Frost!!!! Festival Set-up!

We woke up this morning and went to start some coffee. We then looked out the window and "Oh my god!"  We got a HARD frost. When we went out to get in the car, I opened the door and you could see the "ice" crack. It was crazy.  

We got over that ..... and the day began! I managed to get most of the decorating done at the stand and for the festival. We organized some more stuff in the field. 

We also took the time to take a HAYRIDE. The same hayride we will be giving on Sunday and Monday. We were trying to time it to see how long it was. We also wanted to take a few pictures to give you a sneak peak as to what the view is going to be! It is beautiful. So I hope these picture entice you to come ride!

Oh yeah, I couldn't resist a few pictures of the kids on the hayride! Eric refused to get off and got mad when we took the hay bale that grandpa was sitting on off the wagon. He kept saying "Hayride" over and over again! Julianna just kept screeching at her brother! We have nicknamed her the "Screech owl." She is cute!

Tomorrow....We have to get ready for market. Which means a trip to Cornell Orchards. We will be picking up fruit for Saturday's market and also for the festival. So we will be taking the trailer! That is a WHOLE LOT of fruit! 

This weekend is supposed to be beautiful! Make sure you come to the 1st Annual Cross Creek Fall Festival. We have bigger and better plans for next year. We just need to make sure that we will have the turn out we need! 

Sneak Peak

This week is going to be crazy!!!!!!!

Yesterday we had breakfast, the same breakfast we will be serving to you for the Cross Creek Farm Fall Festival Farmer's breakfast. It was amazingly delicious. Dad has made it for Eric and Mom before but I have never had it. So naturally, I had to try it before we started selling it! (Good excuse for someone to make me breakfast huh....hehehe)

After that we walked through where we were going to be putting everything. The activities, vendors, parking, hayride, seating, food and more. We are not sure yet who all is coming for vendors yet, but we do know for a fact that we will have Full Quiver Farm (who we will be getting our biscuits from) and Aleatory Alpacas. They will both be there Sunday. We have a few more interested just waiting to confirm. Lots of variety equals lots of fun for you!

We of course made our EXTREMELY large shopping list. And our EXTREMELY long "to do list." We all took a look at that and I think you could have heard a pin drop! None of us knew what to say so we just laughed and someone said "who's idea was this to do this in 3 weeks!"

So after all that, I came home and finished canning my Blueberry Butter and started another batch. Then I went to base paint the signs. We have a lot of directional signs and stuff to paint. Eric was moving some wood and stuff that we had to get out of the way of parking and hayrides.

Today we are planning on moving the tents a little and starting to decorate! The best part! We are going shopping later today to get 90% of the stuff for the festival. I told Eric we are going to have to take the trailer!

Thomas the train, Elmo, Hello Kitty
Dora, and 'Mater

Instead of just doing breakfast, we decided to do hamburgers and hotdogs throughout the day as well. We will have Coffee, hot apple cider, water, juice boxes, and soda.

Last night after the kids went to sleep, Eric was stripping Stevia and I finished some of the painted pumpkins that I did. Just for a small preview I made sure I took a picture so that I could show you. Elmo, Hello Kitty and Dora came out pretty good. I didn't finish Thomas the train because the base paint was still wet. And I tried my hand at 'Mater, and well, I will just let you be the judge. He looks a little messed up.

Eric Stripping Stevia.

As things progress, I will be taking sneak peak pictures to show some things that we will have here! Right now I am off to do chores and set up the stand for this morning.

CHICKEN

We are going to be bringing a new batch of chickens to market this weekend. There are only 60 available. Make sure you get your order in. Our next batch after this will not be until November!

We are accepting preorders, but they must be in by 8 pm tomorrow! If orders are not picked up by noon then they go back up for sale!

In other words, get to market early!!!!

Thank you!!!

So as I have been writing this blog for however long now. There have been times where I wondered, "Is anyone reading this? Should I continue to do this?"

I got my answers this week! Thank you so much to all of you who read my blog and love it! I am glad that you guys enjoy the stories, pictures, announcements and sometimes silly off the wall posts. It is nice to know that you all are truly interested on life on the farm.

Thank you!

Apple Butter

Every year we get apples to sell at market. We generally sell most of them but every now and then we get some that we don't sell. I then try to figure out some way to use them. Normally it is by making apple pie, applesauce and apple cake.

This year I was trying to think of some way to turn it back into another product that we could have to offer. So began my online search. I found this great recipe for Apple butter in a crock pot! I was so excited.

As a kid I remember going to my grandma's house and the fresh biscuits and bread would be there and the always delicious apple butter. I could not eat just 1 piece of bread with apple butter on it. I could have eaten the apple butter with a spoon. Sometimes I did of course when she wasn't looking. She may have known though and just ignored it. I am not sure. Either way it was delicious.

Why did I not think of this before?

So tonight Eric and I peeled, cored, and chopped a whole bunch of apples and put them in the crock pot. We added sugar, ground cloves, ground cinnamon and a touch of salt. They are now sitting in the crock pot cooking.

The aroma in the air is almost too much to handle. It smells like fall!

What are some of your favorite things about fall? Some of your favorite recipes and traditions?

Farmer's Breakfast?

What is a farmer's breakfast?

After posting about our fall festival, I have had some questions as to what a farmer's breakfast is. If you Google it, you will come up with all these recipes for farmer's breakfast. Different people do different things.

What it means to us is..............a breakfast made with all local farm products. This includes the eggs, sausage, peppers, onions, biscuits and whatever else we decide to include! I am in the process of still talking to some farms to find out who we are going to get what from, but when I figure it all out I will update on that.

Many of the people we do market with have the stuff that we need. So most of you will know the people/businesses we get the product from. We also hope to have some stuff from the different farmers for sale at the festival as well.

So I guess what I mean to say is...........if you want to know....come to the festival to find out!!!!!!!! : ) See you there! October 9th and 10th from 9 am to 11 am for the breakfast but the festival goes to 4 pm. Be there!

1st Annual Cross Creek Farm Fall Festival

So this morning we were having breakfast and talking business. Which is what usually happens on Sundays. We had talked about doing some sort of fall sale/event. As we kept talking things progressed into...maybe we should do some games, free candy for the kids.....farmer's breakfast! We all thought it was a great idea. Then dad says, "Well what do we call it?"

And so began the idea of the CROSS CREEK FARM FALL FESTIVAL!!!!

This is not my photo but I thought it was a gorgeous picture!

October 9th and 10th from 9am-4pm. 
It will begin with a farmer's breakfast from 9am-11am $5.00 for adults and $3.00 for kids 10 and under. It will continue with games and activities for the kids. There will be pumpkins, squashes, apples, dried herbs, baked goods and much more for sale.


Please mark your calenders and come join us! Lots of fun for all, not to mention a beautiful fall drive!