“Is that snow?” Vermont got snow Friday. We were there.

Black Friday evening, after my husband had worked a long day in retail (which began at 5 a.m.) we hooked up the trailer to the Dodge truck, and headed North to Stockbridge, Vermont.  It was time to pick up our new heritage breed pigs, named Olive, Ruby and Big Red.  Olive and Ruby are both sows, and each had one litter unassisted. Ruby is preganant again, and is due at the very beginning of February. Big Red is the father.  They will move into the pasture to the East of  the house, and we will move the lambs to another location.  By keeping the new pigs closer by, we can keep a better eye on them. 

So, Friday night, we took the Dodge Ram 150 (the truck that we have had so many troubles with through the summer) and drove.  Myles was exhausted, and it was my job to keep him awake, since I am still not able to drive a standard clutch.  After we found the place with the pasture of pigs, and got them loaded up (which was far to easy) we drove back to the intersection of route 107 and 12, and stopped at our favorite diner, the Creek House diner.  It was about 7 p.m., and we were cold, tired and hungry.

At the Creek House, we have had some of the greatest breakfasts, and burgers anywhere.  Friday’s offerings were no disappointment: I had a BBQ burger.  It was wonderful.  Previously, I have had the Creek House Burger and Black and Blue Burger — all three are great — and feature ground beef from The Royal Butcher in Randolph.

After eating, we got back on the road and I asked if that was still rain pelting the windshield, or was that snow?  well, I asked him at the wrong time — just as we were headed down an eight percent grade mountain with warning signs.  That was just my luck Friday, let me tell you.  It has taken literally days to recover from selling turkeys on Tuesday and Wednesday.  We delivered or had picked up, almost 60 birds in 48 hours.  It was sheer craziness.

The pigs are beautiful, and the trip, apart from being about three hours long on the way back, was uneventful.  Aparently we have replaced nearly everything that was wrong with that truck.  Or at least that is what t feels like.

Soon, I will be posting pics of the new pig additions to our farm.  They are highly visable from the road, if you want to see them yourself.

We are roasting up two more turkeys today: one simply with salt, butter and pepper on the skin, and the other with sea salt, freshly ground pepper and butter on the skin, and Macintosh apples from Apex Orchards in Shelburne (just a mile and a half away)  and a tablespoon of minced garic in the cavity.

Turkey sandwiches for lunch today were delicious and doctored up: mayo on toasted wheat bread, shredded turkey, a tiny bit of stuffing, a healthy serving of  (dry) taco seasoning (mainly a cayenne and garlic affair), crispy bacon and cranberry sauce.  There was a lovely sweet balance of cranberry to counteract with the bite of the taco seasoning. I loved it (it was my idea, so yes, I did love it) and our 17 month old loved it as well.

 

Happy Thanksgiving

Thank yous and copious amounts of gratitude go out to our 2009 customers, an elite group of New Englanders who will enjoy their turkeys tomorrow.  I have heard from one customer today that she has her bird in the oven already.

I also have to share with you that I have heard from another customer who shared her cooking experience with our heritage birds on her company’s website: http://farmaid.blogspot.com/2009/11/staff-recipes-roasted-heritage-breed.html  Yes, it is THAT FarmAid.  Great photos, too.  Personally, I can’t wait until I can dig in tomorrow.

I have a couple more turkeys to distribute to local folks, and then we are done until next year with turkey.  Not the raising and caring, but the distribution and eating part.  We still have about 25 birds in our flock who will naturally begin to lay eggs in the next few weeks (they, unlike chickens, lay very seasonally) and we will collect the eggs each day, and deposit them into our cabinet incubator, and hatch out baby turkeys (“poults”) about thirty days later.  We will continuously hatch turkeys now through spring, most likely. 

So, I must deliver a turkey and then rest.  While I drive I reflect on the lovely people that I have met through farming, and small improvements that we could make in the way that we do everyday chores on the farm.  On my return trip from Waltham today, I could not get over how grateful we are that there are turkey customers who appreciate the birds that we raise.  To them, we say “thank you.”

Happy Thanksgiving.

 

Yummy Sausage Recipes

What happens when a bunch of farmers get together for a Saturday night out, together? I am not sure, but my husband and I will find out tonight, as we have been invited over to Leyden Glen Farm for a get-together with the farms and farmers who faithfully participated in the rain and wind blown Tuesday Farmers Markets through the summer and into the fall in Bernardston. This is just a little seasonal social wrap-up, as I understand it. The great part, though, is that we are all bringing a dish to share. It had to be a dish that features a product that you grow (raise, etc.) Now, if you are a veggie farmer, I can see bringing a potato or squash (storage veggie) dish — seasonally appropriate and all of that, and if you make maple syrup, I can see a wider variety of possibilities: a pie, cookies, even a meat dish — who knows… and then there is us. We sell meat. Tasty meat from grassfed beef, lambs, pigs, turkeys, chickens, goats, and eggs… all of the proteins on the farm, really. So, when I decided to feature SAUSAGE for the “dish to share” I thought that the playing field was wide-open.

Do you know how many sausage recipes there are out there that are truly horrible? It was astounding. I read through countless cookbooks (good thing that I collect them!) before I found a couple of recipes that were real contenders. I thought that I had decided on The Recipe for about twenty-four hours, and then changed my mind yesterday morning… so out went the Fennel Shallot Sweet Italian Sausage Quiche (though I will share the recipe here, another day) and in came two much simpler recipes.

We’ll see how the vegetable farmers like what we bring for sausage dishes!

 

The kids are not coming to the dinner, we have secured them with grandparents for the evening. The four year old will not be listening to A Prairie Home Companion on the radio this evening because of that — is it strange for a four year old to watch television, namely “Between The Lions” on PBS, and say:” Mommy! Look! It’s Mister Fred Newman from the radio!”

Is there something sweet about that statement happening in 2009?

I thought so.

 

Drivers, not Drovers

I’ve decided that our farming style  although consisting of less technology and power implements than of other modern farms, is decidedly newfangled anyways.  We are drivers, not drovers.

How so? If we were totally realistic and traditional, we would use the most local slaughterhouse for our processing and packaging. We would function as the animals’ drovers, herding and walking them to the nearest processing facility. That would have been then — and this is now — we drive the animals to Randolph, Vermont to the cleanest, most polite and trustworthy facility we have discovered. [Note that we drove the trailer holding the four pigs and put the lambs on the back of the truck last Tuesday which was a 90+ degree day in Western Massachusetts and in order to keep the truck from overheating, had to run the heat on high blowing on us for three hours up, and three hours back to and from the butchers. I was late in arriving at the Bernardston Farmers Market because of our "quirky truck" and its never ending issues  - but arrived safely with beef to sell at 5:05 p.m.  What is the current status of the lovely waxed truck? We have replaced the starter, flushed the radiator, had the radiator blown out with compressed air, Tuesday we burst the power steering something, last month we lost the front brake line, have yet to fix the e-brake, and I locked myself into the truck on the passengers side, as the door lock sticks and we were without a vice grip on Tuesday]

The traditional methods of raising our animals on grass, breeds of animals being mostly heritage (old breeds) – as well as the lack of mechanized, tow-behind, wheeled, toothed and gasoline consuming farming essentials — are our links to the past — while our feet are firmly planted in the here and now.  We have options.  There are a few slaughterhouses within three hours drive from us and there are numerous marketing options for our products.  We have made the decision to sell our products in a face-to-face method, at farmers markets where the consumer can ask questions and speak directly with the farmer — basically, I can meet all of my customers.  You can ask me what the pigs last meal was before they were processed, you can find out where we get our pigs, what shots and vaccinations have been administered to them during their entire life and, up until last week, you could drive down the dirt road and view our pigs in the pasture doing all of the natural loungy-type things that pigs enjoy doing.

Yet, we chose the hands-on farming that takes time and patience.  Why?  Passion. Committment.  Quality – the result is better; and the control is tighter over the lifespan of the product.

Speaking of our decision to use a quality butcher – Scott  the butcher called me yesterday to tell me that our Pork and Lamb will be available for pickup Monday, August 17, 2009.  That means that we will be selling Sweet Italian Sausage, Breakfast Sausage, and Chops beginning Tuesday at the Bernardston (MA) Farmers Market, from 4-7 p.m.

Of note:

• Lamb will be available for only two weeks at the Farmers Markets in Bernardston and Northfield (Tuesday 4-7, Bernardston and Thursday 4-7, Northfield) August 28, 20, 25 & 27th. What else will be in the freezer? Ground Belted Galloway Grassfed Beef, Tamworth Sausage and Chops.  After August 27th, Leyden Lamb will be back in attendance at the farmers market, and I don’t want to compete with their business, plus, I don’t expect my lambs to last for very long!

• Pork: Tamworth Chops, and Sausage: Sweet and Breakfast.  They will be available until they are gone.  A word to the wise – if you like it, then buy more of it and save it in your own freezer, because my stock will sell out of mine.  last year, I was only able to save a half a pound of the sausage for our own consumption.  (That is pathetic.)

Bacon and Ham Steaks will be a few more weeks.

They have to get to the smokehouse and finish processing.

I will post that date when I know what it will be.

I am not sure that I would be happy with fewer options, and being a drover.

 

Mordred and Cookie

So, two of our springing heifers have calved thus far. There are two more to go. The first was last week to Edwina, who calved with a heifer the kids call “Cookie” a long-legged calf with lots of white spots.The second cow, Guinevere, calved two days ago with the largest bull calf I have ever seen a Jersey birth unassisted. He will be called “Mordred”. She was in great health both before and after the birth, and seems to be a very calm and willing milker.

With four first-calf heifers springing at the same time, it could be awful to teach them to be patient and calm while milking, but so far, Gwen and Ed have proven to be very, very good cows.

 

Dirty Job(s)

My four year old loves the television show, Dirty Jobs, on the Discovery Channel. An “everyday Joe” host named Mike, who incidentally is the current spokesperson for the new Ford television advertising campaign, and who is a trained opera singer (!) is the poor fellow who has the pleasure participating in one of a few real dirty jobs. Apparently, everyday, there are people other than farmers, who get really, really dirty and stinky while earning a living.

On the evening news, it was reported that for seventeen of the last twenty-two days, it has rained in NYC. I am not sure if that statistic is the exact same number for Shelburne, Massachusetts but it is sure close, if not too low. All that rain makes an awful lot of mud — the soil is saturated — absolutely sopping wet. At least I don’t have to spend a lot of time watering the garden yet this year!

Tuesday means that Wells Tavern Farm will be selling pastured, heritage and local meat and eggs at the Bernardston Farmers Market from four to seven. Thursday is Northfield Farmers Market from four to seven. Rain or Shine. (I have linked the market names to the weather forecasts for each town!)

These Farmers Markets are, perhaps, my one opportunity all week to be really, kind of clean — or at least mud-free.

In other farm news, we are now members of the American Livestock Breeds Conservancy, the pioneer organization in the U.S. working to conserve historic breeds and genetic diversity in livestock.  Since that is what our farm is also all about, I thought that it made sense!

 

*sigh* … more rain…

Life on the farm? Rainy and wet.
Lets see, Thursday afternoon from 4 to 7 p.m., I was standing under a market tent in the rain, trying to vend grass-fed beef, pork and eggs in Northfield. The wind picked up around 5:30, and other vendors tents, which were not shielded from the gusts, were lifting a little.

I was very, very lucky to have a space shared by Severance’s Maple Products of Northfield, who have many grades of maple syrup, candies, sugars and other products available weekly. They have a great little Maple Sugar Shack (a trailer) that they bring to the Northfield Farmer’s Market – and Thursday they set up a tent beside that structure– which did a fabulous job of shielding us all from the wind.

Coyote Hill Farm from Bernardston offered beautiful, sculptural and tasty garlic scapes, their own strawberries, tomatoes, mushrooms, flowers and other fresh produce, Leyden Glen Farm brought a freezer stocked with local lamb, Bloody Brook Farm was present with fresh produce and there were lovely plants – both flowing and started veggies, available for sale by a cheerful, hard-working local green-thumb.

It was too bad that by and large, the fruits (or meat and vegetables) of our labor (“s”, collectively) went unnoticed at the market due to the weather.  Be it known, that day in, day out, regardless of cooperation by the weather, the humble farmer is toiling:  in the fields, the barn, the greenhouse, at the market.

We will be there. Will the customers?
I cannot neglect the two, brave customers who despite the torrents, came over and purchased products from Wells Tavern Farm – a half dozen fresh duck eggs, and a beautiful little Sirloin steak. Thank you. Thank you very much.

As I  drove past our pastures, going home Thursday night after the market, the sheep were nibbling grass, the goats were tucked away in their shelter, the pregnant Gloucestershire Old Spots pigs were stretched out, enjoying the opportunity to wallow in a mudbath. The turkeys and chickens had retreated into their night housing, and the ducks and geese were happily flapping and squawking. The cows? The Belted Galloways are not much perturbed by the rain, as they have a double-coat, some genetic temperature sturdiness and lots of hairy insulation. The Jerseys… well, they are a dairy breed, and have very little “insulation” in the form of extra coat, layers of fat, or sturdy constitution. They are very lovely animals– much more “refined” than the weather-oblivious Belties.  I looked into those large Jersey eyes,  rain drenched and yearning for some kind of attention (extra food, a hearty brushing, etc.) and that night I instantly understood how they felt.

“Me too,” I thought.

Perhaps Tuesday’s market in Bernardston will be warmer, or drier… perhaps both?

I told Gloria from Coyote Hill Farm that I would post some pics that I took of the vendors in the rain, and her beautiful produce.  I will.  Later.  :0

 

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!

 

We Visited the Northfield Farmer’s Market…

Thursday last week was a funny day. We had talked about setting up and selling meat at the Northfield Farmers Market on Thursdays, for months. As a family we had discussed the market options since January… and finally about three hours before the Nfld Market opened on the 4th, we decided to set up and see what would happen.  It was a lovely partly cloudy, mid 70’s day.  You couldn’t have asked for more perfect market weather.  (The Northfield Market actually kicked off the season the week before we began going — it was apparently a cold day two weeks ago that began the season)

The Bernardston Market on Tuesday was fabulous. We had the opportunity to reacquaint ourselves with (retired) farmers (now “customers”) who we knew a long, long time ago, from back when we milked herd of registered Jersey cows and shipped hundreds of pounds of bulk milk every other day to Agri-Mark.

Those days are fondly remembered, mostly.  Except that time when were were all sick with the flu (raging temperatures and other ailments) and we had to milk the 25 cows, twice a day. And the times that we lost the power (living in the country, trees fall on the power lines during storms) and had to milk the cows by hand, or the time that we lost the compressor on the Icebank Bulk Milk Tank, and had to buy bagged ice at the package store and fill the cavity in the sidewall of the tank, so that the milk kept cold enough until the milk truck arrived. The package store owner was convinced that we were having one heck of a party!

So, after a great reunion day/meeting new Bernardston customers day, we decided to visit Northfield on Thursday.
What a nice event: food, friends, engaging and unique farmed items and great customers…It is now our intention to attend both markets this summer.

 

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.