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Moon Girl Farm

Working on a fourth generation farm, we grow a wide variety of chemical-free berries, herbs, and veg

Operating as usual

09/17/2022

It’s a beautiful day, and we have a very colorful selection of veggies & fruits! Pictured below are our tomatoes, peppers, squash, pears & tea! We’re here from now until 12:30!

09/16/2022

Preserving wild foods is an adventure & a great way to bond with nature. Slippery jacks (suillus americanus) are an abundant & overlooked edible mushroom with a subtle citrus flavor.

And guess what? They're in season! Look for slippery jacks under pine trees (specifically five-needle varieties). These mushrooms are mycorrhizal, meaning they have a mutualistic relationship with roots--& for some reason, they're in love with white pines.

Below the surface of Mother Earth, the web-like suillus mycelium makes minerals available to the tree in exchange for carbohydrates. It's common to find dozens of these bad boys growing 20-30 feet from the base of a pine tree. But they don't have a long shelf life...so what do ya do with all those mushrooms?

Dehydrate them & stick 'em in a jar! Slippery jacks dehyrdate very well (I did them at about 120 degrees for about 8 hrs) In fact, they actually taste BETTER this way. Simply add them to soups, sauces, etc!

Due to climate change, nearly 1/3rd of all tree species are teetering on the brink of extinction. If white pines were to die out, would slippery jacks follow? Foraging wild foods is an illuminating experience, as you gain intimate knowledge of nature's endlessly complex, breathtakingly beautiful symphony. We're part of this thing! Stay in tune! Be the noble tuba!

Notes for first-time mushroom foragers:
1. Use a basket or mesh bag--anything that allows the mushrooms to sporulate. Millions of little reproductive spores fall out as you walk, so you're planting new mushrooms as you hunt!
2. Don't be greedy. I generally take about 1/3rd of wild mushrooms I find, & the leave the rest to nature. Some people take take even less; some take half. It's up to you, Sparky!
3. Always be CERTAIN in your mushroom identification. This is life or death! There are old mushroom hunters & there are bold mushroom hunters--but there are no old bold mushroom hunters! Be smart!
4. Some people get a rash from touching slippery jacks (although I never have). Whatever allergen they contain, however, is neutralized once you cook them.

09/03/2022

NEW TEA BLEND ALERT!!! “The Green Elder” our new elderberry tea blend is available in loose leaf jars today at Old Capitol Farmers Market presented by HSHS St. John's! We also have the first of our pears! Here now until 12:30!

08/18/2022

Farm adventures!

1. Top Left: this refreshing tea plant is known as greenthread (thelesperma filifolium). This tastes & smells amazing, like a desert chamomile of sorts. These cuttings will be dried at room temperature & added to future tea blends. The long taproot makes it an excellent candidate for growing in our warming climate, as it is extremely drought-resistant. While native plants are important, keep in mind that southern species of plants, insects, & fungi (etc) will be creeping north for the rest of our lives due to the human-caused disturbance to Earth's carbon cycle.

2 & 3. Top Right & Bottom Left: this massive elderberry score was actually a foraging find! While poking around by a creek, I found dozens of wild elderberry bushes & harvested buckets full. This is some of nature's best medicine. Like the greenthread, these berries will be dehydrated & added to future tea blends, earning us millions & millions of dollars.

4. Bottom Right: this creepy critter is an assassin bug. The reason this photo is noteworthy, however, is the bug being eaten by it. That's right...it's the invasive, super annoying, very destructive Japanese beetle! While assassin bugs might be scary, they're one of our desperately needed allies in the fight against these irridescent, crop-ruining jerks. Also noteworthy is the host plant, the VERY important common milkweed that we let grow all over the farm. The offspring of monarch butterlies need it for food. The monarch population has dropped about 85% since the 1990's, & they could very possibly go extinct--another casualty of our current era, the Anthropocene: the sixth known mass extinction in Earth's history.

08/13/2022

Come check out some of our beautiful tomato varieties today! Our favorite this year (pictured below by itself) is the garden peach! The fuzzy skin really does have the feel & appearance of an actual peach! Pretty wild! Stop by & see for yourself at Old Capitol Farmers Market presented by HSHS St. John's! 🍑🍅👌🏼

08/06/2022

Our first batch of honey is going fast! Be sure to stop by today if you want a jar! We also have several fun varieties of cherry & grape tomatoes, shish*to peppers, garlic, greens, fresh herbs & tea!! We are at Old Capitol Farmers Market presented by HSHS St. John's until 12:30!

07/30/2022

Shish*tos & cherry tomatoes! Some of the grape & cherry tomato varieties we’re growing this year include- black strawberry, garden peach, honey drop, bosque blue bumblebee, Hartman’s gooseberry, and our old classic- brad’s atomic grape! We’ve also got lots of big beautiful garlic, greens, queenies, aromatic fresh-cut bundles of herbs & tea!! See ya soon at Old Capitol Farmers Market presented by HSHS St. John's!

07/16/2022

Today we have buzz button samples for anyone who likes to live on the wild side! Buzz buttons, also called and the “tooth ache plant,” are one of the ingredients in our Root Buzz tea blend. Along with being a natural stimulant, it also has a numbing/tingling effect, which is why it’s used for tooth aches! Come check out our teas and produce today, which includes greens, carrots, onions, garlic & tomatillos, at Old Capitol Farmers Market presented by HSHS St. John's!

07/09/2022

We have more of our new tea (STAY PUMPED), a soothing & nutritious blend featuring marshmallow flower! Also pictured are more queen of malinalco tomatillos and the first of our garlic! Come visit us at Old Capitol Farmers Market presented by HSHS St. John's from now until 12:30!

07/02/2022

We have some new items for you this week! Introducing our new tea blend- STAY PUMPED featuring marshmallow flower (pictured below)! This tasty & medicinal tea is good for treating coughs & digestion. It’s also an anti-inflammatory and contains antioxidants! Very limited amounts available! We also have the first of our QUEENIES (queen of malinalco tomatillos), pictured here with a limited amount of wildflower bouquets. Stop by Old Capitol Farmers Market presented by HSHS St. John's and visit us from now until 12:30!! ✌️

06/25/2022

Moon Friends- we will not be participating in the June 25th market, but don’t worry- we will be back next Saturday! Love y’all 💜🌝✌️

06/18/2022

Goodbye to strawberries means HELLO to red raspberries!!! We will have limited amounts of both today at market, along with the last of our garlic scapes, spring onions, and the famous New Zealand spinach!! See you soon Old Capitol Farmers Market presented by HSHS St. John's!!!!

06/11/2022

More strawberries coming to Old Capitol Farmers Market presented by HSHS St. John's! We’ll also have more carrots, beets, green onions, garlic scapes, etc.! See ya soon!

06/04/2022

It is everyone’s favorite season!!! Strawberries are here, and they are on their way to Old Capitol Farmers Market presented by HSHS St. John's! We will also have more of those sweet rainbow carrots and a limited amount of red beets! If you would like any of these items, stop by early before they sell out! And if you’re running late, you can still come say hi and pick up some tea! See you from 8 - 12:30!

05/28/2022

RAINBOW CARROT ALERT!!! These very sweet & crunchy babies will be available at Old Capitol Farmers Market presented by HSHS St. John's today from 8 - 12:30! We will also have greens, green onions, plants, teas & more! I know everyone is wondering when our strawberries will be ready, and the wait is almost over... should have some next Sat.! 😋

05/21/2022

Rain or shine, we are so excited to be coming back to the Old Capitol Farmers Market presented by HSHS St. John's!! Today we will have plant starts, spinach, spicy salad mix, radishes, green onions, bunched herbs and our herbal tea! Can’t wait to see you! 🌝

05/15/2022

Strawberry picking will start in just about a week!!! We still have spots available for volunteers to come out & earn free berries! It's a fun opportunity to visit our farm and see what a chemical-free strawberry patch looks like! Escape the hustle & bustle of daily life and spend a couple hours surrounded by sweet smelling berries... the fragrance & flavor will take your breath away!! 🍓😋
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/16fYsbvYnj5QeulB4Y20j_K9vClb8hzE--41GaOVf5R0/edit?usp=sharing

05/12/2022

Plant Sale TODAY from 4 - 8 pm! We will also have LIMITED amounts of purple & green asparagus for sale along with our herbal teas! The walls are off our greenhouse, and we will have the fans on full blast for you! 😁

05/10/2022

We are having another open greenhouse plant sale this Thursday from 4 - 8 pm!! Still have many different varieties of tomatoes, peppers, broccoli, eggplant, kale, herbs, flowers, etc.! It’s a great week to get plants in the ground before the next rain! Turn into the gravel driveway where our sign is located, and you will find our greenhouse around the corner on the other side of the trees! See you soon!

05/07/2022

It’s a beautiful day for a market at K**b Hill Landscape Company! Swing by between 10 am - 2 pm and pick up some of our plants! We also have spinach, tea & t-shirts available! Perfect Mother’s Day gifts!!! 🌷💜🌻

05/06/2022

Just a couple more weeks until strawberry season, and our volunteer sign up sheet is now available!!! We have the shifts divided up into two hour time slots, but you're welcome to sign up for more than one and stay the whole morning! Remember- you will receive 1 free quart for each hour of picking!!! The schedule may change based on weather, etc. So please leave your e-mail and phone number in case of any last minute changes. We will send an email with instructions the night before your shift. Looking forward to having some fun in the strawberry patch this year! https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/16fYsbvYnj5QeulB4Y20j_K9vClb8hzE--41GaOVf5R0/edit?usp=sharing

05/01/2022

PLANT SALE TODAY from 2 - 5 pm!!!
Come browse our wide variety of tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, herbs, flowers & more! Watch out for the Moon Girl Farm sign, go down that driveway, and you will find us around the corner! Hope to see you! 🌷🌱🌻

04/28/2022

Spring is in full bloom. Stop in this week and try our Spring Fling latte special 🌿
/featuring a blend of herbs from Moon Girl Farm infused into raw honey from Black Dog Apiary
/garnished with violets from the garden, ginger, & bee pollen 🐝
Made with love, served hot or iced.

04/27/2022

PLANT SALE #2 - Sunday, May 1st from 2-5!
Come browse our greenhouse selection! The weather will be warm enough to start getting your tomatoes & peppers in the ground! We have plenty of those along with other vegetables, herbs & flowers!

Keep an eye out for the Moon Girl sign when you’re driving down Tomlin Road! You will turn down that gravel drive and find our greenhouse around the corner on the other side of the hedge row!

Happy Planting!!! 🌷🌱🌻

04/26/2022

If you don’t have plans for this Friday, consider getting tickets for the morel mushroom dinner at Maldaner's Restaurant & Catering!!! This annual fundraiser supports Slow Food Springfield (IL), which coordinates programs to educate people about our local food system. There will be lots of delicious local spring flavors included in this four course dinner!! Tickets also available for dinners on May 6th & 7th! Hope to see you there! https://www.eventbrite.com/e/slow-food-springfield-annual-morel-mushroom-dinner-tickets-317064517507

04/22/2022

EARTH DAY PLANT SALE at our greenhouse from noon - 8 pm TODAY!!!!

If you cannot come out, you can also find our plants at Food Fantasies along with plants from Harvest & Blooms Farm!

Happy Earth Day! 🌻🌎🌲

04/21/2022

EYOOM EYOOM EYOOM (new siren sound)
Hey Earth Heads, big alert coming up in the following sentence fragment...
On Farm Earth Day Plant Sale on Friday (tomorrow) from noon-8PM! Huge selection! Come on out & say hello! The easiest way to find our greenhouse is:
1. On Highway 125, go West of Pleasant Plains for about 1 mile
2. Turn left on Yankeetown Road
3. Take the very next left onto Tomlin Road & go about half a mile
4. The next gravel drive you see is us! Look for our very stylish sign 😍

Thanks!
Hannah & Ben

04/15/2022

Whoa. Farmers market tomorrow! Historic Union Station in Springfield from 8AM-noon. We'll have live plants & fresh produce grown the old-fashioned way! Also, big plant sale on the farm this Earth Day from noon-8PM!

04/13/2022

HELP WANTED!!!

Strawberry season is just around the corner, and we are offering a couple part-time PAID positions! If you are interested in helping with berry picking, please contact us at [email protected] for more information! Workers must be able to commit 15-20 hours per week in the mornings, be willing to start between 5:30- 6 am and have a flexible schedule! Positions will begin the week of May 23rd and continue into late June. If interested in helping with raspberry season and other farm work, you may be able to continue further into the summer!

We will also be posting a sign-up sheet for volunteers as berry season approaches. Once again, we will offer 1 quart of strawberries for every volunteer hour of picking! 😋

We look forward to sharing the joy of strawberry picking with you!

04/11/2022

SKWAM SKWAM SKWAM (another alarm sound). Open house & farmers market alert! This Saturday from 8AM - 12:00 PM, visit historic Union Station in Springfield to pick up some veggies, plants, & say hello! Plenty of great vendors!

Also, on Earth Day (April 22nd) we're doing an open greenhouse on the farm with a much bigger selection of plants from noon - 8PM!

We'll have tons of stuff, but here's a list of our tomato varieties for starters!

TOMATO PLANTS

WHITES, YELLOWS, & ORANGES
*Great White - Yep, it's actually white! Eerily translucent fruits are big (about 1 lb.) & have almost a melony, pineapple flavor.
*Lillian's Yellow - Fantastic, complex flavor. Looks like a Cherokee Purple but bright yellow. On the late side. Creamy texture. Good balance of sweet & citrus.
*Garden Peach - Early, prolific. Great for grilling & dehydrating. Grape-like, delicate flavor. Grown since 1890 at the latest. Shows tolerance for late blight. Skin a bit fuzzy, like a peach!
*Pineapple - BIG fruits, often 2 lbs. Yellow with red marbling. Beautiful & citrusy but easy on the tum tum.
*Goldie - Perhaps the best orange tomato! AKA the "Dixie Golden Giant". They're big, tasty, velvety, deep-orange beefsteaks, averaging 16 - 20 oz. per tomato!
*Orange Icicle - Unique, long, egg-shaped fruits have a smooth & mellow flavor with citrus overtones. These are considered a paste tomato, but are great straight off the vine.

PINKS & PURPLES & BLACKS
*Rose De Berne - Reliable, uniform, pinkish tennis-ball-sized tomatoes are nice & mild, easy on the tummy. We've grown these every year on Moon Girl Farm.
*Cherokee Purple - An all-time favorite for a reason: there simply isn't a better tasting slicer. You can't find this flavor in a grocery store. They're big, they're purple, they're #1.
*Purple Russian - Egg-shaped with a smooth, excellent flavor that's perfect for salsa.
*Black Prince - Super-productive, dark, medium-sized tomato with very uniform, oblong fruits.
*Black Krim - A maroon heirloom tomato from the Ukraine with a deep flavor. If you love Cherokee Purples, you'll love this one, too!
*Black Brandywine - With fruits up to 2 lbs, this is bigger than our other maroon tomatoes, with the same deep flavor.

BIG RED SLICERS
*Delicious - This giant, bright red beefsteak is the posterchild for tomatoes. 1-2 lb fruits are pretty tough, crack resistant.
*Mark Twain - Delicious but soft, this red slicer is named after brilliant author Samuel Clemens, who actually hated tomatoes! Hmm...maybe not so brilliant?
*Classic Beefsteak - Your archetypical big red tomato, emblazoned on everything--posters of the food pyramid to colorful aprons--yet elusive, nay impossible, to find in grocery stores.

TRIPPY RAINBOWS & STRIPES
*Big Rainbow - Huge, 2 lb. fruits. Yellow with red splashes. Looks amazing sliced.
*Speckled Roman Paste - One of Ben's top 5 tomatoes. Cylindrical with a ni**le. Medium-sized. Incredibly rich flavor. Gorgeous. Red with orange stripes that look almost hand-painted.
*Pink Berkeley Tie-Dye - Compact & dependable. We grow this green-striped beefsteak every year. The fruits never seem to crack & are about the size of a baseball. A pretty baseball.
*Pink Jazz - Large, peachy 1 lb. fruits. Very wild looking with yellow & red streaks. They almost look like fire.
*Solar Flare - Similar to Pink Jazz in it's otherworldly appearance; this one has smaller fruit. But these are productive "workhorse" tomatoes!
*Brad's Atomic Grape - One of Ben's top 5 tomatoes. Unreal. Oblong fruits are streaked with rainbows & taste like grapey magic. They're heavy-yielding & tough as nails, too. Just amazing.
*Green Zebra - A striking, reliable tomato. We grew these our first season without a trellis, & they went nuts! Uniform, baseball-sized, deliciously tangy fruit. Harvest when the stripes turn yellow!

CHERRY TOMATOES
*Supersweet 100 - Very productive. Deep red. Huge clusters. High resistance to fusarium wilt & verticillium wilt. Delicious.
*Large Red - Great, full-flavor. Tough. And yep, big cherries.
*Be My Baby - Tastes the closest to a beefsteak! That's because it's a cross between two different cherries & a beefsteak variety! Very productive, tough, & easy to grow.
*Hartman's Yellow Gooseberry - A pure yellow, sweet but mild, light-gold cherry. One of the most productive varieties out there!
*Fargo Yellow Pear - Uniquely shaped! This vigorous determinate provides a heap of 1 oz, crack-resistant, bell-shaped, golden morsels.
*Honeydrop - A "rampant" grower very similar to Sun Gold but with less cracking. Superb flavor has been described as similar to white grapes!
*Sun Gold - Perhaps the best cherry tomato of all-time. Vines grow to massive lengths with insane clusters of explosively sweet, bright orange gems.
*Bosque Blue Bumblebee - Another stunning, blue & gold variety. Large fruits for a cherry variety. The blues can become nearly black in cool conditions, or in tons of Sun.
*Black Strawberry - Out of this world, streaky, multi-colored gems. Early with high yields. A magical appearance: blues & golds. Wow. Well-balanced flavor, too!
*Black Cherry - Ben's favorite cherry. Vigorous vines produce ludicrous amounts of perfectly round, ping-pong-ball-sized, deep-red-to-purple fruits. Heavenly.

Sincerely,
Hannah & Ben

Address

15137 Tomlin Road
Pleasant Plains, IL
62677

Telephone

(217) 652-4566

Website

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Mushroom Logs

We might regret this, but we're on TikTok now 🤩 innoculating some mushroom logs 👽🪵☄️🍄 https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMRwbGEoX/

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Happy New Year Springfield, see you next Saturday (01/15)! Looking for your farmer fix, listen to this episode of Community Voices from NPR Illinois 91.9 UIS interviewing our own Moon Girl Farm 🥳

We're a little over a week before the January Old Capitol Farmers Market, presented by HSHS St. John's Hospital , be sure to mark your calendar.

Indoor vendors only, MASKS REQUIRED at all times.

Start your 🎁 holiday shopping 🎁 and support local artisans, food vendors and farmers THIS Saturday y’all.

✨ Downtown Springfield, Inc. ✨ is hosting TWO Holiday Farmers Markets in association with the 🎄Old Capitol Holiday Walks 🎄

The markets will be held indoors and outdoors at 🚂 Union Station Park 🚂 on November 20th and December 18th from 8 am-noon. There will be over 25 vendors selling everything from micro-greens to hand-crafted soaps! See ya there!

Garden & Crafts Llc
Journey Jewelry
Mueller Family Farm
Heaven Cynt
Greenthoughts Garden
Voss Pecans
Cloyd's Apples and Honey
Moon Girl Farm
Schlo-Food LLC
Coming Home Candles
Kate’s Granola
Fox Path Farm
Brown Farms
Choice Roots Farm
Rob and Julie Ostermeier
Spartan Valley Olive Oil
Itty Bitty Micro Farm
Primordia Foods
Beelzebunz
Garden Gate Farm
Oak Tree Farms
SS Backwards Longhorn Meats
JoJo Jewelry
Arrowroot Coffee Co
Incredibly Delicious Cakes
Bland Family Farm
Black Cat Home Bakery
Odelehr Farms
LeafGuard of Springfield

Check it out 👉👉👉 https://www.downtownspringfield.org/holiday-walks/

Yesterday on Community Voices we spoke with Moon Girl Farm. Here's our interview in case you missed it.

https://www.nprillinois.org/community-voices/2021-11-02/moon-girl-farm-grows-chemical-free-produce-community-voices

VENDOR SPOTLIGHT:

A former stand-up comedian and a doctor in educational policy walk into the farmers market… For the fourth year in a row! Ben and Hannah of Moon Girl Farm grow chemical-free fruits, veggies, and herbs on their 1-acre regenerative farm in Pleasant Plains. Some of their more unique products are sugar baby watermelons and habeñera peppers (the milder sweeter take on a habeñero). They’ve got a variety of medicinal herbs that you can get fresh or as tea, my favorite being the sweet-smelling tulsi. Come find them right next to the market info stand on Adams every Saturday!

Locally grown Shish*to Peppers from Moon Girl Farm are here!

Shish*tos range from 100 to 1,000 Scoville heat units, which is hotter than bell peppers but much milder than jalapenos🌶🌶🌶

You’ll be supporting more than one local business when you indulge in our berry pizzas! The elderberries are from Moon Girl Farm , blackberries from Odelehr's Roadside Market and the edible flowers from Garden Gate Farm make for a delicious and beautiful berry pizza!❤️👏

We’re open 8-2 with a case full of made-from-scratch pastries, breakfast & lunch, espresso drinks, and more! Come see us.🤗

**though very small amounts were used on each fruit pizza, all elderberries used are cooked down with sugar**

STRAWBERRRY Cream Ale, yeah you read that right. Strawberry cream ale, made with fresh strawberries from Moon Girl Farm . Small batch, no fills, taproom only. What The FUZZ? is back ladies and gentlemen. That light refreshing taste of peach, black tea and ginger is available in the taproom and in 6-packs!

We love when berries are in season because that means we get to support local berry patches! Thank you to Brady's Berries and Moon Girl Farm for supplying us with some hand picked, organic berries to add the perfect touch to our made-from-scratch pastries and cakes!❤️🫐🍓🍒

Only a week or two left of strawberry season! Make sure to grab some juicy berries from Moon Girl Farm, Reliant Farms, or Odelehr's Roadside Market before they’re gone 🍓🌤

Our vendors tend to be early risers, like Hannah with Moon Girl Farm. Just like our vendors, our shoppers also tend to favor early attendance at the farmers market. Or they know the best way to ensure you get your strawberries is to be the first in line.

The 22nd season of the Old Capitol Farmers market presented by HSHS St. John's Hospital will kick off on May 12 and May 15!! Hours run 8:00 am - 12:30 pm at 4th and Adams.

Thanks to our friend Rich Saal, with Rich Saal Photography, for a video series featuring some of our vendors.

March showers bring May flowers! But first...did you get your seeds? Moon Girl Farm has seed packets available this month for curbside pick up on March 26. Make sure to get your orders in before March 24.

https://www.localline.ca/old-capitol-farmers-market

Locally grown turnips from Moon Girl Farm are available right here! They are just so pretty😍Stop by and