The Planting Continues...

The above box cost $80 for about 1,400 or so leeks. The bottom is the 5 pack of 250 leeks that costs $45. Now I really had no choice-- I had to get the bigger package. I keep thinking of the woman who blogged that her husband planted 50 lbs of purple potatoes because it only cost $3 more than the 20lb bag and then the garden plot was filled. My garden plot is not filled, but I've got a nice area of leeks planted!

So the CSA members are going to have a lot of leeks. Now all of them don't grow, etc. so I figure 700 or so grow. That's still about 80-100 leeks per family throughout the year. Get out those leek recipes!

Side news-- our eggs will be featured in a Quiche, blintzes and crepes class held this week at Guilianova in Westminster. Guilianova is a little store in Westminster between Coffee Music and Sam Bagels. Mike's been working on the owner for some time now as that is THE place we'd want to have our eggs sold. We buy our olive oil and all other things Italian from his shop. He also cooks some great Polish food and so he's my backup when I don't have time to get old school with my own Polish cooking.

We are still hopeful he'll decide to sell our eggs permanently. You go into his shop for good deli and quality/unique foods so we'd be a perfect fit. If you happen to shop there-- give a shout out for us!

Prep for CSA!

This year we upgraded our herb garden to an above ground herb garden so that you don't have to bend over as much to pick your herbs! See the little bed to the right of the barn? So far it has oregano, tarragon, sage, thyme, parsley, chives and mint growing in it. The warmer weather herbs will come next. Unfortunately it'll be another year before we can afford to paint the barn- so it'll continue to be an eyesore. But at least it has a nice green new roof!

Spinach is growing along with swiss chard and scallions in this plot. The rest of the plot will be for potatoes.

If anyone would like lilacs--- send us an email and come on over and get some lilacs. And while you are at it- come buy some grass fed beef!

Flowers

Lilacs and tulips are in bloom. Planting cut flower for the summer soon!!

Rabbits and Flies

I'll start with the yearly 'fly' hatching/migration/whatever. Each year around the end of March we become home to likely 250,000 flies. It has to be that many and they just show up in our general area- not just our house as I later learned. The day I took this picture was not a full fly day but getting there. This year I didn't freak out as I know the cycle (last year I freaked out thinking we bought a defective fly infested farm/house/barn). The flies hang around for a week or so and then the birds and bats come back and the flies all disappear. And thank goodness! I have no idea if that's the life cycle that is going to happen every year but I've now got 2 years where the results are consistent.

Baby rabbits are getting big. I think in 4 more weeks we can sell some rabbit. We may only have 3 to sell as we may keep 2 as future mothers and we need to try 1 ourselves so that leaves 3 to sell. I have no idea what rabbit goes for these days but if you are interested send Mike an email.

Bottle Babies

Having to bottle feed sheep 3-4 times a day is a chore. Although watching a cute kid bottle feed and play with the young ram lamb is priceless. We feed at 7am, 2pm and 9pm. Come on by if you want to help!

Although turning to the reality of our business, we will have lamb for sale again (the mostly non-named lambs from the fall) in about a week. We've got a few more lambs coming back from the butcher.

Pasture Raised Cow, Goats and Sheep

Last weekend was picture perfect. My favorite time of day-- about 7pm.

Spring Planting

The first picture has nothing to do with spring planting but everything to do with what happens when hens sit on eggs where you can't find them for 20+ days. These little peeps are home grown!

The gardens have been tilled! CSA membership 1-2 higher than we anticipated but we just have a hard time saying no to such nice people. We'll be working to make the pickup area a fun place to hang out and see what's happening in the garden. The herb garden from last year is being transformed into an above ground herb garden box. It will be help yourself/pick your own herbs again this year as it was a huge hit last year. We'll also have pick your own cut flowers though I need to figure out where to plant them this weekend. We'll have the zinnias from last year along with 10-12 other cut flowers as well as edible flowers. No extra charge for the herbs and the cut flowers- they are still a work in process and will be there for you to enjoy!

You'll see rows of garlic below coming up and growing nicely through the straw.

Part of the onions have been planted-- still more to arrive via UPS in the next week.

Spinach and chard have also been planted along with a first pass of lettuce. I say first pass because we plant lettuce just about every week so that it makes it to the correct size for each CSA week- I found a few more summer varieties to try when it's really hot out as lettuce is not always tasty in the middle of the summer. The first round of snap peas were put in the ground 2 weeks ago so this week will be the second and final planting of snap peas.

We'll be sending out sign up schedules for the CSA work days soon. The first 2 weeks of May are big planting weeks for transplants (tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, etc) and we'll need help those 2 weeks.

Eddie the ram lamb

The official count of lambs is 18 born to 8 mothers. So 2.25 lambs per ewe. If we have a total of 20 pregnant ewes then that will be 45 at the current rate. Though we did lose 1 little lamb due to a birth illness. Mike has turned into a vet the past week. Pulling out babies, treating mastitis, saving the momma who had the triplets, etc.

The ewe who had the first set of triplets is back on pasture and eating again. She recognizes her babies but she does not want to nurse them. So we are feeding 3 lambs and likely 1 more from another set of triplets where the mom seems to only have one side working properly.

Above is Eddie- our favorite bottle fed boy. Mike calls him Eddie because he's Eddie's father. We had to explain that one to our kids...old tv show. Anyway... the baby lambs are adorable and it takes longer to mix up the lamb formula than it does to feed them-- they eat quick!

I'm really not sure if we can sell or eat Eddie. He follows us around, tries to play with you and wants to be hugged and scratched. So we'll see. We are not supposed to get attached to boy sheep. But he has that white tuft on the top of his head..... too cute!

Did I mention that we have eggs and beef for sale! If you are looking for a great way to eat fresh food full of Omega 3's-- I recommend eggs and ground beef. The eggs are full of great things your body needs for health, balance, brain development and the beef is full of flavor and nice and lean. The eggs are only $5/dozen which is a steal compared to the eggs at the grocery store that I see are around $5.39 for either cage free- natural or organic- but not cage free. Our eggs are not 100% organic but they are totally cage free and you can see the difference with the cracking open of one egg. These eggs are really great for kids. Kids love the eggs- I have no idea why but they do. Parents like them as well but kids really, really love the eggs. My personal opinion is that their bodies crave the Omega 3's as it does help with brain development-- but that's just my speculation.

We are getting new pigs soon. Our pork supply is getting low and we've got a steady following of pork customers so if you are interested in pork please let us know. We are also going to sell out of this first batch of 100 chickens quickly so if you have not placed your orders with us, then do so now or you'll be waiting till July for the next batch. Just about 60 of the chickens are already claimed so only 40 left.