Wild Family Farm

10/01/2023

About a gallon of cherry tomatoes. I also picked almost this many 2 (maybe 3?) days ago. It's a mix of sun gold, which ripen to orange, and super sweet 100s, which are red. Picked almost entirely from my garden arch, mostly from a stepstool, as they're way up in the air.

09/10/2023

Here's my garden arch today.

The perennial vines are off to a slow start, (although they do seem to be finally getting growing) so what you see here are mostly annuals. Tomatoes on the front left, squash on the right, with basil in front of the window. Over the arch in back are luffa, which are just getting ready to start blooming.

The tomatoes are almost all cherries, and we keep them picked pretty clean, so it's hard to see the tomatoes, but we've been enjoying them, almost every day.

04/17/2023

Dear Kansas gardening friends,

As you may remember, in 2020, at the beginning of the pandemic, during the lockdown, we packed up and moved west for my husband's job. He loves his job here, and I love how easy it is to grow things here, if you add water (we are on the edge of the Mohave desert).

But there have been some challenges.

First challenge: Space

Both my outside green space and my inside "messy creative" space are very limited. As is the norm for houses here, this house has no basement. Even the laundry is in the garage, which is too cold for seed starting, and most of the house is carpeted. This winter I built a little shelf from parts I bought for 50 cents, added lights, and set it up in my bathroom. (Pictured in commets).

The backyard is very small, and dominated by the patio (which is covered), 4 mature fruit trees 🥰, about 25 rose bushes, among other things, and a pergola with a large hot tub. I love it all! or most of it 😉 ( but that's another conversation), but it left little room for gardening (other than maintaining what is already there).

Then I considered this space (in the picture).

This space is typical in many neighborhoods here. It is a long, narrow space between our house and our neighbors', about 14' total, but only 7' from our house to the dividing wall. The space between the houses is divided by the wall that surrounds the backyards, 5 feet tall at the sides, 6 feet tall at the back. The window is to my dining room. My dining room and my neighbors' dining room are across from each other --- my window looks into my neighbors' dining room window, after looking past a blank wall, just 7 feet away. Not much of a view. Until this spring, with all the rain we got over the winter, this space was completely empty. Just dirt, except for the very aggressive rambling rose growing through the fence from the front yard. Because of its location (a long narrow strip between 2 two story houses), most of the dirt at ground level spends most of the day in the shade. But there should be enough sunshine on one side, and if the plants could be lifted up even just a few feet, there are plenty of hours of sunshine! So, sometime during 2021 we began designing and planning our garden space.

This weekend, my wonderful husband and 2 youngest sons custom built the garden arch pictured in the comments. I can't wait to get started planting!

07/13/2022

04/29/2022

Just wanted to share with you one of the joys of living in the Mohave. This mama hummingbird built a nest right outside my kitchen window and has hatched at least 1 baby hummingbird. I was trying to video the baby(s), and instead got the mama right as she returns to the nest.

02/22/2021

Happy Monday everyone!

I have been putting off this post, as it seems like another goodbye, and we have all suffered so much loss this last year.... but I wanted to remind you, our beloved customers, that you will need to find a different source for your garden plants this year. If that means that you are going to start your own seeds, many of them need to be started now, or soon.

We are off to our next adventure! The picture is of apple blossoms, currently blooming in our backyard in sunny California. I'm not starting any plants this year, but I have been busy learning gardening skills here, and discovering and tending the plants growing in my backyard. We have apples, peaches, and pomegranates! If you like, I could post pictures of some of my gardening adventures here?

In the meantime, I am told that the Kansas Grown! Farmer's Market will be open OUTDOORS, every Saturday in March, from 8 - noon, with regular hours (7 - noon) starting in April. I will miss all of you, and your kind words and enthusiasm ---- but I honestly won't miss the cold, early mornings, or the late Friday nights getting ready.

If you have any specific questions for me that would help you with gardening, I am happy to chat with you ---- just please be mindful that I am in a different time zone. If you have any questions about gardening in Kansas, I would recommend that you join the Facebook group "Kansas Gardeners". They seem to be a friendly group with a wealth of hands-on experience and information, specific to the challenges of gardening in Kansas.

All the best to you this year, and Happy Gardening!

06/01/2020

Good morning everyone! If you are a local gardener in search of just a few more plants for your garden this summer, I have just a few plants left, available to pick up in North Newton. I have these tomato plants varieties: Jet Star, Better Boy, Early Girl, Delicious, Mortgage Lifter, Super Sioux, Cherokee Purple, Yellow Brandywine, Golden Jubilee, Amish Paste, Glamour, Husky, Husky Cherry, Tomatoberry Garden, Indigo Cherry Drop. I have some sweet Lunchbox snack peppers, some hot Cayenne peppers, some cantaloupe, and basil, rosemary, chives, and lavender. Email me at [email protected] and I'll send you more information. Thank you so much!

05/30/2020

Good evening gentle friends. This Saturday (May 30) we are coming to the market one last time. We have tomato plants, snack peppers, basil plants, and a few other herbs (rosemary, thyme, oregano, sage, chives, lemon grass, and lavender). We also have beautiful, blooming violas and calendula. We'll be there at 21st and Ridge in Wichita from 7-noon, just inside the Ridge Road entrance. See you there!

05/22/2020

How does one say goodbye?

As much as I dislike saying goodbye, it seems kinder than leaving without saying a word…..

First, let me say that this has been an astounding year, and all of you have been simply the best! We knew when we finished up last year that this year would be different--- we were making some changes in our staffing. We just had no idea how different this year would be. Months before covid-19 flipped all of our lives upside down, my own personal life took an unexpected turn. As a result of a chain of events that began last December, we are soon moving out of state, and beginning a new chapter in our lives.

We say goodbye every year, but it’s always been more of a “see ya later” in the fall, as we all hope and expect to meet again when the market starts back up in the spring. This year is different, as with the move, we really do not expect to be back as market vendors.

So, here’s how I say goodbye:

THANK YOU!

Thank you for all your years of business. Thank you for all your kind words and encouragement. Thank you for sharing your gardening experiences with us. Thank you for your patience with us; for letting us learn to do a better job of serving you. Thank you for trusting us to provide you with plants for your garden. Thank you for providing my children with their first entrepreneurial experiences. Thank you for your kindness, your smiles, your friendship, your support. Thank you for this phenomenal year, and letting us be “essential” in your lives, even as we must say our goodbyes and leave.

I’m not sure when our last day will be ---- when we are constructively out of plants, we’re done. It’s likely that will be this Saturday (May 23).

05/22/2020

In addition to our edibles (tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, basil, other herbs, more basil 😊, cantaloupe, edible flowers.....), we're digging some bare root iris rhizomes to bring to the market tomorrow. They are all this lovely lavender color.

We plan to be at the Kansas Grown Farmer's Market at 21st and Ridge in Wichita from 7-noon, Saturday May 23. It may very well be our last Market Day. More about that in another post.

See you there!