A Look Back at 2017

It’s that time again. The break in the calendar that prompts a natural desire to look at the past year and make plans for the next.

We do the same at Five Feline Farm. 2017 was a great year for us. If you follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, in person at the 18th Street Farmer’s Market or even here on the blog, you know we expanded our business in several ways during the past year.

Perhaps our biggest achievement was opening our on-farm store—the Farm Fresh Mercantile. Finishing the store was a huge task. We reclaimed as much material as possible and did almost all of the labor ourselves. The grand opening was in October and we are now open the first Saturday of each month. Keep an eye on our social media for any last minute specials or announcements.

We expanded our presence at the 18th Street Farmer’s Market with a double size booth last summer. This extra space allowed us to enhance our displays into a more customer friendly presentation plus we added a grower. Martha B. produced additional vegetables, most notably potatoes. Her fingerling and specialty potato varieties were a huge hit.

A highlight for us was the inagural publication of Five Feline Farm Press. Simply Delicious is a compilation of recipes and stories that debuted on October 24. This book answers the many questions posed to us about what we cook and eat on a regular basis.

We also found ourselves in demand as speakers. In 2017, we presented at two events: Spring Into Gardening and Web@ through EIU. In addition we hosted a farm tour for Lincoln Log Cabin and the Academy of Lifelong Learning. Each of these events showcased a different section of our farm; from honeybees to nearly organic gardening practice.

How do we top all of that? What is coming in 2018?

As you might expect from us by now we are dreaming big. We will be expanding and refining the garden plots again, adding some special features to the landscape to add to our destination experience and continue to improve our product offering. We can’t really tell you too much right now, but keep following our news feed on all the social media channels.