Hello beautiful peeps,

Are you getting lots of thunderstorms where you are? We sure are. Just about every day. I don’t think I’ve seen everything so muddy in August ever. I had to get the onions out of the ground before they rotted. Lots of tomatoes also. 

At the Wytheville Farmer’s Market on Saturday we will have ground goat and ground lamb once again. There is a little bit of Lamb Kabob/Stew also. Additionally, we will have Blackberry Jam $8.00, quail 1-lb package $20.00, various peppers (cayenne, jalapeno, sweet banana, Hot cherry, serrano) for $0.25 and $0.50 each, new potatoes 1-lb bag $3.00, 2 cups fresh basil (with pesto recipe) $4.00 and pickled peppers $5.00. I have two kinds, one hot and one not.

If you are a Herd Share member, let me know if you want to add anything to your regular product pickup. To get to that section, you can jump down the page here. 

Quail

The incubator is going again for the last time this season. There are 80 eggs nestled in the trays. Their older siblings are doing well in the penthouse. They are now tall enough to drink from the automatic watering system. The best news is that I got a full compliment of eggs this evening – 15. Finally, I have reached that goal.  

Cows 

Claire, Buttercup, Cloud, Butter and Violet are out in the front pastures doing their thing. Eating grass and hanging out in the pond. Literally, in the pond. They like to stand in it in the heat of the day. When I walked out to get them and bring them in for milking, I had to traipse through the deep mud to get them out of the pond. My boot sunk in about a foot and got stuck. I wrenched that one loose, took another step and that boot got stuck. The mud is really deep in one place — the specific place I need to cross to get to them. 

Creamery

Scott informed me today that the creamery and barn is completely dried in. That means he got the tar paper on the rest of the roof. That is a very large accomplishment. He deserves a break I think. There is still a whole lot more to do. Ceilings, walls, floors, electrical, plumbing and so on. Every day we get closer to completion. 

Garden and Orchard

Tomatoes coming in fast. Lots are ripening every day. The trellis we constructed for them is leaning way over with the weight of the tomatoes. I picked a 5-gallon bucket full and a few days later picked another 5-gallon bucket full.

I’m getting ready to dry a lot of green and red bell peppers. I had to clear space to set up the dehydrator. I’ll be making more pickled peppers as well but I want to get started on the dehydrating so they don’t pile up on me. I always have too much to do this time of year. I like the option to quickly chop them up and pop them in the dehydrator. When they are dried sufficiently, I scoop them into a mason jar and I’m done.

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. 

See above for the new additions we will have ready for you!! 

We have ground lamb and kabob/stew lamb as well as rib chops and loin chops. We have ground goat back in stock. I’m looking to have some ground beef next week or the week after at the latest.    

Herd Shares

Herd Share Peeps, I’ll see you in my usual location. Let me know if you want something added on to your regular choice. Fresh milk and yogurt is still available. And as always, cheese and butter. Looking forward to seeing you on Saturday and/or Tuesday. 

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, “Why Does Cheese Melt” is now available.
• FREE Cheese tasting downloads

Products Available to Herd Share Owners

Products Available to the General Public

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. 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. 

Peaceful Heart FarmCast

In this week’s podcast, “Why Does Cheese Melt,” I give you the skinny on the chemical changes that are happening when cheese melts. I’ll also give you some tips on getting the best result when melting your cheese. I’ll warn you ahead of time that you will be hungry for your favorite cheese dish by the end of the podcast.  

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 off to the meat processor after I finish this. Finally, after months, we are able to get this done. We will have beef in 2 to 3 weeks.

At the Wytheville Farmer’s Market on Saturday we will have SEEDLESS BLACKBERRY JAM $8.00, quail 1-lb package $20.00, various peppers (cayenne, jalapeno, sweet banana, Hot cherry) for $0.25 and $0.50 each, new potatoes 1-lb bag $3.00, 2 cups fresh basil (with pesto recipe) $4.00 and purple hull crowder peas 1-gal bag $5.00.

If you are looking for Herd Share pick up info, jump down the page here. 

Quail

The 53 baby quail are doing really well and we are getting lots and lots of eggs. I picked up 33 eggs yesterday. The earlier batch of babies are now pretty much full grown and providing lots of eggs. There are 50 quail in the upper level (the penthouse I call it) and probably half are hens. We could get up to 25 or so eggs from there every day. I got 20 yesterday. The other 113 came from the breeding sets in the lower cages. I sure am having fun with the quail.  

Cows, Calves and Goats

The cows escaped from paddock number 6 and got into number 5. Oh well, they might as well eat that grass too..

Violet and Buttercup were ready for the ag tech when he arrived to do the AI a few days ago. Hopefully, we are all bred now. Fingers crossed.

Scott’s training for the steer and bull worked. He got them into the trailer. They are ready for a peaceful trip to Walnut Cove, NC. Goats and lambs have appointments on Monday.

Speaking of goats, they keep getting their heads caught in the fence. Sometimes they just never learn. Yesterday morning not one, not two, but three had to be rescued. And two more again in the afternoon.  

Creamery

Scott has again been off doing many other tasks this week but some progress was made on the barn part of the construction project. Some of the plywood decking is on and there are other details to make it all work that he has taken care of now.   

Garden and Orchard

The sunflowers are blooming!!! How exciting is that? The crowder peas are are still going. The green beans are done. I keep harvesting the basil and it keeps growing more and more leaves. The tomatoes are finally producing lots of fruit. It will still be a couple of weeks I think before any are ripe. I picked one. It wasn’t quite ripe but I just couldn’t wait any longer for that first tomato. All sorts of peppers are growing and ripening. I will have these available at the market for quite a while

Scott helped me get the blackberry patch opened up so I could pick some to make jam for you guys. Because we have let it go and blackberry vines are very prolific, it had become a jungle. Scott cranked up the chain saw and cut a path down a few rows and I was able to get in there and pick some berries before they were all gone.

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. I haven’t heard any more about changing the hours for this 2020 summer season to 10 am to noon. We will be proceeding as usual.  

See above for the new additions we will have ready for you!! 

We still have lamb rib chops and loin chops. We will have everything back in stock in mid-August.    

Herd Shares

Herd Share Peeps, I’ll see you in my usual location. I look forward to seeing each and every one of you. 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, “The Blackberry Jam Journey” is now available.
• FREE Cheese tasting downloads

Products Available to Herd Share Owners

Products Available to the General Public

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. 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. 

Peaceful Heart FarmCast

In this week’s podcast, “The Blackberry Jam Journey” the details of what happened with the blackberry patch are covered. It was quite the adventure.  There is also a lot of new info on the quail. Give it a listen and let me know what you think.  

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 and your families are all well. We are well. Thunder is threatening at the moment. I hope the rain comes. It has been so hot. The garden really needs the rain. Otherwise, I’m standing out there with a hose for quite a while.

We did have rain and thunderstorms a few days ago. The power went out and the baby quail were in danger as the incubator was offline. There were 52 in there at the time. Scott hooked up the generator and we turned breakers on and off at various times to complete the milking, clean up after the milking, cool down the milk tank and freezers, and so on. The power came back on in about three hours and all was well. 

At the Wytheville Farmer’s Market on Saturday we will have quail 1-lb package $20.00, various peppers (cayenne, jalapeno, sweet banana, Hot cherry) for $0.25 and $0.50 each, new potatoes 1-lb bag $3.00, 2 cups fresh basil (with pesto recipe) $4.00 and purple hull crowder peas 1-gal bag $5.00.

If you are looking for Herd Share pick up info, jump down the page here. 

Quail

The 84 quail eggs in the incubator are hatched. As mentioned above, initially 52 hatched. Later another hatched and I tried (unsuccessfully) to save three more. It was quite the circus trying to balance the temperature and humidity with the power off. Plus the shear number of birds messes with the heat and humidity. All the but the last one hatched are already in the brooders and they look great.  

Cows and Calves

Luna’s pink eye is nearly healed, though her eye may be scarred. She can see out of it but it is still discolored. We are successfully using a natural fly spray on the milk cows and the calves. They get sprayed twice a day during milking or bottle feeding. It has to be done twice a day, but this is no problem at all because we are with them twice a day. There is time available waiting for the milking machine to complete its task or, with the calves, they are hanging around twice a day looking for more milk after finishing their bottles.

Violet and Buttercup will get a hormone shot today and be ready for AI again in a couple of days. Hopefully, this will be the last go round for all of the cows. We shall see.

Scott is training the steer and bull to go into the trailer. This is in preparation for their trip to freezer camp next week. In mid-August we will once again have beef, lamb and goat for sale.  

Creamery

Scott has again been off doing many other tasks this week. Again, the creamery hasn’t really progressed at all. . . . but I believe he said fields are now cut. He is bringing feed and water to the two cows in the corral. Perhaps next week progress will begin again. We shall see.   

Garden

The crowder peas are providing lots and lots of pea pods. I keep harvesting the basil and it keeps growing more and more leaves. The tomatoes are finally producing lots of fruit. It will still be a couple of weeks I think before any are ripe. These are paste tomatoes and I will have some available at the farmer’s market. Keep your eyes open for when if you need sauce tomatoes. All sorts of peppers are growing and ripening. I will have these available at the market for quite a while.

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. Just a heads up that discussion is being had regarding changing the hours for this 2020 summer season to 10 am to noon. This discussion has progressed to the point of being a near surety beginning with the first Saturday in August.  

See above for the new additions we will have ready for you!! 

We are still out of ground goat and ground lamb but have ribs chops and loin chops. We will have all of this back in stock in mid-August.    

Herd Shares

Herd Share Peeps, I’ll see you in my usual location. I look forward to seeing each and every one of you. 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, “Best Animals for a Homestead” is now available.
• FREE Cheese tasting downloads

Products Available to Herd Share Owners

Products Available to the General Public

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. 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. 

Peaceful Heart FarmCast

In this week’s podcast, “Best Animals for a Homestead” I’m discussing our animals; what we chose and why. Lots of experiential information here. It’s designed to help you think through the process if you are considering adding farm animals to your life. Lots more details about the quail in this podcast. 

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 all of you and happy, healthy and content. It’s summer. Let’s enjoy it to the max.

At the Wytheville Farmer’s Market on Saturday we will have quail, blueberry jam and a very, very limited quantity of green beans. The quail come in 16 ounce packages with four birds approximately 4 ounces each. Price is $20.00. The blueberry jam is $8.00 and the green beans are (approximately 1 1/2 pounds) $5.00.

If you are looking for Herd Share pick up info, jump down the page here. 

Quail

The 84 quail eggs in the incubator are having a lovely time. All conditions are within normal limits. We are nearly half way through the incubation. Anticipation is growing. I expect next Saturday to be our hatch date. 

Cows and Calves

Everyone is doing well. The calves are drinking lots and lots of milk. They are enjoying lots and lots of grass. It takes a few months for them to fully develop their digestive system to handle grass. They will continue to drink lots of milk for the next few months.

The cows are getting lined up for pregnancy tests. We have our fingers crossed. It is important for us to grow the herd and we need heifer calves for that. To get heifer calves, the cows need to be pregnant. These seem like simple questions — and they are. Simple though they are, their importance if paramount to our successful homestead.  

Creamery

Scott has been off doing many other tasks this week. The creamery hasn’t really progressed at all. . . . but the fields are getting cut. The corral for the bulls is getting built. Oh and he folded the laundry. LOVE HIM.  

Garden

The garden is doing well. The basil is taking off. Some of the other herbs are still struggling a bit but all are going to be fine. Anyone interested in fresh basil? Coming soon!

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, BLUEBERRY JAM, and FRESH GREEN BEANS!! 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

Products Available to the General Public

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. 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. 

Peaceful Heart FarmCast

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. . 

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