Cedarmore Farm CSA: A Little Time At My Happy Place

Sunday, September 8, 2013

A Little Time At My Happy Place

Once again I got a chance to go visit my favorite Amish family at Cedarmore...my Happy Place. I took some of my Amish books from my library to share. And I had something SPECIAL to leave behind.

When I drove down the driveway the three older children (as Lizzie calls to them) were standing in the yard waiting for me. I wonder how long they had been standing there? I know why they were there waiting but I will give you the whole run down in just a bit.

This is Anna's garden. She has dill, corn, and green beans.

Andy and I went to see the tomatoes in the greenhouse and look what we say...actually several of them. This is a Tomato Hornworm. He is a bad thing. The little white things on its back are the pupae of the Barconid wasp. These wasps are parasitic insects that prey on hornworms. These wasps hunt down our garden pests, inject their eggs into their prey where the eggs hatch into larvae and begin eating the internal organs of the hornworm. After these "maggots" have matured they bore through the skin of the hornworm and proceed to spin a cocoon and attach themselves to the worm. From the cocoons emerge adult Braconid Wasp which will begin hunting for other Tomato Hornworms and Tobacco Hornworms to feast upon. It is the cycle of life right there in the tomato patch.

These are about all the turkeys that have survived the cat and chicken attacks.

golden comets...mean old chickens

The only rooster on the farm. Isn't he a beauty? He's a Barred Rock.

So this is the reason for my visit today to the farm. I promised Anna that I would get her a bunny for her birthday...well, she got it a little early. Meet Fluffy. She is about 13 weeks old and is a mini Rex. Fluffy will be getting a male companion on my next visit. Anna is going to be raising rabbits to sell to her cousins and all of her friends in the community. A little bunny business on the side. And the bunny poo can go on Anna's garden. But before I handed her over I made Andy and Lizzie promise that Fluffy wouldn't end up on the dinner table. They promised.

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We are glad that you stopped in to check us out. Please leave a comment and tell us what you think. Have you had any experience with CSA?

In The Beginning

Andy and Lizzie have known each other since they were very small. Growing up in an Amish community there are plenty of opportunities to play and work together. They grew up in the same church but went to different schools. Several years ago they moved from Wayne County, OH to right outside Hillsboro, OH and established Cedarmore Farm. The farm got it's name very simply...in Wayne County there were very few cedar or sycamore trees . When Andy and Lizzie got here, they noticed an abundance of cedar and sycamore trees on the land. So they just merged the two names and Cedarmore Farm was born. They have worked very hard in the few years that they have been farming the land. Andy and Lizzie are in the process of building their house and hopefully they will be able to move into the upstairs this spring. We can only see good things in their future farming experiences. And we wish them well.

Not only is Cedarmore growing fruits and vegetables. The Andy's have a growing family. They have four of the most precious children! Anna, who is excited about going to school this fall. Dennis who follows Andy around like his shadow. Moses who is doing well after a little run-in with the pigs. And Lovina who is the youngest at 9 months.

Then there is a new season on the farm. In the winter (Jan 2015), the Andy's packed up and moved to MO leaving the CSA in the most capable hands of John and Anna (Anna is Andy's twin sister) Zook and there 7 children. They changed the name of their farm to Cedarmore Farm so we English wouldn't be too confused. So the work has begun to provide lush healthy vegetables for the CSA season 2015 which begins in May.