Brrrr. It’s Cold Outside.

Geesh.  It is like we got broadsided by WINTER — it is cold outside!  The sudden change of season brings the lazy, laid back ease of summer animal tending to a swift halt.  Now the hoses are freezing, the grass is wilting, and the animals will need to move to their supplimental housing more often.

Any day now, we will turn into the water bucket-lugging barn-jacketed family, who must hand-carry all the water to the smaller animals on the farm (all non-cows).  That is a drag.  A serious annoyance.  It takes forever, and lengthens your bucket-toting arm by about a foot. After you finish with morning chores,  for the rest of the day, it feels as if you are walking around with a kink in your back – which you probably are – and dragging your knuckles on the floor – which you may or may not be doing -  until it gets dark at 5:30 p.m., and you need to go outside and do it all over again.

Farming has its moments.

Things can be great – sometime in the middle of the summer, and everybody is happily munching grass on pasture.  Fall and winter — not so much – as the saying goes.  Feeding bales of hay that cost an arm and a leg, but provide the essential nutrition to grassfed cows are a necessity.  Though we don’t hay any fields ourselves, we do have to go and pick up the bales from the farmer who makes them, and then we have to put them away.  Each bales weighs in at about 40+ pounds.  Now that we are at hay-feeding season, we now unpack the bales that we tucked into neat stacks in the upstairs of the barn (some stacks easily sail twenty feet into the air when we are caught up with haying) and lug them to the pastures full of hungry animals who wordlessly devour the preserved grass from half a year gone by.

 

Interested in Trying a New Product?

Farming keeps us on our toes.  Nothing is ever the same one day to the next, despite our planning, and arranging for it to be that way.  So, too, is our line up of meat offerings.  It is great for us to be able to raise such a varied and diverse barnyard of animals: from Thanksgiving Turkeys (heritage breed and pastured, fresh for Thanksgiving by pre-reservation only) to Pastured Heritage Pork, to Grassfed Beef and Lamb and Goat… plus the chicken, eggs, duck, duck eggs, geese — it makes for a tasty and varied experience.   Well, we have decided to add another product to our humane little farm: “Rose Veal” — not the caged, confined & abused factory farmed calves who sacrifice their lives for diners who appreciate their vitamin deprived, anemic pale meat… rather robustly healthy calves who soak in vitamin D rich sunlight, drink healthy Jersey cow milk  (also mineral rich water) and eat hay and grass.  The resultant veal is slightly darker in color, with a distinctive and lovely taste.

Anyone interested in humanely raised LOCAL veal?

Wells Tavern Farm Veal: No grain. No pain.

 

Trust Your Local Farmers Who Raise Grassfed Meat

The rise of O157:H7 E. coli across the nation was brilliantly described in the article in the New York Times a few days back.  It is terrible that pathogens can cross into food so easily on feedlots and through slaughter facilities “out West” — yes.  It is nearly impossible to become sick after eating Grassfed Beef from our farm, or from our neighbor grassfed farms: Wheel View Farm, or Foxbard Farm?  Yes. Nearly impossible.

The benefits of raising animals on pasture and grass are clear. Cows fed forage and grass diets have been shown to have no E. coli pathogens known to be harmful to humans. On the other hand, cattle coming from feedlots have been shown to carry the deadly E. coli O157:H7 and other unsavory diseases. The bacteria live in their unnaturally balanced intestines and then can be carried on the cows’ hides (through feces). The feedlots where these cattle stand in their own fecal matter and are fed an unnatural diet are without a doubt the source. As long as we continue to allow grain-finishing and humongous cattle feedlot operations, it should come as no surprise that E. coli thrives in today’s common supermarket beef.

So, how do you make sure that the meat you share with your family is safe and uber-tasty? I would gently suggest that you stop by our farm, and pick up some ground beef from our grassfed (no grain at all) Belted Galloways and taste the flavor difference, and feel secure in the knowledge that it is a clean product.  If you can’t make the scenic fall foliage drive to our farm, try our neighbors beef, Foxbard Farm Angus Beef, or Wheel-View Beef, both available at some local markets shelves.  In fact, Carolyn Wheeler told me yesterday that their farm is hosting some open farm days this weekend, and next.

If you do visit Wheel-View Farm this weekend and pick up your Sirloins and Tenderloins from their Grassfed Beefers, come by Wells Tavern Farm, and get some Pastured Heritage Breed Pork (Bacon, Sausage, Chops, Ribs), or Lamb (Ground, Chops, Leg, etc).  We are a quick five minute drive from John and Carolyn’s, and only a few hundred feet off The Mohawk Trail (Route 2) in Shelburne.

We have the yellow Buy Local CISA sign in the front yard, and a whiteboard with “free Range Chicken Eggs for $3″ out front — White House, Red Barn. You can’t miss us.  Really.

 

A (Very) Brief Black Bear Sighting

After pulling out of the driveway this morning, on my drive into work, I always slowly cruise past our front pasture, and check out the lambs grazing and chickens scratching. Everything looked normal, and a bit soggy — it was a dark gray drizzly day.
Less than a mile down the road, I was shocked by a half-grown Black Bear came charging out of the woods on my right, and ran across the road directly in front of my car. This bear was really galloping — I don’t think that I have ever seen a bear moving so fast – the strange straight-legged loping gait that one often sees in a bear, traded in for a racehorse gallop across the public way.
Very strange.
I guess that the bear was helped by momentum – coming down from a hill on the right, and traveling “down” the decline.
Seeing how fast the darned things move makes me all the more thankful for a “patient and tolerant” black bear momma with cubs about fifteen years ago – I was on a health kick, and got up at 5 a.m. (still dark) and jogged on the road. Jogging in the dark: Great for neighbors to be spared from seeing me jog, great for my health, great to get it over with early in the day. Not great thing about jogging in the dark: you are r-i-g-h-t on top of the momma bear and her cubs crossing the road, before you hear her snuffling and quiet grunting over your wheezing, labored breathing. I did not say “Rats!” — rather another short word, slowly stepped backwards about ten steps and then turned tail and sprinted back home… all in the dark.

Notes: 1. It is very stupid to run near a bear. 2. Do not get between mom and cubs. 3. Jogging is not all that it is cracked up to be.

 

Thank you !

To all of our loyal meat and egg customers, new and old, thank you!
Yesterday I attended my final farmers market for the season in Bernardston, and tomorrow, I will be at my final Northfield farmers market.
A quick reminder: the products that you buy from me at the markets is available from our website, www.wellstavernfarm.com, by phone call and visit, and through delivery.

Remember: Turkey for Thanksgiving. How about this year, a really great Turkey for Thanksgiving from our farm? Let me know if you are interested, as orders are flying in!

It is almost time for our little mini vacation: a few days spent at Fryeburg Fair, Maine’s largest agricultural fair (more than 4,000 animals, horse pulling, harness racing, four pig scrambles, dozens of exhibition halls and a gigantic midway with more than 50 rides) and then back to to the Commonwealth for the rest of the year.

 

Real, Old Fashioned Bacon

How to describe The Maple Syrup Cured Hickory Smoked Bacon – slightly thick cut — a real “old-timey” bacon that will bring back great memories!

Green Mountain Smokehouse in Windsor Vermont (location of the framing and signing of of the constitution of Vermont, also the first official capital) did wonderful things with smoking and curing – the things that they do best — on heritage breed Tamworth pigs which are known as the best bacon pig – the thing that we do best…

If you aren’t a thick cut bacon fan, then treat yourself to a Maple Syrup Cured Ham Steak! Note to eaters, er… readers: our Maple Syrup Cured Tamworth Ham Steaks are about three-quarters to one inch thick, bone in and about a pound and a half to two pounds in weight, packaged singly.

Customers and neighbor farmers have asked my how I came to chose the butcher we use (The Royal Butcher) and Green Mountain Smokehouse – two choices that are not the most obvious choices to farmers in Western Massachusetts – since both are kinda a hike up Vermont from us. The smoke house answer is: There are a slew of high quality restaurants who serve products smoked and cured at Green Mountain Smokehouse: Stoweflake, Michael’s on the Hill, The Bees Knees, The Hanover Inn, Windsor Station Pub, The Alchemist Pub and Brewery, Killarney at Killington, Echo Lake Inn, Bennett’s 1815 House, Harpoon Brewery, and the list goes on and on.

Needless to say, they do very good work, and we provided them with a very high quality meat to do work with.

Ham steaks and Bacon are $8 /lb.

Visit me at the Guilford Vermont Farmers Market Sunday from 11-3 at the Grange. Look for signs off Route Five! Easy to get to, and great items available including local crafters and veggies!

 

Mmm. Bacon.

Wells Tavern Farm Maple Syrup Cured Hickory Smoked Pastured Tamworth (heritage Breed) Bacon. Pretty Thickly Cut, and absolutely fabulous.
Bacon.
Did you know that there is a website entirely devoted to B-A-C-O-N? (Click here) Among their wackier offerings, is a veggie burger with bacon. Now doesn’t that defeat the benefits of the veggie burger pretty fast, huh?
(so to answer your burning, unasked question: Yes, yesterday, we brought home the bacon.)

Another great bacon read (pause here to wipe the drool off your chin, please…) is this one (click here)

And the New York Times reported on the unification of the Nation due to Bacon. Yippee.

 

Dedicated Bacon Freezer… Yes, I said Bacon!

Many thanks go to Carl and Sherrill in Conway, for recycling their beautiful freezer to us. Today is bacon pick-up day at Green Mountain Smokehouse. I will have bacon for sale at the Northfield Farmers Market at the Trinitarian Congregational Church on Route 10, from 4 to 7 on Thursday.

It is important for us to have a dedicated smoked products freezer, so that the non-smoked pork chops and lamb, for example, do not develop any off-taste while they sit, awaiting consumption.

 

Why We Do What We Do

We really believe in slow farming.  Slow growing meat, and quality.  I designed a little audio narration about our style of farming.
Sometimes it is just easier to talk through things than to type them out, you know?<ins

 

Mourning. Eating: Predators and Humans. Yippee.

Mourning.

We are in mourning this morning, for the loss of “mother hen” a beautiful Australorp hen who had been allowed to “go broody” sit on her eggs long enough to hatch them, and who has reared the chicks (eight of them) for about two months, by herself. Last night she has guarding her chicks, defending them against a predator attack, and she lost her life. All of her chicks lived. During the night, we were awoken to the terrible and recognizable sounds of a chicken losing its life — the terrible cries will awaken anyone who has heard them before. Myles sprang out of bed and pulled on some pants, and tore off towards the bardyard. As the outdoor overhead light came on, he caught sight of a large four footed predator running out of the illuminated area – headed for the swampy area across the road. He listened and heard four distinct pounding paws. We believe that the killer was a fox — large and less stealthy, and louder than a cat-based murderer. The baby chicks scattered as their mom fought — and they all lived through the night. So far this morning, we have caught all but one of them, and placed them safely behind wire in a pen.

Night before last, we discovered a very puzzling and sad turkey death — a turkey hen was slightly tipped over, head through a gap in a doorway, and dead. We were hopeful that her demise was natural, and painless — maybe a heart attack, or stroke, or something like that. After the chicken death last night, I have to assume that Turkey Hen died at the mouth of a predator. We are very troubled by the loss of life on the farm, and have taken steps to avoid more tragic losses in the short-term. Unfortunately, for the short-term, that means that our turkeys who are nearing Thanksgiving – rediness are inside for a while, so that we can determine the species of the predator, and take action to stop the nightly free dinners…if you know what I mean.
On the non-bird front, the Jersey cows are milking some fabulous, creamy and delicious milk that we are enjoying daily. The extra milk is being appreciated by our newest arrivals, the heritage breed cross piglets, and the Gloucestershire Old Spots pigs. The Belted Galloways are rotating through the pastures, grazing and chewing their cud — doing what cows do most of the day, only doing it on grass exclusively.

Eating.

Last week, we dined on a dinner that was one of the best that I have eaten anywhere — and, not because they are ours, but because they really were so good, I was especially proud to eat the Center Cut Loin Chops from the Tamworth pigs, that we raised here  on our farm. (Chops are available at the farmers market Tuesday and Thursdays from 4-7, Thursdays – today – in Northfield, and Tuesdays in Bernardston. I will be at the markets through the last week of September) We ate a green salad with locally raised fresh greens with balsamic dressing from Appalachian Naturals (my favorite dressing!) based in Goshen, MA. Then came my warm Ciabatta topped with Gorgonzola, Roasted Garlic and Olive Oil. The Tamworth Pork Chops were simply thawed and then grilled on a propane Weber grill, and rubbed with a spice concoction of: coarse flake salt, paprika, black pepper, thyme, rosemary, garlic and chipotle. There were ears of local sweet corn, and for dessert, I made a whole cranberry ginger bar (with a cakelike consistency) that was still warm, so I topped it with whipped cream.
If you are drooling, than you understand what I just attempted to describe. It was indescribable. Really, really good. If you want any recipes, I can send them along. If you want our pork chops, they are packaged as one per package — so that you can thaw exactly as many as you want, and they are quick, quick to thaw. Call, or stop by the Market in Northfield today. See you!

Yippee

One exciting development this morning – a bucketful of chicks were just harvested in the barn this morning.  So we added two hens worth of chicks to the surviving eight from Hen last night.

So now the boys have met the new chicks, all three hens worth of chicks are together in an enclosed space, and two hens are looking for a way to get into the enclosure, to see their kids.