I am in the process of planning a pollinator’s garden. I want it to be a palace for all of the pollinators. I think it will be a nice addition to the farm. As I am researching flowers to plant Echinacea seems to be one of the favorites. It just so happens a vast variety of the plants that we grow in the greenhouses is great for pollinator gardens. We have a new type of Echinacea that we are growing this year. It is the Green Twister. It is irresistible to butterflies, long-blooming, ultra-colorful, and carefree. The petals are held nearly straight out from the bloom, instead of bent back like many other Coneflowers, giving Green Twister more color on every giant bloom. And there are simply so many blooms. They begin in midsummer and continue into fall! Carefree in any sunny spot, these drought-tolerant plants reach 3½ feet tall, tolerating light shade though best in the blazing heat. Bearing literally hundreds of blooms over its many months of color, Green Twister is a garden workhorse, yet looks so effortless and lush in the sunny bed or border! Echinacea blooms the first year and for many years thereafter, lasting through the worst heat and dry weather summer has to offer. The flowers are also superb in the vase that is if you can tear them away from the butterflies! A natural treasure, I got the information for Green Twister from the Park Seed Website. It is one of the many vendors we purchase seeds from. They are located in SC.
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We have started a newsletter for the farm. We sent one out in January. We try to keep it short and sweet but send you enough information so you know what's going on around the farm.

We are very excited about the newsletter it is informative, We give items away. Last month it was a t-shirt. We will also have coupons for you to use here at the farm. You will know about processing dates for our meat before others. The only way to get these specialties are to sign up for our newsletter.

If you have already signed up for our newsletter we really appreciate you. If you would like to sign up just send us a message with your email address. If you signed up and didn't get our January newsletter please let me know so I can check your email address and make sure we got it correct.

There are a lot of great things that are starting to take place here at the farm so sign up today so you will stay in the know. Thanks and Happy Saturday!

Hot & Spicy Oregano is a great plant for a garden or a container. It is a perennial. It does good in Zones 5 to 9. The plant will thrive in any soil if you keep it well drained. It doesn't like to stay real wet. It will die if you keep the plant to wet. If you plant the plant in the ground it will die to the ground in the winter. Then in the spring it will re-sprout.

The leaves have a traditional oregano flavor but with a little edge. The hotness is really a mild hot. The more frequently you harvest the leaves the better your plant will grow. It is very easy to snip the branches and throw in a dehydrator to dry for later use. I keep the hot and spicy oregano on hand at all times. It just adds such flavor instead of plan old boring Oregano.

If you are looking for a nice container plant with greenery you have found it. It is also an attractant for bees and butterflies. It has tiny pink blooms in late summer. It is also a great companion plant to plant along with broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, cucumber and peppers because the leaves are aromatic and they repel pests.


So come see us this spring and spice up your life with some Hot & Spicy Oregano!

Happy Sunday morning to you! I just thought I would take a minute before I had to go home and get ready for church to talk to you about our new website. It is louderbranchfarms.com. We are very excited about the new website. It is very informational about us and what we do. If you go to our site and do not see a red tractor on the homepage it is still pulling the old website so try typing it in your address bar.

It has a greenhouse section and it lists all of the plants that we carry with a description and picture of the plant. It will vary to some degree but that is what we carry most of the time. We may end up with additional plants that are not on the list.

My favorite new section is the online store. We are only doing pick ups here at the farm on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 6-8 pm. Come March 28th we will be open 6 days a week from 9 am - 6 pm. This will include the greenhouses and a small store here on the farm. The store will be carrying our  products so it will be seasonal. We hope to process our first round of chickens by the end of March. If you are a member of our newsletter you will find out processing dates first hand. So if you are not a member and you are interested please email us your information and we will get you on the mailing list.

The blog is a new feature for us. If there is something particular that you would like us to talk on please send us your ideas. We would love to hear from you. 

​Happy Sunday and many Blessings!

My husband loves a white chicken. He has always had a few white leghorns.I have never been real crazy about the looks of a white leghorn. I like big healthy chickens. We were looking for a new chicken last year that would help with our egg production. Of course Mike was suggesting White Leghorns. I didn't want that breed so I started researching chickens. We have had many breeds of chickens during our 31 years together. As a matter of fact there is probably not to many that we haven't tried.

I started by going to all of the hatcheries that I use online and seeing what they had. I was not satisfied with anything that I was seeing but then I found them. My next new type of chicken that I would absolutely fall in love with.

The chicken is a cross between the Black Australorp rooster and a White Leghorn hen. Little did I know that this cross had been around since the early 1900's. They are a white chicken with random black feathers.They are excellent layers throughout the year. Their eggs are a large off white/cream colored. They are considered a heavy breed. Their disposition is calmer than the Leghorns. They are supposed to have good reflexes for predator avoidance but they are white and can be easily seen. We put our chickens up at night just for their own safety. We do let them free range during the day.

My chickens have just started laying and I must say that I am covered in eggs. It is true that they are a great egg layer. They have a good feed to egg ratio. If you love to sit around and just watch your chickens scratch around the yard you will not be disappointed. I love my white Austra's..