By Laura Seleski My grandmother recently told me this story of her childhood during the Chicago winters during the mid-20th century. She expressed it as a sad time; fruits and vegetables were scarce and expensive. When Christmas came around she was excited to receive an orange in her stocking for a bite of sweet...
Selecting Seedlings
By Liz Lyon With the arrival of May, peak planting season is almost upon us in Southeastern Wisconsin. Here at Gwenyn Hill Farm, we are proud to grow Certified Organic seedlings that are pollinator-friendly, organically raised, and selected for flavor and productivity. Our annual seedling sale gives us a chance to offer Certified Organic seedlings...
Saturdays at the Brookfield Farmers Market
By Liz Lyon It’s six o’clock on a Saturday morning as the Gwenyn Hill Farm van makes its way into the Brookfield Central High School parking lot. Over the next hour and a half, the lot will fill up with vendor stands and, later on, with folks of all ages on the lookout for what’s...
Artisan Grain Collaborative
by Alyssa Hartman | The Artisan Grain Collaborative (AGC) is a value chain network of farmers, processors, end-users and advocates working to diversify the landscape in the Upper Midwest. They build connections between the people who grow and use grains and strengthen the narrative and value chain for staple crops as an essential component of...
How I Would Use This Week’s Share, Part II
by Laurel Blomquist, Head Gardener | Fall is officially in full swing, and the sheer variety of vegetables may have some of you scratching your heads. This post was so popular during the summer that I thought I would do it again for fall. The first thing I would do is check to see which vegetables...
The Culinary Connection
by Laurel Blomquist, Head Gardener | A lot of people ask me how I got into farming. It’s not exactly a glamorous profession. I was certainly not encouraged to pursue it by my grandparents, who operated a farm while I was growing up. In 2009, I was in my second year of culinary school at Madison...
How I Would Use This Week’s Share
by Farmer Laurel | At the start of the CSA season, we gave each of our members a Gwenyn Hill tote bag to pack their shares in. Members quickly came to realize that this bag is simply not big enough to pack all of the goodies that we offer each week. We have supplemental bags to...
Tryouts… Criteria for a Lonely Vegetable
By Sarah Mayer | Benji digs. I pull and select, with yeas and nays from the peanut gallery. Jaci designs a big, beautiful bunch. And we repeat. Now, what is it that gives the single carrot the right of passage to the almighty bunch? We all seem to agree that a carrot should be, for the...
Survival Skills
By Linda Halley | Life is busy and complicated for most of us, so being a creature of habit is a survival skill. Whipping up one of those stand-by meals that’s easy, with predictable outcomes, is a perfect fallback for busy summer days. If that’s your habit, you are not alone. The typical family relies...
First Farmers Market
By Laurel Blomquist | On Saturday, June 23rd, Gwenyn Hill Farm made our debut at the Brookfield Farmers Market. We couldn’t have asked for better weather. The day started out cool and breezy, in the low 60s. As the morning went on, it topped off in the mid-70s. This was perfect for casual strolls through...
Inaugural CSA Pickup
By Laurel Blomquist | Last week was the first week we gave vegetables to our CSA members. Everyone on the team was excited to finally be doing what we had set out to do way back in February. CSA Members were excited too. Their faces were all smiles as they entered the Packing Shed and...