Farm News, Herd Share Pickup: 7/1/2020
Hello beautiful peeps,
We will have QUAIL again at the Wytheville Farmer’s Market on Saturday. Quantities are very limited. They come in 16 ounce packages with four birds approximately 4 ounces each. Price is $20.00. We also have a few jars of of BLUEBERRY JAM still available.
The traffic pattern has returned to normal at the farmer’s market. We are back in our original position near the uncovered side exit.
If you are looking for Herd Share pick up info, jump down the page here.
Quail
The next batch of eggs is in the incubator. There are 84 eggs this time. That right — 84!! About three days into collecting eggs I realized that these eggs are produced by hens and roosters that are quite young. They have yet to prove their fertility. Even though we have many more eggs, we may end up with far fewer chicks. We shall see. That excellent hatch rate we had last time may be repeated — or not.
The previous 50 birds are doing very well and growing so fast. It’s odd to not have any in the brooder. But in a little over two weeks, that part will start all over again. Happy days!
Cows
Claire and Cloud were re-inseminated this past week. They came into heat again, indicating that the first round did not take. Violet may be pregnant. We have seen no signs of heat from her. We are not sure about Butter. We will be able to test soon. And if need be, do it all over again until we have success.
Wendell and Virginia are doing well, as is Luna. Safely back inside the fence, they have been content to eat grass and gulp down milk (Wendell and Virginia) a couple of times per day. Between the two of them, they go through four gallons of milk a day. Perhaps we indulge them too much. But I like to see big healthy calves. So we give them lots of milk from the moms.
Creamery
Scott is on the roof again today. I think he is nearly done with the really complex part. This particular section of the roof has another little roof on top of it where the attic stairs from one level join the attic of the other, higher level. I think he is on to the easier part now of just putting on the rest of the decking. After that, the metal roofing part begins. Charles will likely come over and give him a hand with that. It is safer that way and will go much quicker as well.
Garden
I finished the final two beds a few days ago. They contain culinary herbs. I have a 24 x 8 foot bed that has rosemary and thyme. There is another with cilantro and oregano. And the final one has parsley and basil. The rosemary, thyme and oregano plants will be moved to another location at the end of the season. They are perennials in our USDA planting zone and will need to be moved from the annual garden area to a more permanent location. I don’t know where right now. But I will think of something.
The sunflowers are so amazing. Many are over six feet tall now. I’m so excited about these plants. What a joy to just go out there and stare at them with wonder.
That’s it for farm news. Now on to the farmer’s market update.
Farmer’s Market
We will be at the Wytheville Farmer’s Market on Saturday 8 am to noon. The veggie vendors will be outside on the covered side. The season is coming into full swing. Come on out and check out what everybody has to offer.
Again, we will have QUAIL and BLUEBERRY JAM!! in very LIMITED Quantities!
Sorry, we are still out of ground goat and ground lamb but have ribs chops and loin chops. We are out of beef. It will be August before we have more. We are sold out of beef 1/4s and 1/2s and lambs.
Herd Shares
Herd Share Peeps, I am back in my usual location as before. The traffic flow is also back to normal. You can enter from any open door and feel free to move back and forth, visiting vendors in the order you choose. I look forward to seeing each of you. Remember to let me know what you want for next week. Fresh milk and yogurt is still available. And as always, cheese and butter.
New herd share opportunities are available. Contact me via email (melanie@peacefulheartfarm.com) or phone (276-694-4369).
Please go HERE to learn all about Herd Shares and get on our waiting list.
News This Week
- Products Available
- Let’s Get Together
- This week’s FarmCast, “Planning Your Homestead” is now available.
- FREE Cheese tasting downloads
Products Available to Herd Share Owners
| Choose 1 per week | 1/2 Share | Whole Share |
| Raw Milk | 1/2 gallon | 1 gallon |
| Yogurt | 1 quart | 2 quarts |
| Butter | 1/4 pound | 1/2 pound |
| Ararat Legend | 1/4 pound | 1/2 pound |
| Peaceful Heart Gold | 1/4 pound | 1/2 pound |
| Pinnacle | 1/4 pound | 1/2 pound |
| Clau d’ville Cheddar | 1/4 pound | 1/2 pound |
Products Available to the General Public
| Beef | Price / Pound | |
| 1/4 Beef (approx 100 lbs) | SOLD OUT | |
| 1/2 Beef (approx 200 lbs) | SOLD OUT | |
| Whole Beef (approx 400 lbs) | SOLD OUT | |
| Ground (approx 1 lb) | SOLD OUT | |
| Lamb | Price / Pound | |
| Lamb Loin Chops | $18 | |
| Lamb Rib Chops | $18 | |
| Lamb Kabobs | SOLD OUT | |
| Ground Lamb (approx 1 lb) | SOLD OUT | |
| Whole Lamb (approx 40 lbs) | SOLD OUT | |
| 1/2 Lamb (approx 20 lbs) | SOLD OUT | |
| Chev (Goat) | Price / Pound | |
| Ground Chev (approx 1 lb) | SOLD OUT |
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. Special procedures are in place for your health and safety. Masks are recommended but not required as far as I know.
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.
In this week’s podcast, “Planning Your Homestead – Land” I cover some of the conversations and discussion we had when deciding what our perfect homestead would look like. This is a complex topic and I only touched on the basics. There are many more thoughts, questions and ideas that you will come up with on your own. Hopefully, this will get you started if you are building that sort of dream. .
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 HERE. Or, 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 Podcasts, Android, TuneIn, Stitcher or Spotify
