May 29, 2009
How calming and balming the effect of the air
It’s alarming how charming it is to be a-farming
- “Now I’m A Farmer” by The Who
Rain. Can rain be balming? I guess it is soothing and restorative to the grass and plants, so apparently it can be balming. Not to the people on the farm this week, though. We have fences to put up and things to do that just can’t be accomplished in any kind of pleasant way in the rain and with soggy soil.
I would love for the air to be calming and balming.
May 28, 2009
Last night for dinner, the family sat down to a yummy feast featuring our own heritage breed Gloucestershire Old Spots meat, which has more fat than modern industrial hybrid pig breeds (which are bred to be very lean) the meat was able to be baked longer and to a greater degree of doneness and was still moist and flavorful, owing to the natural fat content of the meat. It was a tenderloin roast, and it was WONDERFUL – flavorful, moist, not too textured or stringy — just perfect.
May 23, 2009
Whats in season right now?
Currently we have:
Today is the exciting day: five new dairy cows arrive. One of them has already had a calf, and is still milking. The other four are pregnant and due to calve soon. Registered Jerseys. It has been years since we have had registered Jerseys on the property, and it is almost like Christmas today — they are due to be delivered at noon.
Oh — and horned — the four first calf heifers are all horned.
Benefits of Jerseys? Butterfat… which equals taste. The mouthfeel and flavor of loca, fresh, real, rich milk is like nothing else. According to the American Jersey Cattle Club:
Jerseys naturally produce the highest quality milk for human food. Compared to average milk, a glass of all-Jersey milk has greater nutritional value: 15% to 20% more protein, 15% to 18% more calcium, and 10% to 12% more phosphorous, along with considerably higher levels of an essential vitamin, B12.
Personality. This breed is thoughtful, and curious, and they usually have a good sense of humor… we used to have a few that would play with their tongues for hours on end — flipping them around in the air, rolling them up, picking their noses… and they are a smaller breed of cow — producing less nitrogen and manure.
May 21, 2009
NPR’s progam All Things Considered just announced that there is a chick shortage.
Read and hear the story here.
We have Light Brahma and Buff Orpington chicks, and (Heritage single breasted) Lilac Turkey poults.
May 19, 2009
The great bull swap happened this morning! What was a few weeks in planning and visiting and deciding, turned into the (Great) White Galloway swap. We traded our White Galloway for another, from with a farmer from the middle part of Massachusetts. What we accomplished was a broadening of our genetics, and a very nice bull. I have yet to snap a pic of him, as my two boys are sick at home today. It is a very good feeling to have spent no money (except gasoline) and gotten an unrelated bull.
The barn spring cleanup is underway as well. Sometime in the next few days, we will be buying a milking Jersey cow named Gringott, apparently with a title inspired by “Gringotts Wizarding Bank” and Harry Potter. She is “with calf” and due to dry off in a few months. While she is dry, a heifer, with a name that I have yet to learn, will freshen and we will be milking her. So, sometime this fall, we will have two milking Jerseys – a first calf heifer and a second or third (I am not sure how old Gringott is) lactation cow. Lots and lots of fresh Jersey milk. Mmm!
Now, thinking about it, I hope that Gringott the Jersey cow was not named for a goblin because that is the nature of her temperament. It does provide us with a wealth of great names from which to name her calves.
Egg sales: Anyone wlse want fresh chicken eggs delivered to their home each week? We are delivering seven dozen this week, and have more available. Just let me know. Also, if anyone knows of a “stash” of clean, used egg boxes… Thanks!
May 18, 2009
Just look at these little Lilac Turkey poults. They are only a few hours old, and seeing the world for the first time!
We have many little Lilacs on the ground this year, as the Lilac hens began laying earlier than they did last year, and we have a larger incubator than in years past. We can now offer some of these poults for sale! Adoptions, anyone?
It is important to do as much as we can to promote and preserve this rare breed of turkey. These are not typical birds. They are naturally reproducing turkeys who are capable of living long, healthy lives in the outdoors with supplimental grains and shelter. There are no animal byproducts, hormones or steroids in the feeds that we use, and all of our birds are grown and raised here in Shelburne, from birds in our own flock.
(However) did you know that vegetables harvested these days are as much as 40 percent less nutritious than they were 50 years ago, even organic ones? Did you know that omega-3s used to be widely found in meats, but because most animals are no longer grass-fed, they are sadly deficient, and then so are we? Or that besides vegetables, the most nutrient-dense food that exists is organ meats?”
May 13, 2009
What a beautiful day to be productive! Mid-70’s, clear with a blue sky, virtually no wind. A great day to pull out the old fence posts from in front of the barn that run alongside the road, and replace them with new posts — ones that are properly sunk into the soil, and not half-composed. So, to that end, the animals switched grazing fields, and we ran the water to another water tank, after patching the holes that had developed since last season.
Myles went out this morning, and took the livestock and electric fences off the old posts. He then jump started the John Deere tractor, and attached a chain to the bucket, and, one by one, lifted the old half-composted posts out of the ground. Then he took the implement off the back of the tractor, and put the post-hole digger on. He had just gotten back from the J.D. Dealer, with a replacement ($$$) auger, after we used it last year and bent it putting in the posts for the small pig breeding pen.
He successfully dug about fifteen holes, and was working on the last one, nearest the foundation for the (now-dismantled) ell off the barn, and he got it stuck. He described it as the implement took off and sucked itself down, and the tractor stalled.
Now, about three hours later, he is still working on digging out the post hole digger, by hand. He has had to drive the Subaru into the pasture, to jump start the tractor, and the neighbor from whom we borrowed the male pig arrived to get the pig back. So Cindy took a break to help load the pig up, and Myles continued to dig, slowly prying up huge pieces of rock. At some point along this process, a call was placed to the J.D. dealer, and their suggestion was to hand dig down to the auger, and then try to manually unscrew the auger from the rocks or ledge that it got hung up on.
If When we get this fence job done, it will be all set for years to come before needing a mending of this magnitude.
May 3, 2009
Lately we have had quite a few inquiries about what we have available for sale at this time:
Right now, we have a couple Gloucestershire Old Spots Heritage Pastured Hams (about four pounds each). We thank everyone who purchased our pork over the last few months. I can’t believe how fast the Sweet Italian Sausage and Bacon sold out! We have basically sold out at this point, but (!) we have more Pork growing in the pasture.
Frozen – Belted Galloway (an Old Heritage Breed) Grassfed Beef (Price per pound):
Also available: (for eating) Duck Eggs, Chicken Eggs.
To Plan Ahead
Sounds good? Please order in advance and reserve your __________ today. Call 413.625.2797 or email. Thanks!
