Double Egg = One Sore Chicken

Notice anything strange about this dozen?

I couldn't even close the box it was so big!

Turns out it was a double yolk!!!!

ORGAN MEATS...

... are good for you! If your face sours or contorts at the idea of eating liver, kidney, sweetbreads, or heart I am here to remind you how healthful organ meats are and introduce ways of sneaking them into dishes you already eat daily without tasting a new kick of liver but still getting all the essential new vitamins and minerals.

Sally Fallon (author of Nourishing Traditions) on WHY ORGAN MEATS?

"Compared with muscle meats, organ meats are richer in just about every nutrient, including minerals like phosphorus, iron, copper, magnesium and iodine, and in B vitamins including B1, B2, B6, folic acid and especially vitamin B12. Organ meats provide high levels of the all-important fat-soluble vitamins A, D, E and K, especially if the animals live outside in the sunlight and eat green grass. Organ meats are also rich in beneficial fatty acids such as arachidonic acid, EPA and DHA. Organ meats even contain vitamin C—liver is richer in vitamin C than apples or carrots!"

LIVER. 

Faith Farm offers high quality beef liver sliced with surrounding filaments removed. A key step to taking out impurities is soaking the sliced organ in lemon juice for several hours prior to cooking. This will also give it a smoother texture. If you are feeling bold, the classic dish of liver served with sauted onions is a great. If you want to tip toe into eating liver, try grating a little into your rice as it cooks OR add it to your spaghetti meat sauce, lasagna, meatloaf, hamburgers... any ground meat dish will be a great disguise.

We also offer fresh chicken livers... available this TUESDAY at Byrd House! Here is a delicious recipe for chicken liver pate. Buy up the organ meats while we've got 'em!

Chicken Liver Pate

Serves 12 as starter

2 tablespoons butter

1 pound chicken or duck livers, or combination

1/2 pound mushrooms, washed, dried, and coarsely chopped

1 bunch green onions, chopped

2/3 cup dry white wine or vermouth

1 clove garlic, mashed

1/2 teaspoon dry mustard

1/4 teaspoon dried dill

1/4 teaspoon dried rosemary

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1/2 stick butter, softened

Melt butter in a heavy skillet. Add livers, onions and mushrooms and coook, stirring occasionally for about 10 minutes until the livers are browned. Add wine, garlic, mustard, lemon juice and herbs. Bring to a boil and cook, uncovered,  until the liquid is gone. Allow to cool. Process in a food processor with softened butter. Season to taste! Place in a crock or mold and chill well. Serve with whole grain bread.

Hay Baling

Hi folks! The last few days have been busy at the farm. Finally, I sit down to build a post. I want to start with the haybaling fiasco. Paul cut two fields on Wednesday to start baling winter hay for our cows and pigs. He had hoped to bale before the rain came but the weather was ahead of him and the tractor threw a kink- FLAT TIRE mid afternoon on Thursday. The constant story of a farm: fixing, fixing, fixing! Literally minutes after we got the baler hitched to the tractor and headed down the drive way the rain fell. Fortunately not all is lost. Today Paul tethered the rows of piled grass (now soggy) and will let them dry for a day before baling.

STEP ONE: Chose a dry, sunny day to cut your fields.

STEP TWO: Rake the grass into rows for the bailer to collect.

STEP THREE: Normally this step would be the baling but due to wet weather we introduce the tether machine. With its crazy forks, it scatters the rows of grass back out to breath and dry.

Betsey was curious as to why this machine was throwing all the good hay around.

Road block! Holstein lounging the afternoon away.

Flossie was unfased by the tractor...

Tomorrow the grass will get raked a second time and baled in the afternoon. Meanwhile, we have to process chickens, get ready for the market, make pies, feed the animals, clean eggs, milk the cows, load the freezers, and the list never ends! Whew, we are going to be exhausted Tuesday evening...

So, don't forget we will have FRESH CHICKENS TUESDAY! They go fast so it's always a good idea to email us ahead of time and we'll hold one for you.

HERD SHARES!!

Bonnie and I sat outside today after lots of pie making to have a tall glass of creamy raw milk! Bon bon lapped some up in a bowl.

If you have any questions about our RAW MILK HERD SHARES please email us  (faithfarmfoods@yahoo.com) or call (434.298.7178) anytime. We are happy to announce that we are purchasing a healthy new Guernsey cow who is pregnant!! Come January there will be a Guernsey calf roaming around on wobbly new legs!

Stay tuned for updates on our potential Thursday drop off site. As we continue to grow, we can afford to make things more convenient on herd share holders. 

Another event to keep on your radar: Faith Farm invites everyone out to visit the farm and meet our happy animals. There will be a giant pot luck and pig roasting! We are hoping to nail down the date very soon but it's predicted for the 1st weekend in November. More soon!

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Lime Pink Salt

I also nibbled on tasty chocolate treats from Chocolate Cravings, LLC. Kathy, the creater and baker behind Chocolate Cravings is our neighbor at the Byrd House Market every Tuesday. We love picking up her sweets for the ride home at night.

Yoghurt Pancakes

This morning Brenda cooked up delicious yoghurt pancakes with freshly made yoghurt from our RAW milk. She topped the fluffy golden cakes off with a sweet honey peach sauce to match. Try the recipe out yourself. The yoghurt causes them to turn out much lighter and less stomach packing than the regular flour heavy recipe.

Yoghurt Pancakes

Yields 16 Pancakes

Ingredients:
2 cups all purpose flour
2 tsps. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1 Tbsp. raw sugar
1 tsp. salt
1 cup plain raw milk yoghurt (or substitute pasturized whole milk yogurt)
1 cup raw milk (raw milk is preferred but not necessary)
2 eggs, slightly beaten
1/2 cup butter, melted

Directions:
In a large bowl sift together flour, baking soda, baking powder, sugar, and salt.

In a seperate bowl, combine yoghurt, milk and eggs. Stir in the butter. Pour the liquids into the dry ingredients. Mix just until dampened.

Pour 1/4 cup batter on a hot, buttered girddle for each pancake.

Cook until lightly golden on each side.

Yoghurt

Yields 1 quart

Ingredients:

1/4 – 1/2 cup good quality commercial whole milk plain yogurt, or yogurt from a previous batch
1 quart whole milk, can be pasteurized, but preferably non-homogenized
a candy thermometer

Preparation:

If you’re using raw milk please see alternative directions below…

The final product will be thinner than commercial yogurt, but is easy to make. Gently heat the milk to 180 degrees. Stir in the yogurt and place in a shallow glass, enamel or stainless steel container. Cover the container and place in a warm oven (about 150 degrees, or a gas oven with pilot light) overnight. In the morning, transfer to the refrigerator. Throughout the day you may want to drain some of the excess whey off the yogurt.

Using RAW milk: 

Place the quart of milk in double boiler and heat to 110 degrees. Remove 2 tablespoons of the warm milk and add it to 1 tablespoon yogurt (commercial or from the previous batch). Stir well and pour into a quart sized wide-mouth mason jar. Add a further 2 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons yogurt to the jar and stir well. Add the rest of the warmed milk. Cover tightly and place in a dehydrator set at 95 degrees for 8-12 hours (in your turned off oven with the oven light on will also work or a well insulated bag or even a few scarves and hats wrapped around your jars!!). Transfer to the refrigerator.

The Kelly Boys

Johnathan, Matthew, and Jeremiah are the oldest children in the Kelly family- a line up of nine kids ranging in age from just one year old up to 18! They are a very hard working, intelligent bunch working to help support their big family. At home they also raise both broiler chickens and laying hens so they know the routine well and help out our during chicken processing every other week. Thanks you, boys for helping us pack fresh yummy chickens for market!

Faith Farm featured in Virginia Living Magazine

Circa Fall 2007
Check you this awesome article, Soul Food published in Virginia Living in 2007. Writers, photographers, and chefs came out to get to know the Lawler's story, meet all the animals, and cook up a delicious meal. It is a beautiful spread. You can also find some tasty recipes made with our pastured pork, grass-fed beef, and more.

The herd was hungry and grazing this morning at 8 AM

One of the calves decided to pass through the fence this morning. So we had a photoshoot before sending him back over.

"Momma says I have big ears"

"Yum, yum, yum"

"Is this camera edible?"

Grass, grass, and more grass!

More photographs of the two blind horses Faith Farm took in over three years ago. They came from Safe Haven Horse Rescue just 30 minutes down the road. Check out this article on The Farmville Herald about Karen's farm.

Spiders, snakes, bugs...

You can always find interesting new critters and insects around the farm. Paul found this enormous spider in the outdoor shower a week ago, tossed him into the yard, and now he has found himself a new home outside the barn. Eeek! It is called a Black and Yellow Agriope. We read the females are larger than the males. The main body measues about 1 1/2'' so we are guessing this is a female.

Know your chickens...

Learn about the different layer hens that bring yummy eggs to our markets.

 Rhode Island Reds

Bard Rocks

Araucanas (These lay your blue eggs)

We have four dogs runnin' around here: Rusty, Snow, Bella, and Bonnie.

 Bonnie

My yellow lab who is adjusting to farm life very well. She is the only one of the pack that lets me take her photograph.

Snow 

I had to sneak around the haybales to find Snow sunbathing and take a quick shot. Turned out he had gotten himself into a prickly situation. I helped him out by plucking off the burrs with gloves.

Rusty 

Rusty is very shy too. He used to be a hunting dog and judging by his behavior we think his previous owners may have abused him. As a result he is afraid of guns and thinks my big camera is scary.

Miss Bella 

The most difficult of all to photograph. She is very sweet and keeps the boys in line.