Heirloom veggies are amazing!

Heirloom is the way to go!  Forget hybrids...  Heirlooms far out perform and hybrid we have ever tried!

Check out kaelyn with her find of an 11 lb beet!  The amazing thing is this huge beet is totally edible!

Heirloom....  The way things ought to be!

Sprouts at the Sprouts

When we say we feed sprouts...  We are talking real sprouts!  Not soaked grain that is almost sprouted  but grain with inch long roots and green sprouts! 

Not every batch turns out this good,  depending on the heat of the sun,  but we try!

Pear Harvest 2013

Pear Harvest time is here!  This year we asked for volunteers to help harvest the pears which worked out beautifully for everyone. The farm received many extra pounds of pears for animal feed, and the helpers took home as many free pears as they wished, as well as having a grand time !

We give a special thanks to the owners of the old pear farm, which has not been worked for several years, in allowing us to harvest these pears for organic animal feed. 

These pears will go a long way to finishing both the pigs and the turkeys at a great savings to the farm.

At the end of the day, best estimate is that we collected close to 6000 lbs of pears! Good job everyone!

Everett sees a pear he wants!

Can he reach it?

almost!

The farmer in the trees... with knee pads?

Levi wears daddy's hat for protection from falling pears!

Noey and Kaelyn sitting on the kubota waiting to fill pear buckets

Hunter found one, or two, or three...

And Uncle Bradley fills many buckets

Grandma with the most important job... Baby watching!

Add caption

The team hard at work

Did he just eat a pear?

Marissa picks pears and holds the little ones, talent!

Daddy, Hunter, and Levi hard at it

Why is this man smiling?

Everett returns to the kubota for another bite....

The line of cars for the volunteers

Little Sprouts Pear Day is Here!

We would like to extend an invitation to you that we just sent to all our customers for a fun day picking pears from a local wild growth orchard. 

here is the invitation we sent to our customers:

=====================================================

Hi

You are invited to join us for another Little Sprouts Work Event! The project this time will be fruit harvesting!

We have made arrangements with one of the local fruit companies to strip the fruit from an unused pear orchard. These pears are organic and "wild growth" since the orchard has not been worked in several years. There are good pears on the trees yet ready to pick, preserve, eat, whatever... and fallen pears on the ground great for animal feed. We will be doing both.. collecting fallen fruit from the ground as well as picking what can be reached on the trees without a ladder. NO LADDERS will be used nor allowed for safety reasons. 

You are welcome to come and work as much as you like, and take home your own set of pears at the end. You are welcome to make it a family event, bring the children, plan for a picnic lunch or dinner, and enjoy yourself!

Date:  Wednesday 9-18

Time:  630am till dark (around 8pm) you are welcome to work any hours between this, just let us know your preference. 

Bring: buckets for collecting and taking your own pears home, plenty of water (no running water at the farm) and food for meals. 

Wear: dress for cool morning and evening, hot day, and prepare for tall grass and burrs in places.

FYI: there is no restroom facilities on or nearby the farm. 

This is a great family friendly way to work on the farm, help us feed these animals, keep pour prices down, and just have a good time!

Please RSVP by email or phone by Tuesday evening if you plan on attending! 

Thanks!

Dave, Brenda and the Little Sprouts

541-826-4345

Honey made from... High Fructose Corn Syrup?

Most people just dont realize, we didnt, that most commercial honey, even local, is not actually "pure " honey.  There is a common practice of bee keepers harvesting all the honey at once, and feeding the bees sugar or even HFCS to sustain them until they can replace the honey.

Now, sure, I understand that this doesn't actually get into the honey itself. But stop and think, is this good for the bees? The bees do produce the honey, so doesn't it make sense that something that compromises the health of the bees will compromise the quality of the honey? do you want to buy honey from weakened bees?

One promise we make to you is that Little Sprouts will never follow this practice.  Our bees retain enough honey at each harvest to live on until the rebuild the supply. In essence, we only harvest the surplus. AND if feeding supplementally is ever necessary, we will only feed honey, not sugar water.  This does increase the cost of the honey by lower production per colony, but it is well worth it in the end to us. We simply wont sacrifice any of our farm animals or insects for the sake of o higher profits or production.

Here is a link to an interesting recent study that shows a link between HFCS and bee health decline. Worth a read.

http://phys.org/news/2013-04-high-fructose-corn-syrup-tied-worldwide.html#jCp