the elusive lady ducks...................
Our ducks are once again moulting, not all of them at once, but the entire flock is successively moulting. As they grow new fresh feathers, the energy goes into feather making instead of into making eggs. Oh no! Well, we still have enough eggs for our CSA and our accounts, but not alot of extra beyond that. This won’t be for very long though, hopefully. We all need our duck egg fix.
The piglets are all finally merged together into an adorable group of pinks and black & whites. In the evening, they all pile up in their pig hut, doing a pretty good rendition of a pig pile. They make us laugh with their galloping to us to see what delicious snacks they get with their soaked grains each morning. Sometimes it’s leftovers and whey, sometimes cracked duck eggs and kale bottoms. They love it all. Starla is learning about behind the ear scratches, and Dude figured out what belly rubs are like. We just love these piglets, and it’s incredible how they grow with fresh air, love and respect, sunshine and space to actually move and root about, and fresh turf to do that. That being said- all our pigs are sold for this year. Everyone who signed up is going to freak out over amazingly different our pork is, and that’s why they signed up early, they already know it before they’ve had some! We’re hoping to be rasing Rosie’s very own piglets over winter for spring pigs, and will keep the website updated as these events hopefully happen.
Cheesemaking has been trucking along very nicely this year. Previously the old standby goat cheese made daily was feta. It is a simple cheese to just culture, let sit a few days, then strain, then air dry—ok, it was not simple, but it was not like cheddar. Cheddar basically ties you to the kitchen for several hours or more, as you monitor temps, and follow complicated directions just so. What we’re doing is messing around a bit to tweak the cheese to be more flexible for our life. If we’re going to be out in the field working in the garden for the day, we can’t sit in the kitchen stirring cheddar curds at certain temps. We’re learning some tricks, and we’re making some excellently flavored, sharp cheddars. Farmer’s Cheese is being pressed right now, we’ll see how that goes. It could be a simpler process than cheddar with equally good flavor, as it is cultured for 24 hours similar to feta. The culturing gives cheese alot of its flavor, as does aging. Actually everything gives cheese it’s amazingness. Just the air and soil and animals on each farm make a different cheese. The farmer’s care for their animals, how they milk them, the breed and age and what the animal ate 12 hours before milking. Cheese is ART. And local art you get to eat. Love it!
a 4 lb wheel of goat cheddar, air drying
Our thanksgiving turkey babies have arrived! Get your order in if you want to be on the list! We require a $20 deposit to hold your bird. This year we’ll have 4 days of harvesting before Thanksgiving, to enable more flexibility for everyone-and to avoid any horrible weather situations like last years’ ice storm!)
We DO require you come out to help and to pick up your turkey. Being a part of harvesting your turkey, even if it is just watching, is important to fully respect the bird giving it’s life for your special meal. We believe in humane harvesting on the farm, not shipping our birds away to be killed. This makes for a serene experience for our birds and our customers. These turkey babies are already eating tender greens at a few days old, so they are well on their way to being some of the healthiest foraging free-ranged turkeys EVER. There are a couple summer turkeys still available if you can’t wait until Thanksgiving (we can’t!) We’ll be harvesting them August 13th. Contact us for details or to reserve one.
our gorgeous turkeys
