The age-old saying, “April showers bring May flowers”, has rung loudly the last few week as we have had much rainfall. The farm has exploded with life. Everything is green and full of hope and promise.  Come along for a brief update of what our last days have entailed since March.

Planting

The month of April boost so much planting that we literally couldn’t keep up with the schedule we made for ourselves! The first round of soy beans have been planted along side our feed sunflowers and squash. We have enough space in this plot to plant another row of sunflowers and soy beans which will be done within a few days. These sunflowers will be used primarily as a feed supplement for our animals. As feed cost continue to rise we have to find sustainable avenues of caring for our flocks organically.  Rabbits will partake of the stems and leaves and the seeds will be harvested for the chickens. The goal is to plant in succession until Fall. This should provide a steady supply of additional feed and hopefully offset our feed bill during the warm months. Even the soy beans are a feasible option for feed. The leaves are safe for the rabbits and the cooked beans are are an outstanding source of protein for the chickens. While this is not likely to be something we do, as we have a small market for fresh soy beans, it is nice to know that it is an option.

Okra, roselle, and corn have been planted, and all are doing well except the corn. Germination was only about 50%. We believe that heavy rains lifted our seeds to the surface and the birds helped themselves. As a result, we will be replanting that plot. The corn that has germinated is growing beautifully. The Three Sisters method we did last year would have been even more successful if we had chosen a less vigorous bean. We are still deciding if we are using this technique this year with a different bean.

The primary variety of okra we are planting this year is Motherland okra from saved seed from our original planting of seeds from Baker Creek. These okra plants grow fast and attain very high heights. We are entertaining the idea of using these giants to train our pole beans to climb. It would be an interesting sight, to say the least. What do you think?

Roselle has been planted in the high tunnel and will soon be planted in an outdoor plot. We learned last year that it takes just a few roselle to have a nice harvest. However, since then, our tea blends have taken off! So this year we will be planting double the amount of roselle we planted last year! It will be a lot to keep up with the harvesting and dehydrating. Of this, we are well aware. It comes along with the territory.

Eggplants & peppers have been set out in the high tunnel, but only a few have been planted in the field plots. This worked to our advantage as we lost quite a few of each and needed to replant them. We think the loss was due to high temperatures directly after transplanting combined with inconsistent watering while I, farm manager, was recuperating from tendonitis. With this second planting, we were able to replant in a string of rainy over cast days. This allowed the plants to become well established and effectively cope with the high temperatures in Hoopty.

The cucumbers that were planted in Hoopty immediately took to the races! We have several right now with fruit on them. The ones in the field plot, however, are taking their sweet time. There is just something about the humidity in the high tunnel that the summer plants absolutely love!

Growth

That we have great gratitude for the rain is an understatement. The time it saves us when rain falls from above is precious. This time is able to be used for planting, weeding, inspecting, or whatever else our hands may find to do. The rain has blessed all of our March plantings. Lettuce, Choi,  & Asian Greens set out on March 20th are ready for harvest today, April 24th.  That is quick! We are not complaining at all. We got off schedule with our secession planting of the above as there should have been a tray of each ready to be planted as these are harvested.  However, that imaginary tray remains on our to-do list. As farmers’ market season will be in full swing next month, we can not afford these kinds of slip ups ANYMORE!

Our perennials are back in full swing! We are always happy to welcome them back. Lemon Balm, Wild Bergamot, Mint, Garlic Chives, Asparagus, and all the fruit & flowers are growing ecstatically as they have been programmed to do by our Creator. Lemon Balm was previously in a raised bed, so I was very interested to see how removing the bed would affect the return. It is a tad smaller than it usually is by now. We are hoping that as the season progresses, it will continue to rebound. We have come to love our Lemon Balm teas! We have seed still, so if push comes to the worse, then we will establish another plant. Bergamot also has become a welcomed flavor. I love to sneak it into dishes and see if the family notices the change. Hubby is often the first to inquire, “Can’t quite put my tongue on that flavor. Hmm.” That’s me! Finding fun ways to tease the pallet with goodies from the garden. Soon, the Bergamot will flower, and at that time, we will begin harvesting, although I can’t promise I won’t sneak a few leaves in the meantime.

Onions are ready for harvest. We simply haven’t had the time to pull them and begin curing them. This year will not be the bumper crop that we had last year, and we are not crying about it. We expected that our first time growing our own starts from seed would have its own issues. The onions we do have ready to harvest are a mix of ones we grew from seed and ones we grew from Dixiondale Farm. It will be nice to contrast and compare the two.

Sometimes growth can happens too quick and cause issues. We women are very familiar with stretchmarks resulting from pregnancy. Thankfully our skin CAN stretch! Veggies however are not equipped for sudden growth. We’ve seen watermelon, radishes, tomatoes, and even beets crack or burst due to and influx of water causing swelling of plant to the point of no return. We had not had the pleasure of seeing this with cabbages until recently. You can view that video here.

Although there isn’t rain falling indoors, there is still much growth happening in Hoopty. We have blossoms on the tomatoes, and cucumbers are growing on their luscious green vines! This is such a welcomed sight as we have been craving these particular homegrown veggies the most during the fall and winter. To say that the store bought ones are not the same would be a huge understatement! We left plenty of space on the cucumber row for succession sowing and to plant our Basil starts. This will guarantee we have plenty of cucumbers through the season for markets as well as for preservation projects at home. It is also a nice way to conserve valuable space. As far as tomatoes go, we finally got a few set out into the field area but have a whole tray to go! The hold up is preparing a space to plant them. As you know, nearly all of our wooden raised beds have been removed due to decay. We have yet to order and install the Olle Gardens raised beds we are planning to replace them with. This means that 90% of our planting space is in Hoopty this spring.  That is a little nerve-wracking when you consider the results of the heat wave from last year. Our plan to navigate any losses due to heat waves this year includes shade cloth and hoops. We are also planning on planting plenty of tomato, cucumber, and pepper plants outside of the high tunnel as well. It’s like my Mama always said, “Don’t put all your eggs in one basket baby.”

We can’t speak on growth without mention of the chicks and bunnies. The chick are doing very well! They each have developed their own personalities and its becoming easier to determine the males from the females. Mama is still with them however that is about to change this week as we are giving them a run with in the larger run to protect them from the larger ones. They will be able to observe each other without being able harm the chicks. When time comes to merge them with the other flocks it will not be as if they do not know each other at all and it will be less of a shock to the chicks. Of course pecking order is just going to happen. We have learned there is no avoiding this determination of their hierarchy in the flock. We just monitor to be sure no one chick is bein abused excessively. We want to do our best to moderate any bad behavior and ensure all the girls are happy. This crew will be our Spring 2024 layers. By then they will be in the prime and ready to keep us stocked with colorful butt nuggets!

The rabbits have almost all found their forever home. Of Cher’s group four are left of nine and of Sweet Pea’s group one is left. We decided to keep the only female from Sweet Pea’s group whom we have named Calypso, after the legume… get it? She is a take charge kind of girl and knows no strangers much like her father. She is also very sweet. We look forward to watching her grow up. We are at the precarious time where the kits are old enough to begin mating so we will be separating the remaining girls from the boys very soon. We continue to have them for sale. If you are local to the Dothan area, please do reach out for more information.

Then there is Brady. Oh Brady! My fur-baby is already 30+ pounds and a huge goof ball! He fits right in! He is very smart but is not friends with the heat. He also need for good naps throughout the day to behave as he should. This means he has to be engaged mentally and physically enough to be tired enough to feel the need to recharge. He will not nap out of boredom! He will instead find mischievous ways to burn his energy. This is one thing we expected as it is well known of this breed and many other energetic breeds. We have several toys for him to play with indoors as well as out. His favorite activity now days seems to be fetch. He hasn’t quite mastered bring the ball TO YOU but he will bring the ball PAST YOU in hopes to get you to chase him. Speaking of chasing, he loves chasing the cats. They have no problem putting him in his place though if he plays too roughly. The chickens too are becoming more aware of Brady the bigger he gets. We are training on not nipping at them as he corals them back into their runs. This is a challenge because we are working against his DNA. It is our hope that with monitoring and intense training we can continue to help this sweet boy be the best dog he can be! Phase one of the fencing for the farm is almost complete! No one is more happy about that than our Brady boy.

Setbacks

It seems that every time we are on to a good routine there has to be some sort of setback. Many times, it is out of our control – weather or, in this case, health. Recently, I began having pain in my right foot and ankle. Those who know me know I deal with chronic health issues already, so pain is no stranger to me. In fact, pushing through the pain is also no stranger to me. That is exactly what I did for a whole week until I realized all my nursing and diy treatments were ineffective and another medical professional was needed – a doctor. I went and was diagnosed with tendonitis. It’s been a tough couple of weeks trying to heal during such a busy time on the homestead. I get the distinct feeling that this will be a reoccurring issue that surfaces from time to time. You gotta love aging!

Our nectarine tree, Rosie, had the most fruit it has ever had this year, and sadly, we ate the least fruit we have ever. A new challenger has taken the scene this season, and it ruined our harvest! I wanted to cry, but we have learned much as each season has passed from our various fruit trees. For that reason, the tears did not fall. We took to our Farming Basics app and found out that our newest nemesis is a fungus called Monilini fructicola. As it grows, it causes brown rot. It is pervasive! It causes the fruit to become mummified many times before it is even ripe. It affects peaches and plums, which are all planted next to Rosie. We have found that copper based fungicides are an organic treatment to this newest of challenges. We have also found research that says that even with copper treatment, organic farms regularly lose 75% of crops due to this fungus. No wonder there are no organic stone fruit growers in our neck of the woods!  One of these years, we will get it right, hopefully while Rosie is at her prime and before the plum and peach trees are affected. At that point, there will be CNG stone fruit growing at Bain Home Gardens!

Subscriptions

Egg and microgreens subscriptions are moving along nicely. Flower subscriptions have not yet begun as we had to post pone the start date. The date to begin that subscription for the spring session is still tba. We did have to pause for a week as I recuperated. However, we are back on track. We have the absolute best patrons! Many of them offered to come assist us on the farm to take the load off of the family. That is the definition of CSA! My heart was so full of appreciation. If you have a CSA near you, find out about their practices and see if you can support them. Your support means so much to these farms. You also increase revenue for your local economy. This year we were able to use the funds from our CSA’s to purchase OMRI Listed soil for the high tunnel. Though we were not able to buy enough for all 936 square feet, we were able to take care of more than 75%! That is a huge undertaking! So if you are supporting Bain Home Gardens in any way, subscriber or otherwise please hear us now – WE THANK YOU!

We started this blog post on April 24th. Today it is May 8th. That should tell you just how busy we have been. There is always much to do. Right now there are cabbages waiting to be fermented and Kombucha to bottled to name just a few tasks waiting on us. It makes me smile. I read some where to look around and appreciate the things you have to day that you dreamed you would have yesterday. When I do that I just say wow!

The next time you hear from us we should have attended two local farmers markets. We will update you on those then. Sending well wishes – from our family to yours!

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!