Category: Annoucements

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Growing Now (September 2022)

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Hello farm family!! Yes….it happened. We skipped two whole entire months. If that weren’t enough, we haven’t posted much on our social pages either. We promise though it’s with good reason. So let us give you all the deets!

Big News!!

We recently posted on social media about a change that has happened with our farm and it’s a BIG one. If you follow our farm on Instagram you know that someone (ok it was me) spilled the tea already. For those of you who don’t, well the news is that our farm has MOVED! Break out the confetti and celebrate with us!!!!!

This move has been such a long time coming and to be honest it’s one that we thought we resolved when we purchased our other property a few years ago. Sometimes we don’t understand why things happen the way they do, but we definitely get it now!

So our absence was because we were in the moving process……Just imagine moving your house and your neighbors house…then add in animals and equipment…..so many things!

Everyday we wake up and we’re thankful for the beautiful sunrises in the morning and even more grateful for the sunsets. The view from here is really amazing and it’s a blessing that we are all sincerely humbled by. We’re still unpacking boxes and there is a ton of work to be done, but we are super excited!

Family Update

Our youngest, Joshua is officially a Sophomore! It is SO bittersweet! Of course he has to grow up, but thinking about him being an actual adult soon has me in a my feelings just a little…(or maybe a lot). This year he will be 16 and Brandon has given him a driving handbook. Like what?!?! I don’t want my “baby” to grow up!

Last year I shared with you guys that we became Grandparents…I know it’s still crazy to us, but true. Well now little Miss Hazel Rae is walking around, formulating words that we don’t quite understand yet, and being sassy on top of it. It’s been a beautiful blessing to watch her grow and I have to say that she has one Papa wrapped around her little finger already!

Poultry News

In poultry news, we decided that we could not accommodate turkeys this year. We apologize to any who were looking forward to ordering their birds from us, but this was the best decision we could make as we never want to overwhelm ourselves.

Previously we shared that our layers are old ladies and their production was low. Well we found a private breeder and we can’t wait to see what happens from here. We really missed having all the egg colors that our farm was known for and we are excited to bring them back!

By way of meatbirds, my Dad has only asked like a million times when we will have meaties again. I almost want to say that he misses them more than I do. Coming up soon Daddy!

What’s Growing?

Everything is new! We are rebuilding a farm from the ground up! This is something that took us years to do previously and now we have just a few months. Our back deck is filled with plants that have been started from seed while we fight through all the rain and the heat in order to get the farm together. The one good thing we can say is that we have been over planting because we are dealing with a whole new environment here and well you just never know!

With our new property having virgin soil, we literally had to pick up truckloads of compost to get the farm in motion. Shout out to Alabama Sustainable Agricultural Network (ASAN) for the help! Words can’t express how much we appreciate you guys!

Planting season came up so fast and we learned very quickly that rebuilding a farm is quite expensive. So many things that were in place at our old property still need to be established here.

Over the years we have received inquires from people asking if or how they could help and now with our farm rebuild we are taking all the help we can get! We have even added a donation tab to our homepage for those of you who aren’t local or would just rather donate. Our family appreciates the love and support that we’ve been shown and we can’t wait to get everything in motion so we can really see what Hawkins Homestead Farm can be!

Again, as always we appreciate each and every one of you for being with us. We hope that you and your families stay safe and we will talk to you again soon. Until then……

SeedFolks Family Farm!

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It’s not often that we get to see and help a farm be built from the ground up, but this is one that we have!

Sherry and Jason along with their beautiful family have embarked on a journey to grow food for their family and all of you too! Sherry is a survivor in every sense of the word and Jason is the loving and caring husband who is always at her side. We are so proud of all that they’ve been able to accomplish in such a short period of time.

The name of their farm is SeedFolks Family Farm and although they don’t take visitors, you can follow them on Facebook to see all that they’re growing. Plus their cute kids too!

SeedFolks will also have a home here on our site as we will be hosting their farm to give them a safe space to sell their produce.

Of course they are following organic practices, guidelines, and standards. We wouldn’t endorse them if they weren’t. One of our goals is to inspire a coalition of organic farmers in our community.
So along with Bain Home Gardens, and now SeedFolks, it’s coming together.

Be patient with them as they are new farmers, but they are doing great so far. Very soon they will have organically grown strawberries and squash with okra to follow. Please join us in welcoming SeedFolks Family Farm to Hawkins Homestead Farm! We hope you all come to love them as we have.

Changes for COVID-19

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Since our farm is a producer of local food, we feel it’s important to implement some changes in order to prevent the spread of this virus that has changed so many lives. We have been and will continue to pray for the families of the many that have been affected by this crisis. We know that many of you are praying too.

Each year Brandon and I take some time off and close the farm for a few days to celebrate our wedding anniversary. We usually have a trip planned, but long before this outbreak started we decided to focus on developing our land in order to expand the farm. As a result, we were home. That decision turned out to be more of a blessing then we could have imagined. It not only kept us home, but it also gave us time to sit down and talk about what is best for our farm, our family, and our community during this epidemic.

Since there are now confirmed cases locally, we have to be extremely cautious! The decisions we’ve made came about through many prayers and we trust that you guys will understand.

In order to keep in line with CDC guidelines and practice social distancing effective immediately, we will no longer accept cash as a form of payment. Cash does not allow us to maintain 6 feet of distance between us. Making these changes may hurt us financially and those of you who pay in cash, but it’s for all of our safety.

All orders must be placed online through our shop page. 

This is in effect until further notice. Your orders will be packaged in a sealed bag and we will be sanitizing and hand washing the whole way through. Please don’t surprised if we show up with a mask and gloves. It is for our protection and yours.

We will still offer both local pick up (where we meet you) and local home delivery but both of these will be without contact. Details will be worked out for local pick up and home deliveries will be left on the porch unless another location is specified. 

This should go without saying, and please don’t be offended, but we ask that you please don’t order if you or anyone in your family is ill, has been around anyone who is ill, showing any symptoms of COVID19, or has been confirmed of having this deadly virus. Again, this is for the protection of everyone. We are doing all we can to prevent the spread and we ask that you do the same. 

We are committed to keeping clean local food in our community! 

In the past 2 weeks, we have received many inquiries from people looking to join our Kith & Kin CSA. With grocery stores limiting hours and items, we understand the need to secure food. So we prayed about this and a decision was made with our sister farm, Bain Home Gardens to open up a limited amount of shares.

We contacted those who inquired to see if we could accommodate their needs. Some we could, others we could not. Even though our farm is still on break, it’s important that we let everyone know about these changes. The CSA starts on April 27th, but after today we cannot take on anymore families for our Spring season.

Farms are essential business so we want you all to know that as long as we deem it’s safe to do so, we will be here for you.

As always, we thank you for trusting us and for supporting our local family farm.

The “Spice” of Life

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With each passing year, we learn many new things. Some are lessons, others are skills, but we are always growing. Last year was no exception and as a result of our growth there is a lot more to preserve.

Take for example basil. This is a culinary herb that we grow in abundance every year. We make all kinds of prepared foods from it, but last year we have also started dehydrating it.

Rosemary is another example for us. Around here rosemary is such an important herb because not only do we use it in cooking, but we use its oils in our Bath and Body products as well.

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How about lemon balm? This little herb packs a powerful punch and can add flavor to salads and even be used to make teas.

Just about every herb we grow can be preserved and made into something else that adds value to our everyday life and so that’s exactly what we are bringing to you.

Last year our son, Joshua and I made some great dehydrated herb blends and this year we’re going to introduce them to all of you! We will be debuting them as we get closer to their release, but some of you got a sneak peek. Thank you for keeping these blends under wraps!  We appreciate having people we can count on to give us their honest opinion when it comes to our new releases. 

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So as we and our sister farm, Bain Home Gardens grow things like fennel, dill, cilantro, and more we hope to send some excitement your way about some special seasoning blends coming soon!

 

Spring 2020 Plant Sale

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Are you a home gardener? Would you like to be one? Love growing your own food and knowing where that food came from? Well we have got some plants for you!

2019 was the start of a new tradition for us when we held our first annual plant sale in the Spring. That sale was a success and we are ecstatic to do it again this year for its second season!

The last frost date for our area jumped a few days to March 13th and our plant sale will start just before then on March 1st. We’ve partnered with our sister farm, Bain Home Gardens to offer you a chance to grow your own garden.

This year we are offering a variety of tomatoes from cherries to big juicy beefstakes. Both mild and spicy peppers, eggplants, and a few herbs too! We will even be offering some mystery tomatoes for those of you who like a surprise.

The sale will be for the entire month of March and possibly into April if we don’t sell out before then. More varieties will be placed online as they become available.

Pre-order your favorites or try something new. Hop on over to our shop page and check out the garden section to choose yours today.

 

January Events!

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Hey you! How is 2020 treating you so far? For us this year has started out busier than ever as we harvest birds and prepare for our events this month. If you don’t already, tap on the link to follow our Facebook page. It really is the best way to stay up to date on everything we have to offer and where we will be.

Speaking of, this month you will find us at the Enterprise Farmers Market on Thursday January 23rd. We will be setting up from 9am-12pm. We grow year round so we will have many items to offer. We hope you will come to support us and invite you to pre-order through our shop page for whatever you’re in the market for. Just choose Enterprise after entering your zip code at checkout. That way you can say hello, then grab, and go.

On Saturday January 25th, you will find us at 2 The Olive Fruit located at 2323 West Main St., Suite 101 in Dothan beginning at 1:30pm. This event is all about healthy eating in the new year. There will be other vendors, items available for purchase, plus tastings too! You may also pre-order for this event and just add Olive Fruit in the comments and choose local pickup at checkout.

If January is any indication of how our year is going to go, then we have a lot to look forward to. We hope you will join us for the ride and hope to see you soon!

 

 

Fresh Produce Day!

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I would like to personally invite you to come out this weekend and get to know your farmers a little better.

We will be at Rural King in Dothan from 1:30 pm 4:30 pm on Sunday December 29th and we would love to see you!

We enjoy meeting and learning more about our customers. So whether you shop or just stop in to say hello, that’s fine too!

Here are just a few things we’ll have:

Fresh eggs, COLLARDS, radishes, mustards, turnips, plus more!

I can’t say for sure that we will have chicken, but you can definitely reserve yours for our harvest that is coming up in a few short weeks. You can find them here. If we do have chicken, it always goes quick!

So many people have been waiting on collards so we expect them to go quickly. If you would like to reserve your order of collards or anything else ahead of time, please chose local pick up at checkout and type Rural King in the comments section.

We hope to see you there!

Kith & Kin CSA Earlybird Offer Extended!

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We’ve got GREAT NEWS! Kith & Kin Earlybird offer has been extended past Black Friday into the entire month of December!!!

We know that many of you will be looking to eat better in the coming new year and having a basket of fresh produce delivered to your door step should make it easier!

So when you become a CSA member between now and the entire month of December you also get a FREE jar of jam or jelly made fresh with in season fruits then preserved to last the entire year.

In addition, you gain a relationship with your farmers. We are here for you during your food journey.

You also get exclusive access to our Facebook group and weekly newsletters where we provide recipes, farm updates, and teach you storage tips along with how to use the food. The group is a community where everyone is invited to share, asks questions, gain knowledge, and even post your creations. (Side note: You’re not required for share. You can sit back and enjoy, but we’d like you to)

When you’re ready, click here to purchase. We would love to have you as a member!