Hummer Farms, LLC

05/26/2026

05/26/2026

1st visitor of the season:)

05/18/2026

Only two more weeks and we will be a vendor at the Pleasant Hill Farmer’s Market. In the meantime we currently have asparagus & rhubarb & raw local honey available. Will meet in Altoona or Pleasant Hill.

05/12/2026

The Bear and the Sunflower
A Fable
The big brown bear was hungry. Walking down the meadow path he came across a single sunflower and the scent of seeds drew him in. At first he sniffed, then licked and then used his teeth to try and dislodge the seeds, but the seeds resisted. Sunflowers are not meant for bears, they are meant for greater things; oil for the cook, a bouquet from a lover, snacks for all the children in the village, so they resisted. Accustomed to the ease and simplicity of munching grass along the marsh and slurping blueberries from the bush and pine nuts from the forest floor, the bear became enraged at the seeds’ resistance to him. Furiously the bear lunged with all his might breaking the stalk, tearing the leaves, smashing the head and with his long sharp claws scattered the seeds all over the ground. Now unrestricted and motivated more by hatred for the sunflower than suppressing his appetite the bear began to gorge himself, seed after seed as if he were waging war against an enemy. Suddenly in the midst of his madness the bear realized he could not breathe. A great mass of seeds had lodged in his throat and blocked his airway. At first the bear wrapped his massive paws around his throat in an attempt to dislodge them but to no avail. Now the terror of what was happening drove him to run, with heart pounding and eyes bulging, madly, vainly, blindly, trying to escape the certainty of what was overtaking him. And then he slowed and then stopped. Remaining on all fours he was staring blankly ahead, motionless, statuesque, and then after a time he simply fell over.
The decay process started immediately and the big brown bear now began slowly to shrink in size though occasionally hurried along by visits from wolves and vultures. The days grew shorter, the nights grew longer, the air became cooler, the leaves fell and the snow came and covered the bear.
The next Spring the ground thawed, the rains came and the landscape changed from dreary to dazzling with an explosion of buds, blossoms and blooms and in the place where the bear had been, little seedlings emerged and grew and became a vast field of sunflowers. And there was no memory of the big brown bear.

05/10/2026

“Sawfly don’t bother me”

“Shoo fly don’t bother me,
Shoo fly don’t bother me,
Shoo fly don’t bother me,
Cause I belong to somebody “
-Timothy Bishop
Last Saturday I was getting things together for some helpers coming to mulch Christmas trees. As I walked down the lane my eyes fell upon a pine tree that didn’t look quite right. In fact, it looked quite wrong. Nothing was registering as to its appearance. I had mowed only two days before and the tree was fine. I approached, bent down and was suddenly up close and personal with a writhing ball of ghoulish creatures straight out of a Stephen King novel. Sawflies, pine saw flies. In just two days they had nearly de-needled a four foot Scotch Pine. Charlie Brown’s tree made people laugh. This one would make you weep. No one should be forced to gaze upon a naked Christmas tree. If a Rimac Nevera R can go from 0 to 60 in 1.6 seconds, I had just gone from calm to hysterical in less than that. I began to frantically run up and down the rows and discovered it was a full blown infestation. I had enough sense to text our mentor, Harold from Hills Christmas tree farm. It was succinct, “HELP”. His quick return call with calm demeanor and sage advice brought me back to “ok, this is bad, but it’s manageable .” I quickly sprinted back to the house and found two cans of insecticide and moved from tree to tree like an old west gun slinger. When it was over ,there were bodies everywhere. I holstered my cans, tipped my hat and in my best John Wayne impersonation, said “Well I tell you pilgrim, Raid , kills bugs dead,” and rode off into the sunset. It was a temporary solution but now there is hope. It appears that we will lose only that one tree to those notorious outlaws.
Just another crisis here at Hummer Farms. Which is normal around here. We have faced drought and flood, bugs and slugs, critters and break downs. Every growing season reminds us we’re aging and “getting old ain’t for sissies.”
If you try to grow or raise anything it can be very, very discouraging because Adam got us all into “heap big trouble “ (Genesis 3). Instead of simply looking up and picking food already provided, now he’s bending over, sweaty, aching and fighting night shade and Japanese beetles. But there is hope.
I enjoy singing. Not very good at it but I enjoy it, especially at Christmas and especially when the song leader announces, “Joy To The World” by Isaac Watts. I crank up the volume and let ‘er rip, not caring who hears me or what they think, especially verse three:
“No more let sins and sorrows grow,
Nor thorns infest the ground,
He comes to make His blessings flow,
Far as the curse is found.”
It’s strange we always sing this at Christmas because it’s not about the Saviour’s first coming but His second. Jesus taught his disciples to pray, “thy kingdom come”(Matthew 6:10), and when it does the desert will bloom (Isaiah 35:1,2) and agriculture will have no challenges, only supernatural success (Amos 9:13). No more insecticides, herbicides, pesticides or fungicides! Even so, come, Lord Jesus (Revelation 22:20).
Remember, here at Hummer Farms we grow them so you can enjoy them.

05/06/2026

With a frost advisory tonight we decided to put clean sheets on the “strawberry bed”:)

05/04/2026

Only a month away until the Pleasant Hill Farmer’s market. Here are some snapshots around the farm. We have rhubarb and honey available for sale now.

04/27/2026

Starting and transplanting up sweet potatoes starts.

04/18/2026

Tried a new recipe with fresh rhubarb. Rhubarb Bread - it is YUMMY 😋!
(Bottom stuck to the pan even when greased and floured).

04/17/2026

More fresh asparagus harvested.
$5/ lb
Rhubarb $4/lb or 3 lbs/ $10

Can meet in Altoona or Pleasant Hill.