Rose Creek Farms

New year

2012-01-07T11:29:00.000-08:00

Hopefully this year will be a year to blog more. I am going to really try hard to. I am gratedful to those who take the time and interest in this farm to want to learn about it. Thank you so much.

Well we are gearing up to start a new year. I am always so hopeful and excited at this time of year. We look back each year and see how we made improvements to the farm and the mistakes we made. Yes I said mistakes! We do make them and they are hard lessons to learn. When you realize that you have made a mistake on the farm it is generally not quick to be fixed. Like planting too late for a cover crop or vegetable. Choosing a variety of a certain type of vegetable only to find out too late that it will not produce in the heat here in Texas. Maybe wishing that we would have put the crop in a more shaded spot in the garden because of the intense heat. Sometimes we make the same mistake over and over again because we thought we understood the problem and found out later it was not as we thought. In other wards there are so many variables to farming it is extremely hard to narrow them down and figure out the problem. Experience is the key! Experienced "hopefully younger" farmers.

Having farmer friends who have been farming for a long time are invaluable. They can look at a problem and see exactly what is wrong and how to fix it. They are however becoming fewer and fewer. We need young farmers who have a passion for the land and are not afraid of hard work. There are rewards beyond belief for the right person on a farm. Financial hardship is what keeps most away. We need to change that by realizing that our food is our medicine. It is what keeps us healthy and happy. The farther we get away from the land the sicker we get as a society. We need to honor our food and how it is grown. Protect the land and the animals and the people who are willing to work exceptionally hard and not use chemicals, fungicides or growth hormones. If we don't become activists we will all be limited to eating third world country staples. Unsecured, unprotected and undiversified.

I didn't know that this was where I was going when i started to write today, but ...it did end up that way. I would like to see us all become personal activists by putting our money in our community farms and not the industrialized "agricultural" conglomerates. Who in my opinion are poisoning our lands, our animals and our food just to make it last longer on the shelf, grow it bigger and quicker so they can make more money regardless if it turns into something that makes us sick. Alot of the industrialized "agricultural" conglomerates are in fact owned by the big chemical and drug companies. Sick people .......more drugs! Do we see this trend?

Forgive me if I have offended any one. I don't mean to harm, I mean to motivate us all into action. Let's make 2012 the year of change. Let's become educated about what we are really eating and why it is so bad for us. Let's get back to eating unadultrated whole foods. Forget about convenience! It is not convenient to be sick!

New Year

2011-01-17T06:34:00.000-08:00

Well it has been quite a while since I have blogged. This past year 2010 was really hard. We had a few really great things happen for us this past year and a few really tough things. I never meant to let it go this long without sharing something along the way.

We got our bed maker and water wheel planter in June. That was awesome! I will try to get some pictures posted of it really soon. It was exciting to finally see those things come, we waited so long for those two pieces of equipment. Yeah!

We were blessed with a new grandbaby his name is Caleb, he was born in December and weighed 5 pounds 7 ounces. He is doing great. His mom had such a difficult pregnancy and I am so glad to see that part end. They are both doing wonderful.

This past year we found out that my grandson who is 10 years old (Caleb's brother Cameron) has Muscular Dystrophy. He is doing fine but right now they are in the process of trying to test to see what type of MD he has. We changed his diet to a much stricter one and were able to start adding some important supplements that will help him. So today we pray and continue to seek God's direction. We are convinced that the changes are doing some good!

The gardens last year had some set backs and we ended up with the hardest year we had to date. You want to think that every year you can improve on your situation and each year it will get better. Generally that does happen as we learn more and aquire more needed equipment. This past year the bucket fell out. It was a combination of many things that took us to where we ended up. One of the first things right off the bat is we were late getting our garden beds in. We have grown in numbers (memberships) and doing it by hand is not a easy as it once was. We waited for our bed maker to come in and by the time got by us, the higher temperatures came and the plants we were unable to get established and just struggled against the high temperatures. Long story short always get an early start and get those plants in at the appropiate time of the year! It makes the difference between real success and struggle.

We did learn alot this year in the soil amendment department last year. We finally got a great combination of soil amendments worked out for our particular soil type. We saw exciting results this past fall and we are looking toward seeing those same results this year.

I love farming! To me it is the most important job on earth, providing clean, nutrient dense food to my family and to my farm family is an honor and a blessing. If you don't have your health it makes it extremely hard to enjoy the things God puts in our lives. It is the most challenging job I have ever had in the sense of trying to figure out how to grow healthy plants by manipulating the soil they are in; is as hard as trying to figure out what a child is crying about who is not yet able to speak.

I am looking toward a great year this year and hope that together we can make a great harvest!

Max Kane, Filmmaker, Raw Milk Activist

2010-03-22T19:57:00.000-07:00

I came across this today and it made me cry! Real men, Real Milk! People fighting for our right to have access to raw milk across this country. The government is putting people in jail! When is enough .........enough? If you want to see more click on the link, there are a few more videos concerning this movie to see. Pamela -Rose Creek Farms

Quote: "Kane is also making a film of his journey towards food freedom, and just this weekend he released the trailer. Max filmed his cross country bike ride powered by raw milk, he filmed interviews at the Weston A. Price Conference last fall in Chicago, he filmed the recent public hearing in Wisconsin, and each of his encounters with the judicial system. The film is called Milk Men. This trailer brought tears to my eyes.
Men, real men, will stand up and be counted. Mark McAfee, Michael Schmidt, Dave Gumpert, Scott Trautman and Max Kane are such men. I am proud to know them. Right will always prevail against might. It just may take a while. And that is why I blog." By Kimberly Hartke Published: March 22, 2010

Quote: "Are we ready to defend with inner dignity and courage those who nourish soils and souls? We all will stand up and unite with those who keep nourishing us. We all become farmers ready to guard our land. " - Michael Schmidt

Cold Cold Winter!

2010-01-20T11:46:00.000-08:00

Wow it has been a while since I have written. What a winter so far! One week we are 8 degrees and the next week we are in the 70's. This is crazy! Well besides struggling to save the plants we have in the ground, strawberries and so forth. We have had pipes busting and well pumps freezing. We have also been trying to keep the animals warm and dry. It has been very exciting around here. Everyone is still intact and getting along just fine. From chickens to pigs.......to us.

Our daughter was in the hospital from late September until just before Christmas. She had kidney failure and we didn't know if she was going to make it. But she is doing great! She's at home and going to physical therapy 3 times a week. She came out of the ordeal not being able to walk or even stand. So the struggle for her to recover will be trying ..........but she is very blessed. God laid his hand on her body and she is doing great.

I have transplants started and really getting good germination rates! That's good.......news believe me. That has been something we have struggles with for some time now with. Planting seed and not getting anything in return is expensive and discouraging. This year we are starting off great though and are seeing good return. The transplants are growing and healthy.

We bought a new (bigger..better) filter for the irrigation system. It was a nightmare to get things watered and fertigated but it is working great now (more good news). We have also purchased more frost cover blankets so we are getting prepared for the spring plantings. We suffered such loss from the late freezes last year. God has blessed us with a little extra money to buy frost cover blankets and low tunnels. We are far from having enough but we are working on it.

2009-10-19T10:27:00.000-07:00

We just finished the latest planting of Broccoli, Brussel Sprouts, Cauliflower and Romaine lettuce. There was approximately 1200 plants in the last planting. Danny our farming intern planted every one by his self with none of us to help him. He had it done pretty quickly too! I had to leave to deliver last weeks CSA delivery and he stayed here and planted. The next morning I had another obligation and couldn't be there to help him and he finished all of them by his self. Awesome! The picture on the left is taken of one of the rows Danny planted. He did 4 more just like it!

He is such a real blessing to us and this farm. Thank you Danny! We really appreciate your efforts and you have made a real difference here. Danny is getting ready to move on to another farm in a couple of weeks and we will miss him alot. He has become a great friend and we feel really blessed to know him.

Danny also helped us participate in the 2009 ECO Fair in Wichita Falls. I really had decided that we were not going to be able to participate because of the time factor. He offered to help me on a day that were supposed to be his time off from the farm. If it wasn't for him we would not have been able to participate in the event. He made coffee, washed coffee cups and collected coffee donations for the ECO Fair. He helped run our booth and really enjoyed meeting people and sharing about the farm. He worked hard to help me with all the preparations before and clean up afterwards. Again thanks Danny for all your wonderful help.

Beneficial Rain

2009-10-14T21:29:00.000-07:00

Well it has been a while since I last got on here. We have been fighting a losing battle with disease. It has run through all of the squash plants, cucumbers, pumpkins, and melons. The rain just made it worse. We battled it as long as we could and then decided to go ahead and just pull everything out. That was a sad day. It has put a halt on our CSA program for a few weeks until we get more of the veggies producing. The cooler temperatures are really not helping the warm season veggies, but the cooler season veggies are loving it (not the flooding rains but the cooler temps). So we have concentrated on planting and growing the cooler season crops. We seeded 4 beds about 150 feet long each with Napa Cabbage, Kale, Broccoli Rabb, collards, turnips, tatsoi, and Pak choy. A few would germinate and come up and then some would not. We then planted again, more rain and waited for our efforts to pay off and still nothing. More rain and still more rain and still a few would come up and then we planted again. This time I just gave up and started seeds in the green house. We are having more luck with that but not the germinating rate I would have hoped for.

A good point was made the other day from a farmer friend when he was sharing a story about about how farmers years ago used to pray for rain. They used to gather together and pray for each others farms and ask God to make it rain. However they specifically prayed for "Beneficial Rain". These days farmers pray individually for their own farms and they just pray for rain. I think there is power in numbers and being a little more specific really can't hurt.

We let the chickens out in the pasture behind the house and let them run around during the day. They are loving it. There is lots of excitement out there all the time. At any given time I see them chasing each other or the turkeys chasing them. It is very interesting to watch the turkeys when the chickens get in their food spot. The black hen turkey was so upset at "Mr. Red" our Road Island red rooster she chased him around for a very long time. She was extremely mad and was determined to set him straight. Those two are at it all the time because the rooster tries to run the turkeys off from their food so he can eat it. She is not having that! The rest of the turkeys just circle around those two and make tons of gobble noises. It is quite the "field fight"!

Mr. Red is just beautiful. He is stout and he is bossy. When I walk down to the garden to work or gather something and I have to pay close attention to where Mr. Red is at all times because now he thinks I should not be walking through his territory. He will walk slowly behind me and then all of the sudden he charges me and trys to peck me. I have no patience for that or him so he usually gets a swift kick. I thought that he might be detoured from doing that to me but so far he is not stopping. Each time it seems he gets a little more brave. Ronny says he may start trying to fly up and spur me but I can tell you if that happens he will be chicken soup quick. None of the other chickens bother anyone just Mr. bossy.

We did get all of the strawberries picked up and are ready to put them in. However it has rained for so many days and the ground is like mush. We are going to have to wait a little longer to put them in. I will be so glad when that job is over. It is a nightmare getting those in.

Well I hope the weather is better soon and we can all go outside and enjoy this beautiful fall weather. It really has been nice to have some cooler days to work in.

Chicken Broth

2009-08-22T15:08:00.001-07:00

When we say clean food we mean .......... clean food. The picture on the left was taken of two chicken soup broths that I canned exactly the same way but at different times. The grey one on the left is one I canned made from a conventionally grown and processed chicken that I bought at the store. The other on the right side is one I canned from a chicken we grew here on the farm. See the beautiful yellow color. This chicken my husband killed and processed himself. Which would you like to eat? The grey color from the one on the left comes from the rinse water that is soaked up by the meat while being mechanically processed. Can anyone say fecal soup? Yuck!!!!

Baby Turkeys

2009-08-22T10:59:00.000-07:00

Well we got baby turkeys! They were born on the 18th of August. She had 13 eggs laid and only 6 hatched. Unfortunately she had her nest on the ground and when they hatched they got out of the nest and the ants got all over them. We lost 4 chicks because they had left the nest and had moved several feet from it and were covered in ants before we found them. Danny came running over to tell me that they were hatching and we gathered them up and put them in a box with a heat lamp after we got all the fire ants off of them. That was very sad and tramatic for all of us. The animals were upset as well. The adult turkeys were surrounding the babies with their wings spread flapping and making alot of noise. One of the barred rock hens was so excited she laid an egg right at the door of the pen. She had never done that before or since the turkey chicks were born. The dogs were even standing still and barking loudly. It was a stressful time for all.

We then made a larger box with hay in it and put chicks and eggs in it. The mother hen was not at all sure she wanted any part of it until she heard the chicks crying. She finally got into the makeshift nest and sat on chicks and eggs both. We let her stay there until the next day and to our amazement she actually hatched another beautiful white chick. At that point we realized we lost two of them. A little brown one was still alive but looked like it was not going to make it. We still had three that looked pretty good, a black one, a brown one and a white one. The brown one died fairly quickly after we moved them to the new box. The black one looked like his eyes were shut swollen from the ant bites. I washed his eyes out a couple times each day with a homemade saline solution and helped him eat and drink every other hour. All of us took turns helping each chick learn how to eat and drink. We separated them from the mother at that point and began to care for them ourselves. I knew the black one would die soon if we didn't get some water and feed down him. He was gaining strength and starting to blink a little bit. I was so proud because I really thought the worst was over for him. On thursday afternoon we found him dead. I am not sure what happened. I was so disappointed.

After all that we ended up with two of the prettiest chicks I have ever seen. The solid white one and a beautiful brown chick. The solid white one is already full of energy. He thinks he can fly out of the pen. You can see that in the middle picture. He is trying to get up high enough to get out. The last picture is him trying to protect both bowls. He doesn't want the other chick to have any. The brown chick finally got tired of trying to get some feed so he just walked off. The white one protects the feed bowl like it only belongs to him. He has "mine" down really good. Just like a small child protecting their toy. If the brown chick get a piece of hay in his mouth the white one runs over there and takes it away. He is not allowed to have anything for him self. I reached my hand in to get the water yesterday and today and the white one is pecking at my hand. It is so funny to watch this little chick....he really thinks he is boss!

New farming Intern....yeah!!

2009-08-10T11:20:00.000-07:00

The piglets are one month old now! They are eating grass and veggies. They are just like a bunch of puppies, running, jumping and pushing each other with their snouts. Too cute!

Well the heat is back on! Not as hot as it has been though. We are at 100 degrees but a few weeks ago it was over 103 every day. Some days it was all the way up to 106! I have never worried about the weather as much as I do now. I wouldn't have been able to tell you what the temperature was at any given time. Only to realize it was either too hot or too cold. The weather is such a big concern to a farmer that is always foremost in his or her mind.

We got our first farming intern and his name is Danny. Danny came to us from an organization that promotes internships to learn organic farming methods. The individuals stay on the farm and work for an agreed upon time frame. We provide Danny's room and board for the length of his stay. It is a good agreement for both parties. Danny can learn while working and we can teach while receiving a helping hand. What a blessing! We are really excited to have Danny and hope we can share with him the joys of working with the earth and wonderful fun we have caring for the livestock.

Have have piglets!

2009-07-23T06:57:00.000-07:00

Lois finally had her piglets! She had them on the fourth of July. Independence piglets! She had nine beautiful babies and she is such a good mom. They are the cutiest.....before they were even twenty four hours old they were already sticking their noses in the dirt rooting. Today they are not quite 3 weeks old and they are everywhere. They get in the mud with mom and get cooled off. They run and chase each other. It is so much fun to watch them while they are so little. I don't want them to grow up!

Well the weather has finally cooled down for a few days. The veggies are starting to bloom a little again. They sure look better since the intense heat has let up for now. I'm praying we don't see those for a while again. The weather man said that we usually get around 16 days of over 100 degree heat per summer. We are over 20 days and this isn't even the end of July yet. I am wondering what the rest of the summer is going to bring us.

We are planting for the fall season now. Sweet potatoes are in now and pumpkins. Some of the summer veggies will continue to make until fall and that is good news. We still need to start our cabbage and broccoli transplants. We need to plant new successions of winter squashes, broccoli raab, fall greens and etc...

I am so excited about the fall season. It is so much easier to work in the garden in the fall. We still need to purchase frost protection blankets for the fall veggies. They are expensive and we need quite a few of them. Last year we really needed them. We got several early and late freezes and lost alot of veggies. I hope we can get some them bought if not all this year. They really do protect the veggies from those unexpected drops in temperature and they will help extend our growing season. That is very important for the fall and spring CSAs for our area, we are further north and we get cooler faster than the metroplex area.

Yesterday I ordered the strawberry plants we will need to plant in October. We will harvest them around the first of April. The Spring CSA's really like the berries for their baskets. Yumm! Well I guess it's back to work time.

What a hot June!

2009-06-29T21:43:00.000-07:00

What a hot June!!! We lost 1 hen and 2 roosters due to the intense heat. I was heart broken to see that happen . Ronny tarped an area outside to give them a shady place to be and on the days when it is over 95 degrees I have been spraying the ground with cool mist of water in the afternoons when it is the hottest. They really like sitting in the cool dirt.

The Summer CSA is going full blast and we have moved the delivery dates to Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. We split up the drop sites and it is going alot smoother. This way the veggies are harvested every two days and we are not trying to harvest, package and deliver all of them at once. We are getting enough members that we are really needing a third person to help harvest and package. Ronny and I are running full blast all day trying to do everything that needs to be done, especially in this heat!

We are still planting veggies for the fall season. It is going so slow. I hope someday we can get some key pieces of equipment that will really help us grow. Right now we do all the planting, soil amendments and bed making using an old tractor and by hand. It is incredibly slow and very back breaking. There is a few key farm implements for the tractor that would really help if we can gets those someday. We have been so blessed with alot of interest in the CSA's. We have to turn down people who want to join because we can not grow enough veggies. That is disappointing because we need every member we can get.

We are in a transitional phase with the farm. Ronny still works out side the home some to be able to help provide an income for us but ......in order for us to grow more veggies he needs to be here full time. Catch twenty two!!!! Right now he is working non stop and I am worried about him. I am here full time trying to do as much as I can while he is working. There is so much I can't do. I get stuck and can't go any further because I am not strong enough physically to complete the task. Sometimes we don't quit until 1:00 or 2:00 in the morning. Spraying organic insecticides, foliar feeding, watering or even planting by a flash light.

The good note is ......that our gardens and membership are growing. The lord has provided many great blessings and we see progress. We have doubled in membership each season and alot of our members are returning each season.

This is where we are supposed to be I guess and I know we are not giving up ......we have come too far! This farm means alot to both of us. We believe it is good work and beneficial to the community and a way to serve the Lord earnestly. These days God intentionally has us walking on water daily.....we stay afloat simply by trusting him .......over and over again each day to provide our income and precious harvest. That makes us totally dependant upon him and you can't help but grow spirtually from that.

Feeling a little less panicked

2009-05-21T10:01:00.000-07:00

Well I am feeling less panicked then the last time I wrote. We have rebuilt beds and re-planted most everything. They are coming up nicely and doing well. We will be a little late in our harvest but it will still be a great season. The tomatoes are putting on blooms and the bees are buzzing around. This is our first season in our new garden area. It is about 2 and a half acres and we are filling it up fast. The CSA membership is growing so fast and we need to keep up with the growth. We have been amending the soil quite a bit and keeping lots of compost tea on it so that the plants will not be stressed in their new home. They are looking really healthy and strong so far but.......... we will have to watch them very closely. The soil in the new garden is very sandy and will loose nutrients fast if not attended to regularly. We grew two nice cover crops before we tried to plant in this area, but it still needs more time.

Everything is green and the roses are blooming finally. It really looks pretty around here. The only thing is I can't keep everything mowed and the grass gets really out of hand fast. I am looking forward to the summer veggies. I love the fresh garden tomatoes and peppers. Nothing beats it. Although the spring veggies were really nice this year. We had lots of gourmet lettuce and fresh spinach, cabbages and greens. I really enjoyed growing those and we got lots of nice feedback from the members on the taste and quality. The summer melons are my favorite. I am looking forward to those the most.

Well I need to get busy planting so I had better stop for now.

We must really love farming......after this Spring!

2009-05-05T19:02:00.000-07:00

This Spring is wearing us out! We had two really low (27 degree temperature) late....late...freezes. The second to the last one just killed us. The damage was severe and we lost several thousand dollars in strawberries and vegetables. If the temperature had only gotten down to 31 or 32 degrees it would have been fine but the strawberries and vegetables were severely damaged at 27 degrees. We trimmed off the damaged veggies in hopes that the folage would come back and it did. It took some time for them to start growing good again. Then we had our last freeze right before Easter! We were prepared for this one. The weather man got it right this time and we spent until 2:30 am covering veggies and berries. Wow! that was a major chore....but the next day all was fine. It took me all day by myself to uncover the berries and vegetables. In all we lost one week due to the freeze and had a couple of light weeks after that. But now the members shares look really good again for the last few weeks. Lots of beautiful vegetables!

Then.......... came lots of rain and hail. Damaging marble size hail! Really did a job on the strawberry plants and the tender vegetables we have growing for our CSA members. Luckily we are not going to miss any weeks due to the hail but some of the veggies are not as pretty as they once were. They still taste delicious and there will be plenty for the harvest. We are going to try to make up the week we lost. I think we have enough planted out to make it.

As far as the summer growing goes we are falling behind several weeks. The late freezes kept us from getting much in the ground early. When we were able to put plants in the ground the hail damaged most of them. We lost over half of our tomato plants we had planted, almost 400 plants. The hail just busted them in half. The raised beds were damaged and parts of them were washed away. We had so many seeds in the ground that were washed away. I am now re-ordering them again (I don't even want to discuss the loss there!). The rains brought cooler temperatures and what seeds that didn't wash away are not germinating. They are rotting in the ground. Luckily we ordered lots of extra heirloom and organic tomato transplants about a month ago and we will be able to replant quickly. Our melon plants were busted up really bad too. Some are trying to recover but most just died. We are re-planting them as well. I just can't get anything to germinate very fast right now. The rain is still coming. Tonight is supposed to be severe thunderstorms and more hail predicted. I am praying so hard it misses us. If it doesn't miss us I pray the damage is not severe.

Trap Crop

2009-03-10T07:19:00.000-07:00

Now this is what I call a trap crop! It is a Broccoil Raab plant left over from fall last year. It made until a few weeks ago when it began to flower. The bees are keeping busy with it but if you look close you will notice about a hundred Harlequin Bugs on it. Wow! This plant has attracted the hard............. to kill garden insects. The killing.....has begun!

Chicken Fun

2009-03-10T06:58:00.000-07:00

We have the funniest chickens! A couple of Barred Rock, a few Road Island Reds, and some Naked Necks. We also have six turkeys......you can see some in the picture as well. They are all a sight to watch. I put some Kale out of the garden into the pen and it was a party after that. They were chasing each other around like crazy! It is so funny to watch because one will get the "prize" no matter what it is and run. Then regardless of how much of the "prize" still lays on the ground they will chase the one who is running. It is so funny to watch the games.

Starting Transplants

2009-01-26T21:13:00.000-08:00

Well we have been busy planting seeds and starting transplants to put in the garden. It's a busy season already. We've been under a burn ban so we haven't been able to fire up our charcoal maker. I need the charcoal to go in the beds we're building. It is a wonderful soil amendment that helps build organic matter and increases the soils capacity to hold water. It is raining today for the first time in a while so I hope they lift the ban. Ronny has been working on making up some cold frames to use so that we can get plants in the ground early. We are starting our Spring CSA in March and need to get a jump on some of the plants that take longer to grow. The cold frames he has built so far are working great. The plants are snuggled away from the freezing temperatures. We do have to pull the frames off when the temps get warmer but it is a small price to pay to be able to plant a few weeks early. Well back to work.

New Addition to the Farm

2008-12-06T23:29:00.000-08:00

Well the new addition to the farm is a wonderful pink baby pig. She is about four and one half months old. She is not shy, very friendly and doesn't meet a stranger. We decided to name her Lois. Elliott has a friend and he is so happy. We were feeding them some squash today and they loved it. Tails wagging, snorting and rooting.....it was a good day.

Changing the subject for a moment.........

While winter sets in we try to complete projects that we don't have time for during our peak growing times. One of our latest projects is building a charcoal maker. We needed to find a way to make charcoal so that we could use it to build up our soils. Charcoal is very porous for water holding capacities and also creates greater amounts of stable soil organic matter. The charcoal maker consists of two 55 gallon drums acting as the retort (the chamber that holds the wood). Some old brick and some large stones to make the furnace. I think it will do it's job well. We are excited to get it fired up this week and start making our own charcoal.

Well we hope you all have a blessed holiday. Merry Christmas from us to you.

First time blogger

2008-11-25T14:55:00.001-08:00

My name is Pamela and my husband Ronny own a 30 acre farm in Sunset Texas. On the farm we have one pig, 3 goats, and three dogs. There is more livestock to come but for right now this is all we have. We are currently working on getting a Jersey cow and some chickens.

Here at Rose Creek Farms we farm organic or heirloom vegetables and herbs. We have two gardens going. One is about a half of an acre and the other is almost three acres. We just finished planting strawberries and are eagerly waiting their fruit in the Spring. We are currently operating a three season CSA (Community Supported Agriculture), Spring, Summer and Fall. We currently deliver to Decatur, Denton and Arlington.

I love roses alot and have planted them all over the farm. The soil out here is really great for growing them........if that helps explain the name Rose Creek Farms a little bit. We bought the farm in the Spring of 2005 and feel very blessed to be here.

A little bit of information on the animals here:

The pigs name is Elliott. He is a black Hampshire pig with white feet. He is four months old and a great pleasure to watch. We have had him for about a month and plan to get him a girl friend fairly soon..........he will be so happy for some company. The goats are pygmy goats and the dad is named Billy and the two sons are named Harry and Larry. The boys are about 10 months old and are so much fun. They get so excited to see anyone come up and visit. The prospect of company means they will get some sort of tasty green or vegetable out of the garden. They wag their tails and baa loudly in hopes of the treats to come.

The dogs are a little bit different story. The middle dog is a mix and he looks to me kind of like Lassie, even though I think Lassie was a girl. We call him Chip and/or Chippy. He is so cute...... but a little odd. He picks rocks up with his mouth and carries them around all the time. If it is not a rock then it is a stick or piece of straw. Always carrying an object. It is the funniest thing to watch. You really want to believe that he is asking you to play catch when he brings you the stick. But he doesn't yet get the concept. We are working on that..... The other two the oldest and the youngest are coon dogs. The oldest is white with black and brown markings, they call her breed a "Walker". Her name is blaze and she is PKC Texas State Champion 2006 and AKC Texas State Champion 2008. She was also third in the PKC World Hunt in 2005. She is our pride and joy. The youngest Toby Rose is a girl and she is only 8 months old. She is solid black with a touch of brown markings. Her breed is a "Black and Tan". She hasn't really started hunting alot but she sure wants to. She is full of energy and howling at everything.

We want to get a jersey cow for the milk and the yummy stuff you can make from it. The chickens are for eggs of course. We would like to be a totally sustainable farm by the end of 2009. That is our goal anyway.

Well as this was my first blog attempt I guess I will stop here for now and thanks for visiting our blog.