I got into kefir about a year ago when my husband was looking into alternative and natural types of workout supplements. At first I was pretty skeptical, but thought it could be a fun project for us. Steele ordered the kefir "grains" from a natural foods website and I made sure we were fully stocked on whole milk and the experiment began. It took several days and a lot of milk before the kefir grains activated, but we were finally in business. Steele, who firmly hates yogurt, took one taste of the kefir and said he would never drink it again. Even though Steele isn't a fan, I have kept our fridge loaded with kefir and the whole milk we need to make it for over a year now, and the only thing better than fresh coffee every morning is my kefir smoothie.

To make kefir, you will need to either start your own grains, or have a culture given to you by a friend.

Vacations. You may be processing your kefir every couple days or maybe even every day. If you're going to be out of town, don't worry. You can put your milk & kefir culture jar in the fridge at any point during the process to keep it from thickening into kefir. Once you get home, just move the jar back to the counter top at room temperature and you're back in business!

Uses. I use kefir for all the same uses as yogurt... it's just a lot healthier for you! I love using kefir in breakfast smoothies, as a yogurt substitute on granola or cereal, and I even mix it with my dehydrated face masks!

    We have been incredibly lucky this year to have such a tremendous harvest of winter squash and cooking pumpkins. We face our fair share of challenges by growing with organic practices. Certain pests and diseases remain a problem year after year, but we continue to mature as a farm each season to try and combat these issues, one at a time.
    This season the bulk of our cucumber, summer squash, zucchini, winter (fall) squash and cooking pumpkins were located at our satellite garden, just 3 miles from the main farm. This garden has a wonderful build-up of organic matter, and has been managed organically by the family who owns the farm.  Nestled between several large barns and machine sheds, and protected by a meandering creek with towering trees, this small garden continues to out-perform our main farm, in terms of square feet. All these factors, combined with a long-term crop rotation plan, allowed our winter squash to mature past their most vulnerable growth stage before cucumber beetles and squash bugs blew into the garden and started doing damage.
    So folks, without further ado, here is our lineup of winter squash and cooking pumpkin varieties for the 2016 season.

With so many different varieties of tomatoes, it can sometimes be difficult to keep them all straight. This year we have 4 varieties of cherry tomatoes. Here's an easy guide to help you remember your favorite...