Independence Day - Our Freedom

The Sopchoppy parade - I remember when there were antique cars, vintage tractors, horses, local businesses (without the screaming boombox music); now it's mostly politics, no horses, one antique car, love the old tractors!

After spending the day enjoying the Sopchoppy parade, the park, its arts and crafts, with family, just about to our driveway we met a convoy of every law enforcement vehicle going who knows where.

Drive a little slower folks, it's ok to be fashionably late.

Look twice for pedestrians and motorcycles.

Take a moment longer to make sure you turned off the stove, be careful around that gas grill.

Everybody is somebody's loved one, you may not know the person(s) that you hear about on the news that died, but someone does.

Have a safe rest of your Independence Day.

Take a moment to think about the freedom we have.

Freedom has its life in the hearts, the actions, the spirit of men and so it must be daily earned and refreshed — else like a flower cut from its life-giving roots, it will wither and die. ~Dwight D. Eisenhower

Summer is Here Folks

Just a few hours old...her's sleepy...

Welcome to summer.  Some plants and people seem to do well in this heat and others do not.  Ron and I are determined to get the job done, hot or hotter although now that the heat is here, we must do better at coming in when it gets hot and not trying to push our way through it.  We work and we work hard.   The sun was hot and high when we finished a larger pen to move chicks, ducklings and goslings in.  Butterfly nets aren't just for butterflies, they are also great for catching feathered babies.  They are happy in their new digs.    Our incubator never stops running.

Plants are looking great; along with planting for sprouts and micro-greens, we are busy planting seeds in flats for outside planting in September...yes, September is just around the corner. Outside we are still planting as well, plants that don't mind so much the heat, i.e., beans, Seminole pumpkins, etc.

Please contact us for chicks, ducklings and guinea keets.  Pre-order early as our incubator is always full.  Information and Prices:


Day Old Chicks - Large breed egg layers.  Mixed flock of Americauna, Barred Rock, Rhode Island Red, Buff Orpington, French Copper Maran, Black Giant, Sex-Link, and more.  These chicks my be purebred Rhode Island Reds, Americaunas, or Barred Rocks.  $3 each (10 or more $2.50 each)

Day Old Ducklings - White Layer Duck - This is a hybrid duck, it is created by crossing different purebred ducks with the best egg laying abilities.  These ducks are egg machines, they happily lay an egg nearly everyday.  Seven eggs per week per duck for weeks and then she'll skip a day or two.  Their molting time is short, seems to be every few months for a few days.  Heat, Cold doesn't seem to matter.  ... Hence the name Layer.  This is the second generation so I don't know if these babies will lay as consistently as the original, I'm sure they're egg laying capabilities will not disappoint.  If I had to mention a downside to this breed it would be that they may not be the best as backyard city ducks.  the hen....she talks and talks and talks...always got something to say....loudly...   $10 each (10 or more $7 each)

Day Old Guinea Keets - Mixed flock of colors!  These birds produce a large number of colors from regular speckled, to purple, tan, grey, pied; I'm always anxious to see what new color is popping out the shell!  Great bug eaters and security alarms.  $8 each (10 or more $6 each).


We thank you for your support of our Farm and our Mission.

Ron and Annette Layton
Little Eden Heirloom Farm
Crawfordville, Florida 
850/274-7690
Email:  littleedenheirloomfarm@zoho.com
Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/littleedenheirloomfarm
Facebook group:  https://www.facebook.com/groups/littleedenheirloomfarm/

Guinea Keets wondering about the new sights and sounds.

Hatchings - Guinea Keets and White Layer Duck - just a few hours after hatch!

Too Many Roosters

Anyone need a young rooster or two? We have a mix breed flock of large egg layers ranging in egg color from white to pinks, blues, browns and chocolates. Some are purebred Barred Rocks.

Two are about 3 months old - Barred Rock (crosses?) - $6 each
Five are 4 1/2 months old - Barred Rocks (crosses?), New Hampshire Red cross, Buff Orpington/Barred Rock cross - $10 each.

Total of seven available, buy one or all.

Located in Crawfordville, three miles from the Wakulla County Courthouse.

Call (850-274-7690), personal message us or email at littleedenheirloomfarm@zoho.com.

If you are interested in any tonight, they are still in the pen from their photography session I took just prior to dark, they are less stressed if moved at night but will happily catch the one(s) you want in the daylight.

FYI - We also take debit and credit cards.

Thanks!

Ron and Annette Layton
Little Eden Heirloom Farm
850/274-7690

Squash Bug Season

So how many squash bugs and leaf footed bugs did you kill today? I killed about 300 or so...mean devils plus numerous eggs. I put on thick gloves and mash the stinky (literally) critters. I spray the ground under each plant with a mixture of garlic, cayenne, castile soap and oil....they come running from their hiding places....and then I get'em. 

Yes, it's squash bug season here in the south.  We grow many different kinds of squash and some of the butternut, pumpkin, acorn, spaghetti, zucchini, yellow squash and other squash plants are not affected but some are. Building and improving our soils along with help from our resident ducks, chickens and turkeys is helping but we still share with the bugs and that is indeed no fun.  

Shhh, they haven't been hungry enough to bother the cucumbers yet....and we won't tell them where they are either!

Butternut Squash - Little Eden Heirloom Farm

Butternut Squash - Little Eden Heirloom Farm

Muggy the Mugrat - Little Eden Farm and Gardens Movie Clips

Good help is hard to find ... or is it? ... Muggy, a little "tail" of the ultimate Farmers' helper.

Forecasting a COOL June ☺☺ and Green Thumb Prospecting

This year's month of May has so far confirmed the blessings of a longer spring.  Just what we hoped and asked for.  So far we've been able to elongate our harvests a bit as the much warmer weather hasn't settled in quite yet.  Soon we'll install white shade cloth with extra hydration as we love to bring you kales, lettuces, radishes, greens, etc., for as long as we can and of course this will be of good use to help with the tomatoes, peppers, etc. 

Ron and I finished fencing in the front yard last week to keep the dogs from running and playing through the front yard gardens, knocking down plants as they go.  I promised photographs and have taken a lot to document and share, now I just need to take the time to go through them and post.  We're still having trouble with the neighbor's horses coming over and tearing up fences, gardens, etc., as the grass is always greener on the other side.  With us not having financial means to put up livestock panels, I think we're going to try putting up a pallet fence.  It'll be temporary as the wood isn't treated and I'll mount potted plants or something to spruce it up. 

We've received a request to sell our organic produce to a local restaurant.  Due to limited growing space (we'll begin our search for additional property(ies) this year - yes, we need that 50 or 500 acre farm :) ) We haven't promoted ourselves in the restaurant communities but look forward to adding this to our line of deliveries.  Soon you'll see us promoting more.  As we create this wonderful network of hobby gardeners that take pride in growing strict organic, we've picked up another local organic honey and produce farmer this week and will be getting more honey and potatoes from him soon. Yes, we grow potatoes and soon we'll have our own bees but as we network more, we're able to provide to a larger clientele, we need all that want to eat healthy, to have that opportunity.  On the other plus side, it promotes and provides a wider variety of items, if our broccoli isn't ready to harvest yet, one of our partners' a little further north of us may be....elongating the harvests to bring to you sooner for a longer period of time.  We love encouraging the stay-at-home parent, the retiree, evening gardener, etc., to get their green thumbs out and their hands dirty, and work with us to sell the remaining.  We are considering adding a subtitle to our Farm name.  We are almost but not exactly sure what the name will be yet, to develop and promote, large and small gardeners with the same mission. We want to encourage any and all that have a love of the outdoors and dirt on their hands to grow something they love and network with us.  If we can encourage this by giving them an avenue to help disperse their extra organic farm fresh to a stranger's table or restaurant kitchen, we are on our way to feeding the world a healthier, non genetically modified product and making a lot of friends along the way.

We thank you for your support of our Farm and our Mission.

Ron and Annette Layton
Little Eden Heirloom Farm
850/274-7690

Welcoming Spring with Cheeps, Chirps, Squash, Cucumbers and UNwelcomed Bugs

Spring has brought a lot of cheeps, chirps, quacks and meows around our Little Eden.

If the thousands of seeds that are now plants and those germinating soon could talk, wonder what they would sound like.  Hmmmm.

Aside from the biting bugs and we won't mention the fact that we have to share a great deal with the little monsters that try and at times succeed at eating our produce..I mean mint...good grief..  Of the seven varieties of mint we have, it's the chocolate mint....well let's just say we humans (for those humans that do, that is) are not the only ones that like chocolate. 

Cute tomatoes and little yellow squash are poking their heads outs and we welcome them back for another great year to be followed up by more beans, peas, cucumbers, zucchini, etc.  Yes, we are in full swing of spring.  We'll soon say goodbye to some of the cool weather crops although we'll extend our harvests of these with the use of shade cloths as far out as we can. 

We thank you for your support of our Farm and our Mission.

Ron and Annette Layton
Little Eden Heirloom Farm
850/274-7690