Welcome to Flying S Farms

2012 CSA's Open

2012-01-13T09:35:00.004-07:00

For our 6 wonderful followers and others that lurk, it is CSA time again. It appears I am totally behind on blogging on this site, oops! Hopefully 2012 well bring more blogs and exciting news from our farm.

We are so excited about this 2012 CSA Season. We have been able to acquire additional ground to farm and we be able to offer more CSA Shares along with a larger selection of produce. We have also obtained farm implements that will make our farming alot easier and less stressful.

Ben has been busy repairing and maintaining our farm equipment and I've been busy looking through seed catalogs; what a job!

For the month of January we are offering a CSA Membership Special, pay half during the month of January and the balance by April 4th. Great way to ensure your Share for the 2012 Season. For the 2012 Season we will have Full Shares, Half Shares and Bi-Weekly Half Shares available every week. Our seasn begins the first week in June and continues through the end of September. Additional 4 week "Fall Option" is available for the month of October.

Full Share....17 Week = $544.00.....21 Week = $644.00
Half Share...17 Week = $323.00.... 21 Week = $383.00
Bi-Weekly.... 9 Week = $243.00.... 11 Week = $283.00

Email, call or visit our website to obtain an Application.

Tell us if you read about this Special on our Blog. Let us be your Farmer this year.

Ahhh Spring!!

2011-04-06T07:05:00.006-06:00

Peas popping, flowers blooming, red buds budding, we have Spring Fever!

We are busy getting seeds started in the greenhouse and preparing the fields, love this time of the year. We will have some of our tried and true vegetables available along with several new items this season. We will have a list posted here and on our website soon.

Still time to purchase our 2011 CSA Shares. Our CSA Season is for 18 weeks, we are offering 3 sizes of shares, Full - Half - BiWeekly. Full Shares are 1/2 Bushel of assorted produce that are being harvested each week, Half Shares are 1/4 bushel available weekly and our BiWeekly is a Half Share availabe every other week. When available we will include some of our Value Added products such as Sour Dough Bread, Sweet Bread and Bars. We are excited to announce we have Co-op with Egg and Meat Vendors to have those products available for purchase.

Shares Prices are: Full $576, that is $32 a week for 1/2 bushel of various produce. Half, $341, $19 a week and BiWeekly $243, $27 every other week. Fresh Farm Produce every week, what could be better?

Drop off locations are currently on Wednesday at East Nashville Farmers Market 3:30-6p, Thursday on our Farm 4:30-6p and at Stones River Locally Grown in Murfreesboro 5:00-6p, Friday at Rutherford Co. Farmers Market 6-12noon and Saturday at Franklin Farmers Market 8-1p.

Applications available through our website, see link in right column or by emailing us. We are always open to suggestion on produce, drop off locations or how we can make your CSA experience better with us.

Look forward to being your farmer!

We've Started Planting YEAH!

2011-02-17T16:31:00.002-07:00

We have the "Planting Fever" with the beautiful weather the past few days. Reminding ourselves that it is February and winter is not over. For us the only thing that can be planted right now is English Peas, they like cold feet and can withstand light frost, plus that it takes about 3 weeks before we'll see them sprout here. Ben tilled up a couple rows to start with and we planted 160 feet Tuesday and another 160 feet today of what will be delicious Sugar Snap Peas. The ground tilled up beautifully, fluffy and the smell was of rich loam! The soil was like silk in my hands. Oh, how I've missed the dirt under my nails! In a couple more weeks we'll plant a couple more rows and begin seeding trays in our greenhouse.

Remember to sign up early for our 2011 CSA Subscriptions. During the month of February only we are offering a Membership Special. Deposit HALF of your share fee and pay the balance by April 4th. This is a great way to ensure you will have a share with us this season before they sell out. Email us for an application or it can also be found at our website, link is in the right side column.

Ben and I took a day trip to the Farm Equipment Show yesterday in Louisville, Kentucky. We had the opportunity to visit with the dealers of Mechanical Transplanter and saw the Jang Planters that will be great for our small seed corps. It is most definately on this years wish list. We were like kids in a candy store! We walk through every building and throughly enjoyed ourselves.

Be sure to visit our blog again and share us with your friends.

Think warm!

2011 CSA Subscriptions Available

2011-01-19T16:42:00.004-07:00

While there is snow outside and we can't do much in the fields, we are busy taking inventory of seeds and reading through seed catalogs. The 2011 Farm Season will soon be here and we are excited about this years upcoming plans.

2011 CSA Subscriptions are now available. We will have a 18 week season this year. Beginning first week in June and ending October 1st. Full, Half and Bi-Weekly are available. Full Shares are $576, average $32 a week, Half Shares are $342, averages $19 a week, Bi-Weekly Shares are $243, averages $27 every other week.

Here is a picture of one of our Full CSA Shares from last season.

Our produce list can be found on our website. We will attempt to put some listings in future blog postings.

You can still find us selling Soups and Breads at the Franklin Farmers Market every Saturdays from 9-11am and online with the Stones River Locally Grown Market, links are to the right.

Thanks for visiting blog, check back often to see what we have updated.

2011 Resolutions is to be better about blogging! I know we did that last year, hopefully this year will be better!

Flying S Farms getting ready for Markets

2010-05-11T18:53:00.002-06:00

Our greenhouse is full and we waiting for some warmer weather to start getting things in the field. The highs and lows of Spring has really been different this season.

We have several different varieties of produce this season, especially tomatoes. Here is a partial list: Sheboygan, Cherokee Purple, Russian Purple, Woodle Orange, TC Jones, Cream Sausage, Principe Borghese, Grace Lahman, Ozark Pink, Pike County Yellow, Italian Noire, Hungarian Italian Paste, Roma, Rutger, Bradley, Reisentraube, Fox Cherry, Arkansas Traveler, Abe Lincoln, White Currant, Limmony, Juliet, Giant Beligium, Red Pear, Morning Sun, Yellow Pear, Black Cherry, White Beauty, Jetsetter, Early Wonder, Pink Brandywine, Sungold, Red Alert, Sugary, Golden Sunray and Yellow Brandywine. Many of you remember last year we said we would not grow as many tomatoes, well we just couldn't help ourselves! Some of our plants have come from a special friend that had several different varieties that she thought our customers would enjoy.

Cabbage, broccoli, beets, onions, garlic, potatoes and several different summer squash are already planted and waiting for some warmer days.

We you will be able to find us this season at the Rutherford Co. Farmers Market on Tuesdays and Fridays starting May 14, 6 to 11am, East Nashville Farmers Market on Wednesdays starting May 12, 3:30 to 6:30pm and Franklin Farmers Market every Saturdays year round, Summer Market hours are 8:00am to 1:00pm. You can also find some of our products online through Stones River Locally Grown, the link to that market is on the right of this page.

We look forward to seeing everyone at the Markets, be sure to stop by and say hello.

Get your CSA right HERE!

2010-02-21T10:08:00.007-07:00

Hello to our readers. Hope everyone is finding some type of enjoyment with our Tennessee Winter. Ben and I have enjoyed the past few days without the snow, rain or wind. He has been able to clear the ice and water off the flat portion of our roof and made some temporary repairs in hopes that the patching will last till we have a full week of sunny weather and temperatures in the 60's...that's right, that is called Spring! Just saying the word Spring energizes me into planting something.

We have been reviewing seed catalogs, dog-earing pages, circling items that we want, putting check marks by the 'maybe get' items and we've done inventory on seeds we have in stock. I feel a fever coming on and the cure for me is getting my hands dirty!

We have been enjoying marketing at the Franklin Farmers Market this winter and are excited to be part of their year round market. Good selection of Farmers and Artisians participate in their Market and it is a fun place to be on Saturday mornings. See their website listed here on our blog and sign up for their Market News.

We are excited about this years "Farm Shares" aka Community Supported Agriculture (CSA). Farm Shares or CSA is where you pre-purchase your produce from a farmer (thats us, we hope) for the growing season. In the past Full and Half Shares have been delivered weekly but we have received requests and suggestions for 'Individual or Small Family' baskets. We are thrilled to announce a new option from Flying S Farms....drum roll please...Half Shares Delivered Every-Other Week.

We are offering a 17 week CSA Season, starting 1st week in June and ends last week in September. During the month of July we evaluate how the farm is doing and may be able to offer an extended season to the end of October or even into November. We eventually want to install Hoop Houses on our farm where we can offer produce year round.

The cost of our Shares for 2010: Full Shares $510.oo, Half Shares $290.oo and Bi-Weekley Half Shares $200.oo.

Application Formsare available on our Website or by emailing us. We will also have applications with us at the Farmers Market. Delivery sites at the Franklin Farmers Market on Saturdays, Rutherford Farmers Market on Fridays, East Nashville Farmers Market on Wednesdays and on our Farm by appointment and other delivery options are available by request.

We have a limited number of CSA Shares available, apply soon.

Think Spring! Think..... "Farm Fresh from Flying S Farms"

Catherine and Ben Simmons

watch for next blog....Who's Your Farmer?

2010 CSA Subscriptions Available

2010-01-18T08:51:00.007-07:00

Hello everyone, thank you for visiting our Blog. New Year Resolution is to be more diligent with our postings of Farm news and keeping you informed on What's Pickin' on the Farm.

We hope you have had a good start to 2010. At Flying S Farms we are busy at the Franklin Winter Farmers Market behind The Factory in Franklin selling Soups, Breads and More. Come see us on Saturdays from 9am to Noon, we plan to be there every Saturday till the end of April. We are considering selling at the Franklin Summer Farmers Market, we'll keep you informed of our Saturday location at a later date.

Our 2010 Community Supported Agriculture Subscriptions (CSA)are now available. We are happy to announce our 2010 CSA's are the same great price as last year, with more shares available and with plenty of produce. Here are some pictures from last years shares to give you an idea of what to expect.

Full Shares are equal to a Half Bushel Basket and will typically feed a family of 4 depending on eating habits, we also offer Half Shares, half the amount of a Full Share. All Share are delivered weekly. We have been told we are too generous to our Shareholders and that is the way we want it. When the 'Pickins' are good, our Shareholders benefit.

Our plans are to have heirloom tomatoes and squash again this season and excited about offering some new things. If you have any request of a certain variety, please let us know. We love to grow things, especially something new!

All Sorts of Tomatoes!

2009-08-10T07:56:00.005-06:00

Tomatoes everywhere this past week! With the drier weather, tomatoes are looking better, bigger and turning ripe. Along with tomatoes the two varieties of Okra we grow are really producing; if you haven't tried the Star of David okra yet, you are missing out on a delicious experience. S.O.D. is a short fat okra, has a thicker wall than the traditional type you see at the Markets, when sliced it gives you a nice medallion when fried with a good okra flavor.

We harvested Sugar Baby Watermelons this past weekend, filled the back of the truck and will sort sizes today to take to the Markets this coming week.

Hard to believe that Schools are starting and summer is almost over, but we will still have several varieties of produce available, the new squash plants are getting ready to bloom, the Parker Half Runner Beans and Ideal Market Stringless Beans almost ready to started picking, limas beans are filling in their pods and pumpkins are turning orange! Field Peas have shoots on them and it will not be long before we have a good mess of peas....peas and cornbread..yumyum. Silver Queen Corn is about a week from harvest! We will have different types of greens later in season toward fall.

When you see us at the Markets, please let us know you read our Blog :)

Lucky Year!

2009-07-23T06:38:00.002-06:00

It has been a great farming year, with over 8 inches of rain in the past couple weeks our farm is "growing wild". This much rain can and has damaged some crops but in contrast of being dry as in years past, we'll take the rain.

Visitors to our farm have asked "why the horseshoes on the posts?" Approximately 50 to 100 years ago our farm was part of a larger farm that used mules and horses to work the farm. As they worked the animals would loose shoes from time to time and now 50 to 100 years later we are finding the horseshoes as we work the farm with a 'John Deere Tractor'. Each Spring as we work the field we turn up horseshoes and began collecting them. We display them on post for that growing season. Last year we only found one shoe but this year we've found 7-1/2 shoes. Folklore tells you to turn them upward so our luck doesn't run out! At the end of the growing season they are put with all the others we've collected over the years.

We have been very busy since our last blog. The farm is almost at peak production. Tomatoes are ripening and Silver Queen Corn is about 2 weeks away from harvest. We've seeded more squash, cucumbers, field peas and corn for September and October harvest.

If you'd like to see more pictures of our farm and markets we attend, we are on Facebook.

We've also started a Sizzling Summer and Fall Harvest CSA, runs from July to end of October, more information for it is on our website.

Until next blog, remember to support your local farmers and farmers markets. Buy Fresh, Locally Grown Produce, there is nothing better!

Sizzling Fourth

2009-07-06T06:26:00.006-06:00

We had a very busy week leading up to the Fourth of July. Veggie do not take holidays or vacations and we had 'a plenty' to harvest! As you can see in the Fridays' Rutherford County Farmers' Market picture, we had a full table! It was an awesome market, never seen that many folks at the Market before, had several new customers to the market.

Past Tuesday the Tennesse Department of Agriculture did a 'Photo-op' of our Domestic Kitchen and will feature us in their Annual Report about The Domestic Kitchen Rule. Last Thursday we also had our annual inspection and received a 97! Hopefully all the outside distraction are over and we can focus on pickin' and a bakin'.

Should be seeing tomatoes soon on our tables, corn will probably be ready end of July. Planted another acre over the weekend for a September harvest. Okra is beginning to bloom and is not too far away from getting on the table.

Next blog we'll tell you about some of our summer squash varieties and how to prepare them.

If there are any products you are interested in getting and can't make it to the Markets, please email us and place an order, we'll be happy to deliver them or meet you somewhere. There is no reason not to enjoy Locally Grown Farm Fresh Produce and Baked Goods, we can make it happen for you.

Busy at the Markets and Farm

2009-06-27T20:18:00.004-06:00

Here we are at the Cannon County Farmers' Market today, June 27. We are selling at 4 Farmers Markets a week along with the Internet Market and keeping up with "the pickin's". All the Markets are going well.

It is still early in the season for tomatoes and corn but rest assured they will be here soon. We picked a handfull of White Currants and Fox Cherrys few days ago and they were so good. Ben sliced a couple Fox Cherrys and made himself a tomato sandwich, you know your craving tomatoes when you start slicing a cherry tomato!

With the pop up rain showers we've had the garden is growing fast and so are the weeds. We've been busy trying to stay ahead of the weed and grass growth and still manage the picking. As you can see in the picture squash has arrived in abundance, from left to right: Lungo Bianco (White Zucchini), Tatume (Catherines favorite), Flying Saucer (Scallop), Yellow Straightneck, Black Zucchini and on the end Golden Zucchini. The Tatume is a zucchini and popular in Texas and extremely tasty, dice with onions, sautee until tender, add fresh corn or frozen and Anaheim Green Chili's and simmer for 10-15 minutes, top with diced tomatoes and cheese, makes a delicious side dish.

Hope to see you at the Markets. Remember pre-orders are welcomed for produce and baked goods.

A 3 Market Week

2009-06-13T17:44:00.003-06:00

Well we made it through the week. We had the East Nashville Market on Wednesday and on Friday we had the Opening of the Rutherford County Farmers' Market and today the Opening of our Cannon County Farmers' Market. With the pickin' and a bakin' and a loadin', there wasn't much time for a restin'. After arriving home from market today, we took a very much needed nap.

The Markets were all good this week. We must confess, we've been very apprehensive about the new location of the Rutherford Co. Farmers Market and Friday's opening day really surprised us. Very pleased with the turnout of customers and vendors, several new vendors with a nice array of products. Enjoyed meeting several new people and seeing past customers. Today, we opened the Cannon Co. Farmers Market and had a very good morning, met new people and caught up with previous customers and Ben really enjoyed watching the Rolling Thunder Club ride up to the Square for a Veterans Memorial Program. We was trying to barter produce for a Harley, not a ride, the bike!

This coming week we will be in full swing with all the Markets! Tuesday in Murfreesboro, Wednesday in East Nashville, Friday in Murfreesboro again and complete the week with our Market here in Woodbury.

The rain this past week has sure powered up the garden, all the varieties of summer squash are coming off in an abundance and bush beans are almost ready to start havesting. Fresh garlic will be ready in about 3 weeks, we've been cutting off the scapes and making pesto and stir-fry, we will still have some available at the market this next week. We'll have radishes, kale, cucumbers, onion, and an array of summer squash at the markets along with baked goods.

We accept pre-orders on all our produce and specialty baked items. We know there are people who can't get to the Markets early and this way you will be sure to get an item before it sells out be pre-ordering.

Look forward seeing you at the Markets.

Farmers' Market Season is Open

2009-06-06T18:47:00.001-06:00

Welcome to Flying S Farms Blog site. We have been busy getting ready for our Market Season. The early Spring rains set us back a little but things are beginning to grow and we've begun harvesting Summer Squash and several cool season vegetables. You can find a complete listing of what we are growing this season on our website under 'Produce', http://www.bakingfarmer.com/ We are offering CSA's (Community Support Agriculture) this season, information is also available on our website. This is a great way to participate in our Farm and receive a wide variety of produce and some delicious Baked items each week.

We will blog here what will be available for the week and as in the past, pre-order are welcomed by calling or emailing us.

We have already started selling our delicious Baked Goods and few veggies at the East Nashville Farmers' Market located at 210 S 10th Avenue on Wednesday from 3:30pm to 6:30pm. If you get a chance, come see us. Find more information about the market on their website http://www.eastnashvillemarket.com/.

On Friday, June 12th, the Rutherford County Farmers' Market will open. It will be at the new location off of John Rice Boulevard, back behind the Rutherford Co. Extension Offices. Market hours are Tuesday and Friday 6am to 11am. Be sure to come early for the best "pickin's".

The following day, June 13th will be opening day for the Cannon County Farmers' Market. Located on the Square around the Courthouse in Woodbury. Hours are Saturdays, 6am to 10am or until produce runs out. We are excited about our local market this season, with the help of an advertising grant you can find out "What's Pickin at the Market" at http://www.cannonfarmersmarket.blogspot.com/ this is made available through our internet newspaper http://www.cannonwire.com/. The local radio station, WBRY, will also be making available a website for the Cannon County Farmers' Market and we'll post that information as it comes available.

You can also find Flying S Farms on the internet at http://www.stonesriverlocallygrown.net/ This is our second season selling with this group. It is a virtual market where you can choose from a list of items available from several vendors including us, place your order and pickup at one of the pickup sites available. Christiana, Murfreesboro and Nashville are some of the pickup sites. This is new to our area and it is a growing thing across the nation; when you can't make it to a Farmers' Market, you can now by way of the internet.

As you can tell, we are going to be busy this season and really looking forward to providing you with a wide variety of Farm Fresh and Locally Grown Produce and Specialty Baking that will make your mouth water for more!

Look forward seeing everyone this Market Season.

Catherine and Ben Simmons