Arrowleaf Prairie Farm LLC

09/05/2026

This week on the farm:

-We canned tomatoes for us

-Dehydrated tomatoes for us

-Harvested the beginning of more fall crops, noticing the tension between summer holding on with tomatoes and fall moving in with kale and radishes

-Farmed in the morning while it was cool, then did school when it wasn't

-Sweat. A lot

-Skipped Wednesday evening market in Grayslake because of the heat and sheer exhaustion

-Went to Duke's Ale House in Crystal Lake for dinner and captured the moment the farm kids noticed THEIR farm is on the menu. The farm paid for dinner (board of directors meeting), which really means that the kids paid for dinner.

-Enjoyed lots of cold and raw foods this week to beat the heat, always enjoyed more with homemade ranch

-Chased pigs back into their electric fencing. They keep rooting mud onto the lines because it's been so wet. We are especially grateful we have a phyiscal fence now.

-Moved our last batch of chickens out onto grass

-Had to harvest some in the afternoons between storms, which wasn't fun, but it got done

-Left for market in Lake Bluff in the morning moonlight, noticing the shift in seasons and the slowing of growth in the garden

09/02/2026

A little bit of the farm for your Wednesday.

08/28/2026

This week:

-We started school. Yes, we homeschool. Always have, and we plan to finish through high school (currently have 2 in high school).

-Weeded and watered in the garden.

-Harvested with that pressing feeling the season is coming to an end.

-Sort of did a late season reset of the wash/pack area and assessed where we are for the rest of the season.

-Turned some unacceptable cabbage into kraut for the family.

-Savored summer crops.

-Settled in with good books.

-Moved turkeys and tended chicks in the brooder.

-Filled the hog feeder.

-Knocked down tall weeds before they seeded.

08/23/2026

I saved the seeds of this fruit a year ago from fruit I had saved the fruit from the year before that.

I planted these seeds months ago in anticipation of this fruit and these meals.

The flavor, nutrition, and experience is worth it.

It's farming for the long game, meal planning years in advance.

08/14/2026

08/08/2026

This week we:

-Had our first half-way sizeable tomato harvest

-Harvested, weeded, planted in the garden

-Hung gates to finalize some paddocks

-Moved animals

-Set up for fair

-Farm kids showed their 4-H market hogs and market lambs. You always learn the lessons you need to learn at the fair, and that happened this year too. ❤️

-I went to market with one of our extraordinary bonus farm kids and another wonderful bonus farm kid managed the farmshare pick-up. So grateful for them both.

08/05/2026

We love the work of feeding real people real food.

Small local food systems are safe because the face behind the food is the person who grew it and hands it to you. We care because it's our community and the success of the farm rides on our work and care.

It's not just lettuce right now, it's everything we grow, always.

08/03/2026

Tomatoes come when they and they wait for no man once they are here!

I'm pretty sure I posted a similar picture the first day of the county fair last year too.

Perhaps we can just count on tomatoes really coming into season at the beginning of fair (literally the most inconvenient time)?

08/01/2026

This week we:

-Harvested, weeded, planted.... on repeat, breaking mid-day and finishing as the sun set a few times in order to get seeds poked in.

-Prayed for rain we didn't get early in the week but are getting now.

-Irrigated seed beds

-Groomed show lambs for the McHenry County Fair

-Savored lemonade and playing with kittens.

-Kindly encouraged tomatoes to ripen. It didn't work.

-Went to market

-Enjoyed watching this wild turkey family in the back corner. Dad's name is Kevin, he hangs out on the farm a lot. Oaks are their favorite for roosting.

-Played "Catch the Gate," a new favorite game.

-Expressed gratitude that last weeks seedlings all germinated well thanks to the farm kid who is mainly in charge of moving water lines for irrigation.

-I don't have any pictures or videos of it, but we let the Thanksgiving turkeys completely free range for a while this week and they were so funny. They cracked us up with their antics and following us around.

07/29/2026

Last year's onion harvest was embarrassing. This year's onion harvest is compensating.

Mad props to the emotionally stable farm dad who only has paths big enough to send the 8 year old through the entire garage for tools.

Onions are drying well and ought to be free from the garage in another week or so.