Welcome to Mary Margaret's Blog

Eat more veggies that's what it's all about, right?

Or grow more flowers for yourself and the bees?

But what about when the deer haven't gotten that memo?

What about when they come in and take big bites out of everything you've worked hard to plant including your tomato plants, your lettuce, and sunflowers?

That's what I'm here for today. To help you outwit the deer.

Because believe me do we have experience in doing …

Do you know what plant I'm talking about? Or are you skeptical?

Yes, I guarantee you that this spring green can be found in your yard.

In fact, they can be found on every continent in the world, except for Antarctica.

Traditionally they have been valued for their edible and medicinal properties.

But today they are often widely disparaged as incorrigible, tenacious, stubborn. Some even curse them because they invade lawns, fields, and even between …

Some of the most common questions we get are:

How do you deal with pests on your organic farm?

How to deal with the cucumber beetles that come every year and destroy my plants before they can make fruits at all or very many?

Why do my radish leaves always have so many holes in them that they don't do much on the root part?

I don't like getting worms in my cauliflower/broccoli/cabbage. What do …

Do you have eggs coming out of your ears this time of year?

Or do your neighbors?

What about the the farm down the (muddy) road?

Yep, it's that time of year! The sunlight has come back and backyard chickens are in full production.

Our 5 year old daughter is in charge of getting the chicken eggs every day and counting them. She reports up to 17 eggs some days now!

Which is awesome! Because …

As a CSA member, we know you like to try new things and expand your horizons with vegetables.

So do we.

Heck, one of our very favorite things to do as farmers is PICK what we're going to grow in the coming season.  

Yep, the farm crew spent many of the cold, wintry days in early March holed up inside the farmhouse, noses in seed catalogs debating the merits of this variety or that variety.

If you're …

Hi!  It's Mary Margaret here.  I'm so excited to bring you this special guest post by Ripley Farm's Assistant Farmer Hannah Johnson! 

She's our "garden anywhere" girl, and she's about to show you how easy it is to grow the fresh organic veggies and flowers of your dreams even if you don't have garden space.  Read on and let her personal experience, tips, and success growing in containers guide you to your own...

Have …

Update: We have a winner!  Susan H. won out of 155 entries!  Congratulations!

Thanksgiving is just around the corner... 

And this year, I'm ready for it.  In fact, eating healthy while relaxing with family is on my mind.  And yours, too, I bet!

We can help with that!

Enter to win our farm fresh Thanksgiving Veggie Basket PLUS 6 recipes to go with it and you’ll be well on your way to simple, easy holiday …

What do I do with leeks?

That is a question I get often.

And I'm not surprised.  I didn't grow up with leeks.  Why not just use onions, right?

Well..... first off, not to get off topic, but don’t they look amazingly appetizing?

The long, slender, sleek look is in, right?

And their attractive blue-green and white contrast and palm-like fans at the top make leeks unarguably one of the most gorgeous specimens of the …

You're so busy especially when the fall school routine rolls around, right?

I'm homeschooling my daughter, and with fall harvests and wanting to be outside as much as possible, I'm always looking for ways to keep the kitchen time to a minimum. If that's you, too, I'm here to help!

There is a prep hack that has been a game changer for me in terms of saving time, so I want to share it with …

It's harvest season on the farm! And there's a reason that from time immemorial, we humans have celebrated the harvests!

A pile of harvested veggies like carrots, beets, onions, squash, and more represents health and comfort for the winter, right?  To me, it just feels good to see it there.

We may go to the grocery store for most of our food nowadays, but we haven't forgotten our roots as humans who rely on the …