Here comes the heat!

The taste of summer!

We are bracing for the heat next week. The animals will need extra care to be sure their automatic waterers are working. We will need to move their fences to make sure they have extra shade and milk the cows earlier in the morning so they aren’t travelling to and from pasture in the heat of the day. The veggies will also need harvesting earlier than normal so they and the farmers don’t melt! It will make the egg plants, okra, tomatoes and peppers happy though! They love the heat.

The farmer’s mama will be hiding inside cooking and making pickles and preparing for the farm baby to arrive! Being this pregnant in the hot summer months does get tiresome. I am finding so much joy in my early morning Bible reading, I have been trying to get on a schedule to do this for a long time and am finally in the habit of it. The day gets away from me otherwise and I overlook it. But first thing in the morning is a great way to start my day with a thankful heart. Instead of starting with news or social media that isn’t very edifying to say the least.

We had the best dinner last night [we say that a lot!]. I took all the not so perfect veggies from CSA and cubed them all and tossed with lots of butter and sea salt. It was some yellow squash, zucchini, potatoes, kohlrabi, a few green beans and some garlic. It was a random mixture and roasted at 400 for about an hour or more (I lost track of time) and it was so delicious! We also roasted two whole chickens at the same time and dinner was delicious and easy! I was able to put it all in the oven and go outside to play with the littles. I love that kind of meal! At the last moment we threw some basil, olive oil, salt, pine nuts, garlic and jack cheese (from the cabin) into the food processor and made some pesto for on the chicken.

This months herbal share is all about pampering yourself! A delightful herbal bath salt, I used the whole thing at once for the biggest magnesium boost, but you can also use a little at a time. The tea is delicious brewed and iced. The tall bottle is a kombucha mint hair rinse. It makes your hair smooth and clean. Enjoy! The harvest soup for this month has Day Spring sausage, carrots, scapes, broccoli, pak choi and lentils. 100% organic! A great quick meal even on a hot day.

We hope you enjoy the bounty!

Blessings,

The Farm Team

Summer food is so yum!

Farmer Children checking on the dry cows (the dairy cows currently not in milk) and the beef cows.

These hot days are rolling past so quickly on the farm as we are busy getting the fall crops seeded and planted amidst the harvest and the weeding. We have harvested all the garlic and have begun the onion harvest, but will need to get it done in a hurry. The next chicken harvest is upon us already, and it’s good timing since our next chicks will arrive soon. Then the turkey babies will arrive. It’s nice to think of Thanksgiving in July when it’s so hot!

The peppers and tomatoes are slowly coming in; the eggplant isn’t far behind. The lettuce wasn’t happy with the heat and the irrigation to them had a problem so we didn’t have any this week. The chard and kale are still going strong so we’ve got some greens going. The bugs are really bad this year, but farmers say that every year!  We’ve been hand squishing the Colorado potato beetles on the eggplant. It’s a gross job, but we don’t want to lose our eggplant! The okra is growing tall and reaching for the sun. It loves the hot, hot weather! The squash and cucumbers are still very happy.

We should be digging more potatoes next week so get ready for some yummy potato recipes. We made scalloped potatoes last week with fried squash and sausage. Such an easy and great dinner. We also loved some homemade pita bread with chicken salad for a road trip the other day. We went to another farm and bought some medicinal herbs that we didn’t have growing here. I love easy things to prepare so we don’t have to buy food when we are away for a few hours.

Have a lovely week,

Your farmers

Happy almost 4th of July!

Mrs. Ping Pong Polka Dot, had the best “fireworks” hair on the farm. Sadly we lost her to a possum earlier this summer, but we have some other fuzzy pet chickens growing and will be out in a few weeks!

Sorry for the radio silence! We have had some technical difficulties with the blog, but are hoping things are working now. We also have had so many babies born! Not the farmer baby just, 6 weeks or so to go for that! But we had Bernese Mountain Dog puppies this week! Dolly had a small and sweet litter of 5 puppies! They can’t wait to be petted by you in a few weeks. Right now they are enjoying the AC in the house and are tiny little bundles with their eyes closed still.

We have been enjoying the rhubarb in these brownies! Wow, what a treat with a glass of raw milk! And on a healthier note one farm-ily member recommended we make tzatziki with the cucumbers, garlic and dill. I can’t believe I’ve never had this or made this before! We made some homemade pita bread to go with it and just rolled it thin and over baked it a little to make it crispy. It was delicious and refreshing!

The onions are starting to bulb and we are enjoying the “new onions” and fresh garlic. Both items should be stored in the fridge since we haven’t “cured” them yet. We have the huge garlic harvest in the greenhouse curing now. The onion haul will be in a few weeks when we will pull all the onions at once and get them stored for use from now until next year. The large harvests are always a big job, instead of the things that get harvested a little at a time. It sure gives a sense of accomplishment and a sore back!

Holiday CSA hours:

Remember next week is meat week, pick up will on Thursday the 2nd (delivery of meat will also be that day) and Saturday the 4th. If you cannot make it on the Saturday pick up please let us know if you want to 1) pick up Thursday instead or 2) have us bag for you and you can pick up the following week. If you want curbside delivery at 5PM either of those days or you want your items bagged for cabin pick up PLEASE make sure to fill out the online meat pack form no later than TUESDAY.

We are excitedly watching the tomatoes and peppers in the greenhouse coming along, it won’t be long now! The squash has been thriving and soon we will be flooded with it so get out your squash recipes! Try relish, squash pickles are a family favorite and of course grilled squash can’t be beat!

Have a lovely 4th of July, we hope you enjoy some family, friends and great food! Things may be different this year and we all resist change, but finding joy each day is easy if you allow yourself to!

Blessings,

Your Farm-ily

Lots of rain!

Obviously we have a lot of fun in the rain! Some of the vegetables don’t like the rain, but we needed it.

This week hopefully you are enjoying all of the meat that you picked up, along with all of the veggies! We did have some new things last week, like Radicchio, here is a recipe for it.

Recently one of our favorite things to make has been sesame ham. It started as sesame chicken, but when I did it with a ham roast it turned out really well! This is how I do it: Cut up ham into 1/2 inch cubes, then put into Instant Pot with some sesame oil, and brown on all sides. While meat is browning, mix up the sauce: 1 cup honey, 1 cup liquid aminos, 1/2 cup water, 1 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp red chili flakes {or a pinch of cayenne} and 2 fresh garlic cloves {you can also finely chopped garlic scapes!} Wisk to combine. Then add sauce to Instant Pot and select manual high pressure for 4 minuets. While it is cooking mix up 2 tbs of corn starch in a 1/2 cup of cool water. Release pressure and add corn starch mixture, let that sit and it should thicken right up. If it doesn’t then you need to add some more corn starch and water. We serve this over brown rice, topped with sesame seeds, and a salad. This a great meal to come into on a day that we’ve been out harvesting in a heat index of over 100 degrees! Sweaty Farmers like this meal, we hope you do too!

Last week the herbal shares were: chick weed salve and turmeric honey. The salve is great for bug bites, burns and any skin ailment. The honey can be used in tea or for cooking, it’s great and so good for you!

New this week in the farm store is cheese, sour cream and cream cheese. It’s for sale to anyone (the butter in the is a herd share product so only available to herd share members). The cheese is from a dairy in the Shenandoah Valley, they are a grass fed dairy. We also got some local, organic einkorn wheat berries that we freshly ground for you. The best way to keep nutrients intact once it’s ground is to keep in the freezer. Our breads this week are made with it. It’s a lovely flour to work with.

We love serving you all as we strive to be good stewards of the land, and in turn eat great food!

Rejoicing in blessings, and blessings to you,

Madison for The Bakers

June is here! Time to stock up on meat!

Carrot Hugs!

We have some excitement here! Our favorite cow (we say that a lot) had her calf yesterday! He’s a huge boy, she’s never had a heifer. Maybe one day! Her name is Fawn and are thinking of calling the calf Peanut. Any suggestions?? We have finally decided to name the last heifer Tansy! The three babies are in the calf paddock by the rabbit barn so please stop and say hello!

The next exciting thing is the farm children are starting their own family garden. In their “spare” time they want to garden, this amazes me! I’m glad we like what we do and so do they! Gracie’s carrots (shown above) are so sweet we can’t stand it! Let’s see what she grows next. I think some flowers are going in first. And we just came back from the butcher last week with a huge amount of pork and lots of sausage choices.

The meat pick up will be this Thursday and Saturday from 2-5 PM. We will have two lines again for selecting your veggies and meat so everyone spread out and enjoy the fresh farm air! If you need curbside delivery for your items please schedule it ahead of time and we will do that between 5:00-5:15 both days. If you plan to do CURBSIDE ONLY see the meat order form for making your meat choices. Please fill out the extras form if you wish to order any extra farm goodies (by Wednesday please). We also now have butter in the cabin freezer for cow share members. Have a look and see what is new! We have raw cheese from a local grass fed dairy arriving next week so try some out!

We are loving the greens and we are so busy we are using them at so many meals. We try and keep a few days meat thawed in the fridge for quick and easy meals. We have BBQ with pork shoulder and coleslaw on the menu this week, and had a great salad with the napa cabbage as well. I love to do a chicken in the instant pot, pick the meat and refrigerate for using on salad later. Then I add water to the bones and make some broth too! OH and sausage on the grill has been a staple lately, with some squash and garlic scapes. We should be flooded with squash soon!

Enjoy your local eats!

Blessings,

The Bakers

It's warming up!

Happy Hens!

Wow I am loving this weather! We hope everyone has a wonderful Memorial Day, full of sunshine, good food and good times! This week is flying by as we are still super busy with getting the summer crops in and you won’t believe that in the next two weeks we will begin seeding the fall brassicas. That means broccoli, cauliflower, brussels sprouts and more! it even amazes me each year how long these things take. Oh and next week we will be seeding our winter squash and pumpkins! It’s fun to think of fall when it’s so hot out! But I’m enjoying the heat and so are the crops. The greens will start to slow down and the squash and cucumbers will begin thriving. Tomatoes are around the corner and peppers and eggplants won’t be too far behind. Summer food is so fun! Well the change of season is what I like really. I love all local food.

As we get to the bottom of our storage onions the garlic scapes come on board to flavor our foods. It’s amazing how eating seasonally works that way. Surely the different veggies have different vitamins and minerals that we need at different seasons. We made a shepherds pie last week with pok choi instead of green beans. We loved it! And we have been chopping up napa cabbage small and making salad topped with cooked chicken, cheese and hard boiled eggs. It’s a fun and easy and refreshing dinner! Perfect for these warmer days.

Enjoy your food and the sunshine!

Blessings,

The Baker

So many greens!

Good Morning!

One of our farm-ily members told me that traditionally women in the south don’t get osteoporosis because they eat so many greens (collards in particular). So folks, eat up and enjoy the good nutrition! We have so many choices of greens this week! Pak choi, napa cabbage, pea shoots, salad, collards, mustard greens, chard, garlic scapes, green onions, not to mention kimchi, sweet potatoes, onions, beets and more! Our 12 year old farmer girl raises the pea shoots, she loves growing them. Our favorite way to use them is in salad, on sandwiches and also lightly sauteed and in a quiche.

Our favorite dressing for the napa salad we make is: 1/2 cup olive oil, 1/4 cup Raw apple cider vinegar, 1-2 TBS peanut butter, 1 TBS raw honey and 1 tsp sesame oil (if I have it, or I just skip it). I love to finely chop the napa cabbage, shred some carrots and chop some green onions. I usually serve this with cold cooked chicken chopped and some sunflower seeds. Toss it all together and you have a perfect easy meal! The pak choi is wonderful in stir fries with some shredded beef roast and rice!

This week is a busy one with the good weather finally here. We are super busy getting all the heat loving plants in the ground. The strawberries are starting to ripen and they are oh so sweet! Once they are in abundance they will be in your shares. For now they are for sale. Farmer Tommy sure enjoys raising them for you! And his little helpers enjoying helping to harvest them, they get paid in berries!

Things are rolling so I better get back to it! Weeds are not standing still right now and need to be tended to! The potato patch is looking better than ever and got it’s first cultivation with our BSC 2 wheeled tractor and then hilling. Squash is coming along in the greenhouse, we got our first taste last night and soon there will be plenty to go around!

Blessings,

The Baker Team

Happy Mother's Day!!

We hope all of you, have a lovely weekend and special day Sunday! We are praying the Lord’s joy to be your strength each day. Whether or not you get to celebrate in the way you would choose, please enjoy your day and count your blessings, they are many!

Well if things weren’t weird enough, we have really cold weather past our usual frost date! But it keeps us on our toes! After we all got in bed last night and I heard the wind howl I remembered two areas of garden that weren’t covered in frost blankets. The baby lettuce and the pak choi and napa cabbage! So the guys sweetly got up and dressed and went to care for the crops! They returned singing (and waking me up) at 11:30! The napa cabbage and pak choi was being munched on by some bugs (it’s a good way to know your produce is organic…..if there are some bug wholes in it!) so we had uncovered it to get some sunshine and wind on it and forgot to recover! The baby lettuce is just in a different area and we had overlooked it. So it all got tucked into bed a little late, but in time to be safe from the freeze.

We have another group of chicks in the brooder and they are snug and cozy. The grass is growing great and we have lots to be thankful for! The baby calves are getting bigger each day. I am so thankful for a few sunny days. The squash in the green house is growing so slowly with the lack of sunshine, but before long it will be coming along faster than we can all eat it! We trellised cucumbers in the greenhouse yesterday and can’t wait for them!

We made some amazing meals with week. We sauteed the ramps, mushrooms, and collards in some butter and it was so wonderful and flavorful! Last night we used our instant pot sesame chicken recipe, but used a ham roast instead and added powdered ginger and it was awesome! Nice and filling on a cold evening. Of course the pak choi on the side was super, just sauteed with a little butter, we served it all over rice. The napa cabbage will be our dinner tonight along with some cooked chicken. I like to make an asian dressing and toss it all together like slaw. I love easy meals that are full of whole foods.

The herbal shares last week were some herbal teas, one of which called Smile Tea, is a family favorite. It’s similar to our herbal calcium, but has hibiscus in it. It’s great for hormone health, bones and just has so many vitamins and minerals in it! Also a good cough syrup is always good to have on hand, if you haven’t used it yet then just put it in the freezer. I have a section of my freezer for herbal goodies so when sickness does strike I don’t have to start making things, I just dig around and pull out what I have stored.

Enjoy, Be Well and God Bless,

Your Farmers