Some Weeks . . .

 . . . are weeks that seem extra busy. This past one was like that for us.  Michael finished all the little touches on our birthing pen.  Birthing pens are those little enclosed spaces that house the mother (doe) who is in the process of getting ready to give birth to her babies (kids). Last years pen barely accommodated our birthing needs and so Michael made a few adjustments to make it work for the two does who are due at the same time. Very soon.

Anita took hours to revamp our milking room --- as we get ready to get ready to begin milking the does and using that make to cook up some more of our gourmet caramel sauce - which delightfully so is becoming popular.

Lots of new seeding took place this past Wednesday - more carrots, cucumbers, beets and radishes along with sunflowers and zinnias.  Melons, okra and more cucumbers for the start trays are starting to refill our green house.

This week was also busy because of a special private event.  Getting ready for parties are a highlight for us. We love being asked to have parties at the farm and this one was especially wonderful, not only because of the people, but because of the invitation to Phillsbury Wine Company ( a local AZ winery) to do a wine pairing for our menu.  Every thing we served had that local farm touch.

Cheese is in the House.....Buy today between 3 - 5 pm at the Farm.

We've been tapping our toes and everyone has been waiting so patiently for Wendell's delivery of Crow's Dairy fabulous cheese at their North Scottsdale goat cheese market.  Let me tell you - we have fresh goat cheese and we'll be around between 3 and 5 pm today if you are craving and need like crazy this amazing goat cheese!

Market Love - Thursday 9 am until 1 and 4 until 6

Gourmet blend of of sweet carrots.

You just gotta know that nothing thrills moi more than Wednesday Market Harvest days. I feel like jumping up and down and hollering at all of you and the neighbors that surround our little suburban farm  just to let everyone know about the fabulously grown with love produce & herbs such as turnips, carrots and gourmet lettuces.

Just pulled Purple Top Turnips at The Simple Farm

We can't wait to see you on Thursday - 9 -1 and 4 - 6 and then again at JAM Az from 7 -9!!!

JAM is located in South Scottsdale at 6938 E, 1st St - 85251.

Changes . . . .

 . . . at the farm.

The Glorious Turnip

Turnips, which are low calorie and high nutritional value are often over looked at the market.  I can only remember buying turnips once when I made a soup stock. Sad, but true.  It's really only been since I started to grow them, that I began to realize their beauty and deliciousness.

The other week I made turkey soup and decided to roast some carrots and one of the turnips I'd just harvested. That turnip made all the difference in the world in that turkey soup. This week, we had a few vegetables left over from our Thursday French market and so I decided that I'd roast them all and serve them for our evening meal. Simply amazing, nutritious and delicious - especially those roasted turnips.

We've planted and are harvesting two kinds of turnips - the Shogoin and the Purple Globe and both are fabulous. You can eat turnips raw, put them in a salad, roast them as I've done and add them to soups. The turnips greens are just about the best part too. Saute them lightly in olive oil and garlic or add them to soup.

Off To Market We Go

I always look forward to receiving David Lebovitz posts and one of this weeks caught my eye - because it has to do with the French Market.

Visit to a Paris Market (Video).  There are markets EVERYWHERE in Paris. Ahhhh....

Key points that stuck out are:

Outdoor markets take place in various neighborhoods. (love this)

In general, he buys from the same people - because they know him and they know what he likes.

You have to shift your thinking with the seasons. 

Everything actually looks a little 'funky' which is what he likes. (Good food doesn't look perfect)

Outdoor markets aren't just places to buy food; they act as social centers. (awesome)

Paris Market from David Lebovitz on Vimeo.


Click HERE to see just how many outdoor markets there are in Paris. Amazingly wonderful.

So, what would change for you if you had a market right in your neighborhood?

Roasted Radishes and Other Fine Roots

It's root vegetable season at The Simple Farm and I until now, I can honestly say that Michael and I didn't know how wonderful and delicious these roots were.

This is tonights dinner: radishes, turnips, potatoes, carrots, peppers & eggplant (ok, they're not roots, but fabulous just the same), garlic cloves and fresh snipped dill -drizzled with olive oil and roasted at 350 degrees for about an hour.

Recently I learned that when you roast radishes they actually mellow out and become a bit sweet.

We've just begun to fill our French market with turnips (Shoigoin and Purple Globe), a gourmet blend of radishes and carrots.  We still have eggplants and peppers and of course a beautiful selection of herbs to choose from.

Stop by this Thursday from 9 - 1 pm for your last minute holiday shopping. We will NOT be open Friday and we WILL be CLOSED the following week for a little time off as we get ready to start our January CSA baskets.

Thursday Market

Well, at least almost every Thursday we get up early to harvest the freshest vegetables and gather fresh farm eggs just to fill our market baskets so you can take home the best organic produce for your family table.

We are open Thursdays from 9 until noon and then again at 4 pm until 6 pm.

Not Tuesdays But Thursdays

Market days at our farm has changed. We used to be open on Tuesdays and now, instead of Tuesdays our farmers market at our urban farm is open on Thursdays.

So, on Thursdays - do stop by. We open "officially" at 9:30 am and close when our baskets of organic produce (fresh picked mind you) are empty.  Lately, that's anywhere between noon and 3 pm.

If you want to stay up to date with our urban farm happenings, our daily life, what we're planting and what is being harvested along with our Goat Stories - follow and subscribe to our blog.

Dried Calendula from our farm.

We almost always have fresh eggs available.

IF you need eggs - we will sell them on Thursdays AND just about any other day too. Just call the farm phone at 480.206.7821 - if you need a dozen or two or three.

When you buy our eggs...just know they are fresh, not washed (which removes the protective coating on the shell - leaving way for bacteria to enter the egg) and they are NOT dipped in lye.

The Farm. The Market. The Neighborhood. Totally Local.

Our farm gates will open at 9:30 am in the morning - Thursday and we can't wait for you to come be a part of the local, organic vibe here in Scottsdale's own organically grown urban farm.

Goats, chickens, flowers, peace, beauty, beets, radishes, batavian lettuces, carrots, fresh snipped herbs, swiss chard, kale, spinach and sugar snap peas.

Does it get any better than this for an organic farm in the neighborhood?  I don't think so.

Keep in mind that our new thing is - that when we sell out - we'll just put a "we sold out" sign out in the farm driveway.  Last week - we did four harvests and sold out by noon.

Vintage and Market Store

The Simple Farm's First Vintage Barn SALE and Market!

The date is nearing for our farm's first Vintage Barn Sale and Market.  Thursday, March 31 - Saturday, April 2nd our farm will be hustling and bustling with a ton of vintage, creativity, artsy-ness, hens cackling, goats maa-ing and more.

This fabulous farm event will include over thirty artisan vendors who be offering for sale some of the most amazing pieces of refinished furniture, clothes, home decor items, shabby chic pieces, handmade gifts and antiques.

We'll also have our farmers' market on Saturday where our market store will have baskets full of our organic veggies and our organic farm house eggs.

Besides our fresh snipped herbs, we're including some new farm house speciality items as well that we know you'll love - our yummy farmhouse honey lavender butter, our special herb butter, Jill's organic peach jam and Jill's cinnamon rolls.

Hope to see you this Thursday, Friday or Saturday!

Unadulterated Loveliness . . .

. . . from our market store on Tuesday. Come see us this next Tuesday!

Our Market Is OPEN Tuesday!

It's going to be a lovely day tomorrow 

at our farm on Cactus Rd. 

Simply lovely with lots of tender pickings. 

Eggs too!

See you at 9:30 until 6 ish.

We're Closing Our Farmer's Store for JUST this Tuesday - Feb 1st!

We're closing the farm and the store for just this Tuesday - the 1st - so that we can do a bit of spring cleaning and seeding for a new line up of gourmet vegetables!  

We apologize for any inconveniences and hope you'll stop by next Tuesday the 8th at 9:30 am sharp!

YUP....Tomorrow is Tuesday and . . .

. . . our farm store will be totally open! 9:30 am until 6 pm and we can hardly wait!

We'll have more spinach, chard, kale, some baby beets, mustard greens, gourmet lettuces and lots of fresh herbs.

See you Tuesday at the market at the farm....

Tuesdays Farm Store . . .

. . . kept us quite busy.  We estimated at least fifty people stopped by our farm this past Tuesday.  It seemed as if it was the day where - finally - all those people who'd driven by our signs on Cactus Rd, finally got the courage to stop, park, say 'hello' and shop.

It was quite the busy busy day and we loved it!

Most of our produce sold out quite fast and farm shoppers are realizing that it's a good thing to come early.

The Farm In The Neighborhood - The Simple Farm

We love being known as the farm in the neighborhood and we love having our farm be opened to the neighbors on Tuesdays.

Why you ask?  Not only are we meeting so many new faces, but we get to provide families with quality and fresh vegetables and herbs.

Tuesday morning early, you'll find a few farm volunteers picking what is fresh and lovely.  Others you'll find setting up our simple market display at the south side barn (near the goat yard).  Others will be hustling about making some coffee to set out for morning and afternoon market shoppers.

Besides selling YOU our produce and herbs (flowers soon - and eggs soon) we love showing you around a bit.  Everyone is curious about The Simple Farm. It's not every day there is a farm like ours in the middle of suburbia.

Hope to see you this Tuesday at our market - right here on the farm!  9080 E. Cactus Rd. in Scottsdale!

A Wonderful Day At Our Market

Yesterday at Tuesdays Market at Our Farm

On Mondays you will find us meandering scurrying through the garden spots here at our suburban farm (right smack dab in the middle of Scottsdale (AZ) suburbia) looking for what is begging to be snipped, clipped and harvested for Tuesdays market.  We've recently (the 24th of November) opened our farm and our market up to the public.  It's been wonderful to see who shows up and lingers over coffee or hot chocolate with us and takes a little farm tour full of explanations of the how, the what, the why, etc.

Eggplant, okra and basil always sold out quickly at past markets but now Father time, Mr Frost, Mother Nature or whatever you want to call it - showed up in an flurry and quickly closed off the season of such good things.  In reality, the season for such summer crops was ending.

When we harvest early Tuesday morning for the market, we're always delighted at how much we are able to harvest  given that we're just beginning to see little signs of our fall and winter crops popping up.

Yesterday we harvested all the spinach we could, along with bags of our gourmet lettuces and golden and rainbow Swiss Chard.  Purple kale showed up on our market table in little bundles. Other gourmet kale will be available soon too.  Here's one of my favorite recipes for chard and here's one for kale.

Our farm has become a random, whimsical popperie of garden areas - with each area having a name: Strawberry Hill, The Secret Garden, The Salad Garden, The Gourmet Garden, The Tomato Garden, The Wall Garden, The French Garden, Lacey's Garden, etc.

So, yesterday as I walked past The Salad Garden, the endive caught my attention. Endive is a first at our Tuesday Market.

We also had a basket of our heirloom sugar pie pumpkins - perfect for making a few pies for the holidays.

Micro greens are also back and should still be available at next Tuesday's market.

We're starting a new thing here at the farm. It's a "fresh snipped herb" idea.

You tell us what herbs you want and together we'll head out to the garden spot where that herb is growing and snip it with you and then you head back to the market to bag and weigh your herbs.  One person said, "that's magical."

Hope to see you at next Tuesdays market here at The Simple Farm!