Not sure what I'm doing with 65 very frost sensitive Thai Red Roselle plants, but I just couldn't resist... Heat the start house all winter or move them all inside?

Shawna picking puffball mushrooms on the farm's landing strip.

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30 .lbs of elderberries cleaned and sorted.

Foraging elderberries.

Sumac can be ground and used as a spice. It can also be seeped in cool liquid to add a lemony flavor to beverages.

Retro pots we found in the barn. Thank God grandmothers never throw anything away.

Casper the pumpkin.

Posin' with the goat.

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Claire has found a new mountain to climb.

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Off to a good home...

7 and a 1/2 pounds! That's a big cucumber!

Tiger Melons! So impatient for them to be ready!

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SCF's co-owner, Shawna samples onions straight from the field.

Annah and me in the backhoe bucket 15 or so feet in the air. Pulling some early pears from our overgrown tree

Enough said! :p

These delightful heirloom Lemon Cucumbers fly off our table when we take them to markets.

I thought the Staghorn Sumac I dug up from the side of the road died after transplanting on the farm, but I spotted new growth on two of the shrubs/trees this morning! :)

Farmer hands

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Infuse summer drinking water with cucumber & mint. Fill a pitcher or jar with water and add a few slices of cucumber and a sprig or two of mint. Cover and chill overnight. Strain into drinking glasses or if you're lazy like me drink it straight from the jar without removing the cukes and mint.

Got up (kinda) early this morning to gather wild blackberries for breakfast. Blackberry Basil Pancakes with Clover Butter (butter, purple clover, honey) and Indiana Maple Syrup. Seven local ingredients on the list:

Wild clover and wild blackberries from the farm.
Basil fromSeldom Seen Farm in Danville.
Maple syrup from a friend of a friend in Cloverdale.
Eggs from our neighbors free-range chickens.
The honey came from the same neighbor.
Milk from my grandfather's goat.

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It's been dry! Shawna gives melon vines some much needed water from one of the farms rain barrels.

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There it is, our grand "runway".

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Cooper Airport

One of the old airplane hangars near the barn.

I grew up on the land my sister and I now farm, but I still learn new and exciting things about our tiny little space in this world all the time.  My most recent discovery is that Sunny Creek Farm doubles as the Cooper Airport.  As children, and now even, it was normal to see a small aircraft occasionally take off from one of the two airplane hangars on the property.  The "landing strip" was where my sisters and I learned to drive.  The airplanes, hangars and well-maintained strip of grass were just one of the quirks of the farm.  I never thought twice about them... 

Apparently, forty years ago when my Uncle Mike started flying a small plane, he and his fellow flying friends would take off and land their planes on a grassy strip of land between corn fields.  He, together with my grandfather decided to established the strip as a private airport with the FAA to add a layer of protection to their airspace, etc.

   

Google Satellite Photo of the Cooper Airport.  FAA Information about Cooper Airport

Wild chamomile sun tea. Sweeten with local honey and ice.

Farm Market Fresh

Photo by:  Susan Moran

Egg sunny-side-up & buttered polenta on a bed of purslane. Simple, clean, good.

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It's hotter than the dickens out there today, but the back field's tomatoes got staked and I escaped with only one blister out of the deal.

Rockin' a tool belt because it's awesome.

The girls working in the field.

Elderflower champagne?

Persimmons are still tiny, but starting to get a blush of color on them.

Annah & Shanelle blanching kale to freeze for the winter.

Courier pigeon hanging out in the barn.

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A closer view of those grapes.

Wild grape vines using a tree as a trellis.

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Juniper berries from today's foraging adventures. They are harvested in autumn.

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A bushel of green walnuts foraged from Sunny Creek Farm that will become housemade Nocino at The Libertine this summer. http://simplyrecipes.com/recipes/nocino/

Green wild pawpaws or "Indiana Bananas" as they are sometimes termed. Looks like they'll be big this year!

I knew there were wild black raspberries growing somewhere on the farm. Just took me a few days to find this sweet patch.

FWD:

About to forage for a minute in our woods...

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Four hours and a lot of stirring later, persimmon pudding, the finished product.

Attempting to make persimmon pudding for the first time today. My dad loves the stuff so it's sort of a Father's Day present. I was driving the back way home this afternoon wishing I had saved persimmons last autumn from the trees on the farm when I passed a house with sign anouncing "Persimmon Pulp For Sale" so I turned my car around in the neighbor's drive and bought three pints. My grandmother and I tracked down my great-grandmother Avis's recipe when I got home. There is a copy of the recipe the photo above.

A little after market bruschetta: tomatoes, basil, spring onions, balsamic, olive oil, salt, pepper and a crusty baguette.

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Troopers Shanelle & Annah at the Broad Ripple Farmer's Market in the rain.

Baby, heirloom rainbow carrots bunched and ready for the Broad Ripple Farmers Market tomorrow.

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Sauteed Daylily Blossoms

Sweet potatoes are in.

Homeless - Will grow for food.

This was in my kitchen when I woke up this morning. Wondering who picked it up and what the back story is.

Spring Pictures From the Farm

Pears are looking good so far



Persimmon Saplings



Cultivation Meets Wild Salad Mix



Fava Beans



One of the kids... Flora or Flossy?