Join the Cable Natural History Museum’s Pollinator Intern for a tour of the exciting diversity growing at the Cable Community Farm. Explore the Native Plant Garden, the Theatre Flower Garden, the Community Orchard, Community Vineyard, and beekeeping operation. All of this biodiversity helps us grow food in the Community Garden and the Growing Together Garden. Tours are free, but donations are gratefully accepted.
Saturdays 2:00 – 3:00 pm
13765 Perry Lake Road, Cable, WI
All ages welcome!
The Cable Community Farm is delighted to announce the 2017 Vegetable of the Year…PEAS! Uniting the community around growing a single vegetable is one way to boost community health because it encourages people to share growing tips, recipes, and enthusiasm about growing food. Ultimately, encouraging people to grow some of their own food leads to a more resilient and inclusive food system.
Peas are nutritious, versatile, and easy to grow in our northern climate. Green peas also stand out as an environmentally friendly vegetable because they belong to a category of crops that “fix” nitrogen from the air and convert it to a usable form of nitrogen in the soil, reducing the need to add fertilizer. Peas are extremely low in fat, high in nutrients and fiber, loaded with antioxidants, and delicious. In addition, “pea shoots”, which are the tiny plants that will eventually become the vines, can be eaten in their immature form and are often used in upscale restaurants in salads and sandwiches.
The Cable Community Farm is grateful for the support of the Local Business Heroes, who provided the financial resources for the Vegetable of the Year campaign. This year’s sponsors include Northern Native Plantscapes, Chequamegon Fat Tire Festival, S. Qualey Studio, Brick House Café, King Realty, Rondeau’s Shopping Center, Cable Natural History Museum, Northland Lawn Sport and Equipment, Redbery Books, and Cable Chiropractic Clinic. All of these businesses are committed to promoting healthy eating and local food production in our community.
As part of the Vegetable of the Year campaign, the Cable Community Farm will be distributing packets of pea seeds, along with planting, harvesting, and preparing instructions, throughout the community. Free packets of seed will be available at local businesses and will be given to all of the elementary students at the Drummond Area School District.
As she has each year, Mimi Crandall, a local artist who is part of the Leadership Team at the Cable Community Farm, created a beautiful watercolor rendition of “English Peas” to be used in the promotional material for the campaign.
SeedMoney is a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping food gardens flourish. They do this by helping organizations with “crowdfunding” campaigns and awarding small grants. The Cable Community Farm’s SeedMoney campaign goes live today at 12:00 noon and runs until December 15, 2016. Our goal is $600. We are raising funds to build raised beds and classroom space in our new hoop house, which will allow members of our community to grow fresh produce almost all year long! The first 75 organizations to hit their fundraising goal will receive a “challenge” grant from SeedMoney. We can do this!
Here’s the link to: Donate Today for a Healthier Community!
Our 4th annual Harvest Dinner was held at the Community Center earlier this month. It was a potluck-style affair, with dishes that ranged from Risotto with Roast Butternut Squash to Home Garden Tomatoes to Wild Rice Bread to Blueberry Lemon Pie. There were volunteers on hand to help serve, play the piano, and wash dishes. The atmosphere was cozy and warm as we reflected on the successes of our gardens and our plans for next year’s gardens. We are always grateful for our volunteers, who are also our friends and neighbors, for the “potluck” of energy and abilities that they bring to our comunity farm and our annual Harvest Dinner.
Our Backyard Farming series is off to a great start! Yulia Welk led a workshop about finding plants with edible and medicinal parts on the Nature’s Garden Trail and Farmer Aaron led a tour of the poultry barn with the Pekin Ducks and the “chicken tractors” with the Cornish X Broilers. 
Oink! Moo! Quack! The Little Farmers delighted the crowd at the Cable Fourth of July Parade with animal noises. We also handed out 1,000 packets of Blue Lake beans for planting…it’s the Vegetable of the Year!
The summer is off to a great start! Kelli Tuttle, Certified Arborist, led a workshop about Planting Fruit Trees as part of our Backyard Farming series. The Community Garden plots are mostly planted and well-watered. The “little farmers” are enjoying their new play space, complete with big tractors to climb on and little tractors to ride.
Kelli Tuttle explains the proper depth for planting fruit trees.
Community Gardeners preparing their plot for planting.
Kristine Lendved always plants plenty of greens to freeze and enjoy all year long.
Roman enjoys the pedal tractor!
After watering the sunflower plants, Asher posed in front of the big tractor.
We are pleased to announce our series of mini-workshops for 2016: Backyard Farming! Each mini-workshop will feature a “community expert” sharing information that you can use in your own backyard and will incorporate hands-on activities to help you learn how to use your new skills. The series is appropriate for all ages and experience levels and will be offered free of charge. Refreshments provided.
6/5 Sustainable Farming for the Home Gardener with Katie Hancock
6/12 Planting Fruit Trees with Kelli Tuttle
6/19 Beekeeping with Monte Lewis
6/26 Nature’s Garden Trail with Yulia Welk
7/3 Pastured Poultry: Cornish X Broilers and Pekin Ducks with Farmer Aaron
7/10 Pastured Poultry: Community Coop and mobile hen house with Farmer Aaron
7/17 Community Vineyard with Tom Nigbor
7/24 Let’s Make Hay: Scything with Adrian Wydeven
7/31 Plein Air Garden Painting with Mimi Crandall
8/7 Native Plant Identification with Sarah Boles
8/14 Composting with Katie Hancock
8/21 Nature’s Garden Trail with Emily Stone
8/28 Vegetable of the Year: Let’s make Dilly Beans!
The Little Farmers play area will also be open on Sunday afternoons from 3 to 6 pm.
