The Denney Farm

If your interested in how to put up a greenhouse. Check out this free event in Rochester next week!

Come help construct a USDA-funded EQIP high tunnel July 29th during this old-school barn raising style event!

Led by Urban Soil Health and , participants will assemble the high tunnel skeleton and attach the plastic covering. This will be a hands-on instructional day building the full high tunnel (also known as a "hoop house").

This event is for all Indiana Conservation Partners, farmers, and future farmers - anyone interested in seeing what it means to build a high tunnel. Refreshments and food will be provided to attendees throughout the day.
Options are available to attend part of the day or the whole day. Please registration by July 25, but registration will remain open until the day of the event.

Register for this free event here: https://events.humanitix.com/high-tunnel-build

It’s Aronia berry season! 🥳 We will have lots of fresh picked pints available the Winona Lake Farmers Market on Saturday 8 -1 pm. Don’t know what Aronia berries are? Well they are a native bush of Indiana with berries that look just like a blueberry. However that’s where the similarities stop. Aronia berries have 500x the antioxidant of a blueberry and loaded with tannin (making it great for wine making). Tannin will instantly dry out your mouth, so we don’t suggest eating them by the handfuls. We find that Aronia berries are best used in fruit smoothies or added with Elderberries when making Elderberry syrup. Aronia berries do freeze nice. We freeze Aronia berries for the winter months when cold and flu season are rampant.

What happened to our onions?!?!? They went from beautiful upright greens to laying down over night. The hurricane remnant storm came in and dropped about three inches of rain and enough wind to knock down almost all of the Candy onions. Once onions flop over they are done growing for the year. The upside is that they grew really well this year. For the next few weeks we’ll have fresh onions and then we’ll have cured onions.

Congratulations to our winners of the dried herb giveaway to celebrate Brittany’s birthday. 🥳. 🎈 🎈 🎂. 🥳 🎈 🎈

Chelsea Wray
Nathan Lothamer
Olivia Frantz C***s



Your prize can be can picked up any Saturday at the Winona Lake Farmers Market from 8-1pm.

That’s a whole lot of Hot n Spicy Oregano 🌿! What is hot n spicy oregano you ask? It’s has the great taste of oregano with a hint of spice. Making this our go to herb for Taco Tuesday and any other Mexican dishes we make. It also happens to be Nick’s favorite, so we grow extra hot n spicy oregano 😊. All our herbs are grown here on the farm, harvested and air dried for 4-6 weeks. Then we hand strip all the leaves off the stems and package up. We do our best not to crush the leaves to preserve all the freshness and aromatic oils. So if you are ever a lucky recipient of one our dried herbs crush the leaves up with your hands as you cook. It releases all the oils that are special to that specific herb. Elevating your dishes to a whole new level! Since tomorrow is Brittany’s birthday 🥳 we will be giving away 1 package of dried herbs to 5 lucky 🍀 people! Just like or share this post to be entered to win. We will notify the winners on Saturday.

Welcome back to “Urban farming” or “Bust ass before the rain”. We last left you with a long list of outdoor farming before a surmountable amount of rain. What happened? Well, the rain came a day early. We ended up with 2.75” of rain from Hurricane Beryl. The most important items got done. Our 2024 garlic harvest is now curing in the greenhouse. Our next row of spring salad mix is planted. The irrigation was put on rain delay and any more garden work has also been put on hold while everything dries out a bit. In the meantime we will take this opportunity to package up more dried teas and herbs for market this week.

With the rain from Hurricane Beryl coming in a couple days we have to try and get 4 days worth of work done in 2 days. Can we do it? 🤷🏻‍♀️ Will the next batch of lettuce get planted? Will the garlic get harvested? Will the garden get w**ded? Stay tuned for the next episode of “Urban Farming” or “Bust ass before the rain” With all our poking fun at working with Mother Nature and our blessing of the coming rain. It is sad to hear of all the destruction that Hurricane Beryl has caused in the Caribbean and Texas. We will keep our thoughts with those that have lost everything in this hurricane and hope that they can find the strength to rebuild again. farming

The Breakfast Club showed up at the Winona Lake Farmers Market last Saturday! These crazy kids have one thing in common: they have been going to farmers markets across northern Indiana since they were in their mother’s belly’s. They know the drill. Load trucks the night before. Get up at 5 am, drag their butts to the car. Get to market, help unload trucks in a zombie like state. Try to keep themselves entertained during market with various books, toys and snacks. Whine a little that they want to go home, it’s hot, “I’m bored”. Markets over; load trucks as fast as your tired legs can carry you. Just to get home to unload the trucks again.

What’s up with the white fabric? Short answer: it’s white landscape fabric used to bounce heat from the suns rays off the lettuce. Long answer: We use black landscape fabric to suppress w**ds, warm up the soil and keep our lettuce leads out of the dirt. Once summer heat hits we no longer need that extra warmth, but we really need the w**d suppression. So, we burn holes into two layers of landscape fabric; black on bottom to suppress w**ds and white on top to reflect the heat/ light. **dcontrol

Happy Father’s Day!!

We took the morning off to take the family to Fannin's Elk Ridge in Rochester, IN. They gave us a great tour of their elk farm. The passion they have for raising quality healthy animals really shows through. We were able fed the cows, stand among the giant gentle bulls, and see sheds from previous years. Nick and I were surprised how calm the animals were with us humans around. The kids favorite part was feeding them. If you ever want to see elk up close and personal we highly recommend checking it out!

Her breads are amazing! What a great way to give back to the community. 💕

Neighborhood Breads Customer Appreciation Day is Saturday June 8th!!

Details...Come see me at the Farmers Market at Winona on Saturday, June 8th. You choose your breads/pastries/bagels like usual and then YOU CHOOSE your DONATION amount and that's what you pay for your item(s).

ALL proceeds on Saturday will go to Warsaw Community Schools Lunch Debt Forgiveness Program.

Let me know if you have any questions!

1 year ago today vs today at The Farmers Market at Winona.

Thank you to all who served.

All set up The Farmers Market at Winona until 1 pm today. Last call for Peppers and Tomato plants. Lots of Spring Salad Mix, Radishes and more!

Did you buy plants from us and get a stowaway as well?

Don’t worry these are beneficial insects that love to eat bad bugs like aphids, thrips, mosquitoes, ticks and other a host of other bad bugs.

Here on our farm we continue to work with nature, providing homes to a host of beneficial insects. They are fun to see and they make our job producing food organically sooo much easier!

L to R: Lacewing, Swallowtail catapullar, Parastic wasp, and praying mantis.

We have a great looking bed of onions this year! Grown from seed that we started in February. This year we are growing ‘Candy’ and ‘Yellow of Parma’. ‘Candy’ are known for sweet large onions perfect for onion rings and hamburgers on the grill. We should be harvesting these around 4th of July. ‘Yellow of Parma’ are an Italian heirloom great for cooking and long term storage. ( We are still eating onions from last year.) Once cured these onions should be available in September.

The key to growing nice onions is lots of consistent watering. Don’t plant too deep. Only plant the roots and leave the bulb part above the soil. Fertilize! Onions are heavy feeders. We fertilize with phosphorus at first planting then a weekly dose of nitrogen. Fertilizing stops once the onions starts forming a bulb.

This weekend is the perfect for planting a garden! Here is a list of the plants we will have at The Farmers Market at Winona from 8- 1pm tomorrow. 🌞 if you can’t find the plants your looking for don’t worry there are 3 additional vendors this weekend with plants. Lemler Valley Farm Back To Natural Farm Goldwood Gardens

Most 3 1-2” pots are $4 each.

🪴 🪴. 🪴
Space master cucumber
Garden sweet burpless Cucumber
Straight Eight Cucumber
Calypso pickling cucumbers
Dark green zucchini

Slicing Tomatoes:🍅

Beefsteak
Early Girl
Black from Tula
Brandywine
San marzano
Big beef
Green zebra
Cherokee Purple
Mortgage Lifter
Aunt Ruby’s German green

Cherry and Grape Tomatoes:🍅

Sweet Zen
Larry’s Large Red Cherry
Atomic cherry
Sunsugar
Honeydrop
Sunrise bumblebee
Snow White
Sweet purple salad

Herbs:🌿

Calendula
Thai basil
Lemon Basil
Holy Basil
Genovese basil
Eucalyptus
Garden sage
White sage
Rosemary
Wild bergamot
Dill Hera
Dill bouquet
Sweet marjoram
Winter savory
Greek oregano
Hot n spicy oregano
Lemon balm
Orange mint
French tarragon
Garlic chives
Regular chives
Spearmint
Applemint
Ginger mint
Pineapple mint
Mojito mint
St. John’s Wort
Borage
Toothache Plant

Hot Peppers: 🌶️

Ancho chili (aka Poblano pepper)
Hot pops purple
Ghost peppers
Jalapeños

Sweet Peppers 🫑

California Wonder Red Bell
Banana pepper
Red Bulls horn
Yellow Marconi Italian
Yellow bell
Lunchbox
Orange bell
Purple beauty bell

💐 Flowers

Marigold. ‘Inca II’
Marigold ‘Bonanza Bolero’
Marigold ‘Little Hero’
Benary’s Giant Zinna Mix
Benary’s Lime Green Zinna

4 packs $ 3 🪴

Utah tall Celery, Broccoli ‘Green Magic’, Cabbage ‘Blue Vantage’, Snapdragons, Sweet Alyssum, Cockscomb ‘tie dye’

Elderberry Bushes $10
Pineapple Sage. $8
Lavender ‘Ellagance’ $8
Tansy $8
Rosemary ‘Tuscan Blue’ $20
(Grown in a 3 gallon pot)

Edited:All plants are delivered to Wabash County. It was great to see everyone! 😊Tomorrow morning Nick will be delivering to Warsaw. Plants will be watered before they are loaded up to leave here.

Out for plant deliveries this afternoon! We will be delivering to Wabash County today. Depending on how fast that goes we may also deliver to Warsaw today. If not then Warsaw will be delivered tomorrow. We will update the post once our first load is delivered.

We are so excited to be apart of this new endeavor! We will be offering a wide variety of fresh herbs, rhubarb, dried herbs and teas and more! So check it out and see what a host of local farmers can provide to your cooking needs. 😊

Home delivery in 14 counties! Farm share season starts in June and now you can have your market box delivered right to your doorstep. Sign up today! Link in comments.

Happy Mother's Day to all the incredible women who have ever been called mom or grandma, you are the embodiment of love and selflessness, and we celebrate you today and every day!

Thank you to everyone who came out to The Farmers Market at Winona this week. It was an amazing market on a chilly day! Can’t wait to see everyone next Saturday with more vegetable and herb plants and Tons of Spring Salad mix! 🥗 For now it’s nap time we’re tuckered out.

Here is a list of the plants we will have at The Farmers Market at Winona from 8- 1pm tomorrow. 🌞

Most 3 1-2” pots are $4 each.

🪴 🪴. 🪴
Space master cucumber
Garden sweet burpless Cucumber
Dark green zucchini

Slicing Tomatoes:🍅

Beefsteak
Amish paste
Brandywine
San marzano
Big beef
Green zebra
Cherokee Purple
Mortgage Lifter
Aunt Ruby’s German green

Cherry and Grape Tomatoes:🍅

Sweet Zen
Atomic cherry
Sunsugar
Honeydrop
Sunrise bumblebee
Snow White
Sweet purple salad

Herbs:🌿

Calendula
Thai basil
Lemon Basil
Holy Basil
Genovese basil
Eucalyptus
Garden sage
White sage
Rosemary
Wild bergamot
Dill Hera
Dill bouquet
Sweet marjoram
Winter savory
Greek oregano
Hot n spicy oregano
Lemon balm
Orange mint
French tarragon
Garlic chives
Regular chives
Spearmint
Applemint
Ginger mint
Pineapple mint
Mojito mint
St. John’s Wort
Borage
Toothache Plant

Hot Peppers: 🌶️

Ancho chili (aka Poblano pepper)
Hot pops purple
Ghost peppers
Scotch bonnet
Green chili
Serrano
Jalapeños
Hungarian hot wax

Sweet Peppers 🫑

California Wonder Red Bell
Banana pepper
Red Bulls horn
Yellow Marconi Italian
Yellow bell
Lunchbox
Orange bell
Purple beauty bell

💐 Flowers

Marigold. ‘Inca II’
Marigold ‘Bonanza Bolero’
Marigold ‘Little Hero’
Benary’s Giant Zinna Mix
Benary’s Lime Green Zinna

4 packs $ 3 🪴

Utah tall Celery, Broccoli ‘Green Magic’, Cabbage ‘Blue Vantage’, Snapdragons, Sweet Alyssum, Cockscomb ‘tie dye’

Elderberry Bushes $10
Pineapple Sage. $8
Lavender ‘Ellagance’ $8
Tansy $8
Rosemary ‘Tuscan Blue’ $20
(Grown in a 3 gallon pot)

It’s that time of year again where I clean out all my frozen rhubarb from last year and make a batch of rhubarb wine! You read that right rhubarb wine! It’s a delicious white wine which besides drinking for a relaxing evening we also use it for cooking risotto.

I’m posting the recipe for any wine making aficionados or degents like me. I use the recipe with white grape juice concentrate, but feel free to try both.

We will have lots of rhubarb at The Farmers Market at Winona this Saturday.

* Edited
Thank you to all who answered. We will just wait until next Monday/Tuesday to deliver plants (unless we messaged you personally and stated otherwise!) Thank you all for being flexible with Indiana Spring. We can't wait to deliver plants to you!

We want to thank everyone who ordered plants early online. 🥰 Orders were filled last Wednesday and Thursday before market. The entire middle table is full of deliveries!

We are currently deliberating on whether to deliver this Tuesday or Wednesday or next week. With lows in the 40’s later in the week ( which will kill basil, sometimes marigolds and cucumbers). We’re not sure whether you our delivery customers would want.

1. Deliver plants this week and deal with colder temperatures.
2. Have us keep your plants another week in the warm greenhouse.

We would love your opinions!

All set up The Farmers Market at Winona from 8-1 pm. Farmers market is located inside the Miller Sunset Pavilion across from the Winona Lake post office.

For those of you planning on shopping for garden plants at The Farmers Market at Winona from 8- 1pm tomorrow. Here is the detailed list of what we will have.

Most 3 1-2” pots are $4 each.

🪴 🪴. 🪴
Early Summer Squash
Space master cucumber
Garden sweet burpless Cucumber
Calypso pickling cucumber
Dark green zucchini

Slicing Tomatoes:🍅

Beefsteak
Amish paste
Brandywine
San marzano
Big beef
Green zebra
Cherokee Purple
Aunt Ruby’s German green

Cherry and Grape Tomatoes:🍅

Sweet Zen
Atomic cherry
Sunsugar
Honeydrop
Sunrise bumblebee
Snow White
Sweet purple salad

Herbs:🌿

Calendula
Thai basil
Genovese basil
Eucalyptus
Garden sage
White sage
Rosemary
Wild bergamot
Dill Hera
Dill bouquet
Sweet marjoram
Winter savory
Greek oregano
Hot n spicy oregano
Lemon balm
Orange mint
French tarragon
Garlic chives
Regular chives
Spearmint
Applemint
Ginger mint
Pineapple mint
Mojito mint
Lemon basil

Hot Peppers: 🌶️

Ancho chili
Hot pops purple
Ghost peppers
Scotch bonnet
Green chili
Serrano
Jalapeños
Hungarian hot wax

Sweet Peppers 🫑

California Wonder Red Bell
Banana pepper
Bulls horn
Marconi
Yellow bell
Lunchbox
Orange bell
Purple beauty bell

4 packs $ 3

Utah tall Celery, Broccoli ‘Green Magic’, Cabbage ‘Blue Vantage’, Snapdragons, Sweet Alyssum

Garden tip:

With all the rain we’ve been getting now is a great time to w**d your garden. The w**ds are coming up nicely roots and all.

Here on the farm Canada Thistle is our biggest w**d. The best way to organically reduce our w**d pressure is by hand pulling them one by one. Pulling Canada Thistle from root weakens the plant. It will come back but if they are constantly being pulled up eventually the problem is almost non existent. ( As long as new seeds don’t blow in. This happens around July/ August). A thick pair of gloves helps the w**ding process to be less prickly. We lay the pulled plants in the driveway to die a slow death, but throwing them in the trash is also an option. NEVER put w**ds in your compost!

Fun Fact 1 # Canadian Thistle was brought over by the pilgrims for a herbal tea. ( We’ve tried it and found other herbs have better flavor.)

Fun Fact #2: Yellow finches wait until the thistles have seeded to make their nest. They use the downy like seeds for nesting material.

**dcontrol

LAST CALL 📣 for plants. Well plant delivery that is. If you want beautiful plants delivered straight to your doorstep ( 2nd week of May) order now! This is your last chance. Thursday we will be shutting down our online store.

DenneyFarms.com

We will fill all our orders and any plants left we will be bringing to the The Farmers Market at Winona this Saturday 8-1pm for purchase.