We are excited to start offering our 2016 Shannon’s Farms™ t-shirts with our tagline – Give Earth a Chance®. We will be selling these for just $10 each. The profit of the sales of this shirt will help us start the long process of raising money to buy additional acreage across the road from us which would then be donated to the City of Heath to be used as a wildlife and natural area for all the citizens of Heath and Rockwall County to enjoy! Please support us today!
A Winter’s Solstice Message
December 24, 2015 By Leave a Comment
With the Winter Solstice here and gone for 2015, a message from Shannon’s Farms seems in order!
A 15 December 2015 picture taken of the late standing Maximillian sunflower, usually one of the very last here at the farm to show its wildflower colors.
Shared also are pictures of the processing of food scraps (very little is wasted here at the farm) for another composting heap. This processing attempts to keep us “ahead of the curve”, ensuring an adequate supply of organic enrichment materials (natural fertilizers, if you prefer) for our ongoing challenge of making for the better our gardening spots.
And finally, Merry Christmas to everyone! May the New Year bring you health, happiness, and much love.
Ernie, Becky, Shannon and Benjamin
A Post for Summer in July
July 15, 2015 By Leave a Comment
Just a note along with a few pictures to celebrate some of the beauty of wildflowers and nature’s way during that warm month of July!
A few very late blooming blackberries!
Late blooming Black-Eyed Susans
Lots of these blooming in July!
Other nameless beautiful blooming wildflowers in July
Lantanas joined together with those prolific purple wildflowers!
Our son picking wild mustang grapes – a banner year!
The old man picking a few grapes – his son’s shadow taking the picture.
Texas native sunflowers, the tall ones in the back growing on a compost heap. That’s okay! Plenty of energy in that heap.
Blackberries Are Growing Big!
June 6, 2015 By Leave a Comment
Last year, we had a handful of sweet blackberries – this year, this picture shows just our first harvest of about a gallon, with many red, ripening ones to come here at Shannon’s Farms™!
Hopefully, next year the harvest will be times 10, at least, and in the years to come, all that you see behind me will be blackberries; many growing over the fence (on public property) and free for the picking and taking!
Give Earth a chance and go green from Shannon’s Farms™!
– Ern
Long Time No See!
May 28, 2015 By Leave a Comment
Well, it’s been a long time since we’ve posted on here (as well as on our Facebook page), but it’s not that we’ve been slacking off on the work around the farm! So often, it seems that we get so busy in our non-farm lives that we have little time left for reflection and blogging about what goes on around here.
So here are some updates:
We had a wonderful winter with beautiful snow followed by a really wet spring that has filled our lakes to capacity and beyond! Just a few short months ago, we were in a terrible, serious drought that had our lakes at 60% capacity at best — many out west were even much worse, and now, we are all full and there is flooding down stream. Our prayers go out to those families and communities inundated with water.
Becky has been keeping very busy with work with the Rockwall County Open Space Alliance as they work with the Verdunity/WRT team on development of an Open Space Master Plan which is gathering input from the county’s cities, citizens, and state and federal governmental agencies to derive a plan of action for preserving open space in all of its different forms as our little county (12 miles square) grows by leaps and bounds. Check out our work on the RCOSA website here.
Ernie has been keeping very busy with chores around the farm, including planting new Afghan pine trees that came in from the West Texas A&M Forest Service nursery as well as more pecan trees for our pecan orchard in our back acreage.
We have added to our flock of chickens and enlarged the hen house and coop area. We now have seven hens with four of them producing eggs now! We are hopeful that we will be able to have enough to sell at our Rockwall Farmers Market this summer!
We thank you for visiting our site, and look forward to a wonderful 2015!
Shannon’s Farms & Connemara Conservancy
September 11, 2014 By Leave a Comment
From left: Donna Dorman, Becky Burkett, Ernie Burkett, John Curtis, Bob DeJean, and Debby Bobbitt.
On Friday, September 5, 2014, Ernie & Becky participated in a workshop hosted by Connemara Conservancy to discuss and brainstorm land conservation priorities and needs for the North Texas area. Becky, as an executive board member of the Rockwall County Open Space Alliance, was there with two hats on! It was such a great day – full of big ideas as well as granular focus when necessary.
Carolyn Vogel leading a breakout group at the Connemara Conservancy workshop in Allen, TX.
The title of the workshop and charrette was “Land Conservation and Its Impact on Quality of Life in North Texas”. But boy, did it branch out further than that! We strongly recommend that you check out their website at www.connemaraconservancy.org and see all the wonderful ways that this organization protects our natural and open spaces.
Ernie joined TP&W, RCOSA, and other representatives of like-minded conservationists.
Happy Independence Day!!!
July 4, 2014 By Leave a Comment
4 July 2014: Being grateful for Independence Day and remembering some of the men and women who have made it that way for the USA.
This past Memorial Day, and to commemorate 6 June 2014, the 70th anniversary of D-Day in Europe, I was honored to place this memorial at Roselawn Cemetery in Salina, Kansas. Again, I say I’m forever grateful!
WWII Memorial Day Plaque
Gratitude from the Porch
June 22, 2014 By Leave a Comment
As I sit here this Sunday morning, a light rain is falling. I hear my two hens growling in their coop – they want to be outside in it, I guess! Ernie and I are so thankful for all that God has given us to watch over and nourish here at Shannon’s Farms and in life in general. And it gives back to us in so many ways! The solstice day yesterday was beautiful here! Here are a few pictures from the farm taken over the past few weeks. Happy Sunday!
