Aunt Barb's Farm

Introducing Aunt Barb's Farm (Hopefully)

The above farms were currently for sale within Northern Illinois.

I keep searching for the perfect spot. I'm seeking McHenry and Boone County. There is still enough land available yet close enough to Chicago and the suburbs to get visitors. How about a farm Dinner with some of the best food you have ever eaten? Long table on the lawn with a view of a peaceful pasture. Food that was grown on site and the milk came from the mini Jersey . Berries picked that morning with some cream from the Jersey. Heaven!

I worry about our future as it pertains to the food and what commercially produced food is doing to our children and to us.  The future scares me and I want to help.

Food - Everyone needs it. There is no getting around it. We have to eat. Where it comes from and how it’s produced and shared is the concern. Food is life. Bottom Line.

Our farm eliminates the question of food in our future. Through sharing and teaching, we will help feed and teach those how to sustain and live on their own land. No matter how small. We want to teach visitors how to feed a family with the means they currently have.

Building a strong educational learning program and teaching urban families how to grow and prepare their own food or where in the state to locate the best food.

A little about the owners: Aunt Barb and Uncle Bobby:

Barbara’s back ground includes teaching self-preservation of fresh food, growing micro-greens in the winter, instructions on growing enough on a small back yard to sustain a family and cooking classes for anyone on a time restraint. Her solid work ethic and passion about food and sustainable living makes her a perfect candidate to share a solution in these complicated times.

Gardening for over 15 years and in the past 8 years, with the residents at the nursing home. She learned that we all owe the elders in our lives the respect they deserve.  Their wisdom shouldn’t be ignored but instead cherished and shared with our youth. The next generation wants to learn about self-sustainability and eating healthy and the place to obtain the knowledge is in history.

She consistently fund raises for garden supplies. She applies for seed contests as well as local support from nurseries and garden centers. She takes the knowledge to the children and the food grown to the elders. Without each, there is no US.

Farming in the 30’s and 40’s was family oriented. They knew how to feed a family on the land they lived. What happened to this knowledge? The Elders know. We just need to listen.

That is the plan. Teach the young and invite the elderly.  You might say its Barbara’s calling. We all have a purpose and this is hers.  

Bobby is a Detroit city boy but is following Barbara to this junction. He's her strength and support!

Don’t you want to be a part of it? Please comment. I'm working on a financial plan for 2020 and need your help and support.

Happy New Year 2019!

Good things to come this year. I feel it.

Donkey Nannies

Shout out to Content in a Cottage. I saw this and just had to add it to my site.

As the story goes, the Italian Sheppard has help from the Nannie Donkeys. The baby lambs are just too young to make the long trip so they use the saddle to carry them. The Momma's follow. Ingenious!

Thanks to the blog - I love this photo.

Oak

Oak

I am always amazed at the leaves as they change. After I post the picture, I think it's really not that perfect but while walking by, it makes me stop and gaze.

Community Garden

Brand New Fence 2009

9 years Later

There you have it. The trellis was the last thing to remove and it came apart with one push. I dragged it to the dumpster and the garden is done. A little sad but again, a new chapter in my garden/farm life is about to begin.

Community Garden Coming to an End

I've completely pulled up the fence and I'm about to pull out the trellis if it would only stop raining today.

The garden will be put to bed as all my contacts at the home have moved elsewhere. The home was sold and I really am kind of glad to be moving on. While I absolutely loved the garden, the residents and the people who worked at the Nursing Home, it's time to move on and take my energy and get that farm! I learned a lot gardening and tested my knowledge on many levels. I grew grain, and even tested cover crops. I'm am now ready to tackle the next chapter.

So - these past weekends, I worked for a few hours pulling everything up. I'm talking, plastic in the path, bricks outlining the path, the fence AND each of the green poles that held it up. Let me tell you about the green poles. They were in the ground about 12 inches and they had a tee bar. I had to dig each one up and yank it up. 3 of the 12 came up in one swoop - the others. Lets just say I was cussing a bit. Roots had wrapped around some of them so it took a bit of brute force. Luckily no one was watching me.

Stay tuned!  I can't wait to see this plot next spring. I am curious to see if it resorted back to an empty field. It should. I am removing everything.

Yellow Maple

Fall is here! On my walk Sunday morning, I came across the most beautiful Maple that was standing alone in a lot. Not a lot of fields or prairie here in the suburbs but standing underneath, I felt one with nature and was able to block out the noise. It's become over congested here and I find it harder and harder to find a quiet space.

Farm dream still consumes my everyday thoughts. Stay tuned for the "Farm Campaign" coming soon.