We haven't introduced our new Guernsey cow yet! Alas, meet Big Mama:

She is a real sweet heart and her milk is even sweeter. We are hoping to introduce homemade Guernsey butter very soon! Keep an eye out for added raw milk product offers from our kitchen. Until then, come out to our farm day event (NOVEMBER 13) and give hand milking Big Mama a try!

Turkey time.

 Thanksgiving is just around the corner and our beautiful Bourbon Red heritage turkey's are almost ready for your Thanksgiving feast.

Daniel, our neighbor Steve helped build a better turkey tractor for the birds to forage all day in the fields and roost @ night in safety. We first started with an old hay wagon.

            We framed out a few walls and extend 2 feet on each side for 
                                a 12 x 16 Turkey Tractor.

             The overhead 2x4 braces also serve as a perch and a diagonal 
                     roost will accommodate the low landers.

We're almost ready for the roof tarp for protection from the 
                              sun and inclement weather.

                           
      The flock is foraging along the hog lot in and out of the woods.

                 
                      Electric fencing does not phase the birds. 
                      Check out the horizental wire fence.

                               
           They group together for safety but a few always strays off.

We do offer pork as an alternative or addition to your feast.

Meet Gertie the Guernsey milk cow.

We just picked up Gertie our new 3/4 Guernsey / 1/4 Jersey milk cow. She immediately began searching the paddock she was in for her old buddies only to find a bunch of new wagging tails.

A Peek A Boo calf snuggles up to Gertie to say hello while Gertie tries out the new grass.

Gertie is a 2 year old bred 3/4 Guernsey  1/4 Jersey lovingly named after Brenda's Mom Gertrude. She will join Flossie and Betsy the other milk cows and next week Big Mama another Guernsey will join the dairy herd.

Rotational grazing for piglets.

We are refining our rotational grazing practice to include piglets. The purchase of electrical netting for hogs allows us to place 20+ piglets in each paddock. We may reduce the size to 50 x 50 instead of 100 foot square. The last two weeks the piglets have been grazing on grass, rooting for grubs, worms and other foods. When the paddock is roughed up to where I want it, we will till to level then reseed grasses  or plant turnips and peas
                                                                                                          

             
             Premier PRS 100 Sola Energizer keeps these little guys in.

The border of the net gets mowed to keep grass from grounding out the fence but the piglets love to root up the soil up to the bottom strand of wire so adjustments must always be made.

                               Escape is not an option!

This bottom picture is one of our pig hotels where we feed and water the piglets. This building allows us to capture piglets for sale to on farm customers. The waterer is a plastic food grade barrel with a piglet height opening and a float valve for water level control.

The back of the pen is hardly touched which encourages smaller pens of 50 x 50 or more pigs. These net pens will be perfect for a sow and her piglets with a hut and hay bale.

Jessica and Gabe was attending to the broiler chickens as I was feeding the piglets.

   
Notice the green grass inside the hoop house and the manure trail behind it in the below photo.

The manure trail is furtilizer for the grass and the pigs follow up the trails to work it into the soil and fertilize as well.

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.