Sun! People! Yippee!

Finally a beautiful sunny day yesterday. It was magnificent. Blue skies, and for a bit, we had puffy clouds, which gradually disappeared (I know that is fairly unscientific, but you know…) and were overtaken by more blue sky.

It was a fabulous day for the Bernardston Farmers Market. Northfield Farmers Market is tomorrow, and the forecast calls for rain and thunderstorms. I am planning to show up at the very least, and when the storms are too close, then I will go home.

A word to the wise: If you are looking for Heritage Belted Galloway Beef Roasts, call or email me, and I will bring some to the markets. When I attend the markets, I bring a few of the most popular cuts: mainly steaks, ground beef, patties, stew and kabob meat. Just a quick call will ensure that I have the quantity and specific cut that you desire.

Incubator update: the incubator is finally off. Unplugged and not turning, or beeping or chirping. It is eerily quiet in the house now, without the hourly 26 beeps and semi-hourly 50 chirps. The birds are all hatched. We should be able to weather any storm with the variety that we have hatched on the farm this year!

It looks like a lot of eggs in November and December again — if the birds all begin laying at five to six month of age like they normally do!

The four Jerseys who are due to calve soon, are beginning to “udder up” and their milk is beginning to come in — this is getting exciting!

 

Peas & Pork

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.

• On the peas front, I have been somewhat negligent in the garden lately. What seems like an awfully long time ago, we were still getting frosts, and I was spending a n awful lot of time each day covering and uncovering my peas in the large garden. This was after I planted some peas that I had found that I had forgotten to plant two years ago – so I planted them with much closer spacing than is recommended, as I assumed that half of the peas that I planted would be “duds”. They weren’t. I have a hugely long double row of peas coming up, and now I will have to spend more time putting up a fence for them to climb.

• What we should be spending time fencing is new pastures for the young chickens and turkeys — not peas, but alas…

• Gringot the milking Jersey is proving to be a wonderful addition to the farm. She and her four, horned, just under two year old (and pregnant) herdmates look beautiful in the pasture with the Belted Galloways. Someday soon, which is the plan, the Jerseys will be moving to the barn across the road, where the milking facility is easier to house the five of them at a time.

• The baby turkeys and ducks are still hatching out every week from the cabinet incubator, and I am still amazed that they grow so fast!

• The Gloucestershire Old Spots pigs are pregnant. One of them is probably a month and a half along (which leaves her two months to go) and the other one is probably a month behind her. I will try to snap some pics to show the little tummy that is developing on the pig who is further along.

 

Visit Us at the Green Fair This Weekend!

• It is going to be a great green weekend in Greenfield this weekend!

Join us at the 6th annual Greenfield Green Fair! Vsitors will tour lots of environmental displays, presentations, demonstrations, kids activities, and learn about environmentally friendly products and services. Attendees will have the opportunity to purchase Wells Tavern Farm free range chicken eggs, Grassfed Belted Galloway Beef and Gloucestershire Old Spots Pork products.  While you learn about reducing your impact on the Earth, reducing your food miles, reusing and recycling, think ahead to your Thanksgiving and green it up by eating alocally raised, heritage Turkey from Wells Tavern Farm.  We will be accepting reservations for Thanksgiving Turkeys at the Green Fair this weekend. 

Attend Saturday or Sunday, from 10 to 5 each day.  Attend informational workshops and browse local vendors’ wares.  You can see details here.

• Farm News: The heirloom tomato seeds are beginning to sprout.  The Light Brahma Chicks are hatching.  The Goslings are growing faster than the New England weeds this spring!  Our new farm banner will be traveling with us to the Green Fair this weekend.
• If anyone is interested in local DUCK meat, (whole) please express your interest soon.  We will have a limited amount of duck available in a few weeks.  Call or email for duck.
• Compost is in limited quanitites. Delivery up to 25 miles, at $35 a cubic yard.

Say hi this weekend.  See you!

 

Arrivals: Geese and a Kid Goat

This just in ~

While I was at work at the public radio station Saturday, the rest of the family packed our children up and drove to a local farm “tag” sale — I guess, from what I hear it was a kind of multi-family, farm oriented and household sale. There were chicken feeds, water tubs, microwave ovens, vacuum cleaners, and all kinds of miscellaneous things for sale. From what I understand, there were about twenty cars parked at this farm, with the associated people excitedly exploring the wares for sale. We were hoping to purchase some field water tanks, and chicken feeders — but just as my husband drove in, he watched someone literally run over to the display of feeders, and grab them all…except for the one waterer with the split seam. He did not come hope with any feeders. He did, however, bring home some stuff. Seth asked for some peacock feathers ($5 and got them) and Myles offered $15 for a dog crate and got two free geese in it. Yup. Geese. My mom brought home a $5 microwave (that works better than our old one!) and some miscellaneous kitchen utensils. Everyone decided that it was a good day and lots of fun.

So, now we have two geese in addition to the rest of the animals on the farm. The geese have been named Laverne and Shirley, and are currently living alongside the ducks in the cow pasture.

Bambi, one of the youngest of our Boer-cross goats (born last summer) kidded yesterday evening, with a beautiful Boer-cross female. Bambi has a beautiful goat udder, but very little maternal instinct. We’ll see how this goes — it is always an adventure when dealing with the goats!

And I just realized that in the height of their laying this fall, we will likely be collecting five-six dozen chicken eggs a day.  By then we will also be getting a dozen or so duck eggs everyday, or maybe every other day.  We are newbies to raising ducks and geese, so that prediction is little more than a stab in the dark, along with a healthy dose of hope.

Don’t forget the turkeys!  If you are thinking that you will want a local, fresh heritage turkey for Thanksgiving this year, make sure that you send me a comment or email, or phone call — so we get you on the list — we have about forty birds available — and when they are gone, they’re gone!

 

The Weather (…groan!)

• Weather.

It is the only completely safe topic that someone can talk about at a party, isn’t it? Maybe not, after this past week in Western Massachusetts.

It was a wild week — complete with a microburst that may turn out to be a real tornado touching down in Sunderland and Whately (not far from us) which negatively affected a number of farms in the valley. There were thousands of electric customers without power, tobacco barns destroyed, crops flattened, not to mention the number of OLD beautiful hardwood trees that lost limbs and life.

In Shelburne we experienced an abundance of wind, lightening, thunder and rain. The weather week was riddled with rain and overcast skies. Personally, I have always quite enjoyed wet and foggy weather — I actually prefer the wet weather to sunny hot and humid conditions. The farmer in me should not prefer the wet weather, though, I learned… and not just because it is terrible for farms trying to make hay (that we’ll need to buy!).

Egg production this past week was abysmal. It was completely embarrassing — so many chickens, so few eggs. I am blaming it on the weather. After some research, I think that I can honestly say it WAS the weather.

For example, here is what our weather was served up — Monday the 21st through Friday the 25th:

• 21: rain & thunderstorms
• 22: rain
• 23: fog & rain
• 24: rain & thunderstorms
• 25: sunny

What does the weather have to do with our chickens? They layed about a third the number of eggs last week that they normally lay. It was entirely due to the weather. Yesterday they layed more than 21 eggs in total — a bounce-back of about 50% compared to the numbers that they layed earlier in the week.

• But the weather wasn’t our only problem last week! Oh yes, there was more…
  

We were not able to fulfill our delivery of eggs to McCusker’s Market this week because we lost everything that was in the egg refrigerator, due to freezing. We have two fridges for egg storage during the week, and the fridge that we were collecting eggs in to take to the market apparently just freaked out and cycled too cold for a period of time, and froze our eggs. We had dozens of frozen, cracked eggs. It was heartbreaking. The phone call explaining that we couldn’t bring eggs to the market was a call that I hated to make.

 

Getting the Bluey-Greens … and Browns!

Our fresh farm eggs are available during the week at McCusker’s Market in Shelburne Falls.  When you open a box of our farm eggs, you will see both bluey-green eggs, and brown eggs.  The colored eggs are layed by a different breed of chicken than the breed that lays the brown eggs. They are equally fresh and tasty.

A couple of years ago, the Ask Dr. Knowledge column at The Boston Globe published an interesting piece on the difference in chicken egg shell colors. Ask Dr. Knowledge is written by physicists Stephen Reucroft and John Swain, both of Northeastern University.

They reported the following:

• Eggs have shells that are mainly (about 95 percent) composed of calcium carbonate — a white substance that you have no doubt also seen as chalk or limestone. There are additional chemicals that can affect color.

• The breed of chicken determines what color the eggs are, so it’s a question of genetics. In a way, it’s not so different from what determines the different colors that peoples’ eyes or hair can be, even though they are all people.

• Brown egg shells get their color from a substance called protoporphyrin that comes from the breakdown of hemoglobin in blood. This pigment is deposited on the surface of an otherwise white egg as the egg is formed and can be rubbed off with sandpaper or dissolved off with vinegar — something you can easily verify at home. Blue and green colors come from a pigment called oocyanin that is produced in birds along with bile. As you point out, there are actually chickens (Araucana chickens) that lay blue-green eggs. They are sometimes called “Easter Egg” chickens since their eggs are precolored.

• Assuming that the chickens are well fed and healthy, there is no particular reason to expect that one or another color egg is more or less healthy. Rumors that Auracana chicken eggs are lower in cholesterol have not been supported by tests.

* * * * *
For some more interesting information about the complex chemical scramble that make up eggs, you can visit here.

You can purchase Wells Tavern Farm eggs for $3 a dozen and  $4.50 for 18 at our farm — or enjoy our newfound convenient location at McCusker’s in Shelburne Falls.

 

Even Easier

It has gotten dramatically easier to obtain Wells Tavern Farm brown and tinted eggs in the local area! 

Not only are they available at the farm, and they have been available in Greenfield at the Guiding Star Farmer’s Market on Tuesday afternoons from 3-6 on Chapman Street (excepting the two weeks when I was sick, or this week when I was in the labor and delivery unit of the hospital being evaluated), but now, our eggs are available (in somewhat limited supply– first come first served) at McCusker’s Market, across from the Iron Bridge and Bridge of Flowers on the Buckland side of Shelburne Falls.

These eggs are, as always, produced from hens that are free-ranging, antibiotic-free, hormone-free, who forage on pesticide-free grass, worms, etc… and eat locally produced (Souther Vermont) grains that contain no animal by-products or creepy ingredients.

• Hooray for the Hens!  Eat your eggs today!
• Currently, supplying our eggs are Buff Orpingtons, a few Australorps, a Delaware, and Americaunas (the tinted eggs — green to blue in color).

We have a batch of Rhode Island Red Chicks that should start to lay in the mid-fall, and add to the brown egg producers as well.

We have hatched out our last baby turkeys for the season, and back in the chicken department, we have acquired the last of the baby chicks that we will raise for the year — we have 25 barnyard mix chicks that we boought from a family in Barre, MA about a month ago, a more recent acquisition of Brahama chicks (very heavy birds — meat and egg producing) and more of my favorites — 25 Buff Orpingtons!  These babies should start laying between Halloween and Thanksgiving.

 

 

What is our Chicken Feed All About?

So, I promised that on another day, I would discuss the ingredients and foods that our chickens are consuming. It is pretty simple:  during the day, they scratch and peck at worms, grasses,  bugs, etc, all of the natural little things that live in the ground and pasture. In addition, they eat a mixture of scratch: corn and oats.  For the entree each day, they eat Poulin chicken feed. Poulin is a Vermont family run business, that does not add creepy and scary ingredients to their feeds — plus they are more or less LOCAL — thus decreasing the food miles that the chickens are using. Do you really want to know what is in the chicken feed? Well, for one, there are no by-products of other animals (a popular first or second ingredient in many chicken feeds), and there are no medications, no hormones, no icky things that we would not naturally consume ourselves.

Here they are: the Ingredients:
Grain products, plant protein products, processed grain by-products, calcium carbonate, omega 3 supplement, monocalcium phosphate, vegetable oil, sodium bicarbonate, salt, saccharomyces cerevisiae (the technical name for Brewer’s Yeast), choline chloride (a an organic compound and a quaternary ammonium salt), forage products, DL methionine (an essential amino acid), magnesium oxide, zinc oxide, mineral oil, magnesium potassium sulfate, iron carbonate, vitamin E, niacin, manganous oxide, copper sulfate, pantothenic acid, vitamin B-12, vitamin A, folic acid, vitamin D, riboflavin, biotin, sodium selenite, pyridoxine HCL (basically vitamin B6: it balances of sodium and potassium and promotes red blood cell production), vitamin K, cobalt carbonate, calcium iodate, thiamine.

There, that wasn’t so scary, was it?  No, the feed is not organic. If it were, we would need to charge about $5 a dozen for our eggs. Not only do I think that price structure is unfeasible in our current economic climate, but I also believe that the grain that we are using is perfectly safe and healthy.

Personally, we would LOVE to use all organic products for our animals, and eat all organic foods for our family — but right now, it isn’t in the cards. Consider us the next best thing.

Rest assured that the hens are healthy and happy — they eat their vitamins and minerals, roam around and play in the dirt (take dirt baths) and lay some of the tastiest and most beautiful eggs out there. Try some today.  Stop by the farm, or visit us at the Farmers Market at 401 Chapman Street, Greenfield, MA 01301, Tuesday from 3 to 6 — at the Guiding Star Grange Farmers Market.

Eat local, buy fresh.

 

Guiding Star Farmers Market on Tuesdays

Every Tuesday from 3 to 6, we have set up our little table and sold fresh brown and tinted eggs from healthy happy hens, at the farmer’s market about five miles from our farm.  Our eggs are free range and truly local!

There are lots of hugely talented local craftepeople and artistsrepresented at the market, as well as other farmers offering started vegatables and flower garden plants.  Last week there were more vendors there than ever before — there was handmade soap from Ashfield, a local farmer from Ashfield selling organic eggs (ours are not organic anymore… but that is a post for another day) knitted goods, children’s clothing, slate paintings, watercolors, dressed-up canvas tote bags, and jewelry.  There were even little cactus plant babies for sale!

We sold a lot of eggs last week — many, many thanks to everyone who bought eggs.  And HELLO to all of the folks who took business cards and promised to buy eggs next week.

It is a great opportunity to talk to producers and learn about the food that you are consuming, and the plants that you intend to grow, and the artwork that is created by locals, depicting local scenes. Buying local means the products are fresher, and you keep your money in the local economy. Are you watching your food miles?

The Guiding Star Grange Farmers Market anticipates more local vendors next week, and is offering a great family day of free events on Tuesday the 17th of June. Stop  by on your way home from work and pick up fresh local asparagus. tomatoes, rhubard, preserves, eggs, and much more as the growing season progresses.

****Special event****

June 17th Family Day

Guiding Star Grange Farmer’s Market

401 Chapman Street, Greenfield, MA 01301


Hula Hoops by Shenandoah + Bracelets by Barbara

FREE: Face painting and Plant-a-seed for kids 3-6pm
FREE: Karen’s Dance Studio demonstration 4:30-5:30pm

Space available at no charge to farmers, artisans and crafters; Call Ruth at 773-7466 or email ruthieh@comcast.net

 

Fresh Food — Eat Your Veggies if You Have Them

I was struck by an article that I read in the New York Times today, as I caught up on a few days of news.

While here in Western Massachusetts, nearly everybody that I know is “eating local” and becoming “localvores” when it come to fresh food: Eggs, Grass-fed Meats, Veggies, Herbs, Soaps, Etc., it is a completely different world, elsewhere on the Eastern Seaboard. The terribly sad part about the Times article is that they are NOT describing an impoverished foreign country hundreds of thousands of miles from us in the Pioneer Valley, they are describing a borough in New York City, and the problems that can come with dense populations, limited selections, and poor economies.

“The recent study conducted by the (New York) Department of City Planning estimated that as many as three million New Yorkers live in what are considered high-need neighborhoods — communities characterized by not enough supermarkets and too many health problems. Within those dense, urban areas, the study estimated that 750,000 people live more than five blocks from a grocery or supermarket.

“Many people in low-income neighborhoods are spending their food budget at discount stores or pharmacies where there is no fresh produce,” said Amanda Burden, the city’s planning director. “In our study, a significant percentage of them reported that in the day before our survey, they had not eaten fresh fruit or vegetables. Not one. That really is a health crisis in the city.” (New York Times, May 5, 2008)

We are so very lucky to live here. We should not take a bite of food without thinking about those who cannot eat the fresh and local vitamin rich foods that we take for granted.

You can read the entire article here:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/05/nyregion/05citywide.html?ex=1367726400&en=a13ab67ee1f35609&ei=5124&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink

For some good news: our flock of one year old Delaware chickens and rooster, took a trip to Worthington, MA yesterday, to their new home. I now have room to move my Americaunas in to a large pasture and night-house. Yippee!