Fatima Farm

Now in the Heart of Huntsville: Fatima Farm is bringing the pastured difference to Five Points.

As you probably heard by now, our farm is in the process of a big move. Thus, 2024 is a year of transition for us. On one hand, it means our inventory is drastically scaled down: we are not raising the amount of meat we were doing in past years temporarily. But on the other hand, it means we can do something we could not do last year, and might not be able to do again: bring the regeneratively farmed goods straight to the city!

We can now offer porch pickup in Five Points, near Maple Hill Cemetery, for our CSA members. There are no set schedules or pickup days. Just buy what you want and come get it. No need to drive out further than the grocery store to get what you can't find in the grocery store.

Right now on the shop, we've got grassfed lamb on preorder, pastured eggs for $6 a dozen, and a limited supply of our beloved pastured pork.

SHOP: https://www.thefatimafarm.com/members-store

Not a CSA member yet? No worries. You get a lifetime membership—exclusive access to our farm store every year that it's in operation—for only $10.

JOIN: https://www.thefatimafarm.com/shop

We have big news: Fatima Farm is moving! We wanted to tell our customers first so that you won't think we're skipping town if you see our little 5-acre permaculture farm listed for sale. Rest assured that we are not closing up shop, but only moving to a larger property.

SO if you know someone interested in a mini permaculture farm, 20 minutes north of town, please send them our way! We are leaving behind huge blueberry bushes, concord grape vines, a mini-fruit orchard, blackberries, strawberries, a four-stall barn with electric and water, a chicken coop, and our labor of love, our no-till, deep-mulch vegetable garden, whose soil we’ve poured so much into… it is all ready for the perfect person to step in and start growing their own food.

Check out our video, scroll through our Facebook and Instagram to see what all we have grown here on our little farm, and please share with friends!

167 Brier Fork Rd, Hazel Green This gorgeous 3 BR, 2 bath brick ranch mini-farm is a rare find in our market. 5.03 acres with large barn (power and water service connected) and more than 3...

It’s feeling like spring around here! We had a gorgeous weekend to kick off our CSA pickups, and we have surprise TWIN ewe lambs to snuggle with! Aren’t they adorable??

Easter is also right around the corner—don’t forget to put HAM on the menu! We’ve got amazing pastured ham roasts for you at our shop. Just make sure you get them in time to cure and smoke for Easter. It’s as easy as throwing it in some salt and brown sugar for a few days before the feast then throwing it on the smoker. You want the best for this special day and this is how you get it—no funny ingredients, nutrient-dense pork raised on pasture instead of a confined sun-less feedlot, coming right from your local farm just outside of Huntsville.

Ham roasts and other amazing goodies in our online shop are exclusive to CSA members. And if you haven’t joined yet, don’t worry, there’s still time, and it’s only $10! Our shop is filled to the brim right now with delicious, nutrient-dense goods straight from our farm—pastured pork cuts including ribs, chops, roasts; pastured chicken; and even pastured duck that is out-of-this-world delicious! Become a CSA member today to start shopping!

https://www.thefatimafarm.com/shop

🥳Our brand new CSA for 2023 is here! 🥳 And the best part of all? It's only $10 to join! And there are NO required pickups or minimum orders.

It might be the most flexible CSA you'll find anywhere. Order what you want, when you want, and how much you want. Make one large purchase and fill your chest freezer. Or, purchase throughout the season with our twice-a-month pickups. Or a little something in between. CSA members will get access to our pastured meats (including pastured pork, pastured poultry, grassfed/finished ground beef, grassfed/finished lamb*) raised right here on our North Alabama farm.

Our popular Egg Subscription package is also back and only available to CSA Members. Pay for all of your eggs for the season up front at a discounted price—there's never been a better time to do it. You'll have one dozen pastured eggs waiting for you at each twice-a-month pickup. Plus all the meat you can order, too. We also will be selling our bloom-intact pastured eggs by the dozen, available only to our CSA members.

Read all about it on our website, and be sure to tell your friends!

https://www.thefatimafarm.com/product-page/csa-meat-membership-program

*Available at different times of the seasons and while supplies last—please go to our website for more details!

Our brand new CSA for 2023 is here! And the best part of all? It's only $10 to join! And there are NO required pickups or minimum orders.

It might be the most flexible CSA you'll find anywhere. Order what you want, when you want, and how much you want. Make one large purchase and fill your chest freezer. Or, purchase throughout the season with our twice-a-month pickups. Or a little something in between. CSA members will get access to our pastured meats (including pastured pork, pastured poultry, grassfed/finished ground beef, grassfed/finished lamb*) raised right here on our North Alabama farm.

Our popular Egg Subscription package is also back and only available to CSA Members. Pay for all of your eggs for the season up front at a discounted price—there's never been a better time to do it. You'll have one dozen pastured eggs waiting for you at each twice-a-month pickup. Plus all the meat you can order, too. We also will be selling our bloom-intact pastured eggs by the dozen, available only to our CSA members.

Read all about it here, and be sure to tell your friends!

https://www.thefatimafarm.com/product-page/csa-meat-membership-program

*Available at different times of the seasons and while supplies last—please go to our website for more details!

Introducing, the gal who is quickly becoming farm queen, our newest addition: Mrs. Buttercup.

If you’ve seen my stories, you saw we got our first milk cow last week. She deserved a permanent place on the feed.

We are amazed at the amazing amount of food this girl gives us on JUST grass. It is mind blowing. And it’s not just any food. It’s the most nutrient-dense food I could get my hands on for my family and me: raw, grassfed, DAIRY. Jaw-dropping! God is amazing in all of His designs.

With this, we will probably be on another social media break, as we wrap up CSAs, dive in to home dairy, tuck the farm away for winter, and prepare for what we will have to offer the community next year. It’s an exciting time. Before I go, I’ll pop a question box in stories—go there to ask us anything about what we’ve got going on, or tell us anything you’d like to see next year.

After that, contact us by email. Add your email to our website to get on our mailing list and receive farm updates.

Cheers! 🥛

I had a friend join me in the garden this morning. ❤️

(IG has decided to not let me post photos to stories any more, so back to old-fashioned photo posts I go!)

“According to legend, all the flowers and herbs on earth had lost their scent after Adam and Eve committed the first sin in the Garden of Eden. On the day of the Assumption of the Blessed Mother, however, the flowers were given back their scent and the herbs their power to heal.” —Maria von Trapp, Around the Year with the von Trapp family

Consider this your reminder to start gathering your herbs for Marymass on Monday. 💙💙💙

Every so often, I like to share the story of how we got our name. It’s not one I tire of telling. It started a long time ago, 1917 to be exact, with three little shepherd children, tending their flock…

…in a tiny town in Portugal called Fatima. One day, they said that while they were with their sheep, a beautiful lady appeared to them. Word quickly got out that the Blessed Virgin Mary was appearing to them, although they were met with appropriate skepticism by their parish priest and one of their mothers. “Why would the Mother of God appear to you?”

She kept appearing to them once a month, and more and more crowds gathered to this tiny town. One day, the children said that the beautiful lady was going to perform a miracle for everyone to see, confirming the truth of the children’s stories, of her message, and that she was from heaven.

That day, October 13, 1917, 70,000 people came to the field to see what would happen—some to look for signs of hope, others looking to scoff at three silly children.

What would happen that day in the cova in Fatima, Portugal, would be the biggest miracle in the history of Christianity. It is incredibly well documented, witnessed by thousands, written about in atheist newspapers of the time.

And yet… Fatima is so little known by anyone today, Christian, atheist, or whomever. But it shouldn’t be.

So we tend our little flock of sheep in honor of the three children who did just that in 1917—and by virtue of their littleness became a part of the biggest story of the 20th century—the Beautiful Lady they saw who is our farm’s faithful guardian, and the miracle that happened in their own field.

Oh, you want to know the miracle? The message? I’ll leave a link to get you started in my stories. It’s too much for a caption, as all good things are.

We are bringing our 2022 hogs to the processor on August 1, and we still have quarters, halves, and wholes available for purchase. The last day to order is July 31. You can click the links for more information or you can text, email, or call me with questions. If you enjoy high-quality, nutrient-dense, pasture-raised, heritage-breed pork (bacon, ribs, roasts, chops, sausage, lard), please consider our farm to be your source. We would love nothing more than to help you stock your freezers with delicious, nutrient-dense food. These are our last hogs of the year and the last we'll have available for some time, so now is the time to order.

If you don't mind, we would love it if you could help spread the word and pass this along to anyone who you think might be interested. We would be so grateful for your help in this way. ❤️

Thefatimafarm.com/shop

Shop | Fatima Farm Fatima Farm is a family-owned and operated Alabama farm near Huntsville specializing in regenerative agriculture to nurture the land and grow hearty, healthy food. We offer a seasonal CSA program, pastured pork, poultry, and eggs, grassfed lamb, and no-spray produce.

Take a little summer farm tour with me…

Did you know that for many flowers, you control how long the stem? How long their vase life is? And in many cases, how many flowers you get?

I used to grow flowers with my veggies, create these beautiful but TINY little posies, watch them wilt almost immediately then wonder what the hype about growing bouquets for yourself is all about.

Flower plants are no different than others—you have to prune them and train them. Every time you harvest or deadhead, you are pruning and training! So…

🌻 CUT 🌻 If you want a lot of flowers, you have to cut a lot of flowers. The plant has to be signaled to produce more and it will—exponentially! A good rule of thumb is to check every 48 hours and cut. If you don’t have anything to cut, keep checking—you will soon. If all you have is ugly or pest-ridden flowers, don’t leave them on—CUT! Even if you are just deadheading. You have to speak plant language and tell it to grow.

🌻 HOW TO CUT 🌻 Tired of short stems? Train your plant! When you go to cut, cut for a long as stem as possible—do not worry about going down to two buds. I see this advise out there, and it will only give you perpetually short stems. A new flower will grow where you cut it, so go low. Don’t worry about how many buds or shoots you are wasting—it will make up for that soon with how much you are cutting. And, eventually, you won’t need to discard any future flowers, because the stems will start to grow so tall. So cut for the stems you want, not the stems you have.

🌻 WHEN TO CUT 🌻 Learn about when your flower needs to be cut to extend vase life. E.g., with tulips, I want a closed but colored bud. But with zinnias, I’m not even looking at the flower. I put my fingers about 6” below the flower and gently move the stem. If the whole plant moves stiffly with me, it’s ready. If only the head wobbles about, it’s NOT ready, and will not stand a chance in the vase.

Time of day is crucial too, but we will talk about that and other best practices to extend your vase life in part 4. I hope that this has been helpful. Cheers to beautiful, long-stemmed vases 💐

*Note: these are good general rules, but always learn about the individual flower you are growing*

The requirements for the flowers we talked about in part 1 are very simple. You don’t have to have any experience gardening or a large space to grow them. In fact, compared to vegetables, they

🌻 require less space,

🌻 require less nutrients,

🌻 and have less pest pressure.

So, if you’ve given gardening a go, and it just wasn’t your thing, don’t discount growing easy cut-flowers—they might just be your niche!

Once you’ve gotten your seeds (see part 1), FALL is the time to prep your beds. If you are starting from scratch, don’t be intimidated! To make a bed, just layer cardboard over the space (make sure the pieces overlap) and dress thickly with woodchips and compost. You can plant directly in compost in the spring, but you probably want to move the woodchips or mulch aside when you do.

Alternatively, let your chickens do the work for you! Put them in a tractor and let them concentrate their tillage and manure in the area you want to plant until the grass is gone. Cover with woodchips or a tarp, and you’re ready to plant in the spring.

As far as space, it does not take much if you use the right pruning techniques, which we will discuss in part 3. Marigolds, zinnias, and cosmos can be planted fairly close together, and you don’t need many to fill your house with flowers. Sunflowers will require more room, and be aware of shading: if you have them close to other plants, I would not plant them on the west side. Cosmos can grow quite tall, too, so just read your seed packet.

After your first frost date, direct sow your seeds, keep them watered until they come up, and then watch them grow!

To become your own source of fresh flowers and bouquets throughout the summer, choosing what you’re going to grow is of utmost importance!

If you are a beginner gardener or just limited on the time you want to devote to this, choosing flowers that are easy to grow and prolific is key.

Here are a few things to look for when seed shopping:

🌸 Hardy/drought-tolerant/easy-to-grow (This has been a hard year for veggie gardening but most of my flowers have absolutely thrived in the hot & dry conditions—watering them is not part of my routine)

🌸 Prolific bloomers/cut and come again (You want varieties where the more you cut, the more they will produce. E.g., I adore sunflowers for cut flowers, but some varieties only produce one flower and that’s it. This is not ideal if you are short on time and space!)

🌸 Vase life (Unfortunately, not every flower holds up to vase life. Some have none at all! Make sure the varieties you choose are marketed as good for cutting.)

🌸 Color (If this doesn’t bother you, then skip, but I like growing colors that I know will work well together. Think about this when choosing your seeds, and avoid things like mixed seed packs where the colors are random. If you haven’t before, this is a good time to learn about color theory and which colors play well together, and which don’t. E.g., color “values” should be the same or follow the color order—a high value (light) purple and a low value (dark) yellow will be unsettling, versus a low value purple and a high value yellow, which will be stunning!This will go a long way to making your vases look professional, beautiful, and pleasing to the eye. When in doubt, go with white! Just be aware pests are more attracted to white.

🌸 Fillers. (You’ll notice a dramatic difference in your vases when adding fillers and vertical interests. Many people like basil varieties. I am using bloomed apple mint, and I absolutely love it for it’s ease of growing (it’s an *enthusiastic* grower and a perennial), it’s smell, and it’s look in a vase.

Head to the comments for what I’m growing this year, and my stories for how many vases I have from the past 48 hours. 😂

One of my children eagerly volunteered to help me spread grass clippings around the garden in part of our fight against the weeds. And honestly, THAT—that sweet moment together, both getting covered in sweat beads and tiny flakes of grass—is why we don’t spray.

Chemical sprays and gardening—be it backyard hobbyist or large-scale market gardening—go hand-in-hand nowadays (even in “organic” gardens).

Your three big enemies when trying to get something to grow from seed to leaf, fruit, or root are pests, weeds, and soil depletion. You need soil to house enough food for the plant and for insects and other plants (weeds) to stay away from it.

The common solution is to use three main types of chemicals: fertilizers (food for the plant), pesticides (to kill the bugs), and herbicides (to kill the weeds).

If this were our solution, too, that moment with my child in the garden together might not have happened. I want my children to grow up gardening, but how could they if we rely on harsh chemicals too dangerous for them to handle to make things grow?

Here in our garden, we stay away from all three. I don’t want herbicides (like glyphosate) around my family or my food because of its profound health effects. I don’t want pesticides because most do not discriminate between beneficial and destructive insects. I don’t want synthetic fertilizers because I don’t want a bandaid solution to true soil health (not to mention the massive problems created when the fertilizer is overapplied and runs off).

So what’s a gardener to do?

🌾A soil-first mentality—building up the soil with loads of organic matter, compost we make ourselves using our pigs, and natural fertilizers from our own farm—provides enough food to make plants thrive.

🌾Methods like companion planting, creating habitats for beneficial frogs and insects, timing your plantings around bug seasons, planting crops and varieties suited to your area, all can reduce pest pressure.

🌾Weed-suppressors, like mulch and cover crops, keep plants safe from encroaching weeds.

Tell me, what’s your favorite no-spray solution? 👇🏻

We will be at the Old Thyme Market today with meat, eggs, organic produce, herbs, and bouquets! It is our last one before a short break—we’d LOVE to see you today! It’s in the lovely downtown Madison by Old Black Bear from 3-7 or until we sell out.

It’s been a while, and we have some new faces here, so let’s do an introduction!

We are a 5-acre regenerative, permaculture, family-run farm. We are always experimenting with integrative, whole-system designs across the farm in our food production and with designing and building structures that allow us to accomplish these systems with ease and efficiency. What does all of this mean? We are able to grow food—and a lot of it—in a way that

💪🏻is scalable and sustainable for the family homestead

💪🏻creates jobs, not machine and infrastructure dependencies

💪🏻builds up our soil each year, instead of making it further dependent on synthetic fertilizers and harmful sprays

💪🏻honors the innate design of all of God’s creatures, working with it, not against it, to raise happy, healthy animals

💪🏻produces nutrient-dense food for our family and a little extra for the community, too.

I (Virginia) try to share bits and pieces of the beauty of daily life here through stories mostly. You’ll see us growing all manner of poultry for meat and eggs in a pastured system; using those poultry to fertilize, break down, and de-bug our gardens; raising pigs on pasture to improve those pastures and create amazing compost for our gardens; raising grassfed/grass-finished lamb and beef on an intensive management, rotational-grazing setup; and growing pounds of produce in a no-till, no-spray system.

What we don’t use ourselves, we sell to the community. You can catch our products going to our amazing CSA members every two weeks (they keep the whole thing running!), at our online shop sold off the farm, or at our currently exclusive farmer’s market, in downtown Madison.

We have pastured thanksgiving turkeys, pastured pork shares, pastured chicken, and so much more available for order now.

Be sure to say hi 👋 and introduce yourself in the comments. Thanks for being here! We’ll try to do a Q&A and maybe a virtual farm tour soon, so be sure to catch our stories. 🥰

We have loved being a part of the Old Thyme Market this year! Alix is so passionate about regenerative agriculture, she started a farmer’s market. How amazing! It has been so helpful connecting us with customers who are passionate about our mission and supporting small, regenerative farms. There is a such a need for this, and Alix stepped in and filled it. See you here Friday!

Have you ever heard of regenerative farming? Regenerative agriculture uses techniques like rotation of livestock and no-till planting to actually build soil and heal the land. Regenerative agriculture can actually reverse desertification and sequester carbon from the atmosphere.

I started Old Thyme Market because I’m passionate about the regenerative ag movement. I’m so thrilled to have Fatima Farm , a local regenerative farm in Hazel Green, Alabama at Old Thyme Market. They produce seriously incredible nutrient dense foods like pastured chicken, pork, lamb, eggs, and produce. If you believe in regenerative ag, you can support farms like Fatima Farm by finding them online, visiting them at farmers markets, and joining their CSA programs. Visit Fatima Farm at Old Thyme Market this Friday from 3-7pm.

We are here at Old Thyme Market in downtown Madison! Come see us!

Come and say hi tomorrow!

We’ve got a great lineup for tomorrow’s market, and we’ll be staying cool in the breezy shade of Garner Alley in downtown Madison. Come out to support your local farmers and artisans (and get your iced Figgee) before you grab a cold one at Old Black Bear Brewing Company or Main Street Cafe Madison!

Reed's Farmers Market
Henry’s Family Farm
Fatima Farm
Luna Moth Candle
Giant Weird Earrings
Flint River Elderberry
Mama Kat's Country Store
Wild about Herbs
Noelles Daydreams
Green Acre Pharms
FigBrew
The Cake Project

Come see us at the in downtown Madison! Now until 7!

For those interested in trying our heritage-breed, pastured pork, we have a new option added to our site.

If you would like to bulk order pork, but don’t necessarily have a ton of freezer space, pork quarters are a great option. The price listed is the total price—it includes the processing fees and everything. This includes cured bacon, sausage, pork ribs, pork chops, and a Boston and picnic OR a ham, depending on whether you choose a front quarter or a back quarter. Pick up is at our farm.

https://www.thefatimafarm.com/product-page/pastured-pork-quarters

If you are looking for a little more meat and customization, the pork halves option is for you. The price listed does not include processing fee, as that fee will depend on which cuts you order from the butcher. Pick up will be from the butcher in Hartselle, AL. If you would like a whole pig, order two halves.

https://www.thefatimafarm.com/product-page/pastured-pork

If you have any questions, please contact us! We are happy to walk you through it. Our pigs leave August 1, so if you are interested, now is the time to order!

We are also now accepting orders on pastured Thanksgiving turkeys—they are an absolutely delicious treat for the holidays.

https://www.thefatimafarm.com/product-page/thanksgiving-turkey

Fatima Farm updated their info in the about section.

We are here! Come see us in downtown Madison at the !

A very kind CSA member took the time to send us a note about her pickup last week.

As a very small business who has their hands and heart over everything we produce, who celebrates every little order, this note just sent us over the moon! We work hard to make sure our products are the most nourishing AND delicious you can get. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts to all of our amazing customers. We would not be here if it weren’t for you.

We are harvesting the last of the lettuce and some other yummy produce and meat for this Friday—we would LOVE to see you guys there!

If you are local you’ve got to check out Lindsey’s incredible work!

Are your girls back to full production mode? Or maybe you’re going to pick up a colorful dozen at the Farmer’s Market today like these from . If you have an abundance of eggs, I suggest using the whites to make a pavlova. It is so light and sweet that it goes perfectly with spring berries. If you need a 12-well egg tray, they are $30. I also have an 18-well tray and stackable trays if your birds are real over-achievers.. If you need an egg separator, they are $25. Make sure there are no yolks in the whites or the pavolva won’t whip properly. This tool is a game changer for that. See the links below in the comments if you'd like one!

Someone asked us what "permaculture" meant. The easiest way to explain it is with an example: the permaculture pig! Read about how we use many parts of our farm to produce nutritionally dense pork for our customers, and how our pigs bring something more to our farm than just meat.

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Healthy pork also tastes AMAZING. If you are looking for some of the most delicious pork (and the best bacon) around (heritage breed, pasture-raised), there are two ways you can enjoy ours:

1. join our mini-CSA (deadline to join is June 1) (https://www.thefatimafarm.com/product-page/summer-csa) OR

2. order a half or whole hog and enjoy amazing pork all year round (bacon, ham, sliced ham—hello healthy deli meat!—, ribs, chops, boston butt, lard... whatever you want, fill your freezer with it). (limited supply, so order soon) (https://www.thefatimafarm.com/product-page/pastured-pork)

Happy eating!

We are opening a mini-CSA for the summer for those who missed the deadlines for our other programs. The deadline to register is June 1.

Each biweekly pickup will include:
• one dozen pastured chicken eggs
• 3-5 lb pastured cut or whole chicken from June to August, THEN
• 2 lb pastured heritage pork sausage PLUS 1 lb premium pork cut (bacon, pork chops, etc) from August to October
• the option to add in-season, no-spray produce to your pickup at your local pickup spot

Pickup spots are Five Points and Madison from 12-6 or on-farm (Hazel Green) from 10-3.

Help us spread the word!

For comparison, another local CSA prices their eggs at $7/dozen, chicken breasts at $18/lb, their bacon at $13/lb, etc. At $80/month for 5 months or $375 up front this is a great deal! We are really proud of how competitive our prices are and how affordable we are able to offer our high-quality food.

For more details or to sign up, click here:

https://www.thefatimafarm.com/product-page/summer-csa

Summer CSA | Fatima Farm This is a biweekly program that runs from June to October. Each pickup includes: 1 dozen pastured chicken eggs, 3-5 pounds of cut or whole pastured chicken from the week of June 5th to the week of August 1st (5 pickups) 2 pounds of pastured pork sausage and 1 pound of a premium cut (including bacon....

Tomorrow is the last day to order for Saturday pickup! Another local CSA prices their chicken breasts at $18/lb 😮. This (less than $10/lb, with a free bag of salad mix when you purchase) is a GREAT deal. With food prices increasing and supply chain issues, this is the perfect time to fill your freezers with delicious, healthy chicken! Don’t forget to grab some wings for your Memorial Day festivities. 🥳 This will be our last farmstand open to the public for a while, so stock up while you can!