Laughing Owl Farm

05/26/2022

Good afternoon farm friends! I hope you enjoyed the lettuces and greens I had last week, 'cause I have a lot more of the same this week😀 I had a lot of red chard left over, so I blanched and froze it for later. I did put some in with mushrooms, spring onions, and cream cheese for an omelet this morning...-heavenly! I will be bringing more of that chard with different kales, radishes, collards( which I'm fixing for dinner tonight with bbq chicken) and zippy good arugula. I'll have eggs too. The chicken I'm cooking is from our first small batch of birds we processed this week. I only took a very few orders for this batch, but let me know if you are wanting any pasture raised, non-gmo fed chickens for the fall, as we need to know how many to order. I am also going to put an email mailing list sign up sheet on my table on Saturdays, so I can quit messing with facebook's unfriendly user page for connecting with my people. Thanks always for your support 😊

05/20/2022

Hello!! We will be back at market this Saturday and finally look like vegetable farmers again! We will have red swiss chard, Kalebration Kale mix, small lettuce heads, tender young collards, red radishes, limited arugula, asparagus and eggs. We are trying hard to stay ahead of the weeds, and keep planting to have a good variety of stuff for summer...see you Saturday 😊

05/11/2022

Hello! I'm back from way western Montana, and soon off to Wilmington to see our son Levi graduate! So we will NOT be at market this weekend, but will have lots more good green things the following week. Thanks!

05/04/2022

Hi-ho farm friends! It will be your lucky day Saturday as husband Dean will be making a solo appearance. His chatty, outgoing personality will surely leave you with a smile! (HA!.. he really is a sweet, smart and amusing person, but it oft must be dug out of him! good luck😁) He will have eggs and asparagus, and maybe a little something else. We are finally getting more spears up, but I still hesitate to take pre orders because it just goes so dang fast!! we were sold out of everything in 20 minutes last week, grateful, but sad that we are so behind.. stuff is growing fast with the warmer weather, but we a still a couple weeks out from having a full table. And neither of us will be there Sat May 14 because our son is graduating from UNC-Wilmington! So once again, thank you for your patience and support.
P.S. if you can, please bring cash, Deans phone will not pair with our square reader, and the old one that plugs into his phone to swipe, is not behaving very reliably Thanks!!!

04/29/2022

Hi farm friends, I am continuing to have issues with this farm page.. it says I have a message, but I get an error or 'currently unavailable as we are updating our UK info"?? Really tired of trying to use this platform, and may go to Instagram ( though its also Meta☹) Anyway, sorry to whoever sent me a message, I can't see it.. I will be at the market with just eggs and limited asparagus again..and I'm not taking anymore pre-orders since it is just not doing as well as expected. Yes it's yummy, yes it's seasonal, but it is a perennial crop that I can't make more of, sorry if you keep missing out. Matthews is a fabulous market with so much to offer, but the only other vendors who had asparagus are not returning this year, but I know it is abundant at other markets, so you may have to shop around if you have to have it. I promise in a few more weeks, our farm will have much more to offer( it better, we're killing ourselved getting stuff in and growing!!) Thank you for your patience and continued support, you're the best!! See you Sat!

04/15/2022

Good Friday farm friends! It has been a very productive week on the farm. We were finally able to till and prep all our beds, and have started filling them with lettuce, broccoli, cabbage, kale, and chard transplants, and direct sowing carrots, arugula, spinach and more! That being said, my market offerings are still incredible sparse. Only eggs, a few bunches of green garlic, and um, like 5 bunches of asparagus....I had it put in the market newsletter, and I have been turning down dozens of pre-order requests, because I just don't have enough. I promise more will be coming, but it is a perennial crop, and only flourishes when it is good and ready, which is unfortunately not yet😒. I hope you'll come out anyway, and say hello, and support all the other great vendors. Thank you, and Happy Easter

03/24/2022

Happy Thursday farm friends! I will be at the Matthews market this Saturday with the last of my sweet baby carrots..I hate to see them go, but I have to admit that I'm kinda tired of digging them, especially since the tops are all but gone! And the turnips are done as some were getting bad spots on the inside that I couldn't see, and I won't sell something if I don't know that they are top quality! If you got any bad ones in the last week or two, let me know and I'll gladly refund your money!! The sheep are far less picky than me so they have been moved into that section to finish them off.
I will probably come to market every other week for April as none of our spring crops are close to being mature..all in good time friends, all in good time. Spring is definitely starting to bloom here, yay!!
Hope to see you soon🙂

03/14/2022

Hi! ..fyi, I'm being told I have messages on my farm page. but cannot see/receive them right now because the infinite wisdom of new fbook is updating ...something.. that I'm SURE will make it a better experience for me!😁🤔😬

02/25/2022

Happy Friday farm friends, broken record here... carrots, turnips, and eggs for mkt. We just don't have any spring crops growing yet, so nothing new for the foreseeable future( well late April anyway) We are putting new plastic on our greenhouse roof that was old and leaky , then completely tore off in that windstorm a few weeks ago, and we are waiting on our Kubota tractor to finish being repaired. We do have some grow lights in our basement, and have been getting in new seeds to start, so we are working on things, just behind. Oh, and we need new golf cart batteries, ouch! Our golf cart is our workhorse! Wah, wah, anyway, all is good and I hope to see y'all tomorrow 🙂

02/18/2022

Hi farm friends. Wowie what a little storm that blew through last night!! Lost power for several hours, but thankfully no major damage.. just ripped up 1 tarp, and threw off some bed covers. I will be at market tomorrow with lots of carrots and turnips and limited eggs. I've been beinging what I thought was lots of carrots the last few weeks, but the dedicated market earlybirds keep wiping me out within the first hour!( a good problem to have😊)so I'm digging, bunching and washing even more this week! See y'all there!
p.s. does anyone else dislike this new facebook formatting?!? I can see the edge of a misspelled word, but when I try to utilize the tiny sidebar to scroll up to it, it thinks I'm clicking on the whole text to post😡..after 6 attempts, I'm posting with errors, sorry!

02/11/2022

Hi all, I will be at market with turnips, carrots, limited Jerusalem artichokes and eggs...if you have sent this page a message in the last day or two, I am unable to get them🙁.. please send me a phone text.. 704-961-8713. thanks!!

02/02/2022

Hello! I will finally be back at the market this Saturday! I will have lots of sweet carrots, purple top turnips, Jerusalem artichokes, and lots of eggs!
Can't wait to see everyone!

01/26/2022

Hi farm friends, I hope you are all doing well this January! As you know, I haven't been to market in a couple weeks because of crazy weekend winter weather, but here's the thing.. it's supposed to rain then snow and be below freezing AGAIN this Friday night, and my trek to Matthews is 50 miles each way. I'm no wimp to winter driving ( I was raised in Wisconsin!) but the potential hazards seem to keep outweighing the benefits! I am amazed, and truly appreciate, how many of you will get to our market no matter what, but unless the precipitation forcast changes, I am going to stay at home one more Sat. I apologize to all my egg customers!
When I do return, I'll have only carrots and turnips with my eggs because everything else above ground has been fried by these extreme temps.
Side note: staying home last week allowed me to witness our first lambs of the year being born!😊

01/13/2022

Hi and Happy Winter farm friends! I'll be at the market Sat, but everything we've been growing above ground is DONE from these up and down temps! So I will only have many purple top turnips, sweet baby carrots, and Jerusalem artichokes, plus limited eggs. I'm pretty sure it won't be as cold as last week( it never got above freezing!) so bundle up and come on out from 8-10am and load up on good stuff. Just because my offerings are limited, there's always other good stuff to make it worth your while! Check out the Matthews Community Farmers' market website to see who will be there with what.. they update every week, and post on thurs evenings, I believe. Thanks y'all.. oh yeah! I'll have a few watermelon and black radishes too!

12/28/2021

Hello! I hope everyone is well and has enjoyed holiday good will. I was not going to this Thursday's special evening market, but now I am!!
All that broccoli which was planted so late, and not heading up, has changed its mind, and won't all wait another week.. I will also pull a few baby carrot bunches and have a little kale and big turnips. I hope y'all can come out. I will also have some eggs, but am already getting lots of orders, so let me know if you want to reserve some.
Thank you all for the unwavering support you have shown to all of us small growers, bakers, and makers at the Matthews Community Farmers' market. You're the best!

12/16/2021

Happy Thursday farm friends! I will be at the market this Saturday with limited stuff, but good stuff non the less. I'll have 2 kinds of kale, arugula, purple top turnips with greens, the last of our sweet potatoes, a few bunches of beets, and Jerusalem artichokes. Hopefully, there will be some broccoli cabbage and carrots in the new year. We got them in so late, they didn't mature before day length shortened. But the plants have stayed healthy, so they may start growing again as day length starts increasing after next Tuesday( shortest day of the year)I may also have just a few dozen eggs for sale as the layers have slowed way down and pre-orders are up, sorry. All seasons have their highs and lows. Personally, though income decreases, I enjoy the down time to work on cleaning up and other projects( mostly more cleaning up) It's been a good year, despite all the craziness in the world.. there is always much good to be found and much love and goodness to give for others to find. I wish you all a joyous season.

12/03/2021

Good morning farm friends! The farm produce is slowing down for the season, but I will still be at the market Saturdays with kale bunches, beets, purple top turnips, Jerusalem artichokes, maybe a few heads of lettuce and arugula,and eggs. The broccoli and cabbage never headed up before the day length shortened, so bummer on that, but carrots will hold and grow a little, so maybe I'll have some by Christmas.
I am working on my gourd ornaments and gourd earrings to sell, but I better get busy if I want to get them on my table for holiday gifts! On another note, I don't know if y'all are early birds, but the sunrises lately have been magnificent, and an excellent reminder to be in awe of the beauty and opportunity for gratitude that is offered to us each day..time to get my hands dirty, have a great day!

11/18/2021

I'm excited about all the green goodness coming to the [email protected] this week! I'm bringing lots of yummy lettuces, chard, kales, arugula, radishes, beets, and the first Jerusalem artichokes! Eggs will be limited, as I have fewer dozens and more pre orders. But all the vendors have so much beautiful stuff right now... come see us all!

11/18/2021

when you want to eat healthy food out of your garden, but you also want tacos...

11/16/2021

funny how fb keeps telling me my page is growing and I haven't been able to post for months

05/07/2021

Friday evening already, Hi! I will finally have more green things on my table tomorrow, so yay! Asparagus, Kalebration kale bunches, beautiful red swiss chard, and bags of tender salad mix( mostly lettuces and a little red chard and arugula mixed in) Also, eggs and some pork products, including sweet or zesty Italian sausage, roasts, pork stew and country style pork steaks, a few bellys, and ground pork. We are already out of the breakfast sausage, chops and ribs, sorry!
See y'all tomorrow🙂

04/29/2021

this is what I meant to post!!

04/29/2021

....and now for somethimg completely different
our neighbors used an old fashioned method for spraying fungicide on their crops, and the circle back was over our farm the last 2 mornings. She's an awesome pilot to watch!
For market this week, I will have all pork cuts available: hot/mild breakfast,zesty/sweet italian sausages, pork chops, bone in roasts, pork belly, country style cubed steaks, stew pork, and plain ground pork. Also limited asparagus(no preorders this week), eggs and green garlic.

04/22/2021

Good Thursday to y'all. Ah the farm, the farm, not for the weak to pursue such madness! 'Just keep going', I often say to myself, 'you can do this'. And do it I do. Damaged tomatoes, even under tubs, will set them back weeks, and the potatoes look like crap, but maybe they'll bounce back.. time will tell. Since I'm not a whiner(haha, too late) I will tell you the good stuff..
The rest of the tranplants, lettuce, kale, beets, cabbage, broccoli, etc are doing fine, though a ways off yet. And we bought a new ram lamb and named him Abraham (father of many, we hope) and he is cute, and now getting along with our 5 ewes. He is too young to breed them yet, but hopefully by summer,and then lamb in a year-ish! And our 2 hogs went to the proverbial market, so I will be bringing their pork to our market this week.. pork chops, ribs, assorted sausages, roasts, stew meat, the whole shebang. I will also have limited asparagus and eggs and green garlic. I have already taken all the pre orders I can for the asparagus so I can leave some on the table for the dedicated early shoppers! More will come, but the dang freezing temps made me have to pick it all down Wed.. so no more will be ready this week. Have a wonderful week, and hopefully i will see y'all Saturday

04/16/2021

Happy Thursday! It has been a couple of busy, busy weeks around here, as is every April, so I don't know why I'm always surprised! Anyway, the fruits of our labor won't show on my table for a few more weeks, but we are getting there. I got to spend my Birthday morning on Monday chasing and rounding up several escaped cows through the neighbors woods( after getting them away from a brand new in ground pool!) But Dean's magical pied piper act lured them back,and we finally returned them to their rightful property.
We also got our 2 hogs to the processor on Monday, but we won't know if the meat will be ready tomorrow, or next Monday... if you see 2 big coolers at Market Sat, then you'll know we will have gotten it tomorrow. I will also have a very small amount of asparagus, but will not take any pre orders for this week, but plenty will be coming for the next 8 weeks, so dont panic!😀 I will also bring some green garlic, as well as eggs, edible violets, and the tail end of the sweet potatoes. Oh, and some of my gourd earrings and crafts. See you Saturday, maybe I won't fall out before noon, its been a loong week🙂🌱🐂🐑

04/06/2021

Timeline photos

Weeding the garlic, again..ugh!! its quite the manual work out, and that's good, but how it makes my hands, back, behind, and legs feel the next day? not so good. But if we want big, beautiful bulbs in a month, the show must go on. Also, as Dean was trying to till and shape our beds for our many hundreds of transplants that NEED to go out, our dear 30 year old tiller (first piece of equipment we ever bought) died an untimely death. It could be refurbished and/or rebuilt but it would cost almost as much as a new one, and we need a little smaller one for the beds we make and the tractor we have now, so there's that. And very kindly, his brother Rick is going to let us borrow his tomorrow!!!
But we always remain thankful and blessed for what we get to do on this beautiful piece of land, even though we are not always thrilled about what all comes with it...

04/06/2021

Weeding the garlic, again..ugh!! its quite the manual work out, and that's good, but how it makes my hands, back, behind, and legs feel the next day? not so good. But if we want big, beautiful bulbs in a month, the show must go on. Also, as Dean was trying to till and shape our beds for our many hundreds of transplants that NEED to go out, our dear 30 year old tiller (first piece of equipment we ever bought) died an untimely death. It could be refurbished and/or rebuilt but it would cost almost as much as a new one, and we need a little smaller one for the beds we make and the tractor we have now, so there's that. And very kindly, his brother Rick is going to let us borrow his tomorrow!!!
But we always remain thankful and blessed for what we get to do on this beautiful piece of land, even though we are not always thrilled about what all comes with it...

03/31/2021

Good Morning farm friends! Lets hope the passing thunderstorms today totally pass us!! we covered up a few beds yesterday to keep any more rain off of them because they were ALMOST ready to put our transplants in, but still a little too sticky. It is putting some of our veggie crops behind schedule, and that's a bummer because we are down to very slim offerings for market. And, we are still waiting on the precious stalks of asparagus to emerge, so none for Easter this year😕, but hopefully they will be bountiful by my birthday in a couple weeks. Thanks always for your support! I will be at market with small sweet potatoes, lots of eggs, and my gourd crafts.
Oh yeah, would anyone be interested in edible violets? We have lots of those, and they make any salad quite fancy!