Hello beautiful peeps,
Scott has been working on getting some honey processed. It has been quite a job to complete but we should be done in the next day or two. How about some farm updates?
Sheep
Still looking for that wonderful livestock guardian dog that will protect our beautiful sheep. We lost another full grown animal. This time to a rogue dog. At least that is the best we can determine. There were very large dog tracks near the animal as well as smaller dog tracks. The game cameras were put back in place but the only thing we ever saw was a possum. It has been hard losing all these animals but we signed up for it all — not just the sweet days.
Cows
Rose and Butter have now been joined by Violet. She is due in a week or so as best we can determine. She was pasture bred. Her AI as a wash. Anyway, she is looking like a very large barrel. We are eagerly anticipating our final calf.
The next round of artificial insemination is right on schedule. We got word this week that we will be seeing our vet soon.
Virginia and the twin calves are doing well in the calf pasture. Hansel and Gretel are still fighting over the bottles. Invariably, Gretel will finish first and start bullying Hansel. He takes it all in stride.
Quail
Not much to say about the quail out in the cages. They are all doing very well so far. Inside, just this evening I started the next batch of eggs in the incubator Hopefully, we will have better luck this time with hatching these eggs.
Creamery
Scott has been off doing other things, mostly helping me get my tasks caught up. He has decided on the final color for the creamery. It will be somewhere between the color of milk and cheese or butter. It’s going to be so gorgeous!
The guys that will install our modified milking system have us on their schedule for Monday or Tuesday next week. Will they make it? The past two weeks have gone by without them. Only time will tell.
Garden
I have never seen so many blooms on peas. I saw hundreds and hundreds of little baby pea pods too. At first it was just the shelling peas. Now the sugar snap peas have so many blooms it looks like it’s snowing.
Scott spent nearly all day planting my culinary herbs and two raised beds of peppers. The beans still need to go in that area of the garden. Soon, very soon. Those beans will be in the ground. Fingers crossed.
This is the last week that I will have tomato and pepper plants for you at the market. It’s time to plant the rest of them. They are going to cozy in behind the shelling peas. When those peas come out, the tomatoes should be coming on strong. We’ll see how this works. It may mess up our system of weed control. We shall see.
I have a few culinary herbs I will bring to the market. I’m almost out and this will also be the last week for them. I have garden sage, parsley, basil, and thyme.
That’s it for farm news. Now on to the farmer’s market update.
Wytheville and Independence Farmer’s Markets
This is my last week for plant starts. The next thing I will have are dried herbs. Along side my dried herbs, I will have a store-bought bottle of herbs so you can smell the difference. You may never buy herbs at the grocery again.
Again this week, I have a very limited quantity of quail eggs. Independence market will get first dibs on those. I may have a dozen or two for Wytheville market. We have quail meat in 1 lb packages.
We have all of our grass-fed meats available – ground beef (approx 1 lb), ground goat (approx 1 lb), and ground lamb (approx 1 lb).
Herd Shares
Herd Share Peeps, I’ll see you in my usual location. Add on as you desire. Yogurt, milk and all cheeses and butter are at your service. Looking forward to seeing you on Saturday and/or Tuesday.
You can pickup at the Wytheville Market between 8:00 am and 12:00 noon or at the farm Saturdays 3 pm to 5 pm or Tuesdays 10:00 am to noon. Email me to let me know 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.
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. Masks are no longer required at the Farmers Markets.
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, “Honey! Fun Facts” is the topic. This is our first foray into harvesting honey. I learned a lot of new facts that I’m sharing with you. What exactly is honey? How is it made? How is it stored and how long will it last? are all questions I cover in this episode. How sweet is that?
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
