our farm framework anyway. This year however we had a particular challenge – finding someone to do our certification. Your can read about the CNG Certification process here.

Finally we were able to find a willing participant to help us from the local extension office. Turns out this was one one of the several extension agents that had been here before doing teaching on pest exclusion systems with the high tunnel! That was such a relief! However, the day before the scheduled inspection however he had a death in his family. To Mr. Micah Johnson and family, we send our condolences. Micah so kindly arranged to send someone in his place and what do you know – he too was familiar with our operation. Mr. Neil Kelly offered us valuable advice to move our farm sustainability forward. We plan to put in place his suggestions as soon as possible. This exchange of information is what grows our community food systems. The free flow of knowledge and information is truly a blessing when used correctly. Our paperwork will be submitted soon to CNG and we look forward to working another year with the CNG family! By the way… some one really should have been recording us taking those photos as it was absolutely HILARIOUS!

April Already Got Us Working

Although we will have no markets in April we will be planting like CRAZY to ensure we have all that our customers have come to expect to see at our booth in May when we begin farmers market season. We are also behind on planting potatoes, a project that really needs to get underway asap but I’m sure it will be April 1st before it actually happens.

As Brady is growing so fast, it is our goal to have the fencing completed in April so he can spend his time doing what he loves – digging and snoring! The month of April is also when we plan to get our okra & roselle planted as these plants really just do not like cool weather! The warm weather also means we have to ramp up our efforts to keep the pest at bay. We also have managed to get behind with our herb garden so that is taking a priority in April as well. More Swiss Chard, Mustards, Spinach, Lettuce, and Radishes need to be planted as well! So if you see the BHG team out and about give us a high five – we deserve it if we must say so ourselves!

Till next time… grow, grow, GROW!

February, the most challenging of the months to spell, has arrived. With it we dust off our hopes and dreams of phenomenal Spring gardens and strive to bring the dream to life. Seed trays and supplies are awakened from their slumber and told of the glorious growing prospects on the horizon. Truly, no one is more hopeful in February than the gardener, the farmer, or the homesteader. Those hopes are built not on unfounded fantasy but on prayers, planning, & execution. Its our own PPE. Let’s review some of the PPE over the last month.

Planning

In our December blog we talked about planning quite a bit. Its one of the most crucial areas we find in having even a mediocre success. Haphazard farming and gardening will surely lead to a massive loss of money. Of course if that is something you do not mind then have at it. For us as start up small business owners it is not a risk we can stand to take. There are digital files and notebooks full of plans for our corner of the earth for up to the next five years! It may seem to be much however those five years will pass by quickly! With each passing year we hope to implement our plans effectively.

Our planning for the Spring and Summer seasons usually begins around June of the year before. We prefer to begin with our bulbs. These include our garlic, onions, and leeks. This year we chose to do some onions and all our leeks from seed. That process went better than we could have hoped for! The data from that trial, however, will be inaccurate as we lost much of the onions in the Winter storm. We will have to scrap the data and try again Fall 2023. We did learn a valuable thing. In the future we will plan to plant our onion starts in beds that are already set up to have a cover secured on them. This will preserve them despite any freeze. Next we focus on potatoes. We study the season before and examine our results to determine if the same varieties will be included in our beds or if there is a need to change it up. This year we are sticking with Beauregard as it has been successful for us in previous plantings. As for seed potatoes we are more limited for space so we are only trying one variety for now unless things change and we are able to purchase more Olle raised beds. That variety is Caribe. It is purple skinned with white flesh. I love purple but have not had the best success with the Adirondack Blue seed potato so changing it up this year.

Once the aforementioned things are ordered we move on to seeds. This takes longer since a deep dive of what seeds we currently have will determine what seeds we need to secure. As we file through our collection we make notes of what is low or out of stock completely. That list is then compared to our garden notes from the previous season to determine if the variety was successful or not. Stick with or change it? This is a process that is on repeat when it comes to everything, even our chickens!

Execute

We have long been fans of the Jiffy pest pellet starter trays. They have always just seemed to work for us. However, as we expand our operation to include more for the community and our own family, its has become less sustainable for us fiscally. Also we have found that certain crops perform better when started in cell trays instead. Adjustment was needed. We have been following the Bootstrap Farmer company for a while. It seems that many farmers hold them in high esteem. With no real sustainable options out there we have decided to give them a try. We executed a small order initially to get our planting started and as funds became more available we did a larger order. So far we have been pleased with the quality of the products we have purchased. Time will tell if this really is a sustainable option for us. This will be determined by how well these trays hold up for us. We have secured cell trays, air pruning trays, microgreen trays, as well as pots. So far we have used them for planting flowers, peppers, eggplant, tomatillos, tomatoes, brassicas – basically everything! These trays have been moved to the growing station in the high tunnel and are doing well. The plan is to build our store of cell trays, pots, humidity domes, and etc over this next year. By 2024 we will not have the overhead expense of purchasing these items which should set us up immediately for a more fiscally successful year.

This year we have also executed more items from the five year plan for the property. That is installing more fruit trees. This year so far we have planted two pear trees and two apple trees. Before December we hope to have planted our Elderberry seedlings that are growing well now. We are also investigating cherry tree varieties compatible with our zone. Soon food will be everywhere! That is the aspiration anyway!

Brady Smore

Recently we lost one of our silkie chickens to some sort of predator. It was sad but thankfully it didn’t go to waste as the animal ate mostly all of the remains. We only found a small piece of the intestines and a wing. At this time we decided we would need to get another dog. Our dog Athena moved in with our son and our dog Duke died last year of intestinal issues. We have had no real security protecting the birds and we knew what we had to do but just didn’t really want to open our hearts right now. Not to mention the commitment involved in raising and training a dog. It can be a load! To counter point, however, we have been also entertaining the idea of getting me a service dog. This dog would go with me shopping and be with me outside while farming in case of a fall or other issue. This would preserve my independence and keep the family from feeling like they needed to babysit me or better yet, keep me from feeling like I needed to be babysat.

Enter Facebook. While scrolling through some of the pages we follow I saw a post with the cutest puppy EVER! After inquiring and more communication we took a drive and picked up my baby – Brady Smore. He is a Catahoula Leopard dog and true to their history he is very intelligent. These dogs have a history of being farm dogs and hunting dogs. We kept contact with the farm that put us in contact with the breeder. As it turns our their male dog was used to stud the female of the breeder. They also obtained a puppy, a female. While conversing over email we found out the most delightful news! Brady’s father is a service dog! I squealed and just said prayers of thanks. This dog seems to be exactly what this farm and I, personally, need. Brady has been immersed in pretty intense training. I am no dog trainer to be sure. We have been researching all over YouTube for the best techniques. We’ve also put out feelers for tips from trusted sources. A friend of ours, who owns a German Shepard and has a long history of animal husbandry, suggested the book, “Mother Knows Best” by Carol Lea Benjamin. It explores the way the mother dog trains the pup and translates that to human use. Many of the ideals we have already put into practice. So far he has mastered several commands, knows his name, and is learning the names of the family members. This dog has nudged his little self right into our hearts. He goes nearly everywhere with us and has his own personalized bedtime lullaby that he looks forward to each night. We’ve even noticed he rests longer when he get his bedtime snuggles and song. He’s our new baby. We will keep you up to date on his training and development.

New Life – More New Adventures

We have kits! Yes we have been successful in breeding two does to the same male. Our Giant Chinchilla, Cher was mated to our Giant Chinchilla buck Sonny. Cher had 13 kits! As it stands today 8 are alive and have full bellies. Sweet Pea, our Angora Lionhead doe was mated to Sonny as well and has 5 fluffy kits that are doing well too. Because her fur is so thick, Sweet Pea required shaving prior to her kits being born so that they can actually find the nipples. That was quite the undertaking for us ALL!

We hope to be able to sale these kits to either the public directly or to pet shops locally. If we are able to do so then we will be able to put this money towards feed and other costs associated with the rabbitry side of BHG.

There is more new life in the future for us. We have been planning on learning the ropes of incubating and hatching our own chicks. After much research and many videos (and more still ahead of us), we finally ordered the Nurture Right 360 incubator. Although it was at Tractor Supply we found it cheaper on Amazon and purchased it there. We have eggs on the way and are excited to see what breeds we can hatch out right here on our own farm! Our goal is to get Black Copper Marans, Legbars, Whiting True Blues and maybe even some Showgirl Silkies later on. This will definitely prove to be a fun project and it will definitely make us more sustainable as we will be able to hatch our own layers and sell extras to the community.

Farmers Market Season

Oh that time of the year is upon us again! Last year we dusted off the cob webs and got back into the game. This year we are more ready than we ever have been to get back into the swing of things! So far this year we will be participating in two farmers markets local to Dothan, AL One is the one we participated in last year the Poplar Head Farmers Market and the other is not really a farmers market per se but it is an opportunity to get our brand out there and meet the community. It is Market on Foster. Both of these markets are widely known to the local communities as well as surrounding towns. Since we are people, people, we are ready to go!

We will release official dates that we will be attending on our social media platforms and/or on our “Where Are We Now?” page early March.

This season we will continue to bring you our homegrown produce along with our bread varieties, homegrown tea blends, infused oils, infused vinegars and let us not forget the precious butt nuggets!

Just like last season Shima will be there in all her furry glory. This year she will have dino masks, tails, perhaps some art pieces, and even slime up for grabs!

We look forward to seeing you all soon! Take care!

The grass plays patchwork on the farm this time of year. There are no flowers to share their glorious garments. The trees leaves reside on the ground where it seems wind and gravity have so purposefully placed them. Their branches, naked stand in expectation of what is to come in a matter of weeks. We learn a multitude of lessons from nature. What we learn from the trees is patience. Wait. It all comes back around in due time. The sky, every changing, however, manages to capture so much beauty all at once. With all it hues of blue, orange, pink, and purple, it has observed many highs and lows at our corner of the universe over the last month.

Artic Blast

We were absolutely exhilarated to see freezing temperatures on the forecast in December. If you are following our journey then you are aware of the constant struggle we have with certain pests. Aphids in particular have become the reoccurring nightmare that tortures us year after year. This Winter, thanks to the Artic blast that brought consistent freezing and below temperatures for days at a time, we received respite, however brief. When temperatures began to rise we noted a heavy presence of ladybugs in the high tunnel, all over the farm in fact! These little creatures waged the next battle in our war of pushing back the aphid population. They are quite adept at their job and have very healthy appetites. We are more than grateful for the assistance.

In September we took on the challenge of growing our own onion starts from seed. It was less of a challenge really and more of a test of our patience. While we waited for most our own starts to reach appropriate planting size, (some varieties grew notably faster than others) we ordered from our usual suppliers. These were already planted in various beds throughout the farm and in the high tunnel when the Winter storm hit our town. We lost 90% of those purchased starts and about 20% of what we grew from seed. This even after we took the time to cover beds with frost protection. It was just far too cold. The frigid temperatures along with high winds secured their fate. This was a blow to our yearly harvest plan. Onions sold well at the Farmers Market last year so we hoped to have enough for this season for returning customers, enough for our family to make use of, and even more to dehydrate and use in our spice blends. Rolling with the punches we simply replanted some of the areas that experienced losses with our own starts as they are all good sized now. They have been replanted in the Olle raised bed on which we plan to install hoops for a more secure protection should our temperatures drop & remain below freezing again this Winter.

In the high tunnel things were not as severe however there were losses. Our Snow peas took the biggest hit. They had only about 2 more weeks or so of heavy production before they would have tapered off. Still, we wanted those harvests to stock the freezer with these delicious legumes. It is what it is. Soon we will be enjoying the fruit of our last succession planting of snow peas since they managed to survive the freeze. How? Well the first couple of days of the storm the wind was high. We were not aware until too late that in one area of the high tunnel the plastic was ripped from the rail & wiggle wire. The space was only about 2 feet or so. Through those 2 feet concentrated, wintry air flowed freely down the right side of the high tunnel killing most of the producing peas. Also on the right side was dill that also took a hit. Thankfully, with some time, much of the dill has recovered along with the fennel which happened to be on the left side. The fennel is greening back up beautifully however the bulbs may be stunted. Time will tell. Celery – Chinese Pink & White – had some damage. The rabbits readily accepted those damaged leaves. After some fertilizing with fish emulsion, it also bounced back, put on new growth and much of it is being harvested as needed for customers and for our own personal use.

Our citrus fruit trees that we were storing in the high tunnel certainly did not approve of the cold, specifically the grapefruit tree. She lost all of her leaves however she is putting on new ones. The tangerine tree responded a tad bit better. Pear trees of course are very cold hardy and have since found their forever home on the farm.

Cauliflower, broccoli, and collards planted in the raised beds died. The collards likely because they had been transplanted just a couple of weeks before and had not been established enough to endure. All of these will be restarted from seed this month and planted in February for a Spring harvest.

Mustard greens seemed absolutely unphased by the cold. The existing mustards along with the succession planted younger plants are doing very well. Green mustards are available on the shop page. Mizuna mustard in the high tunnel took off after the freeze. We think it is because the pests that were feeding on it died giving it every opportunity to do what it does best. You can find it now on our shop page.

We were very happy with how well the chickens and rabbits faired throughout the subzero temps. Our Olive Eggers and Easter Eggers both began laying this month. Out of 22 hens all except perhaps one (our rescued Barred Rock who we believe to be too old to lay) are of laying age. With it being Winter of course production is lower. Our new layers are eager to lay so we are getting 8-10 eggs a day. This allows us to have enough for us each week and a couple dozen to share with our friends & subscribers. Considering what is going on in the grocery stores right now, this make us very happy. We will come back to that.

Our Giant Chinchilla buck, Sonny, seems to think I control the weather. During the freezing temps he was very unhappy with me that week, even refusing pets and bunny boops that he usually embraces. Oh how I do wish I had control over the weather! Then again, it maybe best to leave such things out of human control. He has been mated to Cher (Giant Chinchilla) and Sweet Pea (Lionhead/Angora). We hope to have kits in February. It is rather exciting and nerver wrecking to be entering this new arena. We have already experienced some losses which is very sad but that does come with the territory.

From Our Garden To Yours

When we began gardening with just our family in mind, we spent a lot of money on fertilizer. Organic this, organic that… the wallet was broken! While we are not allowed to use it directly on our garden areas due to our CNG certification, you should feel free to. It is not a hot manure and adds valuable nutrients to the garden. With an NPK of 2.4-1.4-.6. it is easy to use and will not burn your crops. If you are looking to grow a Spring garden, now is a good time to work it into the soil. Our rabbit manure is now available for shipping. For local delivery we are offering our rabbit manure tea which we aptly call Bunny Brew by BHG. It is sold by the gallon. It is great for use on your plants as they are in the growth stage however we do not suggest using on leafy greens for contamination issues or any plant that is flowering.

Let us not forget to share with you our eggshells are also available for use in your gardens as well! The average egg shell contains about 0.3% phosphorus and 0.3% magnesium. Although they only have a small amount of sodium, potassium, zinc, manganese, iron and copper it is the high calcium content that makes them so valuable. If you experienced any blossom end rot last season, sprinkle these in your garden beds right away as they do take a while to decompose. We have sped the process up some by decreasing the surface area by pulsing these into fine pieces. If you need immediate assistance you may consider using them to create a tea. We will show you how to do this over on our YouTube channel in the next month. If you have not already, please subscribe to our channel.

Moving Forward

In planning for the new season there is so much we want to do that we are bubbling over with excitement! One thing that is exciting is our Flowers by BHG subscription for Spring 2023. We anticipate many colors and varieties for the upcoming season. We have already planted many bulbing perennial flowers as well as some annuals. Tentatively, the Spring session will run from April 3rd – May 1st. These dates are subject to change depending on weather conditions. Since we are starting early Spring, many of our flowers are being started now and will be grown in Hoopty. Weekly we are starting many seeds to create beautiful arrangements for your homes and businesses. In addition to flowers our arrangements include edible herbs. These are very aromatic and give you the added benefit of use at your leisure. We hope that you will consider signing up for this exciting, educational subscription!

We had to take an extensive break from our MICROgreens by BHG after catching COVID. Thanks to our extremely understanding subscribers we were able to recuperate without the burden of worrying about deliveries. We are happy to announce we are opening up subscriptions again for Spring 2023. Dates for the Spring session will run from April 3rd – May 15th. We love how versatile the microgreen is. All in our family love them. Just the other day our daughter was rummaging the refrigerator looking for some for a wrap. It is a nice way to add a refreshing crisp to sandwiches and wraps.

Eggs are a huge commodity now days. With the avian flu taking out so many bird, prices of eggs are on the rise. As a result many have reached out to us looking to pay cheaper prices. We do need to take a moment and address this. Before the avian flu our large 12 count eggs was already $6. Our entire farm is certified naturally grown. This means everything we grow and everything our chickens eat is certified organic. At this point in life they eat better than us! From the feed to the garden scraps that they receive… everything is organic! Traditional feed prices have been on the rise for a while so imagine what has happened with organic feed prices! For this reason our eggs may seem higher in cost however this does not even begin to cover the cost of feed. It does provide some funds to put back into the feed bill making our chicken operation more sustainable. For now, that is the best we can hope for. We hope that things improve soon with the egg market. We also hope that you understand a little better why our prices are what they are. Although we didn’t go into great detail about wood prices, fencing, and other things that have also been subject to inflation, we think you get the idea.

Prices are all over the place. Up and up (seldomly down)! How would you like to secure your egg prices for six weeks? Well we are happy to announce Eggs by BHG our new egg subscription! Enjoy six weeks of eggs delivered to your doorstep! We are so excited but also very nervous to help our community in this way. We go to great lengths to keep our chickens healthy and happy so they continuously offer us beautiful golden yolks. Since we and our birds are new to this we are starting very small allotment with hope to expand later. You may wonder what is the benefit of the subscription verses buying eggs as needed. One outstanding benefit is that our subscribers get 14 eggs per week instead of 12. That is 2 free eggs each week. If you do the math that is one free dozen of eggs! Our farm is all about spreading knowledge. This subscription also locks you into weekly emails teaching you a bit about your beautiful yolks and how we care for our flocks organically. If this is something you have any interest in, we advise you to secure your subscription right away! In keeping everything as streamline as possible, dates will be April 3rd – May 8th, running alongside microgreen and flower subscriptions. There is a possibility we will do a Fall subscription but that will depend largely on how the hens are doing and how Spring goes. Check out our complete terms and conditions here.

We know we have just thrown a lot of new listings your way but we are not finished yet! If you have interest in flowers, microgreens, and eggs then we would like to offer you our BHG 3-6-5 subscription. It is a bundle of all three subscriptions we currently offer. This subscription saves you $15!

Well, friends, that is all for now. Thank you for you loyal support. Sending well wishes – from our family to yours!