Two markets, a giant pumpkin raffle and Food, Inc.

Whew...it's been a great season. Thank you everyone who has continued to support our small farm and local, organic, sustainably grown food!

We only have a couple farmers markets left in Laramie. However, we are continuing to produce food so we may have a few markets in our backyard to ensure that it doesn't go to waste.

This week we are going to be bringing up a giant pumpkin to raffle off at $1.00 a guess on the weight. Whoever is closest wins the pumpkin. Half of the proceeds go to the Soup Kitchen.

We want to thank the Soup Kitchen for taking all our extra produce each week and serving it up in delicious meals for their clients.

On September 24th, Thursday, there will be a free screening of Food, Inc. at the Ag. Auditorium. I've heard it's an amazing peak into food production in the US and a must see. But be warned it'll change the way you look at food and eat!

Keep posted and thank you.

Crazy Days at the Farmers Market!

It's Crazy Days in downtown Laramie. The little shops have their booths and ballons set up to sell their wares. So come down gets some good deals along with your veggies.

Yesterday was a blast at the farm. My Aunt Barbie and her grandson Miles are here from Brookings, SD and Ricky's good friend Tommy (UW Alumni) from Riverton drove down to help pick at the farm. My sister Sony was there and my mom, Sheila Bird, made a fabulous lunch for the troops. Sarah and Nick came down with us from Laramie.

We picked, picked, picked all day. It was hot but with a nice breeze. We had our two dogs Gabby and Kuma, my sisters two dogs, Selah and Tucker, mom's border collie Mesa and Aunt Barbies sheltie, Diego playing in thier swimming pool.

We brought a lot of yummy things up for you...but no tomatoes, green beans, chili peppers, or eggplant till next week. Oh and patty pan summer squash too. But here is what we will have:

fresh basil, broccoli, red and green cabbage (we can always cut them smaller for you too), kale, chard, collard greens, yellow zucchini squash, some cucumbers so come early, fennel, limited amount of romaine and green leaf lettuce (it's getting to hot for them), yukon and red potatoes, radishes, walla walla and sisku sweet onions, baby pearl grilling onions, carrots, chiogga beets (red and white strip bulleyes middle), spinach, and some fresh herbs parsley, dill and cilantro.

We hope to see you there. Next week we'll have a large amount of green and yellow wax beans, cucumbers, and different varieties of summer squash. Tomatoes if we can keep the birds out of them. We've purchased some plastic toy snakes from Scott at Atmosphere as we don't want to use netting because the birds get hung up in them. But we have a lot of different varieties of tomatoes so check back.

Thank you for supporting our local farm. We grow in Waverly so that we can bring more to you but we live, shop and eat in Laramie so the money stays here in our local area. Thank you for supporting chemical-free, sustainably grown agriculture as it's better for you, your family and our environment.

July 10th Jubilee Days Farmers Market

Hello veggie lovers!

Well with all the rain, sunshine and finally heat we have vegetables. Ricky and Sarah Dahlberg(full time helper and friend) have been very busy at the farm planting, planting, planting. We are shocked with all that we have. Even Mesa, Sheila Birds's border collie, is enjoying the bounty and having a cabbage snack.

Friday July 10th we'll have:

romaine head lettuce, red leaf lettuce, kale, chard, mizuna greens, spinach, beets (red ace and chiogga), purple top turnips, 3 types of radish (including black radish), kholrabi, broccoli, green head cabbage, new potatoes, basil, scallions, snow peas and shell peas. Next week look for green beans!

Downtown will be busy, but fun! We hope to see you down there! We'll be in front of Atmosphere Mountainworks. Come by and see us: Ricky, Danielle, Jodie and Nick and Scott and his two new puppies: Zip and Skeeter.

Again thank you for supporting your local Laramie growers! Have a fun, safe weekend!

FIRST FARMERS MARKET '09

Hungry for Greens?

We have them, lots of them!

We hope to see you all today, come rain or shine, at the first market of the season! We'll be at our usual spot on 2nd in front of Citrus Salon.

Here's what we'll have:

Beautiful heads of Red Leaf Lettuce and Romaine
Spinach, Kale, Chard, Arugula, Green & Purple Mizuna, Green & Purple Spicy Mustard Greens
Turnips, Beets, Radishes & Scallions
Basil, Oregano, Cilantro & Fennel
Kholrabi

Come down and support your local farms.

Eat Local, Buy Local, Be Local!

Wet Soggy Spring, We Love It!

Hello everyone,

Hope this finds you enjoying the rain, green, bird sounds and all that fresh oxygenated air! It's been wet in Laramie and wet in Waverly where our farm is. Ricky today was under a tornado watch down there. Luckily our neighbor and farmland owner, Tom, was keeping an eye on the sky to round up the workers and shuffle them to his basement if needed.

We are still planting as it's been to wet to get it all in. But things are taking off. Once the sun shines again the temperatures go up it'll be wonderful.

We will be delivering spinach, whole head lettuces, and bunch radishes to the Big Hollow Food Co-op on Tuesday June 16th. Look for chard and kale later in the week. We will also be delivery to Sweet Melissa's Vegetarian Cafe on a more regular basis.

So please support local by buying local! Have a great week everyone. The site will continue to be updated with info and pictures so please check back. And again thank you for all the support!

Check out this fun website on eating local, sustainable chemical-free food: http://www.sustainabletable.org/home.php

Raw Turnip Salad

4 raw turnips washed, peeled and grated
1/8 cup olive oil
1/8 cup lemon juice or more to taste
small handful of either dill, cilantro or basil chopped
salt and pepper to taste

Mix all together and enjoy!

Michael Pollan in Boulder May 21st

FYI:

Boulder Bookstore with be hosting Michael Pollan, author of Ominivore's Dilemma and In Defense of Food on Thursday, May 21st at 7:30 pm. The event will be held at Unity Church (2855 Folsom St.). Tickets are $10, call 303-447-2074, stop by the store, or buy your tickets online : http://boulderbookstore.booksense.com/NASApp/store/IndexJsp

Waiting for the snow to melt!

The farm received about 6 inches of fresh snow on Friday night, yippee! We have about a foot in Laramie. Fed Ex delivered a box of seed potatoes on Friday afternoon; so planting will begin in the next couple of weeks. My mom said robins are covering the fence around the corral in anticipation of fat juicy worms and bugs. It does resemble the Mutts' comic above.

Ricky and I attended the Laramie Local Food Gathering at the Laramie Plains Civic Center on April 4th. It was a pretty good turnout considering the blizzard like conditions and closed roads leading into Laramie all day. There were interesting discussions and a wonderful lunch provided. Unfortunately, we did not set up a booth if you were looking for us. What a great opportunity to meet other local growers and people interested in supporting local, clean food. Thank you to all who came out in the cold and snow, and especially to those who put the event on!

I definately want chickens after attending the Backyard Chicken discussion. We have a Can o' Worms in our basement; however they don't eat very fast, and are very shy and messy to clean up after.

We will be at the farm later this week so I'll post pictures of what the farm looks like now. Hopefully our cover crops will be coming up with the snow and sun.

Eat your spring greens!

Rick's Favorite Chard!

Saute garlic in olive oil in cast iron frying pan. Add clean/dried off leaves of chard, mustard greens, etc and saute, turning over with salad pinchers until wilted. Top with Gomasio (sold at Co-op from Eden or make your own using 1/4 cup raw sesame seeds toasted in dry pan on low heat till they almost pop, cool and then toss with salt and pulse lightly in coffee grinder to open up seeds) and/or add brewers yeast for a cheesy flavor. Great for breakfast with eggs or anytime!

New Food Bill Heading to Congress Could Outlaw Farms Like Ours

Dear Fellow Veggies,

Please click on the link to review the new food safety modernization act that is heading to Congress.

Unfortunately Sheila Bird Farms falls under two of their categories. As a food processor and also as a food production facility.

Obviously we are concerned about food safety but the possible new regulatory framework may make it too expensive to remain a going concern. Which of course is the goal of the supporters of the bill, large agribusiness companies. For instance we may be forced to build a special building and install expensive washing equipment. No more bringing veggies to market in coolers. The unfortunate part of the bill is that the rules are yet to be made, which leaves the rulemaking to some potentially influenced individual or group of individuals.

The regulations will encompass all aspects from seed production to market. We are deeply concerned that government will now intervene in your local farmers markets. This act encompasses ALL those that sell ANY kind of food at the farmers markets. There are no exceptions for "small" or "organic". Just the open-air venue may be potentially deemed hazardous. Remember the rules are yet to be made. Certainly if a food borne illness is traced back to a farmers market sometime in the future, you can kiss the whole farmers market idea goodbye. Potentially it could even affect selling produce to friends in the backyard.

Contact your congress people.

Wyoming

Gov. Dave Freudenthal (D) 307-777-7434

State Legislature Links

Sen. Mike Enzi (R) Fax: 202-228-0359

Sen. John Barrasso (R) Fax: 202-224-1724

Rep. Barbara Cubin (R-At Large) Fax: 202-225-3057

Stay tuned.

We’ll post more when we can.

Here are some links for your perusal:

http://www.opencongress.org/bill/111-h875/text

http://blog.friendseat.com/rosa-delauro-hates-small-farms/

Please pass these links along to whoever you think may be interested.

Cheers, Ricky and Danielle

Is it spring yet?

Hello fresh produce lovers!

Ricky and I are gearing up for another year at Sheila Bird Farms in Waverly, CO. We are creating this blog in hopes that it will help all of you keep connected to what we are doing and to your food. It is my hope that we will be able to keep you updated weekly as to what is going on at the farm and what veggies will be available at Big Hollow Food Co-op and the farmers market come July.

Ricky and I have been ordering seeds, potatoes and farm tools all winter long. Dreaming of the fresh spring greens; chard, arugula, mustard, Asian and baby lettuces that will cleanse and tone our organs from the heavy foods of winter.

Ricky has already started some baby seedlings in the greenhouse in Laramie and they are about a centimeter tall. On Saturday, March 7th my brother-in-law, Jud, pulled out the tractor from it's long winter nap and rotatilled the farm plot.

We are incorporating ground cover this spring. We spent a great deal of time pulling weeds last year (way too much time); so we are in the process of planting cover crops such as clover, and alfalfa mixes. Then we'll clear a strip and plant in our rows. We'll keep you posted on how that is working!

Waking up to snow this morning I realize we have a bit of winter left. However, as farmers we are thankful for all the moisture that we get. We plan on planting potatoes in April so keep checking back in as we'll have some more news! As the farm gears up you'll be able to check here weekly to see what we are havesting and will have offered at the market.

Hope you all had a good winter and thank you again for your support last year! We are excited for this year and will continue to bring you local, chemical free food from organic seedlings.


love,

danielle, ricky and sheila