Alton Yard Farms

06/06/2025

Hey, Alton! HAPPY PRIDE MONTH! 🌈🌈🌈 Thanking all those who live loud & proud, paving the way, as well as all our magnificent allies! 🙌

Pssst. I am gay all year long. 🎉🎉🎉

The colorful All Star Lettuce Mix will be available for *pickup* starting Monday afternoon at Maeva's Coffee + River Bend Yoga. No market tomorrow. You will also be able to order online for delivery. $10 minimum within 5 miles of Alton. 🚗🥬🥬🥬This will likely be the last harvest of the spring lettuce.

🧄Garlic will be available later this summer.
🌱Microgreens are on hold while I move locations.
🏳️‍🌈I won't be at the Pride Market The Old Bakery Beer Company 5-8p on June 26, however, lots of amazing vendors will be! Check it out!

FYI, the vibe this summer is to step back and work on future plans. Like life, things are a'changin'! Announcements to come. Thank you for your patience while I navigate this beautiful, unique, adventurous path. Your support is a fantastic reminder that our community wants more access to clean, local greens and veggies, and I'm excited about what's cooking.👩‍🍳

Have a delightful weekend! 😘

05/30/2025

Lettuce on the way to Alton Farmers' & Artisans' Market 8-12 Saturday or until sold out 🥰 See you soon!

05/18/2025

Meooow! CJ's Juicery has wheatgrass shots made with microgreens from Alton Yard Farms available 9am-2pm today. 🤗

Her shop is so cozy. It's located in downtown Alton at 104 W. 3rd Street, next to Funky Cards and Collectibles.

Wheatgrass will get you and your pipes right! They help with digestion + boosting your energy and immune system. Her concoction sounds absolutely delicious: wheatgrass, cucumber, lime, ginger, & turmeric. ⚡I am swooning! 💚

05/16/2025

I am here, washing lettuce 😝🥬💚

The All-Star lettuce mix is a crowd favorite, which is fan̈tastic, because I love growing it. Here's a peek at how I make sure all you have to do is eat it. The solution I mention is called BioSafe Sanidate 5.0. Harvested at in Middletown.

Also, oops, I stabbed a few leaves with the spinner top. 😂 I made that right, y'all. Pretty little unstabbed lettuces are on the way to the Alton Farmers' & Artisans' Market 8-12 Saturday along with more plants! See you there!

(Plants include: 4x tomato varieties, eucalyptus, lil gem lettuce, hyacinth bean, kale, dill, basil, and jalafuego pepper.)

05/09/2025

THE MARKET IS COMING!!! It's every Saturday 8-12p for the next 24 weeks 🤗 Catch me at #13 🐎 Alton Farmers' & Artisans' Market next to Ajk designs this year and candle extraordinaire Honeycut Creek! See you soon 😘

05/06/2025

🚂🥬🌱🌿🍅🌶🥒🌱🌿🥬🥬🥬🥬

Yep. The plant sale at Alton Farmers' & Artisans' Market is 8-12pm Saturday! Come snag a variety of tomatoes, lil gem lettuce, hyacinth bean, curly kale, jalafuego pepper, eucalyptus (!), dill, basil x 6pks or single, and. Ehhh. Marketmore cucumbers that should be planted immediately.

Also on hand: bags of fresh All-Star lettuce mix and boxes of microgreens!

🌱$4/ea or 3/$10 plants
🌱$7 for basil 6-packs
🌱$5 All-Star Lettuce Mix
🌱$5 Microgreens Lettuce Mix

All green things are seeded and raised organically! I used organic Pro Mix for the soil medium this year + vermiculite. Seeds were saved or sourced from Johnny's Seeds, Seeds for Change, or various available at the wonderful free seed banks at Hayner Public Library + East Alton Public Library District. 🤌

Humongous shout out to Foxes-Boxes for the grow space, pot ups, and secondary water duties!

Really looking forward to seeing everyone again this year! It is because of you that this train keeps chugging. Choo choo. Thank you! 👩‍🌾💚🌱

05/06/2025

SQUEEEEEEEEE! Alton Farmers' & Artisans' Market. 8am-12pm. Saturday. Landmarks & Henry. Plants, lettuce mix, and microgreens are on the way!
🚂🥬🥬🥬🥬🥬🥬🥬🥬🥬🥬

05/01/2025

Happy May, Alton! Light up your calendar with 9 ways to say hi and get your Earth vibes on this month.

After resilience comes regeneration. AYF has been steadily growing - and moving - since its inception, and no doubt that is thanks to all the humans who have said "Yes" along the way. (And for that matter, "No." Seriously, it's just as important.) Either way, we're all just trying to connect with the kind of world we want the next generations to have. Around now, I'm voting for a beautiful pollinator garden behind Market at Milton and helping others discover the link between food and nature. Psssst. Soil health is the new wealth. 💭

If that's relatable, consider stopping by!* Whether it's getting your hands dirty, learning how to use the garden planner, or supporting this vision by buying plants, lettuce, and microgreens ... I promise. It's regenerative. And it warms my whole heart to share in it with you.

Stay tuned for more details via Facebook events and upcoming posts.

As always. THANK YOU. 💚

🔥🍃🌏💦
Maggie

*DISCLAIMER: I am on a whole new level of corny jokes. Prepare. 😂

04/29/2025

🎉See you Saturday, May 10 for the 1st Alton Farmers' & Artisans' Market of the season!🎉

IT'S HERE! The Alton Farmers' & Artisans' Market starts on Saturday, May 10th (always Mother’s Day weekend!) in the parking lot at the corner of Landmarks Blvd. & Henry Street. We will be open Saturday mornings from 8am-Noon through October 18th. You’ll find a wide selection of locally-grown, seasonal fruits and vegetables including heirloom varieties and sustainably grown crops, fresh cut flowers, potted plants, grass-fed meat, local honey, baked goods, hot & iced coffee, farm eggs, handmade soap, breakfast & lunch items, and a large assortment of hand-crafted artwork such as pottery, jewelry, and woodworking.

We have something special planned for each of the 24 weeks; opening day will feature DIY Letterpress Mother's Day Cards, plus music from the AHS Jazz Combo! On 5/17 we will feature live music from Michael Hubbert, and on 5/24 kids will enjoy a make & take project painting fruit & vegetable magnets. We have so many awesome activities and entertainers on the calendar this season, including live music, artist demonstrations such as pottery, weaving, batik & more, the Keep Alton Weird Sideshow with FreakShow Deluxe, a BIG farm equipment day with the Madison County Farm Bureau, a return of the Canine Carnival to benefit Hope Rescues, a community yard sale, goat yoga, and an urban chicken workshop!

In case you didn't know: our vendors accept SNAP, and we have received a LinkUP Illinois grant to double your buying power; just visit the info booth to get your tokens!

Still accepting weekly vendors: fees are $12 to sell homegrown or handmade products. Register right here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeFIV9E2D1tgHhfim-RLwBPbj-l11CurAPRh5ajGxxRn6IZ2A/viewform

04/26/2025

64 and partly cloudy today 🌤 Find these microgreens at Maeva's Coffee & River Bend Yoga while you're out and about, enjoying the pleasant climes.

Also. How lush is this lettuce tray? It contains red & green leaf, oakleaf, and bibb baby plants. I source the microgreens lettuce mix from True Leaf Market because it consistently makes me swoon.

These & the kalefetti mix × Johnny's Selected Seeds will both be stocked by 10am. Then it's off to run errands and get some work done at the Milton plot. Moment by moment, life is good. Lettuce live it! 💚

04/21/2025

The lettuce has survived the last few storms and cold snaps, and is reaching for the sky! 🙌 I'll have this ready to go Mother's Day weekend at the 1st Alton Farmers' & Artisans' Market. 8a-12p 5/10. 💝

1) Seeded March 19. Fed 4-4-4 organic fertilizer at 10 and 20 days. Expected days to maturity (DTM): 7-8 weeks.
2) Seeded April 15. With sunlight increasing, expected DTM: 5-6 weeks.
3) Seeded April 15 in a hugelkultur bed. (thx !) Expected DTM: 5 weeks.

These successions mean I'll have lettuce available May 10-June 10. Next up: sending a fresh list out to restaurants. Yeehaw.

P.S. Earth Day was amazing! THANK YOU FOR SHOWING UP 💚💚💚💚💚💚

04/17/2025

These plants are ready for Earth Day 1130-530 Saturday The Old Bakery Beer Company. I'm still unamazed by how grateful I get when the joy of growing them for us hits me. See you soon 😘