Spring Greens! – May 5, 2013 update

Posted on April 26, 2012 by admin

We are located at 661 FM 1553, Bonham, TX 75418 just about 10 miles south of Bonham off of Hwy 78. We are no longer going to offer “pick your own” vegetables and fruits. However, you are certainly welcome to come out and buy some of our naturally grown, no-pesticide produce that we have already picked. We have a $10 charge per family which includes a tour of the garden. Cost of vegetables is extra.

f1063153c33df36 Spring Greens! May 5, 2013 update

This is our current vegetable price list at Cypress Lake Ranch. We try to keep this updated frequently but please understand if we have something listed here and we have run out. Sometimes that happens.

Herbs – $1.00 per bag

Here are some of the herbs we have: Salad Burnet, Mint of various kinds and Cilantro.

Kale – $2.00 per bag

Winter Giant Spinach = $2.00 per quart bag.

Winter Giant Spinach (6 oz bag) = $4.00

Winter Giant Spinach (8 oz bag) = $5.00

Swiss Chard (Giant Fordhook and Rhubarb Chard) = $2.00 per generous bunch

Green onions – bunch of 6 = $1.00

Fresh new onions – bunch of 5 = $3.00

Salad mix – $2.00 per quart bag

Salad mix – $5.00 per gallon bag

Radishes – $1.00 per bunch

Flower bouquets – $2.00 each

Peas are in full bloom and will be coming soon! We can hardly wait!

Papershell Pecans (in the shell) $4.00 per quart bag (a little over a pound)

Native Pecans (in the shell) $2.00 per quart bag (more than a pound)

Manure Tea bags (not for human consumption) – make your own manure tea to water your garden and containers. $4.00 per bag.

We also have fresh eggs from our free range flock of hens – $3.00/dozen

Ask about our home grown pastured poultry @ $3.50 per pound.

Other items in our store:

Naturally delicious homemade dog treats – peanut butter and BBQ flavors.

Manure tea bags – Cow, horse, rabbit or barnyard mix.

Handcrafted pens.

Handmade yarn scarves of various colors. $10 each

Lavender bath salts.

Herbal scrubs.

We can also make Artisan Breads, Banana, Zucchini and Pumpkin Breads as well as Pies. We will need 24 hours advance notice to get these ready. Check with us for current price list.

Give us a call at (214) 681-1306 or (214) 701-8298 or email us at Cypresslakeranch@gmail.com to see about purchasing some of our lovely produce that has NOT been sprayed with insecticides. We can also deliver to McKinney and other surrounding areas. We have horses so we keep our gate locked. But we’ll be glad to open it for you if you let us know when you are coming.

If you would like to come out to buy some fresh vegetables, give us a call at (903) 583-6036 or (214) 681-1306. If we don’t answer, please leave a message. We are frequently out in the garden.

Call us for morning and/or weekend options as we frequently have other commitments on the weekend. But we’ll be happy to have you come if we’re going to be here.

Also ask about our petting zoo, pony rides, horseback riding lessons and birthday party options. For details see another post on this site and to arrange times, please call Krista at (214) 681-1306.
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What do we do at Cypress Lake Ranch?

Posted on August 5, 2010 by admin

We are in our fourth year of growing local garden produce for North Texas and the DFW metroplex area. We love growing things – plants, animals, kids! We do it with lots of love and we do it without pesticides and hormones, etc. Our gardens are all in raised beds; our orchard is well kept, well cared for and they both give us great returns.

Horses:

We teach riding lessons at our ranch (located just north of Bailey) and in McKinney. The instructor is a certified therapeutic riding instructor and loves to teach beginners, kids and people with special needs. She has over 10 years of teaching experience. We love our horses and have some beauties. We have an Exmoor mare, a filly (for sale) and 3 pure and 1 half Andalusian, and many more! You can find out all the details about horse sales at our “Horse for Sale in Texas” website. 

Garden:

In our gardens we specialize in growing heirlooms. We have wonderful melt-in-your-mouth Sloan’s Creek heirloom red okra. We have a great variety of heirloom tomatoes and we love the different shapes, colors and flavors. They are all unique. If you’ve never tasted an heirloom tomato, you have no idea what a tomato can taste like! Tips for growing juicy tomatoes can be found at this link. And we really grow some juicy ones!

Our eggs are produced by contented hens who are free to peck at grass and bugs, eat garden leftovers and who lay lovely brown and blue-green eggs – a real taste treat!

 

Classes:

We occasionally offer classes and workshops in chicken butchering, rabbit raising, rabbit butchering, building raised beds, aquaponics, canning, bread making, alternative cooking methods, etc. Whenever we schedule a class, we’ll post it both here and at our Local Harvest events listing. (Just go to www.localharvest.org and look for Cypress Lake Ranch.) You can also find Cypress Lake Ranch on Facebook.

Birthday Parties:

We also host other special events such as birthday parties, family reunions, hay rides and bonfires, etc. We offer Birthday party packages here at the farm or we bring the farm to your house. Check out our other article for pricing options. Feel free to call or stop by for a free mini tour to see if our facilities will suit your needs.

Farm Tours:

We occasionally hold farm day tours and farm petting zoos. Check out our facebook page for the Farm Tour dates. Otherwise, we would love to give you and your family or group a private farm tour but we do charge $100 for the first hour and $75 every other hour past the first one. We work hard here on the farm and we love to have visitors but it needs to be worth taking time out of the daily routine! The tour includes petting zoo, picnic area and garden tour. Pony rides and garden produce are extra.

We’d love to meet you and talk horses, gardening and self sufficiency. You will no doubt go away with at least one or two tips that will make your visit worth your time. We’re located about 40 miles northeast of McKinney.

You can contact us by phone at 214 681-1306 or 903 583-6036. Our email is: CypressLakeRanch@gmail.com

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Review of Standlee Hay Forage Products

Posted on May 12, 2013 by admin
Here at Cypress Lake Ranch we have a bunch of horses and other animals and we were recently given the opportunity to try out a new brand of feed/hay for them called the Standlee hay products. I was very impressed. Basically, it is hay in a bag and super easy to use and handle and the horses, goats and sheep and even the couple of cows I have, loved it all. One product that I got to use was the alfalfa hay: http://www.standleehay.com/featured/alfalfa-hay
They loved it and ate it really well and it was a cost efficient way to supplement the high price of grain and keep them looking fat and healthy. It was easy to feed and they appreciated the addition of the hay in a bag.
I also tried the beet pulp for a few of my older mares. It smelled good and they gained weight while eating it due to the added forage to their diets.  http://www.standleehay.com/featured/beet-pulp
All in all, I would recommend these products for the ease of use and the nutritional value they provided. I would say if you are looking to help your horses or other animals and you are on a budget, try the Standlee products, especially considering this drought period and weird weather!
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No Farm Day Today, May 5, 2013

Posted on May 5, 2013 by admin

Just in case you didn’t get the word, the Farm Day we had planned for May 5, 2013 has been cancelled. Thank you for your understanding. We’ll let you know when we have another Farm Day on the schedule.

If you’d like to come out and get fresh vegetables and/or eggs or anything else we sell, you’re welcome to give us a call and come out to get them anytime we’re available. We have no set hours because our schedules are very crazy, but if we’re here, we’ll be happy to serve you.

Thanks!

Phone numbers: 903 583-6036 or 214 681-1306.

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Aeroponics – Do You Know What it Is?

Posted on March 12, 2013 by admin

We’ve been experimenting a bit lately (video series to come soon) on alternative methods of growing things. We’re in the process of experimenting with a 4 tube system of growing tubes with different growing mediums – using it for growing herbs, strawberries, lettuce and such things. In one tube we have a mixture of perlite and sand, another tube has sawdust and sand, still another will have rice hulls and sand, etc, etc. We’ll have a holding tank under the tubes and a pump to take water to the top and then let it flow through the tubes, fertilizing and watering the plants each time it recycles. We’re still in the process of building the prototype.

So recently my daughter, grandson and I went to the lavender fesival over near Gainesville, TX and saw a booth that had an aeroponic growing system set up. That immediately caught my attention. Here was something already developed and in use in places like O’Hare airport in Chicago where an aeroponic system is providing fresh greens and vegetables for all the restaurants in the airport.

Naturally, this aeroponic garden tower was something I just had to try!

Update in March 2013: I tried to get my tower to grow vegetables in the middle of the hot, hot, hot Texas summer with no shade. That wasn’t the best trial for it but I was able to harvest quite a bit of kale, collards and other greens. Fall was a better time to plant. Now I’m getting my tower set up for strawberries which will go into the tower either today or tomorrow. Can’t wait to see how they do. And this year I plan to set up a shade cloth to protect the tower from the intense afternoon sun.

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Growing aeroponically is similar to hydroponic growing in that it uses no soil. The tower introduces a lot of air (hence the name aeroponic) that helps the plants grow well. And it takes up so little space it can be used on an apartment balcony that gets at least some sunshine. The whole system is really a cool (and attractive) way to grow if you don’t have space or time for a traditional garden. And it is capable of producing much more in a small space than you could imagine.

So check out this link to see whether this is something that might be just perfect for you.

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Semaspore (Nolo Bait) the Natural Grasshopper Control

Posted on March 6, 2013 by admin

Well, spring is finally arriving in our neck of the woods. The plum trees are in bloom and I’m looking for the lilac blossoms any day.

When spring comes I think about how I’m going to prevent grasshopper damage in the summer heat. Last year I found out about Semaspore, also known by the brand name Nolo Bait. I got really excited and bought the biggest bag possible – 25 pounds. However, in reality a 5 pound bag would have been perfect for me. So this year, I plan to get the smaller bag, especially since it has a rather short shelf life. That simply means that the almost full bag of Nolo Bait that I have left is now worthless. I’m still trying to figure out what to do with it.

Semaspore is a biological control that doesn’t harm other insects or birds. It is specific to grasshoppers and crickets and is safe to use since nothing else can be harmed by it. As the first grasshoppers feed on the bran that has the semaspore in it, they begin to get lethargic and eventually die. Other grasshoppers feed on them since they are cannibalistic and they also die. The earlier in the season that you can get your semaspore scattered around your garden, the better. But wait until you begin to see grasshoppers to do it.

I found that the semaspore kept the grasshoppers down to a manageable number thus minimizing the damage to garden crops. You do, however, need to continue to put the bait out if it rains as it will no longer be effective once it is wet.

Here is a link you can use to order Nolo Bait. I highly recommend trying it if you are opposed to using harmful pesticides in your garden.

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Family Fun Farm Day – November 17, 2012

Posted on November 14, 2012 by admin

Our family fun farm day is coming up this Saturday, Nov 17th from 3:00 PM to 8:00 PM. Cost for this event is $5.00 per person (18 months and older).

We’ll have our Amazing Animal Adventures Petting Zoo available, a picnic area, tours of the garden and orchard as well as pony rides (for $5.00 per ride).

We had hoped to have a bonfire and roast marshmallows and have a place to grill whatever you’d like to bring to eat. But it looks as though Fannin county will still be under a burn ban so our bonfire will have to be rescheduled. We have had a very dry Fall. Unless we get a gully-washer of a storm before Sat, we will NOT be able to have the bonfire.

We hope that won’t dissuade you from coming out to enjoy the ranch with us. The kids always have a great time at our petting zoo and it’s a nice pleasant drive from the Dallas and McKinney area.

We will have some homemade goodies to sell, as well as some jams, jellies, pecans (in the shell) and we’ll have water, soft drinks and juice available for purchase. We’ll even make a big pot of wassail to warm us all up instead of a bonfire and of course, we’ll have hot water, cocoa mixes and marshmallows for making hot chocolate.

Come and join us for an afternoon and evening of fun!

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Dog-Gone to the Farm Day at Cypress Lake Ranch

Posted on September 13, 2012 by admin

We had a lovely afternoon at our farm

Now the mini-agility course is set up. We also have plenty of room to walk (or run) with your dog, sit by the lake, play frisbee with your dog, just relax, picnic if you so desire, etc. So watch for future events.

 

 

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Intro to Horseback Riding and Farm Day

Posted on August 18, 2012 by admin

What: Join us at Cypress Lake Ranch, 661 FM 1553, Bonham, TX 75418 for an afternoon of fun on the farm. We’ll have demo’s of things like “how to milk a goat,” “how to construct a raised garden bed” and more. You can see the petting zoo, enjoy a short riding lesson, buy fresh produce from our farm stand and bring your own picnic to enjoy under the pecan trees or by the lake. We will have soft drinks and juice boxes that can be purchased. No alcoholic beverages allowed.

When: Saturday, September 1, 2012 from 1:00 PM until 6:00 PM.

Cost: Entrance fee is $5.00 per person for anyone 18 months and older. This includes all the demo’s, the petting zoo and the picnic area. An introductory riding lesson is $15 per person.

Fresh Produce: We will have fresh produce for sale starting at 4:30 PM. Prices are found in a separate post on this website.

Demo’s: We’re planning some fun and interesting demo’s but if there is something you’re especially interested in, please let us know. 

Door Prize: You will have the opportunity to sign up to win a door prize – it’s a surprise! Registration for the door prize will be open until 4:30 PM and a name will be drawn at 5:00 PM.

Reservations Needed for Introductory Riding Lessons: If you are coming and plan to have an introductory riding lesson or are bringing a child or children to do that, you need to call ahead and talk to Krista (214 681-1306) to mark a time slot and pay a deposit. It looks like there will be quite a few people coming and we don’t want anyone to be disappointed. She will have time slots available between 2:00 and 4:00 PM in approximately 15 minute intervals. If all of those slots fill up and she needs to, she will add more time slots. She needs to know ahead of time. Thanks!

Schedule of Events:

1:00 PM Gates open and you can tour the farm.

1:30 PM Petting Zoo

2:00 PM First Demo – How to save tomato and cucumber seeds. Explanation of the terms “heirloom,” “open pollinated” and “hybrid.”

2:00 until 4:00 PM Introductory riding lessons. Don’t forget to schedule ahead of time with Krista (214 681-1306).

3:00 PM Second Demo – Cloning a tomato plant

4:00 PM Third Demo – How to construct a raised bed garden

4:15 PM Petting Zoo

4:30 until 6:00 PM Farm stand will be open for purchasing already picked pesticide-free vegetables.

5:45 PM Fourth Demo – How to milk a goat

Anytime: You may bring a picnic lunch to enjoy by the side of the lake or under the pecan orchard anytime during the afternoon. We have a few picnic tables but you may want to bring lawn chairs and/or a blanket if you’re planning to have a picnic.

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Great tasting, healthy dressed chickens for sale

Posted on January 15, 2012 by admin

Have you ever wondered where your chickens come from? I mean, the ones from the grocery store. If you’ve had the opportunity to visit or see footage of a commercial chicken farm, you would probably be horrified.

So why not support a local small farmer and get your chickens from a source you can trust. Our chickens at Cypress Lake Ranch have been compassionately raised with lots of attention and TLC. They have been free to peck in the ground for bugs, eat leftover garden goodies and grow healthy and strong with sunshine and fresh air.

Give us a call if you’d like any freshly dressed chickens. We can deliver to McKinney.

Phone: 214 681-1306 and talk to Krista.

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