Join me as I tour an avocado farm. This video was shot in late October as we looked at young fruit on the tree. Those same avocados are being picked and packed as we publish the tour because April is when California’s avocado season gets underway offering great flavor!

Our host was a woman known in social media circles as Mimi Avocado. Mimi showed me around as her husband, son and others were busily working to care for the trees on the farm outside of San Diego, California.

Hope you enjoy learning about growing avocados from a farm family who proudly grows them. You can even order some to be delivered from this farm directly to your door via CaliforniaAvocadosDirect.com.

Young Avocado Trees

First up on the avocado farm tour for us was young avocado trees. The family plants trees regularly as they want to maintain the productivity. As we looked at a nursery field of newly planted trees, Mimi pointed out how the shiny leaves are a good sign they are healthy and getting enough water, etc. Young trees will produce blooms and try to grow fruit but for a couple of years they have growing to do before they can really contribute to yield so the farm has a routine for replacing trees that allows them to keep producing year after year.

What Avocado Flowers Look Like

Once trees get taller, more leaves and branches, the fruit (both blooms and the avocado that will ultimately be picked) grow in the sun. It’s really different from a lot of other tree nuts (including our beloved pecans) and fruit trees in that it has blooms on it for one year while fruit is also ready to be picked. That tropical nature is pretty cool. The blooms have a bright yellow to them while avocados can be a bit camouflaged in all the greens of the tree.

But dang there were lots of them!

Caring for Mature Trees

Mimi explained that pruning is a part of the regular care of trees and it serves a couple great purposes. It helps clear out any limbs that may have broken, etc that could pose safety concerns to pickers. And it also means the tree will need less water. It is so interesting that along with pruning them, sometimes they cut avocado trees down to the trunk and let them start regrowing.

I love that avocado trees are always shedding leaves and putting on new ones though I’m not sure I’d love it if I had one in my yard. It is kind of convenient to have all the leaves on my trees drop in just a couple of week period.

More on Avocados!

The new podcast episode with Mimi talking all things avocado will be coming out tomorrow so check it out in your favorite podcast app or come back and listen to it here.

Mimi has a fantastic website mimiavocado.com with lots of information about avocados — recipes for all the avocado dishes you can imagine, some glances around the ranch/farm, and based on a conversation I had she may have put this one together on how to freeze avocados — I also find chopping them up and putting them (airtight) in the fridge makes avocado toast so dang easy for days!

You can join me in ordering avocados from the farm via californiaavocadosdirect.com.

And you may enjoy a few photos and video from the first avocado farm tour I ever took — it was at Mimi’s years ago!

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Growing up, my dad was a meat and potato kind of guy. Beef was frequently on the table but our mom find a variety of cuts. to help us stay economical on our groceries. In today’s world, my family still likes beef but like others, have different areas of interest about it. That’s what got me to visit beef cattle farmer Marybeth and John Feutz on their Princeton, Indiana farm (or maybe it’s in Fort Branch?).

Marybeth takes us through the barn to meet part of their small herd of a cow-calf farm, which means they focus on mom cows and getting them to have calves. They sell steer calves (boy calves) to nearby farms that will raise them to be the beef on our plate.

Caring for Beef Cattle

Their cows are primarily raised on grass and hay, spending spring summer and fall on pastures. The family cuts hay for winter but also provide cracked corn to help increase energy available for the beef cattle maternity process.

The Feutz’s are both veterinarians so animal health resources abound, and though you don’t see it in the video, so do cats! They have a bunch of them!

In the past year, the feeding pen that is close to the house and barn to insure frequent checks in winter and during spring calving was the focus for investment. She explains that scraping the land and then putting tons of rock, gravel and lime into the area, all  improved the conditions for the herd over winter and will make managing manure easier as spring arrives.

This is the second protein focus we have featured on Grounded by the Farm — we love the crawfish episode and I’m looking forward to catching up with Bill & Janice Cheek again when I’m in Louisiana soon! I hope to get a chance to go out to their crawfish ponds again to see how much bigger the crop is.

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I’m accustomed to seeing mushrooms on pizzas, in pasta sauces, even in my yard when the rain won’t stop. But for some reason, I hadn’t ever really thought about what a mushroom farm would be like. Then last summer I met a mushroom farmer and I asked him all the questions. I had to go back for Grounded by the Farm to get video and an interview!

On this visit, I talked with Scott Engelbrecht who is the vice president of operations for J-M Farms in Miami, Oklahoma. Who showed me a room where crimini mushrooms were growing and explained the way they do flats with compost, peat and the spawn that gets the mushrooms started.

J-M Farms grows a few different types of mushrooms, and they supply grocery stores and restaurants throughout the plains states.

Crimini (also called brown mushrooms) are the smaller versions of portabella mushrooms. The rate of growth for mushrooms in these rooms that are climate controlled to provide the optimal environment is pretty amazing — in fact, once mushrooms are established, they double in size every day!

This mushroom farm produces it’s own compost as well as the shelving the mushrooms will be grown on.

You can listen to the podcast episode in your favorite app or our post here with audio on fresh mushrooms. 

If you love mushrooms, you may want to connect with J-M further. They have some great information and recipes on their website jmfarms.com, share some great photos & information on Instagram at JMFarmsMushrooms and Facebook at JM Farms Mushrooms.

The post Going into the Dark at a Mushroom Farm appeared first on Grounded by the Farm.

Peppers are one of those foods that people are really passionate about. And Randy Bailey is definitely a pepper person. He’s passionate enough that he started a pepper farm and this video provides us a short glance at Bailey Farms Inc. It is a family farm that has grown since it started in the 80s and now warehouses, packs and ships a range of peppers. I stopped by the Oxford, NC headquarters facilities where one of the members of the team — Paul Strasser — shows us around and opens up the world of peppers for us.

I met the Bailey family years ago and have had the chance to visit their pepper farms a few times. As he says on their website, he appreciates that more people want to know more about the foods they put on their plates. So he has hosted bloggers and the like (Leanette did a great post about her visit to the Florida farm and still tells me how this experience helped her family start eating more vegetables.

Randy and I recorded the episode for this week’s podcast, and net thing we knew there was something that needed his attention that called him away. Luckily, Paul was a perfect stand-in for the tour and helped em understand some of the types of peppers that the Bailey team works with.

Some of the peppers grown on the farm or others the Bailey contract with for shipping & distribution include:

• Bell peppers, both full size and miniature — these have a wide spread geography and can be used for a range of things from stuffed peppers to snacking.
• Jalapeños — A great basic pepper… use these often.
• Cherry bombs — Another medium pepper — Paul has a friend that makes a great Jamaican salsa with these!
• Serrano — One of Randy’s favorites… says he keeps a few in his pocket to spice up food on the regular.
• Shishito — I haven’t used these much but Paul points out that some of the trendy restaurants are beginning to flash fry these and serve them with some balsamic vinegar and I am dying to try that!
• Habaneros — These are too hot for me but my nephew loves them and all the pepper sauces!
• Ghost peppers — Another one that is too hot for me but Paul loves them. He says he makes salsa with them and his wife makes poppers with them like other people do jalapeños!

I love that Debbie Bailey has put together a website that showcases some of the family’s pepper farm as well as an amazing depth of recipes for all things peppers! You will definitely want to check out BaileyFarmsInc.com and their Bailey Farms Instagram or Bailey Farms on Facebook.

And if you are in the eastern half of the United States, you may well see their logo in the store if you take a look. I know I catch them now and then here in St. Louis as well as when I visit family!

The post Pepper Farm that Provides A Full Slate of Peppers appeared first on Grounded by the Farm.

The craft beer scene has been on the rise for quite a while and with my love of travel, I visit a lot of local brew pubs. But having a chance to talk to a farmer that is raising barley and wheat for a local brewery as well as the founder of that brewery? That’s unusual.

When Christian Spears started Tennessee Brew Works, he reached out to the state’s department of agriculture to help him in a variety of ways. He wanted to incorporate local foods into the menu. He wanted to understand local agriculture and connect to some farmers — that’s how they developed some truly unique local craft brews. That’s what put him in touch with Brandon Whitt of Batey Farms in Murfreesboro. This week’s episode of Grounded by the Farm features an interview with Brandon and is accompanied by a bonus episode with Christian.

Checking Out Batey Farms

Having made multiple trips to Batey Farms over the years, it feels a bit like home. But thinking about that, it feels a bit like that for others too. Batey Farms has been operating for centuries, and has changed with the times quite a few times.

Brandon Whitt, his father-in-law John Batey, began growing barley to meet the needs of Tennessee Brew Works. In this video, we learn a bit about the type of barley they grow. In fact, I hurriedly grabbed my camera in the midst of recording the podcast interview as Brandon demonstrated how the seed head forms.

You’ll also get to take a look around the grounds and the retail shop that is housed is an old cabin alongside strawberry and sunflower fields and barns for the farm equipment nearby. My family (and friends like Alisha) loves the bacon and chorizo, but you will also want to check out the pork osso bucco my friend Susan Williams made when we visited.

You can find the podcast episode in your favorite app by searching for Grounded by the Farm. Episode 106 — our interview with Brandon Whitt is also here.

Tennessee Brew Works, a Taste of Nashville

Driving just a few miles from the Batey Family’s picturesque farm, in downtown Nashville is Tennessee Brew Works. Arriving at the same time as the wait staff for the taproom up front, I had the chance to interview the founder before the crowd arrived. The brewery staff had been working for hours already. Getting some of the signature craft brews kegged up or bottled.

I couldn’t help be be impressed by the barrels from the George Dickel Distillery. While my mind raced with various ideas on how I could make use of some of those barrels, I was quickly drawn to the fact that TN Brew Works is the legendary distillery’s exclusive brewery partner.

Tennessee Brew Works champions local which shows up in the craft beer, food, and music on the stage. It is definitely on my list for a visit the next time I’m in downtown Nashville. If you are in Nashville and can’t make it to the taproom, no worries, the signature brews are available on tap and in bottles around town so ask for it everywhere.

The podcast interview with Christian discussing Tennessee Brew Works at length can be found on this site or in your favorite podcast app by searching for Grounded by the Farm and pulling up episode 107.

Find Tennessee Brew Works & Batey Farms Online

Both Batey Farms & Tennessee Brew Works actively share photos and updates on what is happening in their part of the world. So whether picking strawberries or drinking a local craft beer is your thing, both will offer inspiration and enjoyment.

You can find Batey Farms on:

• Instagram BateyFarms1807
• Facebook BateyFarms
• Website BateyFarms.com

Tennessee Brew Works is on:

• Instagram TNBrewWorks
• Facebook TNBrew
• Tumblr TNBrew
• Twitter TNBrewWorks
• Website TNBrew.com

And make sure you listen to both of the Grounded by the Farm episodes as we interview Brandon at Batey Farms and Christian at Tennessee Brew Works.

The post Craft Beer: Meeting the People & Places Behind A Tennessee Brew appeared first on Grounded by the Farm.

Trish & Brian McKeighen both have full-time jobs, but as they were planning a wedding, they also knew they wanted to farm. They kept their eyes open for something near Brian’s hometown of Saint David, Arizona. The place they found had about a dozen pecan trees so that is what they started their farm — Belenus Farms LLC — with.

The scenario of starting to farm is one that lots of young people are interested in, but it’s a hard proposition and that certainly was the case for the McKeighens. Both Trish and Brian have full-time jobs and joke that they work to pay for their farming habit. At the same time, they are looking at who to do more with what the farm offers.

Their small farm in the southeastern corner of the state looked heavenly as they showed me around it as the sunset. Trish took the role of tour guide while Brian got the dogs a bit of fun playing fetch. We take a look at the chickens getting a lesson in naked neck and other breeds, egg colors and more. Then we take a look at the pecan trees and hear a bit about how the McKeighens are making things work. The sun setting over a pasture with mountains in the distance really is something that would captivate crowds. I certainly fell hard for it.

A dozen pecan trees isn’t much when you realize farmers in that area could have hundreds, even thousands of trees. But as Trish & Brian showed me around the place, I could see why they chose to do it and expect you will too.

So how do you make the most of a dozen pecan trees? That’s the primary discussion of podcast episode 105 that goes live on Wednesday. Trish & Brian McKeighen talk to us a lot more about the how they leveraged Brian’s part time job experience from high school to make the farm’s candied pecans worth a premium.

The post Young & Wanting to Farm, Trish & Brian McKeighen Pick Pecans appeared first on Grounded by the Farm.

There are few foods that have make me dreamy-eyed my entire life but ham and potato salad are definitely life-long loves. Consequently, a traditional smokehouse has had a near mystical quality my whole life. And going out to see DeeDee Darden at Darden’s Country Store and their smokehouse has captivated my imagination for years. I went several years ago and wrote abut it on my personal blog when I did a farms A to Z. And once I had the image and smells in my mind, I knew I had to go back as I started this website/podcast.

Getting out there immediately after Thanksgiving meant seeing the Dardens in their busy period — a big change from my previous visit in February as they had just started salt curing the hams which you can see in the photo here.

There have been quite a few updates at the store and farm in the years that passed. Some were cosmetic like new paint jobs on the store & smokehouse’s exteriors and some new ways to showcase the world of agriculture for school children. They also sell some of their homecooking — from greens to chicken pot pies and most! The aroma of ham, the sense of generations of tradition all served up on a roll…. and they incredible feeling of hospitality, those were all the same! So are all the local favorites like chocolate covered peanuts.

Touring the Smokehouse with DeeDee

During the calendar year, the Dardens salt-cured and smoked more than a thousand hams. All of that was done in a smokehouse that has served that purpose for decades. Seeing how that works is something that I’d never thought about when I was a child and chances are, I may not have believed hams taking most of a year to get cured & smoked!

She also shows the way a ham looks after it is cooked, deboned and is ready to go! And they have a world title slicer making sure there are all the paper thin slices a person could want available! I’ve eaten ham biscuits each time I went and have mercy they are fantastic!

Hosting School Kids for Tours

The Dardens aren’t actually pig farmers. In fact, DeeDee visited with me during the podcast recording about their sourcing quality hams from others. They have some cattle and grow corn & cotton as well as grow a pumpkin patch for fall visitors to the farm. That keeps the family really busy in fall with hosting school groups! DeeDee takes time showing us around the farm she shares with school groups & families. From a cotton picker to drive (stationary only) and a cotton trailer to jump in, to corn boxes, a Holstein calf named Moo-fasa and other stray farm animals they have adopted and more!

Looking at some of the photo backdrops they have made — I can only imagine how many families have posted photos from this place and love the photo the Darden Country Store Facebook page shared of the team for Halloween. I see the Lion King love is strong.

Listen to DeeDee’s Episode on the Podcast

The post Traditional Smokehouse Likely to Make you Crave Virginia Ham appeared first on Grounded by the Farm.

As someone who craves crawfish and spends a lot of time plotting how I will get access to the good stuff since I currently live in the Midwest, I am a natural for finding an excuse to get to crawfish ponds. And luckily I have friends who were willing to help make that happen while I was in Louisiana. I was giddy. Giddy for days. Bill & Janice Cheek probably weren’t sure what hit them!

From the road, crawfish ponds look like a rice field but very few rice fields are flooded this time of year. So I have driven by a bunch and have wondered what I should look for, but without a farmer on tap to explain, I kept driving. Bill did a great job of talking through things and we captured some of that on video.

A Tough Spring

Spring 2019 was a rough one for farmers in several areas and that included Lebeau, Louisiana where Bill produces crawfish. That wet spring not only kept him from planting the rice he normally would, it kept him from getting his backup crop of sudangrass planted too! So he decided to go ahead with natural vegetation as the feed.

The process of putting out traps and working a boat in the shallow ponds remains intriguing, but Bill’s explanation of cutting trails into the field before he flooded it with water made absolute sense.

The number of birds I saw was amazing. And Bill’s stories about the others took things up a notch further! But it was probably the explanation of the crawfish reproductive cycle that left me truly in awe… but when Janice teted me photos… well, I can’t show them to enough people! I mean to see a crawfish with eggs or baby crawfish attached to the underneath of a tail? That’s mindblowing! And they make it out of mud burrows with that? Dang. Check them out!

The post Trails, Birds & Burrows Get Attention at Crawfish Ponds appeared first on Grounded by the Farm.

When a friend told me he was starting a popcorn farm business, I felt certain that I would end up being a regular customer. And I sure have! Having Ella & Ollie Popcorn grown just 16 miles from our city’s skyline dominator (the St. Louis Arch), seemed like a great idea. I had no idea how much I would learn about a favorite snack of mine.

I goofed up and was out of town when he and his family harvested the crop. It would have been awesome if I could have talked my way into the combine — although with Matt, his dad Dale (that’s them in the photo) and brother Fred all working on the crop, I’m not sure they would have had much room left for me! Just the same, I recently hopped in the car with Matt Helms to drive out to the farm.

The weather here this fall was wetter and colder early. And that meant Matt was keeping an eye on the moisture. It’s really important for popcorn to have the right moisture level so it pops perfectly! Matt took me out so I could see the last few rows of popcorn plants — a chance to see the cobs that look so different. Popcorn looks tiny next to either sweet corn or corn grown for grain. I also got to see how he pulls samples and tests moisture to insure the popcorn gets sent to the cleaning facility at the right moment. Check out the video to see what I mean.

Pulling multiple samples from each storage bin on the popcorn farm, from both the top and bottom let Matt check the moisture level and see whether there were any inconsistencies. We found the moisture was in the prime zone so Matt got excited as he thought about getting the new crop through the rest of the process — getting it cleaned and packaged up.

Now I need to get some for Christmas gifts!

You can order directly from Ella & Ollie’s website and find Ella & Ollie Popcorn on Facebook.

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Over the years, I have no idea how many times I have told the story of the first farm I ever visited, the first farmer I interviewed — Mr. Ray Young. I do know it was part of a storytelling session I did a couple of years ago.

That first visit was decades ago and although I had been back several times, it seemed that it had been far too long since I had visited Wisner, Louisiana. Luckily Mr. Ray (that’s what everyone calls him) and his wife Mrs. Dorothy were able to get me on their calendars! Mr. Ray turns 90 later this month, but that hasn’t slowed them down much. They were still doing a lot in their community and of course at home. They are also some of the sweetest people on the planet.

As I do some of the farm visits, I am finding local restaurants and stores that I may highlight, but the Youngs cook so well we stayed in! In fact, when I arrived, they had tenderloin & blackeyed peas and cornbread cooking but were waiting for me to get there to fry up the green tomatoes (in cottonseed oil of course!) Have mercy it was a great meal!

The next morning, after we did the podcast recording, we hopped in his truck and went out to see the farm. He shared some of the stories on how he came to buy a farm here and there over the years as well as the reason he stopped plowing in the spring, planting his cotton directly into a seedbed he’d make in the fall. It is one of several conservation tillage practices farmers choose from now, but in the 1980s and early 90s, Mr. Ray was pioneering the practice. In the decades since, he’s not only been able to plant crops more timely but has been able to build organic matter and soil health significantly.

We don’t talk about food much while we’re in the field, but his love of the land is similar to what I’ve seen on hundreds if not thousands of farms over the years…. and that impacts our food in massive ways!

He points out the quick changes in soils in northeastern Louisiana, how his focus on building soils has improved the farms he and his son Jesse work and more. The excitement he shows for improved organic matter in soils shows a career well spent and a passion that continues as he turns 90 this month!

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