Hello beautiful peeps,

I know I missed last week. Sorry about that. Life is very hectic these days. I’m stilling canning something every week. This week it was spiced pear jam. I love this stuff. I learned it from my mother. A nice subtle blend of ginger do not overwhelm the cinnamon and nutmeg. It’s fabulous if I do say so myself.  

INDEPENDENCE MARKET: No word yet on my place for tomorrow. No doubt I will be in a similar location. This is the second to last market. After October 8th I will be switching to Wednesday. That is to support the online market and Herd Share Pickups will also happen on Wednesdays. Also, I will be there for both Christmas Markets. I don’t have those dates right at hand but will keep you informed. 

HOMESTEAD UPDATES

Sheep and Mack

The vet was out to preg check the cows and we had her look at the sheep as well. It was as good thing. That growth on the ewe was really big and gross. She fixed her right up and that ewe is nearly healed. Lambert, the ram was a different story. He was having problems with his hooves. She checked that out and recommended we give him foot baths. We did that two of three times. Actually all of the sheep got the foot baths, just in case.

We also took time to worm them all. It has been several years since we had to use a chemical wormer. However, the stress of the coyotes and dog attacks must have weakened their systems. All had some worm load and Lambert was in really bad shape. He is still weak. Hopefully, he will turn the corner soon and be back to normal. The worms made him extremely anemic. We don’t like to use chemicals, but there are times when the life of the animal depends on it. This was one of those times. 

Cows 

The vet has preg checked all the girls and we had mixed results. Six were artificially inseminated and three are pregnant. A fourth, Cloud, was pregnant but miscarried. The vet said not to worry. If it was a late-term abortion there could be a problem. But early on it is common to abort if the fetus is in the least compromised.

Buttercup got some pain meds for her injured leg. She is not pregnant and is going to need to be replaced. The vet says she is overweight and as she ages it is less and less Likely that she will conceive. At this point she is already 11. Cows begin to wind down after 10 or so years, though they can continue to have calves past 15. It depends on the cow.

Claire, Butter and Luna were all positive for pregnancy. Everyone is healthy at the moment and we look forward to the spring births. We don’t milk through the winter. The cows need a break to make calves and we need a break from milking everyday, seven days a week. However, we are considering breeding Rosie for a fall birth next year. She did not take this time round and perhaps we will try what is called calf sharing with her next fall.

Calf sharing is when the calf gets to drink milk all day. Then we separate them (they can still touch noses but no nursing) overnight. In the morning, we get the milk and put them back together again for the day. It’s a lot more management but we may try it as an experiment. As long as the calf is nursing, we can even take a few days off and not milk at all. The calf will get all the milk, day and night.   

Quail

Remember last time I was saying we had the the quail eggs. They will be hatching on Saturday. I’m excited as usual to have babies again. It is a little late in the season. The weather is much cooler. However, these birds are hardy and will be fully feathered after two weeks and completely capable of handling the cold.

We are starting to get lots of eggs. We get the normal amount from the breeding crew but are now getting eggs from the group in the penthouses. We will be keeping as many as 20 hens from that group. So lots of eggs are coming. When the babies from the current incubator set are two weeks old, we will have to rearrange everything. I have no idea how that will look. It depends on how many chicks hatch on Saturday.

Creamery and Scott’s Other Stuff

Scott radiation treatments are going well. He is starting experience side effects. The doctors warned him about all of this and there are various treatments to assist him throughout the process. He usually takes a nap every day. We are about two and a half weeks into the process. All is going as planned.

Scott has determined that he needs to put up some waterproof panels in the milk room. The are held in place with glue. He needs to get them installed before the weather gets too cold for the glue to hold well. Also, he noted that before putting in conduit, there are some walls that need to be painted. That also needs to happen before it gets too cold.  

The electric plans are forming in Scott’s mind. He is watching lots of YouTube videos and making plans. Over the winter we hope to make significant progress there. We shall see. 

Garden

My garden is finishing up. The peppers revived with the rain we got. However, I am so done with peppers. They are actually blooming again. This is typical for peppers. They are a perennial plant in Mexico. Here they just keep going until the frost takes them. I have a 5-gallon bucket full of pepperoncini peppers. That is a task for next week. More pickled pepperoncini. Anybody need that special Christmas gift for the person who has everything? I have lots of pickled pepperoncini to help you out!!

The basil is still waiting for me to cut it and hang it to dry. The parsley also needs to be harvested and dried. It really took off again after the rains. The oregano and thyme are in my strawberry patch. I will want to cut some of that and dry it. Herbs dried at the end of the year are wonderful for restocking my spice jars.

That freezer full of tomatoes is still waiting on me. .

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.

ITEMS OF NOTE AT THIS WEEK’S MARKETS: Mild and Medium Hot Salsa in pint jars, sweet and sour pepper relish (also in pint jars), and the spiced pear jam I mentioned above. And I have pickled quail eggs in 1/2 pint jars.

I still some 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.

The pickled pepperoncinis are in pint jars. I have a variety with red pepper if you like a bit of spice. And there is one jar of pickled banana peppers. Those are great on sandwiches (think Subway).

As far as jam, I have pepper jam in 1/2 pints. I also have strawberry jam and apple pie jam in pint jars. Again, these are great Christmas gifts. 

I will 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, no word yet on my location at the Independence market. I shouldn’t be too hard to find 🙂 — look for me in any of my previous places.

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 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 I’m giving you details on getting the two cows to freezer camp. It was quite the fiasco with the neighbors calling at 9:15 at night for us to come and get them out of their yard. “Homestead Update and Health Update” also has more information about Scott and I as we journey through cancer treatment.  

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 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

Hello beautiful peeps,

We are doing well and hope you are as well. I’m getting lots of things done these days. I still have a long way to go but this week I canned pepper relish, salsa, and cream. It seems like there was something else I canned this week but I am not recalling at the moment. I still have a freezer full of tomatoes. I’ll be canning lots of salsa in the coming weeks. I’m also looking to make some spiced pear jam. It was a favorite recipe of my mother and we loved it as kids. I can’t wait to pass it on to all of you.  

INDEPENDENCE MARKET CHANGES: I’m still waiting to find out my place for tomorrow. Perhaps I will be in the same place three weeks in a row. We shall see. On another note, we have just 4 more markets including tomorrow before closing for the season. The last outdoor market will be October 8th. I will be moving my products to the online market just ahead of that. Herd share folks, I will continue to meet you in the same general area even though there will be no other vendors. 

Sheep and Mack

I was wrong about the sheep with a growth. It is not really a growth. It looks more like a bag of accumulated fluid. The vet should be here tomorrow to drain it and give us her opinion on what is going on there. Everyone is still hanging in there. Coyotes just showed up on the game cameras — again. I’m sure Mack has this under control.

Cows 

When the vet comes tomorrow another of her tasks will be preg checks on all the girls. I’m so excited to find out who is and is not pregnant this go round.

Buttercup has injured one of her back legs. Likely she got it stuck in the mud by the pond and sprained it while pulling it out. Goodness knows I have trouble keeping my boots on when I walk back there. The mud sucks onto the boot and out comes my foot while the boot stays firmly stuck in the mud. I carry a walking stick to lean on to keep from falling face first into the mud. Anyway, the vet will take a look at Buttercup’s leg as well.

The rest of the crowd are doing very well. The steers are really growing. I’m amazed at how much they’ve grown. Princess was born first but is smaller. She is a Jersey and the others are Normande. The size difference is to be expected. Still Princess is nearly as tall as her mom, Rosie. Remember Rosie was very young when she had Princess and therefore quite small. She still hasn’t grown much. She may always be small. The early pregnancy may have stunted her growth. We shall see. Violet had a calf nearly as young as Rosie and she turned out to be quite large. She is so large that I call her fatso. Being a cow she doesn’t take offense. She likes being big and round.   

Quail

Last time I was Debbie Downer about not getting the new genetic stock for raising quail. Just goes to show you, patience is a virtue. I got a notification on Monday that the eggs were on the way. We got them yesterday and I immediately put them into the incubator. That thing is humming along nicely right now. A little over two weeks from now we will once again begin hearing the cute peeping sound.

I’m looking for the first eggs from the youngest group currently hanging out up there in the penthouse. Over the next few weeks we will be inundated with eggs. I’ll be making lots of pickled eggs. Look for them at the market. I’ll be bringing some pickled eggs to the market from earlier in the year.

Creamery and Scott’s Other Stuff

Scott has started his daily radiation treatments. All is going well. He is getting into the routine. It is an hour each way to drive into Winston Salem. Besides the time cost there is the cost of gasoline. We never paid much attention to our personal use of gas, only the business side. It was eye opening. We are estimating this additional cost to be about $100 per week. In the old days — the days before we stopped working for someone else — we never gave a second thought to the amount of gas we went through driving back and forth to coastal South Carolina. These are the seasons of our lives.

The electric plans are about to be put down on paper. Scott was talking about it just this morning. He is ready to make those drawings. I can’t wait to see his artistry with this task. I don’t think I’ve ever mentioned the beautiful structural drawings he created. Over and over again he drew out on paper the plans for the barn, milking parlor, creamery and commercial kitchen. He’s really very good at it. The detail is exquisite. 

Garden

My poor garden is drying up. We haven’t had any rain for weeks. The pepper plants are starting to droop. I’m not too concerned with because I’m so done with peppers.

The basil has gone to seed. It is past time to cut those down and hang them up to dry. I’ve also got some parsley that needs to be cut and dried.

That freezer full of tomatoes is still waiting on me. I cleaned out a lot of the onions and green peppers to make the salsa and pepper relish. But those tomatoes are still sitting there. Currently I’m using fresh tomatoes from the stash I still have on the ripening shelves in front of the windows next to the wood stove. I’ll need to make another batch of salsa with those before getting into the freezer.

Scott cleaned the tomato plants though they haven’t made it to the compost pile. There are piles of tomato plants in between the raised beds. The only other thing to be left growing in the garden is the crowder peas. They put on a bumper crop and it will be a couple of weeks for all of those pods to mature.

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.

NEW ADDITIONS TO THIS WEEK’S MARKETS: Medium Hot Salsa in pint jars and sweet and sour pepper relish, also in pint jars. And finally, I have pickled quail eggs in 1/2 pint jars. There are three flavors; curry, sweet & sour and pickling spice blend.

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 and a couple of jars of pickled banana peppers.

As far as jam, I have pepper jam in 1/2 pints. I also have strawberry jam and apple pie jam in pint jars. 

I will 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, my location at the Independence market is still unknown, but I will be there — somewhere close by some of my previous places I’m sure.

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 I’m re-running a previous podcast I did a couple of years ago. “Cheese Makes You Happy” is all about the brain science surrounding cheese. And yes, it can affect your mood. It is a fascinating look at how this age-old food helps maintain the brain.  

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 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

Hello beautiful peeps,

We are doing well and hope you are as well. I’m still lost when it comes to time. I’m trying to review my week and determine what I have and have not experienced in the last 7 days. There have been more doctor’s appointments. All of that went well. Tasks on the farm keep getting done. I spent most of the day canning peppers and getting ready to can salsa. Scott has been out and about around the farm, still bush hogging the fields. We have 14 paddocks that need to be maintained. He spends a lot of time in the summer bouncing around on the tractor. 

INDEPENDENCE MARKET CHANGES: I’m not sure where I will be in the market arrangement tomorrow. My thought is that I will be in the same place as last week. We shall see. 

Sheep

Scott talked to the vet today. One of the sheep has a very large growth of some kind protruding out from the brisket area and upward. The vet will be here next week for lots of animal care. She was not too concerned about it. Per her experience, she indicated that most of the time it doesn’t bother the animal and is not usually dangerous. It may drain on its own or we may lance it and drain it manually. In any case, I’m glad she will be here soon to take a look at it. 

Another of several tasks she will be doing for us is getting Mack up-to-date on his heartworm meds and a booster shot for something I’m not recalling right now. Maybe rabies? Scott knows what it is but he is not here at the moment.

Cows 

Scott is introducing Mack to the milking girls. Butter does not like or trust him. Whenever she sees him, she lowers her head and acts like she is going to charge. Scott stays between the two of them. Mack does not seem too concerned. He is often distracted by various sounds and smells. Violet just stands there looking at him, completely unconcerned.   

Quail

Well it looks like we are not going to get our new genetic stock. I put in an order, but have not heard anything about when these eggs will be shipped. It is late in the season to get fertile eggs. As the amount of sunlight decreases, the fertility of the quail also decreases. Likely when we do hear from the shipper it will be to say that they do not have any fertile quail eggs available for shipping. Well, there is always next year.

In the next couple of weeks, the newest crop of birds will begin laying eggs. In the end, we may have as many as 35 quail eggs daily. I will begin to make pickled quail eggs again. That is always fun and they look so cute in the jars. Scott loves them.

Creamery and Scott’s Other Stuff

Scott mentioned today that he want to complete all of the bush hogging so he can get back on track with the electrical plans for the creamery. When I look at his computer screen, there is always one video or another on something electrical that is queued up and waiting for him. 

Garden

We are winding down the garden. There will be no fall garden. We didn’t have one last year either. There is just too much to do with harvesting and preserving what we already have stored all over the place.

I have an entire freezer full of tomatoes. If you have visited me at the Wytheville market, it is a freezer the size of the one I have there. I think it is nine cubic feet. There are some frozen peppers and onions in there as well. All of that is going to come together into salsa. I’ll be canning and canning and canning until I run out of tomatoes.

Scott and I will be cleaning up the remains of the tomato plants and adding them to the compost pile. A few days ago, we picked all of the green tomatoes. We are done with growing tomatoes for this year. 

I still need to cut the basil and hang it up to dry. I also have some parsley out there that will need to be cut and dried. I love my fresh herbs. In addition to those herbs, I will also cut some oregano and thyme. There is so much available  I don’t have to worry about running out. I will toss last year’s dried herbs onto the compost pile and replace them with fresh stuff. The smell is always so amazing. These days, I always have robust dried herbs. Let me know if you are interested in having some wonderful freshly dried culinary herbs. I’m hoping to package some up for the market as well. It’s hard to say when I can fit that into my preserving schedule.

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 and a few jars of pickled banana peppers.

I’m out of blueberry and blackberry jam but have lots of really fine pepper jam. I also have strawberry jam in pint jars. 

I will 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, my location at the Independence market is still unknown, but I will be there — somewhere close by some of my previous places I’m sure.

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 I’m re-running a previous podcast I did a couple of years ago. “Cheese Makes You Happy” is all about the brain science surrounding cheese. And yes, it can affect your mood. It is a fascinating look at how this age-old food helps maintain the brain.  

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 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

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 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

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 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

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 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