Farm News, Herd Share Pickup, Market Info: 9/2/2021

Hello beautiful peeps,

Hope you are all doing well. We are well. Scott is cleaning up, chopping and storing all of our onions. We originally had them drying on the floor of the commercial kitchen under construction. I left them there a little too long and they were starting to deteriorate quickly.

Onions need to be stored in a cool and dry place. We have the dry part covered, but not the cool part. In the end, I chop them and then freeze them for use throughout the year. I don’t know about you, but I’m not fond of chopping onions. Chopping them all at once and getting it done all at one time is a fine way to handle it. One day of discomfort and the rest of the year, I just reach into the freezer, pull out a bag, grab a handful of onions, and toss them into whatever dish I’m making.

INDEPENDENCE MARKET CHANGES: I’ll be in a different spot on the other side of the row. Look for my red Subaru. My will be right next to it. Make sure to visit the row of people next to the courthouse as well. We have lots of really unique vendors. Again, please bear with us through this cycle of growth. 

Sheep

The sheep are having a great time out in the pasture. They are secure from the coyotes and stray dogs. There is a coyote still wandering around out there, but Mack is keeping him away from the sheep. I mentioned in the last newsletter that we saw coyotes on the game camera. We captured yet another shot of a single coyote out there. I am very comfortable that the sheep are safe at this point.

Cows 

Newton is just about three months old now. He is doing so well. Violet and Butter are still providing lots and lots of milk for all of us. They are such great cows. The rest of the bovine group are contentedly grazing out in the front fields. Sometime this month or the next we will get preg checks done on all of our girls. Can’t want for that event. Confirmation of success is always a good thing!   

Quail

I’ve order three dozen quail eggs. No word yet that they have been shipped. I’m hoping this happens soon. If not, we may be delayed in hatching new genetic stock until the spring.  The young ones in the penthouse are doing very well. They were four weeks old this past Sunday. As far as size, they are just about as big as the full grown birds. I’m so impressed with these guys. They grow so fast.

Creamery and Scott’s Other Stuff

Nothing has happened recently on the creamery. Scott has been busy doing clean up around the farm. Lots of bush hogging of fields. He is also doing lots of gardening and food storage tasks. Work here is never ending and we love it.

Scott has the small cheese cave under control. It was quite a bit of work, but he revamped his method of aging the cheeses so taking care of them is much easier.

Garden

I have bagged up lots of tomatoes and put them in the freezer. There is a bucket of pepperoncini peppers in one of the refrigerators. I’ll be making another batch of pepperoncini soon. I think there are about 10 quart freezer bags of green peppers in the freezer. A lot of those are going to be used in salsa and a pickled pepper recipe. I’ll be getting to those yummy tomatoes soon. I’m gearing up for several batches of salsa. I may need a few jalapeno peppers to make that happen. It just so happens that I know a couple of farmer’s markets where I can purchase some really good ones.

That’s it for farm news. Now on to the farmer’s market update. 

Independence and Wytheville Farmer’s Markets

I will be at the Independence Farmer’s Market on Friday 9 – 1 and at the Wytheville Farmer’s Market on Saturday 8 – 12.

I have apple pie filling, peach pie filling and blueberry pie filling. A deep dish pie requires 48 oz of filling. I’ve got you covered. Two 24 oz jars or a quart and pint jar.

I’ll have the pickled pepperoncinis in pint jars.

I’ll have blueberry and blackberry jam at both markets as well as mild pepper jam. STRAWBERRY JAM is back. And you just have to try my apple pie jam

I’m running low on quail eggs but may have a couple of dozen available and definitely will have quail meat in 1 lb packages.

We have ground goat (approx 1 lb), grass-fed ground beef (approx 1 lb) and ground lamb (approx 1 lb). I also have a very limited amount of lamb cuts. Loin chops, rib chops, stew/kabob meat and two lovely petit legs.

Herd Shares

Herd Share Peeps, the Independence market location has temporarily changed. Due to construction on the new covered facility, we are relocating to the parking lots east of the Court House.

I’ll see you in my usual location at the Wytheville Farmers’ Market.

Add on as you desire. Yogurt, milk and all cheeses and butter are at your service. Looking forward to seeing you on Friday, Saturday and/or Tuesday. 

You can pickup at the Independence Market on Fridays between 9 am and 1pm, the Wytheville Market on Saturdays between 8:00 am and 12:00 noon, at the farm Saturdays 3 pm to 5 pm or Tuesdays 10:00 am to noon. Email me to let me know if you want anything extra this time. 

I still have new raw milk cheese shares and a couple of milk shares available. Contact me via email (melanie@peacefulheartfarm.com) or phone (276-694-4369).

Please go HERE to learn all about Herd Shares.


Let’s Get Together

As always, we love meeting you in person.  You can find us at the Wytheville Farmers Market on Saturday from 8:00 am to Noon. We are at Independence Farmers’ Market on Fridays from 9:00 am to 1 pm.  

As always, you may visit us at our dairy farm in Claudville, Virginia Tuesdays from 10 am to 12 noon and Saturday afternoons from 3 pm to 5 pm. Find out how we raise our animals and why you will love the taste of tradition that is inherent in all of our products. Herd share holders will be able to see up close how their cows are cared for and the cheese operation and where it is stored. 


Peaceful Heart FarmCast

In this week’s podcast, “Why We Drink Milk” is the topic. It’s a replay of a podcast I did a couple of years ago. The consumption of dairy products has been a mainstay for as long as mankind has been able to capture and milk animals of all kinds. Sheep, goats, cows, bison, water buffalo, donkeys and horses. All are still milked to this day. There may be others. These are the ones of which I am aware. I talk about this tradition that has helped our species thrive and develop over the centuries and millennia.  


Free Downloads

I want to follow up on my previous FarmCast, The Taste of Cheese where I talked about developing your expertise with using descriptive words. The FREE downloads of Classifying Cheese by Type and Category and Expand Your Cheese Vocabulary are still available at our website. Please stop by and get your FREE resources. 

You can LISTEN TO THE PODCAST HEREOr, if you have an Alexa device, just say:Alexa, play podcast Peaceful Heart FarmCast.

And don’t miss an episode! Subscribe to the Peaceful Heart Farm podcast on Apple PodcastsAndroidTuneIn, Stitcher or Spotify


Farm News, Herd Share Pickups, Market Info: 8/26/2021

Hello beautiful peeps,

We are doing well this week. I did make an error in last week’s newsletter. I said Scott’s treatment protocol is 5 weeks. It is actually 7 weeks. So there you go. I’m already all mixed up. We shall see how I progress. Some days time seems quite normal while on other days it drags on and on. That’s usually between appointments. Many days feel surreal. They all blend together to make our lives interesting. 

New items at the Farmer’s Markets this week include TOMATOES, Jet Star and Black Krim. Both are slicing tomatoes. You’ve probably heard me say this before but, these are my all-time-favorite tomatoes. That’s why I grow them. The Black Krim is higher in acid than the Jet Star. That also means the flavor is out of this world.

INDEPENDENCE MARKET CHANGES: I’m not sure where I will be in the market  arrangement tomorrow. I’ll be there somewhere. There is a row of people next to the courthouse as well as where you’ve seen me these last couple of weeks. Again, please bear with us through this cycle of growth. 

Sheep

The sheep are still contentedly grazing and free from any foreign animal harassment. Mack is doing a wonderful job. We did catch a couple of coyotes on the game cameras this week. But I think Mack scared them off. All four sheep are still safe. They still hide from Mack. I have no idea how long it will take them to get used to him. I’m just watching and waiting at this point. I’m also still thinking a lot about adding more sheep back to the flock. We would like to have at least one more dog to help out. I hope that materializes soon. We shall see.

Cows 

Rosie has been taken out of the milking rotation. We have downsized the amount of milk we handle. I’m no longer making cheese. There is still a great need for herd share milk and Newton still gets lots of fresh milk. He is growing like a weed and we want to make sure he continues on that path. Anyway, we are still milking Violet and Butter. Rosie was late in her lactation cycle anyway. Some of you are new and won’t know that she delivered way back in February. Her milk production was already beginning to decline so we moved her into the nursery herd. She likely won’t be dried up right away. Princess is her calf. She is quite a resourceful young lady. She will nurse any cow that will stand still for her. Her official nursing mother is Cloud, but I have no doubt she will discover extra nutrition is available from Rosie. Later in the fall we will wean all of the calves so their moms will get a break before birthing the next calf. That will happen in October or November.   

Quail

Last time I said we were done with quail hatching. However, I noticed some genetic issues in the last batch of babies and we need some new stock. The current plan is to get about three dozen fertile eggs. We will hatch those out and keep enough hens to restock our breeding cages. In the spring we will order another batch of new fertile eggs and keep a few roosters out of that batch. That should get us back on track with solid genetics for a few years. That’s the plan. We shall see how it goes.

Creamery and Scott’s Other Stuff

Scott is watching all sort of YouTube videos on electric stuff. He is gearing up for creating the electrical plan on paper.

In other creamery news, Scott is working on revamping and cleaning up the small cheese cave. It is a constant battle with the mold. Of course we want the molds. It is what gives the cheese its great flavor. However, we don’t want it growing out of control, hence the constant battle. It grows all over and Scott spends hours wiping down the shelves. It is a labor of love.

Garden

I have tomatoes running out of my ears. And peppers. I’ll be making another batch of pepperoncini soon. And some of those yummy tomatoes are going to go into a couple of batches of salsa. Look for that at the market soon.

I have so many beautiful tomato fruits that I decided to bring them to the market. I’ve packaged them up into approximately 1 pound bags. Stop by and pick out some beautiful tomatoes to take home with you.

That’s it for farm news. Now on to the farmer’s market update. 

Independence and Wytheville Farmer’s Markets

I will be at the Independence Farmer’s Market on Friday 9 – 1 and at the Wytheville Farmer’s Market on Saturday 8 – 12.

As mentioned above, I’ll have fresh tomatoes.

I have apple pie filling, peach pie filling and blueberry pie filling. A deep dish pie requires 48 oz of filling. I’ve got you covered. Two 24 oz jars or a quart and pint jar.

I’ll have the pickled pepperoncinis in pint jars.

I’ll have blueberry and blackberry jam at both markets as well as mild pepper jam. STRAWBERRY JAM is back

I may have a couple of dozen quail eggs and definitely will have quail meat in 1 lb packages.

We have ground goat (approx 1 lb), grass-fed ground beef (approx 1 lb) and ground lamb (approx 1 lb). I also have a very limited amount of lamb cuts. Loin chops, rib chops, stew/kabob meat and two lovely petit legs.

Herd Shares

Herd Share Peeps, the Independence market location has temporarily changed. Due to construction on the new covered facility, we are relocating to the parking lots east of the Court House.

I’ll see you in my usual location at the Wytheville Farmers’ Market.

Add on as you desire. Yogurt, milk and all cheeses and butter are at your service. Looking forward to seeing you on Friday, Saturday and/or Tuesday. 

You can pickup at the Independence Market on Fridays between 9 am and 1pm, the Wytheville Market on Saturdays between 8:00 am and 12:00 noon, at the farm Saturdays 3 pm to 5 pm or Tuesdays 10:00 am to noon. Email me to let me know if you want anything extra this time. 

I still have new raw milk cheese shares and a couple of milk shares available. Contact me via email (melanie@peacefulheartfarm.com) or phone (276-694-4369).

Please go HERE to learn all about Herd Shares.


Let’s Get Together

As always, we love meeting you in person.  You can find us at the Wytheville Farmers Market on Saturday from 8:00 am to Noon. We are at Independence Farmers’ Market on Fridays from 9:00 am to 1 pm.  

As always, you may visit us at our dairy farm in Claudville, Virginia Tuesdays from 10 am to 12 noon and Saturday afternoons from 3 pm to 5 pm. Find out how we raise our animals and why you will love the taste of tradition that is inherent in all of our products. Herd share holders will be able to see up close how their cows are cared for and the cheese operation and where it is stored. 


Peaceful Heart FarmCast

In this week’s podcast, “A Cancer Diagnosis” is the topic. We have had a whirlwind month and a half. This is a short podcast to bring you up-to-date on what’s happening and what to expect with the podcast in the next few months. I’m not going to bore you with every little detail of our ordeal over the coming months. Instead I’ll be replaying some of my favorite podcasts. I may create some new content as time allows. Please pray for us during this time.  


Free Downloads

I want to follow up on my previous FarmCast, The Taste of Cheese where I talked about developing your expertise with using descriptive words. The FREE downloads of Classifying Cheese by Type and Category and Expand Your Cheese Vocabulary are still available at our website. Please stop by and get your FREE resources. 

You can LISTEN TO THE PODCAST HEREOr, if you have an Alexa device, just say:Alexa, play podcast Peaceful Heart FarmCast.

And don’t miss an episode! Subscribe to the Peaceful Heart Farm podcast on Apple PodcastsAndroidTuneIn, Stitcher or Spotify


Farm News, Herd Share Pickups, Market Info: 8-19-2021

Hello beautiful peeps,

All is well here on the homestead. Sure we have lots and lots of doctors appointments to work into our schedule, but we are managing. We appreciate all of your prayers. There was some good news among all the bad. The treatment is only 5 weeks and recovery should be only a month or so — not the original 4 to 6 months we were anticipating. God is good.

New items at the Farmer’s Markets this week include blueberry, peach and apple pie filling. Are you ready to makes some pies? I’ve been very busy this week.

INDEPENDENCE MARKET CHANGES: The Independence Farmer’s Market is having a shelter built for the vendors. While that construction is going on, we will be set up east of the courthouse. Herd share peeps look for me there. I don’t know exactly where my location will be and it may change from week to week. All of that is still being worked out. Please bear with us through this cycle of growth. 

Sheep

There is isn’t much to say about the sheep. There are still four of them out there. We may have some babies in September or October. That would be a blessing. Mack is caring for them whether they like it or not. They still haven’t warmed up to him, but I think it will come in time. They were terrorized by dogs so I understand their standoffish nature with Mack. Again, I think they just need time.

Cows 

We are going to leave Violet as she is for this year. Because of the problem with the hormone shot, she did not come into heat on the scheduled day. We don’t really know when she would come into heat again. The AI tech was ready to start over from the beginning but we have decided to just let it go for this year. We believe all of the other cows and one heifer are pregnant. Violet can get with the program with the rest of the herd next year. Trying again at this late date would put us right back in the same situation. Violet would have her calf much later than everyone else and would come back into heat much later than everyone else. That means two AI sessions instead of one for everyone. She is a very good cow, and even though we will be feeding her through the winter with no calf in the spring, she is worth keeping and having her next calf in 2023.   

Quail

I’m pleased to say that we are done with quail hatching this season. All of the new babies are snug in the penthouse. There are 22 on each side. The egg laying girls have a newly cleaned hutch and they are content. Egg production will drop for the next month and a half as we wait for the new babies to reach maturity. After that, I think we can expect to have over 30 eggs every single day. I’ll be making more pickled quail eggs. Ask me about them at the market. There is a curry flavor, a standard pickle flavored variety and a few are pickled with garlic and beets.

One other note with the quail. We have noticed that we are starting to see genetic deformities in our babies. That means we will need to order some new eggs in the spring and upgrade our genetic pool. It happens every few years. There is no way to really keep up with which rooster is fertilizing which eggs. They all get cleaned up and stored together. Even though we always have at least four roosters, the genetics eventually deteriorate. It is all part of raising quail. I’m sure the people providing the eggs for hatching have a method to ensure genetic diversity. I just don’t know what it is or how it works. I’m good with continuing to rely on their expertise in this area.

Creamery and Scott’s Other Stuff

In the previous newsletter I said this is the last creamery update for quite a few months while we wait on Scott’s healing. However, as I mentioned above, his treatment will be much less than we originally anticipated. He is looking forward to getting back to it in the coming weeks — designing the electrical system and even pulling some wire is on his agenda. At the moment he is helping me snap and shell beans and peas.

Garden

Tomatoes, peppers, herbs and the crowder peas are all that is left. I say “all that is left,” but those plants are producing magnificently. I ended up freezing some tomatoes for later processing during the winter. All of my time with garden stuff is focused on finishing up canning the green beans, shelling/canning the crowder peas, and chopping/freezing the green peppers. At some point I’ll need to freeze some of the onions as well. 

The pepperoncini peppers bloomed and produced another crop. I’ll be pickling more of them. Look for them at the market.

That’s it for farm news. Now on to the farmer’s market update. 

Independence and Wytheville Farmer’s Markets

I will be at the Independence Farmer’s Market on Friday 9 – 1 and at the Wytheville Farmer’s Market on Saturday 8 – 12.

As mentioned above, I’ll have apple pie filling, peach pie filling and blueberry pie filling. Enough for one deep dish pie requires 48 oz of filling. I’ve got you covered.

One pound (plus) bags of crowder peas will be available at both Independence and Wytheville Farmer’s Markets. I’ll have the pickled pepperoncinis as well.

I’ll have blueberry and blackberry jam at both markets as well as mild pepper jam. Still no of strawberry jam. At the moment, I just don’t have time to make it

I have quail eggs by the dozen and quail meat in 1 lb packages.

We have ground goat (approx 1 lb), grass-fed ground beef (approx 1 lb) and ground lamb (approx 1 lb). I also have a very limited amount of lamb cuts. Loin chops, rib chops, stew/kabob meat and two lovely petit legs.

Herd Shares

Herd Share Peeps, the Independence market location has temporarily changed. Due to construction on the new covered facility, we are relocating to the parking lots east of the Court House.

I’ll see you in my usual location at the Wytheville Farmers’ Market.

Add on as you desire. Yogurt, milk and all cheeses and butter are at your service. Looking forward to seeing you on Friday, Saturday and/or Tuesday. 

You can pickup at the Independence Market on Fridays between 9 am and 1pm, the Wytheville Market on Saturdays between 8:00 am and 12:00 noon, at the farm Saturdays 3 pm to 5 pm or Tuesdays 10:00 am to noon. Email me to let me know if you want anything extra this time. 

I still have new raw milk cheese shares and a couple of milk shares available. Contact me via email (melanie@peacefulheartfarm.com) or phone (276-694-4369).

Please go HERE to learn all about Herd Shares.


Let’s Get Together

As always, we love meeting you in person.  You can find us at the Wytheville Farmers Market on Saturday from 8:00 am to Noon. We are at Independence Farmers’ Market on Fridays from 9:00 am to 1 pm.  

As always, you may visit us at our dairy farm in Claudville, Virginia Tuesdays from 10 am to 12 noon and Saturday afternoons from 3 pm to 5 pm. Find out how we raise our animals and why you will love the taste of tradition that is inherent in all of our products. Herd share holders will be able to see up close how their cows are cared for and the cheese operation and where it is stored. 


Peaceful Heart FarmCast

In this week’s podcast, “A Cancer Diagnosis” is the topic. We have had a whirlwind month and a half. This is a short podcast to bring you up-to-date on what’s happening and what to expect with the podcast in the next few months. I’m not going to bore you with every little detail of our ordeal over the coming months. Instead I’ll be replaying some of my favorite podcasts. I may create some new content as time allows. Please pray for us during this time.  


Free Downloads

I want to follow up on my previous FarmCast, The Taste of Cheese where I talked about developing your expertise with using descriptive words. The FREE downloads of Classifying Cheese by Type and Category and Expand Your Cheese Vocabulary are still available at our website. Please stop by and get your FREE resources. 

You can LISTEN TO THE PODCAST HEREOr, if you have an Alexa device, just say:Alexa, play podcast Peaceful Heart FarmCast.

And don’t miss an episode! Subscribe to the Peaceful Heart Farm podcast on Apple PodcastsAndroidTuneIn, Stitcher or Spotify


Farm News, Herd Share Pickups, Market Info: 8/12/2021

Hello beautiful peeps,

It has been a couple of weeks since I sent out a newsletter and I missed the markets last week. Some of you know already that Scott had surgery. He is healing well. Having both tonsils out at his age is quite painful but he did the milking today! I have been doing it for over a week with a little help from a neighbor for the heavy lifting. There is going to be an even longer healing period over the next four to six months and we ask for your prayers.

INDEPENDENCE MARKET CHANGES: The Independence Farmer’s Market is having a shelter built for the vendors. While that construction is going on, we will be set up east of the courthouse. Herd share peeps look for me there. I don’t know exactly where my location will be and it may change from week to week. All of that is still being worked out. Please bear with us through this cycle of growth. 

Sheep

Mack, our new livestock guardian dog, is learning all about our sheep. We are so grateful for him. The sheep are still a little shy of him, but he is right there for them when they need him. I’m sure the sheep will warm up to him in due time.

Cows 

Violet should receive her artificial insemination on Sunday. However, there was a problem yesterday. Scott needed to give her a second hormone shot. She somehow kicked him right in the chest and the needle was bent 90 degrees. After Scott caught his breath, he straightened the needle and tried again but a lot of it dribbled out and did not make it under her skin. The needle mechanism was too damaged. I have no idea what will happen next with that faux pas. I’ll let you know next week.   

Quail

We hatched out about 47 quail eggs. There are 44 alive and kicking and growing like weeds. They are one week old in the brooder. In another week they will be up in the penthouses on both sides. The hutch will be completely full with 22 on each side.

This is the last batch of quail I will be hatching this season. I have too many other pressing things to take of to keep up with breeding these cute little guys. We will keep lots of good breeding stock and start up again in spring 2022.

Creamery and Scott’s Other Stuff

This is the last creamery update for quite a few months. The bottom line is there will be no progress until Scott is fully healed. We’ll catch up again sometime in the spring.

Garden

The green beans are done and the crowder peas are taking center stage. I picked two 5-gallon buckets a couple of days ago. I will have crowder peas at the farmers market. 

I think I have enough canned green beans for a couple of years. They really produced, and they were beautiful and very tasty. 

I have picked a few tomatoes. They still have a way to go. I’m okay with that. I don’t know what I’m going to do with them in any case. These are beautiful slicing tomatoes. I could make sauce, but it would take a long time to cook down and thicken. We shall see. Perhaps I will bring some to the market.

The green bell peppers are really yummy. I picked a little over 1/2 of a 5-gallon bucket of those. We are still enjoying fresh banana peppers every day. It’s a good thing I really love them.

Remember those pepperoncini peppers I was collecting? I pickled them. I’ll bring that to the market this weekend.

That’s it for farm news. Now on to the farmer’s market update. 

Independence and Wytheville Farmer’s Markets

I will be at the Independence Farmer’s Market on Friday 9 – 1 and at the Wytheville Farmer’s Market on Saturday 8 – 12.

One pound (plus) bags of crowder peas will be available at both Independence and Wytheville Farmer’s Markets. The pickled pepperoncini will be a new item as well.

I’ll have blueberry and blackberry jam at both markets as well as mild pepper jam. I’m still out of strawberry jam

I have quail eggs by the dozen and quail meat in 1 lb packages.

We have ground goat again. And we have grass-fed ground beef (approx 1 lb) and ground lamb (approx 1 lb). I also have a very limited amount of lamb cuts. Loin chops, rib chops, stew/kabob meat and two lovely petit legs.

Herd Shares

Herd Share Peeps, the Independence market location has temporarily changed. Due to construction on the new covered facility, we are relocating to the parking lots east of the Court House.

I’ll see you in my usual location at the Wytheville Farmers’ Market.

Add on as you desire. Yogurt, milk and all cheeses and butter are at your service. Looking forward to seeing you on Friday, Saturday and/or Tuesday. 

You can pickup at the Independence Market on Fridays between 9 am and 1pm, the Wytheville Market on Saturdays between 8:00 am and 12:00 noon, at the farm Saturdays 3 pm to 5 pm or Tuesdays 10:00 am to noon. Email me to let me know if you want anything extra this time. 

I still have new raw milk cheese shares and a couple of milk shares available. Contact me via email (melanie@peacefulheartfarm.com) or phone (276-694-4369).

Please go HERE to learn all about Herd Shares.


Let’s Get Together

As always, we love meeting you in person.  You can find us at the Wytheville Farmers Market on Saturday from 8:00 am to Noon. We are at Independence Farmers’ Market on Fridays from 9:00 am to 1 pm.  

As always, you may visit us at our dairy farm in Claudville, Virginia Tuesdays from 10 am to 12 noon and Saturday afternoons from 3 pm to 5 pm. Find out how we raise our animals and why you will love the taste of tradition that is inherent in all of our products. Herd share holders will be able to see up close how their cows are cared for and the cheese operation and where it is stored. 


Peaceful Heart FarmCast

In this week’s podcast, “A Cancer Diagnosis” is the topic. We have had a whirlwind month and a half. This is a short podcast to bring you up-to-date on what’s happening and what to expect with the podcast in the next few months. I’m not going to bore you with every little detail of our ordeal over the coming months. Instead I’ll be replaying some of my favorite podcasts. I may create some new content as time allows. Please pray for us during this time.  


Free Downloads

I want to follow up on my previous FarmCast, The Taste of Cheese where I talked about developing your expertise with using descriptive words. The FREE downloads of Classifying Cheese by Type and Category and Expand Your Cheese Vocabulary are still available at our website. Please stop by and get your FREE resources. 

You can LISTEN TO THE PODCAST HEREOr, if you have an Alexa device, just say:Alexa, play podcast Peaceful Heart FarmCast.

And don’t miss an episode! Subscribe to the Peaceful Heart Farm podcast on Apple PodcastsAndroidTuneIn, Stitcher or Spotify


A Cancer Diagnosis and a Change in the Podcast

A cancer diagnosis is causing temporary changes to the podcast. We have had a cancer diagnosis and that will affect what I am able to do on a daily basis. I will be caring for Scott and picking up a lot of tasks he normally handles. In the end, it looks like he will be fine. However, getting to that end point will entail traveling a very difficult road of chemo and radiation.

I want to take a minute and say welcome to all the new listeners and welcome back to the veteran homestead-loving regulars who stop by the FarmCast for every episode. I appreciate you all so much, even more so right now.

Our Virginia Homestead Life Updates

I’m going to start with a few more details about our health situation and then give you a few livestock and garden updates.

A Cancer Diagnosis

Over the past four weeks we have been to one appointment after another. Specialists, CAT scan, biopsy, surgery and a couple more specialist appointments all in little more than 30 days. Scott has had both tonsils out and the healing for that procedure is quite lengthy for an adult. I’ve been milking the cows on my own and with a little help with the heavy lifting from a neighbor. It has been going pretty well.

Getting things in Order

Scott and I are streamlining as much as possible so we can get through this time period with less stress. We have plenty of cheese stored up, so I will not be making any more cheese for the rest of this milking season. Milking twice a day changed to once a day almost immediately. That reduces the amount of milk that we are handling on a daily and weekly basis. Between the great herd share folks, feeding the calf, making yogurt and having drinking milk for ourselves, I think we will be in good shape here. Oh yeah, and making butter every so often as well.

Cheese Cave Changes

We are changing how we store the cheese in the cheese cave. Scott handles all of that, and rather than me trying to add that to my already full schedule, we are going to try vacuum packing a lot of the cheeses. I’ll let you know how that goes.

Garden Changes

The garden is in full swing and there is not much I can do about that except get out there every day or so and bring in the harvest, process it quickly and move on to the next task. I’ve determined that if I get behind on that, the compost pile will be loving it.

Podcast Changes

The biggest change will be with this podcast. It takes a tremendous amount of time to put out each episode. My plan is to replay some of the older episodes. If you are new this will be a benefit for you. And if you are a long-time listener, I hope you will bear with me as we get through this time. The doctor let me know to expect drastic changes in lifestyle for four to six months. We can do this.

Now for a few homestead updates.

Creamery

Of course, the creamery is completely on hold. This will be my last mention of that for several months.  

Cows

The cows are hanging in there. I’m a little worried about getting hay to them in the winter. I’ll be looking for help from a neighbor or two in that regard. Moving them from one pasture paddock to another is something I can easily handle. But when the grass runs out, they will need hay brought to them. That means someone who knows what they are doing with a tractor. That’s not me. Fortunately, that task can be done once or twice a week in an hour or so and should not be too much of a burden for those helping us through this time.

Sheep

The sheep are hanging out with Mack, the sheepdog. They seem to be getting along quite well. We may add a few sheep back to the flock over the next few weeks. Again, moving them from place to place is not hard. So, having six or eight instead of four is not a big deal. We shall see how that plays out. If it seems stressful to try and accomplish it, I will let that do as well. There is always next year.

Donkeys

Because we now have a livestock guardian dog, the donkeys are going on to another home. This is a high priority in the next few weeks. The donkeys require regular hoof care that I simply will not be able to provide. It will be better for all of us if they get resettled soon.

Garden and Orchard

The green beans are done. I’ll be canning the last batches this week and next. The crowder peas are just coming on. Today, I packed up quite a few one-pound bags for the farmer’s market tomorrow. There are more out there to pick. Crowder peas are an overall joy for me. I like picking them, shelling them and, most of all, eating them.

The tomatoes are also just starting to ripen. They are ripening quite late this year. I’m happy that there is a lot of plant and not so many fruits. I really have no idea what I am going to do with these tomatoes. They are slicing tomatoes. Perhaps I will make the effort to get them to the farmer’s market.

Again, if any of these tasks falls behind or becomes overwhelming, the compost pile is always open to new food additions.

The last of the fruit is picked. I have several gallon bags of blackberries in the freezer. I can make jelly out of that at my leisure – even next year if needed. Scott harvested the elderberries this year. The bushes have been producing for a few years now but this is the first time we’ve taken the time to harvest the berries.

Elderberries are really, really small. They form small tree-like bunches all over the bush. Scott snipped off each little tree and filled a five-gallon bucket. Then he gently stripped the berries off of the twigs. I believe I have maybe a gallon and a half of those berries. I’ll be processing those in the next few days. They will be made into elderberry syrup. It’s good for sore throats and general immune system support. Lots of vitamin C.

Final Thoughts

That’s about all for today. Again, I will be rerunning some older podcasts beginning soon. If I feel up to it, I may create a new one here and there. Please bear with me and please pray for Scott over the next few months.

Oh, I almost forgot. So many have asked how they can support us. Number one is please pray for us. Number two, if you live near, I may need your help from time to time to get Scott to and from his appointments – and with the hay, as I mentioned above. These are my most pressing concerns.

This will be a huge financial hit for us between the medical bills and the loss of income from products we would normally produce. If you feel moved to help us out financially, there is a very large “Donate” button on our farm website. You will find it on the podcast page.

I originally set this up for donations to support the podcast in general. I have not promoted it, instead footing the bill for the podcast from our profits. At this time, I will open it up for all of you. Not only will you be supporting the cost of the podcast, but at this time you would also be supporting our homestead in general. You can make a one-time donation or set up a recurring, monthly donation.

You can also send money via PayPal. Our PayPal email is melanie at peaceful heart farm dot com.

Please know that listening and sharing the podcast is also supporting us. It is absolutely one of the best ways to support us. Share it on all of your social media and with friends and family. That helps the most to grow the podcast.

Thank you so much for stopping by the homestead and until next time, may God fill your life with grace and peace.

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FARM STORE HOURS:

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