September 23, 2016
Week 20
Here are some of the
items you may be receiving in your delivery this week: Red Bok Choy, White Bok
Choy, Mustard Greens, Genovese Basil, Yellow Beans, Cherry Tomatoes, Eggplant,
Sweet Peppers, Habanero Peppers
Car issues on Friday
were the start of a whirlwind weekend here at the farm. Some deliveries had to
be postponed to Saturday afternoon but thankfully the majority of the Friday
bounty’s were on time.
Turkeys were able to
be processed early Saturday morning. It was an immense relief in finding a
butcher who had enough water in their well to process. Loading the turkeys was
an incredible ordeal as always. My male friends all have many ideas on how to
load them in the truck when I’m saying “Will you just grab a leg and a wing and
help me!” Now that this year’s turkeys are done I’m open to ideas on how to
load next year’s birds, admittedly I was not in the most open frame of mind
when I had less than 30 minutes to load them in the truck. Sorry guys. The
weights were kept down to 18.5-20lbs plus three larger 27lb birds. Cleaning
them up at home was an incredible chore. Just lifting them, goodness it’s
beyond me how I manage to lift them live. I almost got my nose broken three
times and quite frankly your farmer was overwhelmed after the 3rd
bird. Thankfully 10 out of 13 are sold with 3 smaller ones remaining for sale
at $4.50/lb.
Meat birds are
scheduled for October 7th. At least with them I can carry 2 at a
time and only end up with bruised and battered knuckles.
Sunday morning found
me with wonderful helpers to move 2 huge truckloads of garbage wood down to the
curb for fall clean up. I still have one more load to do before Wednesday but am
relieved to have had so much help.
We also fenced in an
area measuring almost 4000sqft for the laying hens. Hopefully many more eggs
will now be found and more orders will be able to be filled. Only two have
flown over the fence so far, so I will open the gate for a while at bedtime for
them to go back in if needed. The chickens were protesting very loudly to me
this morning but settled down after an hour and are now foraging in the tall
grass on the hill.
A new coop is in the
works for the hens near the greenhouse. We are hoping to have them out of the
barn and into a brighter coop before winter which will increase egg production
with the sunlight. Also their body heat can be blown into the greenhouse for
extra heating. This will be fantastic as we are hoping to grow some greens and
other veggies over the winter. Breaking ground is scheduled for late October
after we get the garlic planted and the garden is tilled and put away.
The weather turned
last night and I’ll have to immediately add insulating the house to my “To do”
list. Also all of the more tender plants succumbed to the cold last night. Even
some in the greenhouse took a hit. I am very happy to have been able to include
basil is this week’s delivery along with the cherry tomatoes, eggplants and
peppers. The beautiful greens for steaming and beans are always an enjoyable
dish for us here. The boys are always trying out new toppings like balsamic
vinegar, soy sauce or just salt and pepper.
We enjoyed two dishes
with the tomatoes here on the farm this weekend. Chicken, potato and tomato
bake with oregano as well as Sausage and Tomato bake with fresh baguettes.
Yummy.
Please feel free to
contact me at any time with comments or questions.
I hope you all had a
wonderful weekend and have a great week!
Your Farmer,
Amber
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