Nostalgia Farms News-Blog

July 4, 2009- Just a quick note to let everyone know, Sunday July5, and Sunday July12,we'll be hosting our 3rd Annual Daylilly walk. I'll be moving a lot of daylillies so great selection all for $5. We'll be there from 12:00 till 5:00 Hope to see you! Thanks for keeping me on track Linda.

March 12, 2009 - Yes we have been bad boys and not shared with you as of late. We had gotten so busy with Christmas and our new Freight House Farmers Market that is now year-round at 421 West River Drive, Davenport, Iowa. We are working hard to get all the plants going for this up coming season. Joe has been filling all of our growing tables and small heated greenhouses with these wonderful baby plants. I have been busy weeding, yes weeding in the hightunnels. I have also been harvesting lettuces and spinaches for weeks now. It was hard to grow this winter due to very cold tempertures. But now that the are breaking thought those cold days it is really starting to pop. Also, we have baby lambs. so far two boys and one girl. Unfortunately, the little girl was having trouble nursing and so Joe gave me the okay to bring her home to bottle feed her. The milk is being donated by our wonder freind Gloria Jones of Midwest Meadows. Bless Her heart. I do not know why I take these things on like bottle feeding, it is really time consuming and like Joe says I would have a zoo if he allowed it. I will get pictures on as soon as I can. I also got the whole birth on tape for educational programs later this season. I have to go and pick lettuce and spinach today for market this weekend. I have to pick it today since I have no time tomorrow. We are getting ready for our St Patricks Day Celebration at the market and I will be bringing the baby lamb with me. We are going to let the youth of the Quad Cities come up with names for her and vote on them. Yes we will name her, she is a female and will get to stick around. I can not say that for the boys. Well, the baby turkeys are starting to hatch and baby bunnies were born this past week. They will be ready to see on Easter weekend at the Freight House Farmers Market along with baby chickens that I will set the eggs next week. We really want children and adults to see how they start and where your food really comes from. In such tough times we have to make the right decisions, especially when it comes to our food. Education is going to be key and Joe and I along with our freinds at the Freight House Farmers Market feel that is why we will focus on that this year. Darcy Rotenbach has been working with me to brain storm to come up with unique and inovative ways to educate our cnsumers. Well this is some breaking news, please check out our freind Cathy LaFrenz Blog at her web site to get more information. Link is http://misseffiesdiary.blogspot.com/

October 12, 2008- another huge gap in time. Sorry, still very busty in the fields. Planting cover crops and new beds mostly of spinach for the next few weeks in the high tunnel. Every Wednesday afternoon through October the Davenports stepping stones groups have and will be coming to the farm. Everyone has been getting a tour of the farm, Ellie has been a big hit with the kids, a quick run through the maze and a trip out into the fields to pick "Baby Bear" pie pumpkins. Lots of work but lots of fun. This Sunday was a pumpkin pick day at the farm for $5 any pumpkin the kids can come out go through the maze take a trip to the pumpkin patch and pick any pumpkin, also a quick shop for fresh baked goods, Nostalgia Farms Jams and a pasture raised fresh frozen chicken makes the day complete. Good turnout today, the kids wore Shasta and baby GiGi out. And hauling everyone out to the pumpkin patch and talking wore Mr. Ed out as well. This has been the first breath Farmer Joe has had at home in some time. THANKS TO ALL

August 21, 2008- Wow what a crazy summer and its comming to a quick end. Sorry for the long delay but after our Rock Island wind storm we went for several weeks with little to no internet access, that and summer chores you know. We hit our typical August drought on lettuces and such however we should have a small picking by labor day if all goes well. Still in the throws of planting all through the end of july and August. We have had a bad year on most of our veggies, but should have a decent fall. Still waiting for the bulk of our heirloom tomatoes to start kicking, a full three to four weeks behind schedule. They look great but are still just not turning yet within the next 7-10 days I would think.

The second flush of beans look good as well and should be in full force by labor day or the next weekend for sure. Melons are taking their sweet time as well however with the addition of our honey bees there are lots of them out there. Basils and most all herbs are in full swing right now so get them while you can. We have lots of cool weather crops planted in flats ready to go in the ground in the next week or so, Cabbages, kales

colloards, as well as lots of romaine heads and fennel. Lets hope for a long fall.

July3,2008- Just a quick note, daylillies are starting to bloom so Sunday is a definate go! Also look for me to be on the Paula Sands show tuesday July 8 , I hope to be making a quick pea side dish with garlic scapes and butter and share a recipe for iced mint tea, lets hope for the best. Joe

July 1, 2008 -starting Wednesday we will be back on the riverfront, we are so thrilled to be back and lots of events planned for the next two markets. Bring the kids down on Wed. for storytelling and gardening project by the Davenport Public Library 9-11. Kick off of Wed. Noon Toons-11:30-1:00 w/Nervous Rex(Rock and Pop) Saturday live music-A Fifth of Country-9:30-12:30. Hope to see everyone. This Sunday Ed and I will be at the farm from 12:00-5:00 for our daylilly walk. The daylillies are slow to show flower this year, almost three full weeks behind schedule. I am in the process of redoing several of my flower beds so great deals to be had on dug one of a kind daylillies. We will also be at the farm next sunday to dig again, come out and visit us. The sheep are naked! Hanna, BB and the girls got their yearly harircut last week, they look so odd, Linda and I were walking the flower beds Monday and I thought there was a pig in the field, it was Peppa our black female its always such a shock. Along with ther shearing I do have three white fleeces in the raw available for sale $20. I will be bringing my spinning wheel out this Sunday and giving a demonstration for anyone interested,

as always we have Angora wool for sale to spinners as well. Finally got basils and a flush of onions planted, potatoes are looking good hope to have new potatoes in a a couple of weeks.

Still harvesting sugar ann peas, shell peas are now available as well as lettuce mixes, swiss chard and Kale. Radishes are looking nice still. Beets and Kohlrabi should be on in the next week to 10 days. Ed will be picking Black Raspberries this week, I will be using it for fresh fruit tarts this Saturday and Jams for later in the season. Should have a nice crop of summer red raspberries in another week or so. Have a SAFE and happy 4th. Joe

June 19, 2008 thanks to Mother Nature, we finally have had a dry spell. Ed and I have been scrambling to get as much planted as possible the last few days. Pumpkins, winter squash and a second flush of melons were planted on Tuesday! Wednesday Mom and Dad Kraklio took over market for us so that we could get the rest of our tomatoes in.(800 to be exact) plus a couple of hundred sweet peppers. I also planted another bed of lettuce mix, kind of iffy this late in the season but we'll hope for the best. Still have hot peppers to plant plus onions,celery and celeric plants not to mention all of our basil. EEEEk! We will be displaced again this Saturday because of the flood. The downtown freight house farmers market will be held at 4th and gains at the Davenport administrative building for the second Saturday in a row. Hope to see all of you there.

New on the bakegoods front- whoopi pies, a made from scratch buttermilk chocolate cake with a richly sweet marshmallow cream filling. 3" square for $2.50. I have been looking for muffin top pans so that I can bring the price down to $2, if anyone has seen them let me know. I will be making cream stuffed oatmeal cookies this winter still playing with my oatmeal cookie recipe for the right consistancy. Due to the rough weather and constant scrambling to catch up Jams will be coming late this year, plus Ed and I have been trying to find a local source for Jars the shipping is outrageous.

We will be selling Strawberries, Sugar Ann peas, garlic scapes, the last of the spinach, lettuce mix, radishes and the first picking of rainbow swish chard and kale this Saturday!! The first of the daylillies has started to bloom 'paper butterfly' always the first to bloom and one of my favorites! Sunday June 30 and Sunday July 6th will tentatively be our daylilly walk. All daylillies will be $5, hopefully I'll have time to do some weeding.

Sunday the 22 will be Ed Seniors 80th birthday, so the farm will be closed for a family cookout. Brother Russ will be roasting a whole hog, Sister Shirley will be doing the birthday cake baked beans and pistachio salad, I'll be filling in with my own broccoli pasta salad, coleslaw and pineapple salad. Ed Jr. will be cooking too! (bagged chips and wonder bread buns!) It should be noted that Nostalgia Farms would not be in existance in its present form if it were not for Ed and Janet Kraklios help, both financially and phisically, this is Ed and I attempt to thank them and all the rest of the Kraklio clan for their continued support. Joe.

June 10, 2008- The Scapes are coming!! For everyone that tried and loved the garlic scapes last year its time again!! The price will still be 3 for $1.00. Ed will be picking a few for this Wed, and a whole bunch for this coming Saturday. The garlic scapes are the blossom part of the garlic bulb that comes up in early summer, they are short lived because they have to be picked before they get tough, so only about a week to two week span. The good news is we will have over 2,000 available this year!! Our favorite way to preserve them is to put two or three in a food processor with a stick of butter and pulse for a few seconds, seperate the butter into 1 or 2 tablspoon divisions and freeze. Use the Scape butter throughout the coming summer and winter on fresh vegetables.

On another note thanks for all that came to the farm the past two Sundays for our Iris walk, it is always a pleasure to show and talk to our friends and customers around the farm. It is the best way to see how and where your food comes from!!

2008 is becoming a difficult year, we lost the plastic off of our greenhouse last week but not before the wind lifted the entire middle of the section out of the ground!! Ed and I are still trying to figure out how to get it put back together, the biggest problem is we cant get a tractor in the field to help, correction we can get a tractor in the field its just we may not be able to get it out again!! The ground around the greenhouse is beautiful dirt for root crops because with a little bit of moisture carrots and the like can grow straight down, however with the past few weeks and rain measured in FEET not inches its closer to quicksand than dirt.

News for the kids from Bluegrass 4-H Your sunflower house is up and growing!! Everyone did a great job, the sunflowers are about 4 inches high and the pole beans are breaking ground,

I'll have pictures posted soon.

Still trying to get everything planted, or I should say mudded in. Will have a good selection of lettuce mix and spinachas for the next couple of weeks and peas are about two week off. The field strawberries are turning red as we speak look for them this Saturday as well. I'm off to the kitchen and Eds off to the mud fields, Linda our greenhouse manager will be spending the day jumping up the last of the basil today. Everyone have a great weekend I',m thinking we may be set up on river drive since the river is coming over its banks again!!

May 24, 2008 Just a follow up to the announcement on our lead in page, the next two Sundays will be iris walk days at the Farm. Stop by and see Ed and I and we will be glad to dig a selection of iris in bloom for sale. The farm was hit with hail last weekend so we lost a lot of bloom but not all and the hostas look as if they went through the shredder but such is lifie on the farm, {Ed. Senior swears he wasn't anywhere near the hostas with the lawnmower}, I'll have to take his word for it.

May 17,2008 Another Saturday come and gone,and a beautiful day down by the river. Sales were up 100 percent from last year so thanks to all that continue to support the downtown freighthouse farmers market!!

It is always a pleasure to see old friends and customers from our decade of marketing. Tomatoe sales were a hit as the corner has finally turned as far as weather is concerned. All warm weather crops should be safe to go in at this time. Our produce offering will reflect the cool and wet conditions of the past month or two, and will be delayed. My sister Julie will be helping Ed and I on Sunday to get things in the field, it a full force race at this point, as it is always. Breads were a great hit at market as well as our newest offering of Mint Tea. I will be coming up with new teas as the season allows. Our greenhouse strawberries have been selling out in the first hour or so. As always we welcome call ahead shopping so that we can reserve produce for you on Wed or Sat. , just call Ed or myself the day before and we will hold back our available produce or bake goods for you. Hope to do a perennial dig day at the farm soon, I am thinking by the first or second Sunday in June will be good, the field Strawberries should be ready by then, and will be happy to let any pick your own!! Check back and we will also keep you posted at Market. Tuesday May 20 will be our first group tour for the Davenport 4-h, We will be planting a sunflower house and showing the kids some of our newest babie duck and geese which are hatching in the basement as I speek. Saturday May 31 will also be a group of retired proffessors will be coming out at 3p.m. to take a tour of the farms as well, I will be bringing my spinning wheel and some wool to demonstrate some of the crafting I do in my spare time. I spoke at a dinner for the group last fall at Antonellas, it was a great time and everyone was very kind to me (Thanks for the glass of wine) I'm easily plied that way, its the Irish in me! We always look forward to our farm tours and sharing or philosphy of organic growing, I will also be demonstrating a form of gardening using hay as mulch, its a low maintenance high yeild form of gardening especially for smaller gardens. Joe

May 11, 2008 First of all, Happy Mothers Day to all. Well again it was another amazing Farmers Market at Davenport Freight House Farmers Market. It is without standing that it is our consumer that makes it a joy to do the markets. It always amazes me the fortitude and compasion that our visitors bestow upon us at market as vendors. Just remember " It is all for you baby! ". We had over two thousand visitors to our market Saturday, over one hundred people took advantage of our extended hours after 12 pm. It will all take some getting use to but we will. Always remember our " Call Ahead Shopping Program " that we offer at Nostalgia Farms, call for details. We had some confusion over our start time being 8am, and that we cannot sell before the bell is rung, that does not mean that we cannot set your choices back for you to give you time to explore our other wonderful vendors. Well, we look forward to seeing you agian next week in our beautiful Downtown Davenport Location. As always, Mr. Ed

May 5, 2008 - just a quick note to direct you to the Plants Page for a reference on available plants for sale. And as a side note to Saturday IT WAS WET AND COLD!! { just an observation from the 145 pound farmer}customers were great music was fun.Will have a full selection of heirloom tomatoes and a good selection of pepper plants this saturday, and thanks to Linda Ripple our greenhouse manager they should have tags. I will not hold her responsible for the flats I did after she goes home. Happy Mothers Day Mom Pat, Connie and Janet, all three I call mom, none of them will ever read this page, so I'll still have to do the Sunday flower thing.

May 3, 2008 Well this market season started on a wet and slightly dreary mornig, but even the weather could not stop Joe or myself from keeping our spirits high. Our fellow vendors along with very loyal consumers were on hand to make it a festive day. We had an outstanding selection for this early in the season and plan on building upon it. On an up note on today was that we did not have to water our plant selections that we had with us. To mirror the fun that we were having on the Down Town Davenport River Front, my parents Janet and Ed Kraklio Sr. were also setting up shop for Nostalgia Farms over at Trinity Hospital on John Deere Rd in Moline, Il. The one thing that we had that they did not was a live band playing from 10am until noon. It had customers and vendors alike singing and dancing in the streets, ( and yes of course that does refer to me of course). Of course Joe maintained our booth with his sister Julie, while I was trying to assist Steve Ahrens and Darcy Rostenbach in trying to make this opening event one to remember. Besides thanking all of the vendors and consumers alike for their energy and support in our tremendous market efforts, a special thatnks needs to go out to Ann. Even Mayor Gluba was so energized by todays events that he shook our opening bell so hard that we now have to put the dinger ( and I do not mean me ) fixed. Not to fear, Steve Ahrens will have it fixed by Wednesday so that we can start our market on time.

May 1, 2008 Opening Season to start Saturday at the Davenport Freight House Farmers Market 8a.m.-1p.m., latest news is we will all be setting up on river drive and parking will be available at the CHC parking lot. We hope to see everyone on Saturday. Still behind in planting and soil prep for the year. Peas are in potatoes cut, lots of early greens,radishes, beet coming up 3 weeks out. Planted Swiss chard plants and Blue Knight Kale on Wednesday. Second flush of peas went in today. Bee Hives, all three are in place thanks Ruth, this is a very exciting conclusion of something Ed and I have wanted for years, however neither of us had the time to commit to the skill of beekeeping, we feel very fortunate to have the hives in place. Will have limited selection of tomatoes for sale and good selection of herbs and perennials. Spinach, limited lettuce, chives, pasley and 'Spring garlic" a must try. Will also have a selection of annual flowers, million bells, marigolds, impatients, coleus plus more.

April 18- Just updating whats going on, looking forward to the new and exciting Davenport Freight House Farmers Market opening day Sat May 3!!! Thanks to the hard work of Steve Ahrens with the Levee Commision, Ed, Darcy Rostenbach, Beth Roelans, Hal and Dawn Dykema there will be ONE farmers market at the downtown Freight House this summer and will by next year be completely run by vendor participation. This is something Ed and I have been looking forword to since we started vending over 10 years ago. You'll notice I did not include my name in that list, thats because I am best not to be involved in such political matters, Ed may be more boisterous than me however he is much more diplomatic than myself! My energies are better served starting plants or in the Kitchens.

Finally got to spend a couple of days in the field this week, first flush of sugar snap,shell and Sno peas are in the ground. Also Broccoli, cabbage and Pac choi plants, Have seeded two flushes of spring greens, spinach and radishes. First plantin of beets(Detroit and golden as well as carrots. So much more to do however it has been raining all day and plans for more on Saturday. Very excited about this coming weekend will be meeting Ruth at the farm to discuss placement of Bee Hives!! Her and her husband(name escapes me,sorry) will be placing a couple of hives this summer and should be harvesting honey this fall. We plan on selling the honey that comes from the farm for them this winter. I'll keep you posted.

Needless to say produce will be dragging this summer, however we have a nice flush of spinach just starting in the High Tunnel as well as some mixed greens. The strawberries are blooming in the High Tunnel as well so will have some available by the first or second week of May. The variety is called Fredonia and is one of the best tasting strawberries for fresh eating, Ed and I are in a continued debate as to wether or not to keep the bed in the high tunnel, the bed now takes up approx. 1/3 of the tunnel, so maybe if we have a good year I can convince him to keep them and build us another greenhouse.

This Sunday is Flee Market day at the West Kimberly Mall Ed and Janet will be there with a small selection of plants.

Next Saturday is the lawn and garden auction..

Davenport Freight House Farmers Market !! Saturday April 5 , 10:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m.

Produce available: Fresh Spinach , lettuce mix, farm fresh eggs. Plants : sweet basil, heirloom tomato

'Siberian' , lettuce, broccoli, assorted house plants.

Poultry: eggs, free range chicken, turkey and duck.

As a side note: its been a long cold winter, we deserved one for a change ( have always appreciated the forced family time of winter) and I love the way spring will burst after a long cool spring. Since the indoor Freight House market has been a pleasant surprise this year, I have made strides to start some plants earlier than in past years, but am still a mother nature inspired grower, so tender veggies will be at their peak availability in Mid-May.

Below is a list of current seedings coming as spring plant sales upon availability:

Heirloom Tomatoes 2008: Black Krim, Old Fashioned German, Amana Orange: Omars Lebonsese, Black Plum, Bulls Heart, Green Zebra, Red Zebra, Granny Smith, Brandywine and Jubilee.

Hot Peppers: Fish, Tobasco, Hungarian Hot, Ancho, Early Jalapeno(supposed to be hotter) Pequin, Kung Poa,

Sweet Peppers: Big Bertha, Purple Beauty, Red Beauty, Chocolat, Marconi and Gypsy.

Herbs: Sweet Basil, Lime Basil, Thai Basil, Dill, Rosemary,

Summer Savory, Fennel(Florence), Sage, Thyme, Lavendar,

Chives, Garlic Chives, apple mint, spearmint, and English mint.

Perenials: Red Poppy, miniture hollyhock, 'Peaches and Dreams' hollyhock, Blue Sage Salvia, Chinese Forget me nots, Siberian wallflower, shasta daisy, Gloriosa Daisy 'Cherokee Sunset', Black Eyed Susan 'Maya' and Rudabeckia.

Thats what I can recall for now, more to come! Have a great day. Joe