Althea's Acres

02/01/2026

My almost 14 year old daughter is hiding under all that winter gear.

She was saying good morning to our resident mini horse, Barleycorn.

♥️

I know lots of us are over winter, but I can say without a doubt that the lightly falling snow was incredibly pretty this morning in the sunlight.

The trick is layers. I think most city folks don't dress like we do when we walk out the door. We know we have tasks to accomplish in order to properly care for the animals so layering up to stay warm for the duration of chores is not optional.

My struggle was always cold hands and I finally found the best combo for me to keep my hands warm and now I can stay outside for over an hour without getting cold.

I truly look forward to doing chores every day and cannot wait for warmer days when spending hours outside doesn't require all the extra layers of clothes to be put on and taken off multiple times a day.

Arctic temps or not, you still couldn't convince me to move back to the city. Farm life is where it's at.

♥️

01/06/2026

I pity the fool that decides to mess with Salem. Look at those spurs!! 😳

Seriously though, this rooster is one of the best roosters we've ever had here on the farm. And the best part is, we hatched him in our incubator a few years ago. 🐣🐥

He is the epitome of what a rooster should be like.

🐓 good with the hens,
🐓 very protective of the flock
🐓 he is on alert at all times
🐓 he's the first one up and on patrol every morning
🐓 he is awesome with humans (this one is very important with kids and visitors)

Salem understood the assignment.

Yes, there are mean roosters out there, we've had a few. I was attacked by one several years back and vowed to never keep the nasty ones around because they can do some serious damage, especially to small humans.

Salem is not one of those roosters, he's one of the good ones. 🙏

And he gets bonus points for being handsome. 😂

12/25/2025

Merry Christmas to all!! 🎄♥️

03/07/2025

I propose a "take your ducklings to work day!" 🤣😂🤷‍♀️🤔🤫🫣🦆💕🥰

How could one not smile at these two!?

Plus, they're runners, so they're extra entertaining with how tall they stand up.

I let them "escape" their pen this morning while I was changing their water to see what they'd do and once they got out of the pen, they just stood as tall as they could about a foot from the pen.

They probably regretted their decision to leave their safe area and froze and didn't know what to do. 😂❤️

Once returned to their pen with fresh water, they took sips and did enough zoomies to warrant another nap.

Ducks (and geese) are probably my favorite over chickens and turkeys, but my gosh, PLEASE don't let their looks fool you, ducks are utterly disgusting.

If there is one tiny spot of mud in the grass, they'll turn it into a HUGE spot of mud in the grass. 🫣💕🦆☠️

03/05/2025

Two new babies joined the farm today.

My husband's coworker got them and a couple weeks later realized that ducks were not the best idea.

Good thing we love our ducks here.

We are not 100% sure, but we are confident that these two are fawn and white runner ducklings. Which would be our first two runners on the farm.

🦆❤️🦆

*the last photo is of what adult runners look like, aren't they cute!?

12/03/2024

10/20/2024

Soaking up the sun on this gorgeous fall day.

🐷☀️❤️🍁🍂

08/15/2024

We need to support small farmers more than ever now.

Hey Mirai fans! Many of you are asking: HOW do we at Piscasaw have MIRAI seed when no one else does???

Here is the (short) story of how we have Mirai sweetcorn seed when it is no longer available in the marketplace:

As many of you know, I (Jenny) was the garden manager at Twin Garden Farms. Cliff was my boss and mentor in the garden and, after my husband, Aaron, went back to corporate America, I managed the farmer market sales under Gary.

In 2020, the same year that the Brook Farm became available for Aaron and I to purchase, Cliff and Gary decided that they would retire. They, and the third owner, sold Twin Gardens to our largest seed production client, Illinois Foundation Seeds, Inc. Twin Gardens had been producing seed as an outside grower for IFSI, but now Twin Gardens became part of IFSI.

IFSI did not want to be in the fresh vegetable market. They are a seed company. Piscasaw Gardens, now at the Brook Farm, carried the Twin Gardens garden market business forward.

I continue to work at Twin Gardens, an IFSI company, as the Quality Control Lead for seed production. I buy my seed directly from Cliff (who still has connections...) Someday classic Mirai may become difficult for me to get, as the seed is produced primarily for foreign markets. Rest assured that when that time comes, I will let you all know.

If any of you would like even more details, please stop by the farm store on Lawrence Road on Saturdays or Sundays, and I will give you the full low-down!

Please enjoy this image of one of my Mirai Seed bags from 2024, packaged by IFSI.

04/19/2024

Happy Friday!!

11/09/2023

This is a friend of mine. If you’re interested, send her a message or comment on her post. ❤️

08/16/2023

To all of you gardeners that grow excessive amounts of zucchini and summer squash and don’t know what to do with it all, this one is for you.

I’ve seen so many people say that they have so much that they are running out of uses for it, so here is my suggestion. A one pot wonder type of a dish that will use up all that squash sitting on your counter or fridge staring at you.

This one will use up a ton of squash and it will cook down tremendously.

We loosely follow this recipe and like to add some herbs during the cooking process and then top with Parmesan cheese when it is done.

My kids said it looks kind of unappetizing when it’s done but they all told me it reminded them of bread stuffing even though there was zero bread or breadcrumbs in the mix.

This one does require a big pot and a lot of patience because it seemingly takes forever to cook all the water out of the squash. But I can promise you, it’s worth it.

And I’m sure you veggie heads that don’t eat meat but still grow squash can make this without the bacon and just use some good oil to start.



https://www.pbs.org/food/recipes/old-school-squash-onions/?fbclid=IwAR1IQ4srwtI7cfe26pZYboRrccFXOqEukE81Iv7ZTWE8YVuDmNiHWdCW-gw

Get this Old School Squash and Onions recipe from chef Vivian Howard, star of A Chef's Life on PBS Food.

07/21/2023

Our newest group of future layers arrived safely yesterday afternoon.

This was our first time ordering from Murray McMurray Hatchery and we are very pleased with the entire experience.

We decided to get the surprise layer mix and from the looks of some of the chicks in the box, we've got an awesome variety.

The best part is, the babies arrived LESS than 24 hours after they were packed up and shipped out so none of the chicks were lethargic or showing signs of stress. 🙌🙏

And every one of them is bright, alert, and peeping loudly this morning. 🐥🐥🐥🐥

Thank you for such an awesome first-time ordering experience. We ordered these chicks back in March. And patiently awaited their arrival. We are not disappointed in the least.

And they threw 3 extras in the order and we won't be mad if they turn out to be roosters. 🥰🐓