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.
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
