The "Fresh Picked Home Grown" farmers want to provide for you and your family the assurance that your grocery dollars are helping to create sustainable agriculture in your community as well as food that is grown and produced locally according to a rigorous code of ethics and standards of excellence. Visit a Fresh Picked Home Grown farm in your area today!
Most vegetables at Brook Farm ripen by late July or early August. Canning quantities of tomatoes generally become available in late August. Summer squash, sugar pod peas, Swiss-chard and spinach are available earlier. Not all vegetables are available all season long. Please call to check status. All vegetables except corn, cabbage and melons have the same price per pound. You can mix, for example, beans, tomatoes and peppers and we charge you a very reasonable price per pound for the contents. The farm sells large quantities of onions, tomatoes, hot peppers and tomatillos for salsa production.
All of our plants are grown on a small farm in Woodstock, Illinois. We are large enough to grow in economic quantities, yet small enough to pamper every plant. We employ typical organic growing methods such as using only natural, organic seed starting mix, soil amendments and fertilizers, and never using synthetic chemicals of any kind. We practice crop rotation and companion planting, which help to minimize soil-borne diseases and pest damage. We recycle, re-use, and compost as much as possible, and use natural mulches such as straw and leaves that not only conserve water, but also enrich the soil by adding organic matter as they degrade. We use only organic and / or untreated seeds, and save our own seed when possible. We also employ several unorthodox methods such as our bug patrolling chickens and ducks, rodent-controlling canines, and the weed-eating guard tortoises in the starting greenhouse!
