Wesley Acres Produce

Variety is the Spice of Life

admin — Sat, 12 Nov 2011 20:28:41 +0000

We have enjoyed a very busy summer and have many new projects to report on. The weather was rather humbling and taught us to spread our risk over other areas of the farm.

The spring was cold and wet and then June 20th hit and and it turned hot and dry. July was so hot not many plants put on fruit or vegies, but we had eggs! We ran water to our plants most days and we kept things growing. August hit and we had great weather for our crops. September was cold and dry, but things kept growing and we had produce for our Membership program and the market. We picked our first Pristine apples and learned we need to plant more of that variety. September 1 we purchased 125 day old pullets to mature right after the holiday. Then the big change!! We (Jim, that is) purchased two milking goats. This started a new time in the life of Wesley Acres Produce.

Our first two does came from Lynne Davis of Antioch IL. Daisy and Reilly are great quiet little gals and have started us on the road of milk production. What a great venture. We picked up two more Alpines from Boone Iowa. Libby and Loretta joined us on October 2. We purchased two Toggenberg does from Linda DuShane of Lynn Center. What a great time here at the farm. We will start kidding in February and we look forward to many of you coming out to see the little one. Our grandson Will and our granddaughter Rhianah have both enjoyed time with our new livestock and we will have them here when the babies start coming. Here are some pics of you new girls. Thank you for the great year!

Jim and Linda

A Day on the Farm

admin — Sun, 31 Jul 2011 00:22:52 +0000

Today was another typical day at Wesley Acres Produce, filled with work from both Jim and Linda Johansen of Wesley Acres, and from a group of Augie students, who are involved in the Environmental Conservation Learning Community at Augustana College in Rock Island.

Thursday’s work began with the morning routine of milking goats, a new addition to Wesley Acres, and which provide delicious and creamy milk for the Johansen’s. Jim, being a regular was able to keep a steady rhythm when milking the goats, as were a few Augie students who lent a hand and learned the tricky process of goat milking. The goats themselves didn’t seem to mind the new hands, as long as there was plenty of sweet feed and apples for dessert. Thursday is also time to fill and package Wesley Acres CSA food orders. This sent a number of the Augustana students into the field to harvest green beans, patty squash, and tomatoes. The students enjoyed a break from picking green beans with freshly baked cookies from Jim’s mother, who also lives on the Acres. An early morning drizzle picked up right as the students filled their buckets full of colorful and fresh produce, ushering them indoors to begin processing invoices and filling food orders. The Johansen’s kitchen was teeming with activity; students were washing produce, weighing out lettuce and okra, itemizing and packaging the day’s orders. The work went by surprisingly fast, due in part to the large turnout of Augie students who enjoyed the day’s work, and who look forward to more of the same here at Wesley Acres Produce.

3 weeks of age

admin — Wed, 09 Feb 2011 20:59:56 +0000

Our little pullets are now 3 weeks old, we have been able to turn the heat down some and they are growing very well. I think this weekend we will put them in a pen in the shed and keep it at about 65 for temperature. When we first got them they kept to themselves. They did not mix between the boxes we received. As you can see, they now mingle together.

The girls are still a bit shy. you have to remain very quiet to get them to relax enough to get good pictures

Linda describes this as the teenage years. They are getting larger, but they almost take on a prehistoric look. The necks get longer, the legs grow and they are not all feathered out, but they are not just balls of fluff either.

Our membership program is nearly full for this year. I hope you have signed up if you were part of the program last year. We have opened it up to new members and we are receiving a great deal of interest. We appear to be in store for some warm weather. That will be great. Contact us if you are interested in eggs.

Jim and LInda

New Arrivals

admin — Sat, 22 Jan 2011 14:10:43 +0000

We have continued to work this winter to grow our egg venture. We know we need to have more hens this summer to keep up with demand. The truth is the eggs are easier than picking green beans to go to Augustana. We picked up 200 little day old pullets to expand our production this summer.

It will take 20 weeks for our girls to grow and come into production. We got two breeds of chicks to see which ones will lay the best eggs.

These little balls of fluff are taking a lot of care for the moment.
We have to keep them very warm and dry with lite and food 24 hours a day. It was crazy, the coldest night of the winter was the day we brought them home. Needless to say they are in the house in tanks for the short term.

Our next update will include details of our buyers program and our seed order. We are just two weeks away from starting plants. Here we go again!

New home for the hens

admin — Sun, 09 Jan 2011 00:17:17 +0000

We wish all of you a very Happy New Year. As last year came to a close we began a new venture. Our last post showed our hens and brought you up to date. We have every intention of providing good housing for these girls and with that came the need for new buildings. Where do you turn to when you want to build a chicken coop. I am sure you would agree, you turn to experienced carpenters and trust there will be no mistakes. I look a different direction. I turned to the Phi Mu group at Augustana. They did a great job. Here we are carrying out one of the end walls.

The group of musicians divided the task and made quick work of the walls construction.

They installed bracing to keep the walls in place before calling it a day. We worked in the heated garage to assemble the walls and then carried them out to the platform and placed them all in order to complete the wall portion of the building. This is quite a group. I appreciate their help.

More to come as we complete this project. We now have fresh eggs here at the farm every day.

end of the produce/NEW VENTURE

admin — Fri, 10 Dec 2010 02:26:51 +0000

The season for growing produce has come and gone. Our many valued customers helped us to have a very good year. We had some failures and some great successes. The rains all season long kept us from dong what we needed many times. Planting became at the very least difficult. The continual mud became our work out! Through all of the trials we did find moments of light. Our intern Brittanny was tremendous. We are so blessed to have the students from Augie and Brittany was a breath of fresh air.
This fall we were inspired to begin a new venture. I have vowed for several years that we would NEVER have livestock. The first Sunday of October we purchased our first hens. Things went well and things have grown from there.

I have raised livestock in the past, but I truly thought chickens were a pain and I would not have them(at all). These hens have changed a great deal of my thoughts. Each of them have personality and their own look. We have many different breeds and colors.

Linda and I have been very busy acquiring more hens and building coops for them. The hens walk around following us and making us feel the total dependence they have on us. The reward is the daily basket full of fresh eggs for our customers.

Food doesn’t come from a supermarket?!? An ignorant student’s perspective

admin — Thu, 23 Sep 2010 15:42:34 +0000

On my table at home sits a yellow squash. It’s not just any squash. To me, it’s sign of my hard work after picking green beans, and it will make a wonderful meal tonight because I know exactly where it comes from. Before five weeks ago, I’ve never stepped onto a farm before in my entire life. My idea of “farming” was the endless rows of corn and soybeans that grow in my hometown DeKalb. To me, produce was the shiny perfect apples and soggy wet lettuce in Wal-Mart. Where did it come from? I don’t know and why should I care? Some other poor soul has to the “dirty work.”

And here I was weeding strawberry patches, helping out in a community garden, and picking green beans (lots and lots of them). For once in my life, I realized the hard labor it took to put food on the table. That yellow squash did not magically appear in the aisles of Wal-Mart. I realized farming was not “dirty work” at all; it is pride in the quality and freshness of my food. If it was done right, it requires knowledge and love for the land to cultivate and grow a yellow summer squash. I’ve never had such an appreciation for a fresh, farm-grown meal, and it’s all because I know exactly who labored for my meal. As Dr. Peters would say, I’m not abstracted from the source of my food. So thank you so much, Linda and Jim!

-Justine Nguyen

Our class weeding the strawberry patches.

Picking time has arrived

admin — Mon, 31 May 2010 17:11:50 +0000

The season is moving in full force now. We started picking lettuce, spinach, radishes, and swiss chard two weeks ago. The lettuce is very good this year and we enjoy many meals each week with our own salad treat. We are growing 5 varieties this season and I am told 3 of them will produce well even in the heat of midsummer. Our cherry trees are producing well and we will enjoy our cherry jam next week some time.

Our pea plants are full of blossoms and will provide a bounty soon. That is the time of year I really enjoy. Nothing gets much better!

We put kale in for the first time in many years this year. This is one of the more lovely plants we have. We almost hate to cut the leaves on this plant very soon.

This year we moved to a dense planting system. It is working very well and we will increase the density the next round of planting.

We will see our produce continue to mature as the season progresses. This coming week we will open our farm stand for the summer.
See you all very soon!

Spring Planting

admin — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 15:34:19 +0000

Spring planting has begun. We started planting about two weeks ago and seedlings are emerging from the ground. The cabbage and kale plants are looking good and we are off and running. Our fruit trees are blooming this year and we should have a good start on our production if the weather holds out well. Our strawberries are blooming early this season. I am a bit concerned with the blooms out in full so soon. This could hurt if we have a frost in the near future.
This is an apricot blossom from one of our trees.

Our cabbage, kale, collards and other greens are doing well. We have have windy days and they still are doing fine.

We planted five types of lettuce. This shows our red romaine.

This last picture show our green romaine. It is always fun at the start of the growing season and by the time fall arrives we are ready to be done.

Thank you to all of you who have joined our membership program. We should be able to start our deliveries soon. We have no more openings and the season promises to be a good one. Thank you for keeping involved with us on Face Book, our website, and via email. Have a great week.

Signs of Spring

admin — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 13:13:25 +0000

Each year we watch for signs that spring is truly here. We get excited when all the snow melts away. Some of us are like little kids when we hear the thunder of the first spring thunderstorm. We walk the woods and watch closely for the first signs of spring wildflowers. The delicate little dutchmens breetches will be the first we see and they will be out soon. In the past we would spend the spring watching our cows calve. Each day would bring the new lovely young life to the pasture. In recent years I have told many of my friends I would not be raising livestock anymore. I think yesterday brought to light the truth. Linda and I are livestock producers. I was working near the shed when one of our bees flew up to greet us. I never realized the friendly nature of these creatures. For a time we had several near us. They seemed to say “Nice to see you again, let’s get to work” “Quit sitting around and get some plants in the garden.” The bee in the picture found some potting soil in the truck which attracted it. Spring is truly here, we may have some cooler days, but our bees have told us it is time to get to work.