Fall is here, but it's still a little hot. We are craving those rainy cool days, with the smell of the leaves in the air, and a crispness in the wind. Soon.
What has been happening around the farm? A lot! We are gearing up for fall plantings and have started even more live cuttings in the new 80 foot hoop green house. We installed that in July and are excited to put it to work. We are scheduling custom installations and have a few booked with room for some more. Excited for new growers.
Dave is speaking at the Savannah Institutes Fall Perennial Conference in Madison Wisconin October 6-9th. He will be discussing how beneficial elderberry is as a sustainable crop, plus a profitable and emerging crop that is a hot commodity and how amazing it is as plant medicine! Then we roll right into our local fall festival in Mount Vernon - Apple Butter Makin Days. Then the last weekend of October we are hosting the SW Missouri Elderberry Growers conference to share improvements in the industry, new developments and round table discussions. An exciting month.
Products! We have been going through the immune syrup and raw honey. Back to school has been back to germs and our products are flying. We are so appreciative of the response we have had to our new soda line, NOBLEBERRY. We are humbled by the positive comments and we sold our first total run in less than a month, so we doubled what we produced on our second run. Our biggest surprise with Nobleberry has been how much kids love it. Because there is no sugar or additives in it. 7 ingredients and CLEAN! Plus a can of Nobleberry also is a daily dose of Immune support.
What are we excited about? Sunflowers and organic soybeans! We planted 35 acres of sunflowers for the first time ever and Dave is so proud of them. To be honest they are stunning. They should be harvested in the next 3 weeks, and right now they are at their peak of beauty, so seeing all those happy faces blowing in the wind in the river bottom is good for the soul. We are thrilled that the organic soybeans look as good as they do. We didn't get them in the ground until July 15, because we were so wet, then we were so dry, and then we got blessed with 2 big rains and they look gorgeous. Biggest challenge with this crop is weed control. Dave and Travis have been cultivating between rows for weeks, and it has paid off. The johnson grass is in there - but the beans look great. Now if we don't get an early frost - this will be great for the farm income. Stay tuned on that.
Have an amazing October. Drop us a message if you have a question or something about the farm that you are intrigued to know.
Sincerely,
Dave and Ann