Open 7 Days a Week thru 10/31/09

If you are like me, fall is your favorite time of year and there's no better place to enjoy it than outdoors in the country.

Come visit the new arrivals at the farm. Scarlet and her litter of 10+ piglets!, Shiny and Violet, our Heifer calves are only 7 and 8 days old, and Speckles our Doe had a nest of bunnies just this Tuesday!

So there is a lot to see and do at the farm along with visiting the Pumpkin Patch to pick your own FREE Pumpkin. The only hard part will be deciding which one to pick!

Caramel Apples

New this fall we are adding to are famously delicious sliced caramel apples, caramel apples on a stick. Whether you like them plain or with peanuts you'll love fresh caramel apples made with apples from Sprangers Orchard. Made fresh right at the farm.

Can you say yummy?

Did you know?

At MLF, "learning can be fun!"

Here are just two fun facts...
Did you know that chicks are born with an egg tooth? An egg tooth is a temporary tooth that projects from the beak used to break out of the egg. Within 12 to 24 hours after the chick hatches the egg tooth will dry and fall off.

You can see the mark on this little chick left after the egg tooth fell off.

Fact #2...
Only the male peafowl is called a peacock. The female is called a peahen. Here Farmer Aaliyah is holding a peachick. Together peacocks, peahens and peachicks are called peafowl. So next time you see a peafowl don't be quick to shout "there's a peacock!" You just may be looking at a peahen.

Oh well, I can't control myself. Here's another fun fact...Fact #3...The easiest way to tell between the peacock and the peahen is by their neck feathers. The India Blue peafowl, the peacock has a blue neck with the peahen having a green neck.

See how much fun that was! :)

Pumpkin season begins Sept. 26th

Rocky, born August 5th, will be just two months old when you visit him this fall. Beginning September 26th through October 31st the farm will be open 7 days a week.

Along with the full tour of the farm, (hayride, pony ride, milking Elsie the cow and more!) included in your admission is a trip to the Pumpkin Patch to pick your own FREE pumpkin.

Click on the logo to the right to visit our website to learn about your tour, the animals and our hours of operation.

Bolga Baskets

Our Bolga Baskets are hand-woven in the historical town of Bolgatanga, Ghana in West Africa. The Weavers of the Bolga Baskets are mostly farm families from the historic town of Bolgatanga. To supplement their unpredictable crop income, the families have been weaving and selling these handcrafted works of art for generations.

These sturdy, all natural baskets are made from elephant grass with goat hide handles. They are strong and flexible and can easily be re-shaped by getting them wet with water and re-working them with your hands.

The "Bolga" baskets are for sale in the farm's Granary. It's our way of Wisconsin farmer's supporting African farmer's! They have been purchased for wedding gifts, Mother's Day gift, display guest towels in, to store yarn in...your imangination is your only limitation.

Oh yes..."Nine Lives" isn't included. :)

You're Invited!

Our God is an AWESOME God and it is no more evident than on a farm!

Home Church invites you to their Sunday, August 16th, 10:00 AM service at Mulberry Lane Farm. This will be their 3rd annual service, pot-luck and family day at the farm.

Come and enjoy high energy worship and sharing of the word with Pastor Bruce Daily.

Bring a dish to share and join us afterward for a pot-luck meal followed by a tour of the farm including milking a cow, pony ride and hayride!

ROCKY it is!

And the winning name suggestion is....drum roll please....ROCKY!

Suggested by MLF's very own tour guide, Farmer Wendy. We had many, many suggestions from Snickers, PayDay, Bam-Bam, JuJuBe, Carney, Bandy, Brandy, Andy and more, but none jumped out and grabbed us like Rocky did.

Farmer Wendy said she got her inspiration from the old-time favorite "rock candy." Appropriate being that Rocky's mom is named Candy.

Thanks Farmer Wendy for your creativity.

Hinnie or Mule?!?

Our miniature horse Candy gave birth to the cutest little guy early this morning, August 5th. And yes, he's a mini-mule. The mule is a hybrid. The offspring of genetically different parents. In our case the cross of a miniature horse and a miniature donkey, producing a miniature mule.

Many people believe that mules are stronger and more intelligent than horses or donkeys. The combination of the horses agility and the donkeys strength makes the mule highly sought after for hard labor jobs.

His daddy is Barney our miniature donkey. Did you know that you can tell a purebred donkey by the cross on it's back? (The strip of dark hair that runs down his spine and across his shoulders forming a cross.) Many believe that Jesus blessed the donkey with the cross because it was a donkey that carried the Virgin Mary into Bethlehem.

Did you also know that a donkey's ears are fully grown at birth?



So if a mule is the offspring of a male donkey and a female horse, what is a hinnie you ask? A hinnie is the offspring of a male horse and a female donkey. Opie is a our miniature hinnie. You can see how short he is compared to the horse behind him.

One of the simplest ways to tell the difference between the hinnie and the mule is to look at their face. They tend to take on the facial appearance of the father. So the hinnie's facial features are more of a horse where the mule's facial feature is more of a donkey.

Farmer Barb's Red Currant Jelly

Mulberry Lane Farm is so excited to feature Farmer Barb's Red Currant Jelly for sale in The Granary. Not only is Farmer Barb a great tour guide, she can cook too!

When Farmer Pat saw that the farm's currant bush had a bumper crop of red currants, we asked our guides if anyone wanted to try their hand at making jelly. Farmer Barb stepped up to the plate (or should I say stove?). Farmer Pat picked the ripe berries and Farmer Barb (with a lot of help from her family) made the yummy jelly.

Red currants are rather tart so are cultivated mainly for jams and cooked dishes, rather than for eating raw. You can even test taste the jelly in The Granary on crisp Wheat Thin crackers before you purchase.

Thank you Farmer Barb for all your hard work!

A sea of pumpkins!

See'm? Every pumpkin flower you see is a future pumpkin!
Well....sort of. If it's a female flower anyhow. Male flowers will not produce a pumpkin. Notice the difference below? The female shows signs of the future pumpkin fruit, the male doesn't.

Female......... Male

Just like our hens need a rooster in the coop with them in order for her eggs to be fertile. The female pumpkin flower needs a male flower present to pollinate her. However, being that they are just flowers, they need our help! We can pick the male flower and self-pollinate the females but this would take Farmer Pat an awful looonnnnng time to do 6 acres of pumpkins, so we depend on bees.

In fact we have a local bee keeper bring a pallet of bee hives to the farm to help in the pollination process. I'll try to remember to take a picture and post the hives. Hope I don't get stung...ouch!