Our family farm started in 1953. Since then, our farm has grown to support eight families. We feel lucky to have a family that shares a passion for farming and works together to grow food for many families.

Here’s a new recipe to try with your family featuring one of our favorites, beef!

Beef & Vegetable Skillet

 Read more...

My 5-year-old daughter couldn’t wait to get off the bus recently and head to the corn field our family was harvesting. In fact, after a quick hug, she asked me to confirm our evening plans in the field and bounced with joy at the affirmative response.

Specifically, she loves to eat supper in the field. It’s her all-around favorite place to dine, trumping Grandma’s house and the nearby sandwich shop with arcade games. In fact, she will have her sixth birthday party in a corn or soybean field this week.

Greetings from west-central Illinois, where we grow corn and soybeans about a three-hour drive from Chicago. Also on some of my family’s farms you’ll find wheat, hay, cattle, pigs, a few barn cats and farm dogs. Corn and soybeans generate our household farm income and makes a living for my parents and brother.
 Read more...

Welcome to our farm, our home…

My husband Paul and I farm together with my brother and sister-in-law, near Mazon, IL.  Our farm is located about 75 miles southwest of Chicago, which is a perfect location because we are close enough to enjoy all the opportunities Chicago has to offer and far enough away to enjoy the more solitude life rural America can provide.  We have two sons, Stephen and Thomas.  Stephen, our daughter-in-law and our 5-month-old granddaughter live in Chicago…the most important reason to visit the city often! Our younger son lives on the farm although, currently, his job involves living in Decatur during the week.  Off-farm jobs keep the boys busy but they are still involved in our family farm, spending free weekends helping whenever they can.  Read more...

On our farm we keep time in the summer by specific events and activities.  Like when the strawberries ripen and we pick twice, Or when the wild blackberries are ready, and we spend early mornings filling buckets in the patch.  The county fair, several annual neighborhood cookouts and town festivals help us keep track of our summer days.  Perhaps one of the most anticipated summer activities is doing corn.
 
“Doing corn” is not just an act; on our farm it is an event. Growing up, we knew when the first sweet corn landed on our dinner table, doing corn was not far away.  My mom would make the calls to family, neighbors and friends and a few days later our farm would be bustling with activity.
 Read more...