Southern Illinois Produce & More
You can reach us electronically via this form: Other ways we can be reached are… Our business mailing address: PO Box 327, Golconda, IL 62938 – Phone numbers are below: Our generic farm email is theryderfamilyfarm[at]gmail[dot]com our personal emails are show in the image above. …
Wish our Southern Illinois CSA pickup location was more convenient for you? Want to get a discount on your CSA share costs? You can become the Host of a Ryder Family Farm CSA pickup site! Site hosts make our share pickup more accessible for others …
Since moving out to the country I’ve really had the opportunity to expand my poultry flock. It’s been a blast, we’ve hatched our own babies in the incubator, I’ve also made a few hatchery orders and some broody hens have hatched us babies. Below is “Snow White”, she one of our first good chicken mamas here on the farm:
It’s true when they say chickens are gateway livestock! We started with 3 pullets in the suburbs many years ago. Then we added 6 new chickens a few years later, 3 of which we had to figure out how to slaughter when they started crowing in our HOA governed subdivision.
When we decided to flee the city we added more chicks and some turkeys, knowing we were country bound. Now we have dairy goats, hair sheep, dairy cattle, ducks, guinea fowl, turkeys and chickens everywhere! Just ask the neighbors that have to drive by our place each day.
Our homestead out here in Southern Illinois (near the Shawnee National forest) is basically a small family farm that exists to sustain us and to help us raise funds for future farming expansion & projects. My poultry are dual purpose, we eat them and we keep them for their eggs.
When the flock expanded we were faced with loads of eggs, enough to fill an entire second fridge! We’d been able to sell eggs to folks here on the farm but law prohibited us from taking eggs off the farm without a USDA license and we knew we’d do well with eggs at the farmer’s market. In 2016 we went to work getting USDA official, got inspected, learned the required handling procedures, labeling rules and were able to take our surplus eggs to the farmers market to sell!
Our eggs come from pasture raised hens who forage for food across our entire property. Our poultry go to roost at night in an enclosed “chicken house” that my husband built them so that they aren’t dinner for a predator as the sleep. Each morning their chicken house is opened up, we throw a ration of commercial layer feed to them to round out their foraging diet and to insure they don’t develop nutritional deficiencies, then they go about the whole day foraging.
This management style technically classifies our eggs as “Pastured” eggs. The chart below shows more detail about egg label terms and how they translate in management & farming style.
You can find our eggs at the Golconda Farm Market April-October. Year round customers are welcome to preorder eggs and drop by the farm to pick them up.
| Hens | Roosters |
| Silver Duckwing – Bantam | |
| Barred Rock | Barred Rock |
| Golden Laced WyandottesSilver Laced WyandottesLight Brahamas | Golden Laced WyandotteBlue Laced Red Wyandottes |
| Rhode Island Red | Rhode Island Red |
| Easter Eggers (ear muffed, some bearded, rumped) | Easter Egger (ear muffed, some bearded, rumped) |
| White Leghorns | White Leghorn |
| Wellsummers | Wellsummers |
| Black Australorps | Black Giant |
| Leghorn/ ISA Cross | Leghorn/ ISA Cross |
| Bourbon Red Heritage Turkey Hen | Bourbon Red Heritage Turkey Tom |
| Khaki Campbell | Khaki Campbell Drakes |
| Peking | Peking Drake |
Here are some loved pictures of our flock:
For the last several years we have partnered with various Southern Illinois clubs/ schools with our popular mum fundraiser program. Your Southern Illinois club, school or group can raise an awesome profit of up to 50% selling fall mums that are locally grown by our …
In October, a Southern Illinois farm hosts an annual open house where visitors can choose from a mum and pumpkin patch for fall decorations. The event also features local vendors, farm animals, seasonal produce, and unique activities such as goat yoga. Vendors interested in participating can apply online.
Joining our Southern Illinois produce CSA program secures you 12 or 16 weeks of locally grown Southern Illinois produce for as little as $12-$24 a week. Each week you’ll get a “share” of our weekly harvest that is reserved and picked specifically for your family by our family. Your produce share is then available for you to pick up on the farm or in Golconda, IL or you can have it delivered to your home. Want to see a pick up site near you? Become a pickup site host!
Our CSA members enjoy the freshest selection of locally grown, sustainably farmed produce plus we throw in many bonuses as the season progresses (special requests are welcome at signup).
A CSA membership is not just a means for obtaining local food, it’s a journey in eating locally and seasonally. Many people join a CSA to rekindle a relationship with fresh food and to commit to eating better. It’s a mindful commitment for some, a fun challenge or journey for others.
CSA stands for Community Supported Agriculture and is a popular concept in the local food movement. A CSA is a sustainable farm business model that is mutually beneficial for both consumers and farmers.
In a nutshell “CSAs support both the farmer and the eater. It goes much deeper than a purely monetary transaction. The CSA farmer knows who their customers are, what they like, and how much to grow for them.” Quote taken from this LocalHarvest Article.
We are looking for a handful of folks who will join us on our farming journey via our Southern Illinois Produce CSA program.
For our farm’s CSA we offer two different share sizes for members to choose from:
– Half share size that feeds 1-2 people and is the equivalent of 1 grocery bag of produce, with 1-2 bags during peak season.
– Full share size that feeds 3-4 people and is the equivalent of 2 grocery bags of produce, with 2- 3 bags during peak season.
Also, we toss in bonus freebie stuff for both share sizes based on overflow crop availability.
To better accommodate budgets and tastes we offer a variety of share sizes and duration choices.
To get started:
Our summer CSA season typically begins in July and runs through October. Our spring add on CSA, growing conditions permitting, will start as early as May for our 6 week spring subscribers.
Our CSA members reserve and prepay for their shares in advance of the harvest season to keep prices low by reducing debt and associated costs/ risks for our farm.
The COVID-19 pandemic gave us glimpses of just how important local food is to the security and livelihood of communities. Local farms come to the rescue when the supply chain is disrupted or when you aren’t able to venture outside the community for food. But local farms can’t survive without regular community support.
Allowing us to grow your food provides this much needed support. It not only helps you feed your family but it also invests in our future as farmers, in the future of local food within the community and in your future ability to feed your family by safeguarding the future of local food security here in Southern Illinois.
Relevant contact information, payment details and pricing is found in our member agreement document. Membership is on a first come first serve basis and spots are very limited so don’t delay.
Interested folks can access our member agreement and signup form by clicking this link. Or you can pay for your Southern Illinois produce CSA share online here:
Those interested can sign up in one of three ways. You can join via:
Don’t wait to sign up! Spots go very fast and membership costs will increase after February 1st!
Due to the food insecurity during the pandemic, we are also accepting folks to our CSA waitlist. If you are interested but still on the fence about signing up, add your info below.
We will reach out to folks on our waitlist in June or July as additional capacity becomes available.
To join our CSA waitlist fill out your information below:
If you have additional questions you can find us on Facebook or you can email or call using the contact details in our membership agreement document. We are honored to have you considering our program and our family welcomes the opportunity to feed your family this season!
We are first generation farmers born and raised in the vast deserts of Arizona. We moved from Arizona to Evansville, Indiana where farmer Nathan worked as a reporter & anchor for the TV news industry.
In 2013 we moved to Southern Illinois with the promise of a mentorship and a “work to own” land agreement. We left careers/support systems in Indiana to follow our dreams of living off the land and owning a farm. We also loved the idea of giving our kids an education in self reliant, farm life. For 3 years we worked as farm hands soaking up as much firsthand knowledge as possible. Our “work to own” land agreement never panned out.
In 2015 we began our commercial farming journey here in Southern Illinois with goat milk soaps and pasture raised eggs. In the beginning we grew food for ourselves and a handful of folks that we personally knew through our CSA. We also sold overflow produce plus our soaps & eggs to our loyal customers at the Golconda, Illinois Farmers Market. At farmers market we have had the pleasure of making friends with so many fellow Pope County, IL residents.
In 2017 we transitioned from farm hands to farm operators while farmer Nathan went back to work. Nathan took on a freelance teaching role at Vienna Correctional Center teaching inmates agriculture skills. Nathan’s program “From Orange to Green” teaches inmates the skills/knowledge to build their own farm business after leaving incarceration.
In 2020 we are adding a high tunnel to our farm operation! With it we will continue sharing the skills we have acquired in agriculture via new education programs right here on the farm. We will grow lots of yummy produce too!
Growing food is something we are very passionate about and we are excited to share it with others, to spark interest in other aspiring beginning farmers.
The goat milk soap we make and sell is from unprocessed, raw goat milk that our family hand milks from our own small herd of Southern Illinois dairy goats. This is an important distinction. Our soap is NOT made from powdered, canned or store bought …
The Southern Illinois mum farm grows and sells a variety of locally grown mums. The farm, which started in 2017, offers hardy, uniquely colored, naturally blooming mums that are not stressed with growth regulators. Not only does the farm sell directly to customers and through events, but it also supplies to other local growers, florists, and garden stores.