Slow Foodie before it was hip!

Wikipedia states the definition of slow food is an alternative to fast food, it strives to preserve traditional and regional cuisine and encourages farming of plants, seeds and livestock characteristic of the local ecosystem while promoting local businesses...I guess I have always been a "slow food" person before the definition became hip, but honestly it is "fast food" in my world, I just spend time preparing while items are in season and stocking my shelves.  My new love that I will be stocking my shelves with is mostardos, a savory jam prepared for meats and sandwiches. Then when I want a "fast food" sandwich I just reach to the shelves for something delicious that has preserved the farm fresh seasonal flavors.  Pictured is our new cranberry orange mostardo served on flatbread with turkey, Boursin garlic and herb cheese spread and spinach from the greenhouses.  Granted the cranberries had to be bought this year (being planted this May), but the fantastic orange flavor is from our favorite citrus farm Glencairn....to see more just like us on Facebook or to find out where to find our products, what is available from the farm or just receive seasonal recipes email and ask to be added to our digital newsletter at moonstruckfarms2@verizon.net.

A day in the life of a market gardener

I wake up sleepy in my bed still recovering from the nasty bug I caught the week of Christmas and the first thing that comes to mind is "remember to investigate further what is eating the broccolini and I wonder if McMurrays still has Black Australorps chicks", and off I go to make coffee with my mind already racing with what needs to be done this day including the mundane chores of laundry and cleaning toilets.  As I drink my coffee and look up those Australorps I am sitting here watching the clouds get thicker and thicker wishing for a beautiful layer of snow to irrigate my trees and praying that it happens without any broken water lines or loss of water to animals.  The laundry is going, the chicken is out defrosting for the stir fry, which will have carrots, bok choy and green onions from the garden, cabbage and broccoli from Angels Farm at market and green peppers from the garden freezer, and I make a note on my calendar to plant extra carrots so that we can freeze those next year too to make sure we don't run out of carrots like we did this year and to buy out Glencairn of his limes when in season so we don't have to try and wrestle a teaspoon out of a store lime again!!  Well, my coffee is done, and I have another project I am anxious to get started because as I was reading last night I came across this fantastic idea of three different"teenage" heads of lettuce in a box to sell at market.  I have always sold baby lettuce and cut leaf bags, but never full heads because they so much of the head is discarded.  Teenage lettuce is not baby but about 6-7 inches tall and still nice and tender and perfect for salad or sandwiches....I really like this idea, off to thinning lettuce! 

Canned peaches

With everyone headed off to college I am finding myself looking for more ways to use my canned goods than ever, which is not a bad thing to happen.  Today I was talking to my best friend from Maine and told her we were still overloaded with canned peaches and she said "they are delicious in pulled pork".  Hmmmm....so I went googling and to be honest I have not tried this recipe but by the looks of it with the peaches, the lager and the Dijon mustard it is a winner.  We have farm fresh pork roasts in the freezer, arugula in the greenhouse, peach jam and canned peaches on the shelves and it is 40 degrees outside...this is definitely going into the crockpot this week! 

• FOR THE PORK
• 3 tbsp. olive oil
• 3 lb. boneless pork shoulder
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
• 1½ tbsp. smoked paprika
• 4 whole cloves
• 2 bay leaves
• 2 cloves garlic, smashed
• 1 large yellow onion, cut into 6 wedges
• 2 (12-oz.) bottles lager beer
• 1 (1-qt.) jar canned peaches in syrup, drained or use store-bought, 1 cup syrup reserved
• 
  FOR THE SANDWICH
• ¼ cup olive oil
• 3 large red onions, thinly sliced
• 1 cup peach jam
• ⅓ cup Dijon mustard
• Sliced multigrain bread, lightly toasted, for serving
• Baby arugula, for serving

Instructions

1. Make the pork: Heat oven to 325°. Heat oil in a 6-qt. Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Season pork with salt and pepper. Cook until browned, 10–12 minutes; transfer to a plate. Add paprika, cloves, bay leaves, garlic, and onion to pan; cook until golden, 6–8 minutes. Add beer; cook, stirring and scraping up browned bits from bottom of pan, until reduced by half, 10–12 minutes. Return pork to pan; add half the peaches. Bake, covered, until pork is tender and an instant-read thermometer inserted into pork reads 190°, 3–3½ hours. Let cool, then using 2 forks or your hands, shred pork; transfer to a bowl. Slice remaining peaches; fold into pork with ½ cup pan drippings and peach syrup.

2. To serve: Heat oil in a 12″ skillet over medium heat. Cook onions until caramelized, 25–30 minutes. Stir jam and mustard in a bowl; spread over each slice bread. Divide pork and onions between half the bread slices; top with arugula and remaining bread slices.

 

Summer aromas

During these shortest days of the year it is nice to inhale the scents of summer while cooking.  One of the easiest ways to do these is by cooking with your dried herbs.  I used to go to all lengths tying up my herbs or creating some contraption for them to stay in outside protected from the critters and the wind and now I simply bring my unpurchased herbs back from market and toss aside in a tray or vented basket in the garage and four to eight weeks later I have perfectly dried herbs.  Today I was making a stuffing for our turkey and grabbed a bunch of thyme, sage and parsley from the garage, and by stripping the thyme off the stem, chopping the sage and crumbling the parsley in my hand the wonderful summer aromas of fresh herbs wafted through the kitchen again.  Thyme, rosemary and savory all strip off the stem easily after drying.  Sage is one of the thickest and usually does well with chopping.  Parsley, oregano and basil do well with crumbling in your hands and removing any thick stems.  Simply save your old store bought herb containers and refill and you will have the fresh dried herbs available anytime of the year.  Merry Christmas everyone!!

I earned my cowgirl stripes today. The day started as usual and as I strolled down to feed with Molly nipping at my heels (she thinks I need to be herded to get the job done) I heard Aurora's usual mooing, but it was exceptionally clear this morning.  As I hit the top of the hill at the chicken coop I was greeted by Aurora who luckily was not brave enough to go any further.  I quickly took a survey of the scenery down below mainly to ascertain where the BULL WAS!!  He was out of the corral but happily munching on the mulch pile.  Aurora was simple enough to get back in since she is what my husband calls a "grain addict" and will do anything for a handful of it.  The gate was broken in the small corral so I put her into the large corral leaving the small corral open and thus began the tricky part.  Now, my bull is a mellow bull, but he is still a BULL.  With a few "Yaws!" I got him moving and thus the games began.  With a full gallop he began his journey across my property, but fortunately a "Yaw!!" in his direction brought him racing back towards the corral and ME!!  I knew the only way I had of getting him back in was to stand my ground so I did and prepared to dive since he was not stopping.  When he was within about 8 feet from me he halted and changed direction and headed around the other side of the corral where he stood next to where Aurora was.  He obviously decided I was no fun and he wanted back in with her so with a few more "Yaws" and me chasing HIM this time he was back in the corral happily eating his Bermuda that was waiting for him. Merry Christmas everyone!! Rowena McDermott Moonstruck Farms P.S. We harvested the first Moonstruck Salad Mix and it will be at market each week until further notice :).

We're back!!

The last year or so is kind of a blur??  To say the least life got a little "out of control" with ailing neighbors in need of great help, a chicken and turkey season that took over our lives, computer after computer crash and so much more, but now onto the positive!!  Here at Moonstruck we are enjoying turning things upside down, but we are not doing a lot of it on our own anymore.  Thanks to my "Moonstruck Angel" things are looking amazing around here!!  Yes, I have an employee, but I hate calling him that because he is so much more than that!  So from hereon he will be referred to as the Moonstruck Angel.   Both greenhouses are cleared, planted and ready to go.  The 20x100 is full of salad mix and spinach and more and the 20 x40 is at about 90% completion of being converted to a "berry house".  We have strawberries and blueberries in there.  We had a lot of time thanks to my Moonstruck Angel to sit back and observe and absorb all the lessons I have learned over the last five years, and even though our summers hit the 100s we are still a very cold season microclimate here at Moonstruck, and the great news is so far the BERRIES love it!!  So between the 300 fruit trees we put in and the expansion of berries we are doing this year you will be seeing a lot more fruit come from Moonstruck.  We have a 20 x 100 field that gets hit horribly with the wind in the Spring and Summer and has never done very well so we are going to run a test on it this year with a small row cover of raspberries and if the results are stupendous we will convert the entire field to raspberries!!  As always thank you all for your support through the years.  Moonstruck signing off....but just for a little while.

New Heritage Pigs...So cute!!

We picked up a few Chester White pigs with a little Gloucestershire Old Spot in them from Dad and one looks like a Dalmatian!!  So adorable!!  This is a new breeder for us so we are feeding these out and offering the 40 lb. shares only on these just in case the weights don't come out where they should...better safe than sorry.  On the other hand this is another goal that we have met.  We promised our customers that we would eventually offer the smaller quarter shares for those not desiring as much pork, and for those who are worried about the curing process we will be offering "smoked" and "nonsmoked" shares trading the bacon and hams for boneless rolled roasts etc.  We appreciate your patience in this matter, but "floating" the feed bill for the four to five months is quite a task, and we had to wait until the bank account was ready for this endeavor.  Moonstruck runs on an all cash basis and thanks to you we are growing by leaps and bounds.  The account is always low, but that is because we are putting every penny back into the farm to increase the amount of farm fresh food we can supply and to eventually get to the point where we can hire permanent help!!  My teenagers are becoming young adults and my built in labor force will be flying the coop in just a few years and the truth is they are not able to help as much with their growing lives which include track, choir, new jobs and a full AP schedule.  Another chore was added today thanks to the heat we are experiencing, but this one is pure joy...spraying down pigs with a hose!!  The Berkshires are especially fun since they are black they enjoy it the most and they were spinning 360s, holding their mouths wide open, pointing their tail ends into the spray and rolling in the mud...it was pure happy pandemonium!!  The piglets only enjoy a little spray and so most of the water went into wetting the ground to provide a nice mud pit, which they happily rolled in again and again!!  The goats and the cows looked at me and said "Don't you dare point that thing at me!!"....definitely not of the same mindset as the pigs who need the water to cool their bodies.  I will have to get a picture of that spotted guy and post it as soon as he is a little more comfortable here and not racing 90 miles an hour around the pen when I am near!!  Hope this finds you relaxing in the shade enjoying a glass of lemonade!!!

Easter Lamb

The Sieberts have lamb available for Easter now. This will be the only lamb available for Easter with the next availability being this summer. They are lambing now and the 4H kids always get first pick and then it will be available for sale to the general public. Let us know by Friday if you are interested. Just drop a line moonstruckfarms@verizon.net. Here at Moonstruck the trees and grapes are all in the ground finally. I do have to finish mulching and painting the trunks and pruning and hopefully it will be on a warmer day than today. That North wind was so cold today...thank the Lord for flannel lined jeans and three layers and a flannel work jacket!!

Summer Turkeys

Summer turkey season is upon us. The hatchery called to let me know there was a problem with some of the turkey egg orders so I could not get the white broad breasted and the bronze in an order so I switched it to all Bronze Broad Breasted, which I actually prefer. They seem to be sturdier. I guess it is because they are closer to the original Heirloom Standard Bronze breed. The white broad breasted is preferred in the commercial industry not only because of the breast meat, but also because of the white feathers there is no worry of quill marks. You will only see the quill marks after butcher if the quill busts in the skin. Most of the turkeys I have processed do not have the marks, but you do get some and it appears like tiny black dots. They do not affect the taste of the turkey at all, just look a little funny compared to your "store bought" or white broad breasted. I do get the additional pleasure of watching beautiful bronze turkeys raised here and so can you just come and visit any Saturday (after they arrive) from 9-12. If you would like to reserve a Summer turkey (10-14 pounds) for July 2013 just drop me an email at moonstruckfarms@verizon.net. Moonstruck signing out!!

200 plus trees planted!!

Well, this does not really show a fantastic picture, but all the little brown things on the ground are tree protectors on the trees....better pictures once they get bigger and bloom.  The trees are just  minus some mulching, tree protectors and tags.  We also put some vetch in to see if it will do well as a living mulch.  The vetch is already out in the West field and comes back for about 75% of the year to feed the chickens a high protein snack.   The grapes are taking a little bit longer because they are being put on a area that was tractored quite a bit and so Michael and the granite are having a disagreement, but if anyone knows my husband the granite will lose.  The last 40 holes along the fence line should go quickly and all grapes are on somewhat of a slope with a southern exposure for drainage and optimal light.  They are all Cabernet and Merlot grapes except for four seedless Flame I added near the end (well Dave Wilson added them and I just kept instead of calling for the millionth time!!)  We were shorted some trees and there is a little bit more room on the Southeast side so I think I will add 50 more this next year if all goes well and add in an additional apple, some pears and nectarines and maybe a couple olives.  Saturday was my favorite working day of the four so far, and that is when all three of my girls were out there along with Olivia and her daughter Addie (alias Great Customers and Friends).   It was "Girl Power" day and the energy made the day go so quickly and by far was almost the most productive....the day Michael augured almost all the tree holes takes 1st Place.   Well, I am just a little tired to say the least, but note sore??  I guess I am in better shape than I thought...well one more day of planting and then Saturday is irrigation day right after it rains hopefully.  Though I must say "Thank you Lord!!!", the rain, the snow, the weather for planting all was perfect!!  This was a huge step for us and I was more than just a little anxious about getting this done, but then everything fell into place so perfectly!!  It could not have gone any better!!   One of our major goals this year has been to become "tourable", and I believe by the end of March we will be there.   I went ahead and told a Boy Scout troop to come on out!!  Can't wait and they even asked for a project to do....I can't wait...they are 1st and 2nd graders!!   See ya all soon....Moonstruck signing out!!

Berkshire Pork Last Chance

Moonstruck Farms has one side of Berkshire pork left available and that will harvested in June 2013, and the next available batch will not be until August 2013. We are maxed out!! The winter batch of chicken is going okay though costs are high due to this chilly winter and the lights have been on almost 24/7. Today was the first time they really ventured outside much, and even then they were cuddling by 2:30 in the afternoon and so I carried everyone back inside this evening to make sure they stay warm with the new storm blowing in. We have decided to do two batches of turkeys this year. One will be available in June/July harvesting at approximately 12 pounds and the second batch being the holiday batch and will be ready by November 1st at latest and will be brought to the 15-25 pound range for the holidays. Turkeys will be only be available in these two batches and will have to be picked up once available. Any that do not sell will be ground up right away...sorry our electric bill is already too high!! The current batch of chicken is sold out, but we are taking deposits due by January 20th for the late March harvest. The deposits enable us to grow by providing us the capital to buy large amounts of chicks and feed and we truly appreciate it. We would not be where we are now if it were not for all our customers support. In the produce division about 60% of the new greenhouse is planted in snow peas, spinach, broccoli and lettuce and the old greenhouse is slowly being retrofitted for hydroponic lettuce, strawberries and in the ground (below the hydroponic lettuce) asparagus!! The pomegranate jelly was a great success so we added a few pomegranate trees to our planting and the English Morello cherries arrived today (these will be reserved for future speciality products!!). Thanks again for all your support. Moonstruck signing out!!

Powerful pretty piglets!!

I can't figure out how to rotate this picture, but this is a shot of the largest piglet we brought home today.  He is a big guy!!  My favorite part of picking up piglets is watching the drivers behind us.  They lean forward, squint and then start laughing as they realize it is a bunch of piglets they are looking at!!  They are so cute, but so strong!!  This bunch weighed too much for us to slide out of the truck so Mike had to grab one by one and put in the pen, and they are so powerful it really gave Mike a run for his money!!!  Meanwhile Molly is running in circles trying to do her part, and Mike is doing his best not to trip over her!  Of course she is hoping he will trip and drop one so she can put it away.  She went nuts as soon as she "smelled" us coming and went right to work barking and running in circles.  You could just hear her saying "okay, let me do my job, just let them out, I'll put them away....awwww...come on guys!!!".  It was nice to have her there after watching Mike struggle with the piglets.  Just in case one did get away, I knew Molly would have it back in no time flat.  It is nice to know I don't have to run around like a chicken with it's head cut off anymore chasing escapee animals!!!  Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving.  Our was absolutely stupendous!!!  See ya all soon!!

Box of chocolates

This week I was fortunate enough to have the company of a wonderful woman by the name of Andrea.  She honestly worked harder than me, and was a joy to work with.  At one point the tiller would not start, and I was determined to get it start so I think I tried for 45 minutes!  Andrea had cleared a row and I wanted her to be able to see it through, tilled and planted.  Meanwhile being the worker bee that she is she was pulling the dried weeds in the next row.  This row and the one next to it were the most damaged rows from the pool collapse.  The thousands of gallons of water had spurred a huge weed growth, and there parts of the greenhouse and the pool strewn throughout it.  To be honest I had turned off the irrigation and was trying hard to not look at it until Mike had the time to help me build the hydroponics over it.  The truth is with the holidays coming it was not going to happen until after the first of the year.  Today as I left the new greenhouse because I was dripping more sweat than the ceiling with all its condensation I proceeded to the old greenhouse where Andrea had been working.  There I saw the cleared row, and to be honest it was the first real look I had given it in a while, and there I saw what I had been looking for.  I had just posted a question on building a better carrot bed on a listserv of market gardeners across the country I belong to.  My carrots are too hairy and the quality is not there, but I knew part of this was the summer season, which is not conducive to sweet carrots.  I already knew I had to watch my nitrogen levels, but the market gardeners also told me to watch my organic matter, which will cause the hairiness and of course in addition I needed a well drained porous soil that would allow the carrots to grow at ease, and there it was in front of me.  I started the tiller, which started easily thank the Lord, and tilled about 10 feet.  The bed had been amended at the beginning of the summer and all the mulch had been washed away or had broken down within the soil and now there was a healthy amount of sand in it creating a beautiful porous soil.  I widened the walkway to create an easier working area and thus built the bed up creating plenty of room for the carrots to grow.  So I owe Andrea a lot more than I thought.  Just like the tiller needed a good jump start...so did I and Andrea was my "jump start" that day.  You never know why people walk into your life or for that matter why things happen to you and what gift you have provided to another, but in this case Andrea was my gift.  She has a fantastic appetite for life, and understood all my goofy analogies.  When I was showing her the new greenhouse she came up with one of her own that I loved.  I showed her how the Swiss chard had grown beautifully hidden behind some old celery plants and then a new growth of basil that had come up unexpectedly, and she said "It's like a box of chocolates, you never quite know what you will find".   Thank you Andrea.

It's still hot!!

The last few weeks are a blur with being sick, planting and finishing up more canning, and I can't believe it is still hot!!  I have the greenhouse going off five times a day trying to save my lettuce transplants, but it does not look good!!  The only saving grace is the cooler evenings, but when the world provides lemons, make lemonade...in this case start throwing spinach in the ground as fast as you can in order to maybe sneak in a harvest before the dead of winter and/or hope that it overwinters for an early harvest in February/March, and also start more transplants inside in case you lose what is in the ground, and plant, plant, plant seed!!  The meat chickens are at their "doubling" time...every time I go out there they seem to have doubled in size and the turkeys are really starting to take off too!!   The new laying hens are in full production...though here at home we are eating a lot of "baby size" eggs :).   The cows as you can see are enjoying the cleaning of the fields...squash plants are delicious...just ask them!  The piglets should be here in a few weeks for the beginning of the next pork batch, and thank you everyone for the comments on how delicious it is...makes my day!!  I spent quite a lot of time dealing with the tree order today and decided to ask if anyone wanted to hitch onto the order.  These trees you will not find in the store and they are being ordered on rootstock specific to this region.  Heirloom apples, peaches, pluots, plums, cherries, figs, etc.  Just email me at moonstruckfarms@verizon.net and I will provide a list.  I need to know by November 10th and the money is due then too.  They will be delivered in January/February 2013 as bareroot.   By the way...did you know the deep beige color on the butternut squash develops after it cures in the field...thought I would let you know...I had customers asking why mine was not like that; I was picking fresh from the vine...the rest are curing in the fields now :).  Have a great week everyone!!

Moonstruck signing off!!

Bring on the holidays!

Peach preserves, apple butter, applesauce, spiced applesauce, dill pickles, bread and butter pickles, green beans and now mincemeat are all canned and sitting on the shelves ready for eating, gifts or Thanksgiving pie!! Bring on the holidays I am ready to enjoy and be thankful for all the blessings we have received this year!!  Unfortunately Thanksgiving may have to be rescheduled at home due to Michael being asked to fly to Kauai as his buddy Scott's trainer (he fights in the MMA rings)....I feel so sorry for my husband who has to fly to Kauai!!  Not....it was our favorite island on our honeymoon, I am so jealous!!  It is just as well as we will be busy putting on the dinner at the church, and I so love that day!!  By far one of my favorite of the year, and a little rescheduling is not unusual for this farm/EMS family after all these years.   Life always works out for the best as in the last few days I have been fighting a head cold so I have been poking around the kitchen cleaning and finishing up the canning chores looking forward to having more energy right when it cools down on Monday and enjoying every minute of planting dill, cilantro, lettuce, bok choy, radishes and more kale!!  Tomorrow I am picking up a couple of straw bales and finishing off a larger compost pile, and I think I will just plant my Fall potatoes right into it and see what happens.  I have some sliding glass doors to throw over it for the winter.  My favorite part of gardening is waiting to see "what will happen next"....there is always something new to learn and look forward to!!  Moonstruck signing out. 

Quiet coming soon

As I was filling orders I felt the sense of peace that I love so much about my farm life...not that it always feels that way, but I cherish it when it happens.  I had just come in from feeding and collecting squash, which is now producing since the weather has been a little more even in temperature, but they are still very small.  I had filled all the little Cornish chicks watererers and feeders and they are so cute at this stage to say the least, and while I was doing that the turkeys in the pen adjacent were walking up and eating all the bugs off of the waterers...turkeys are very social and love to peck at bugs that are invisible to the naked eye.  I then filled the feeders for the larger Cornish (who are running like I have a blow torch in my hand from me...not social) who will be ready for harvest in four weeks and I marveled at their growth.  Molly during all this is throwing her body against the pens reminding everyone who is boss!! (Yes, this is our morning routine).  We then went down and gave the pigs the scrap bowl and checked on them.  Two are about ready, but two are quite small so it will be a while yet.  During this Molly is running around barking at the heels of all the cows to remind them who boss is once again!  (Sorry, she loves the pigs, if she has time she just comes over and gives them kisses....and then I give her a bath!!).  Then over to feed the cows who race me to the feeder and make it almost impossible to put the leaves in as they are trying to eat as I push it into the corrrals.  I then make a second trip where "girl" comes over to eat by herself.  She is the smallest and we have developed a routine where she saunters over (I might have told you already) to eat by herself, but the last week or so "Spot" has been joining her....romance in bloom maybe??  I think part of my sense of peace comes from the break from the heat yesterday and the feeling of Fall in the air and winter soon.  I am a Fall and Winter person...they are my favorite seasons!  I can't wait to have my first fire, put some chicken carcasses on the wood stove and make heartwarming chicken soup!  My kids actually ate some canned soup this week and said it was horrible....hopefully they will appreciate Mom a little bit more, but I doubt it, they are teenagers afterall!!  See ya all soon!

Bees!! Yahoo!!

As most of you know things have not been going smoothly around here, pool collapses pouring 50,000 gallons of water into greenhouse and across property (the pigs loved it!), the beds out front are now succumbing to the beginning of the critters building their stores for winter, and yields have been down due to my learning curves and the weather and taking on too much, but what do most farmers do…we bounce! So we are bouncing and not only are we about to dive into hydroponics to solve part of the issue, but we are getting some help around here in the yield category…yes the real workers are coming…two bee hives arrive on Saturday!! What a tremendous blessing they will be increasing yields hopefully beyond any tinkering with the soil that I could do would accomplish. We also are investing in more equipment to make the animal end of the farm run more efficiently with more automatic water fountains and more feeders. Even the cows are going to get a new automatic water fountain so that I don’t have to clean out their trough and they get nice fresh water with each sip. To bring my spirits up around here I walk the fields (that are doing well) like the corn, the green beans coming up and all the winter squash including sweet dumplings, butternut and carnival and the huge first two plants of rhubarb! I also tinker in the kitchen and tonight there is goats milk yogurt warming in the oven (i have a bread proofing setting of 100 degrees) and with some luck I will have luscious warm yogurt to add to my granola in the morning along with some fresh canned peaches (we did 30 quarts). Yes I know it sounds crazy after all that hard work, but it puts a smile on my face and a warm feeling in my belly!!




See ya all soon!

Whistling Turkeys

It was so nice this week to be able to leave the windows open and sit at my lap top listening to the turkeys whistle!! They are such neat animals.  Michael built them a great new coop and after going into it they did not stop talking about it for hours.  Our first batch of Cornish chickens will be ready soon and the summer turkeys soon after that so I guess we are in full swing.  We did do 10 for ourselves a few weeks back to check the numbers again on using the organic feed and test flavor of course....our favorite duty around here, and it was fabulous!!  No mushy chicken for us.  Free of worries; I know exactly what is going in them, and it is so delicious!! The coop is so nice that Mike built I think we will be able to extend the season a little more than I thought providing more poultry for our freezer and yours!  Remember this year we are only doing batches through the Fall and we only have a limited amount of Thanksgiving turkeys available this year...we needed to get our feet wet and start slow.  Any questions just drop us a line at moonstruckfarms@verizon.net.  Moonstruck signing out!!

Winter Pork Sides

Planning 6 months to a year ahead has become our natural course around here. With the pork operation growing I am developing a waiting list for the batch to begin October 2012 and be harvested February 2013. The $50.00 deposit will not be collected until September 2012. I am developing the list so that I can reserve the proper amount of piglets and build more pens if necessary. So drop me a line at moonstruckfarms@verizon.net if you would like to reserve or side or just need full details. Moonstruck signing off!!

Progress at the Farm

While my head is not spinning I thought I would take a moment to sit down and update you to some changes.  Sales are climbing so we are only growing for the CSA at this time, and what a relief that is.  It was hard growing for the larger basket requirements for the co-ops and keeping up with a wide variety of plantings for the CSA.  It also allows us to make some changes that were needed.  When we started root crops in August last year outside they did not succeed.  It was not early enough so this year we are reserving a few rows outside to plant in the next couple of weeks of carrots and other root crops.  This way we will have a supply outside and inside the greenhouses hopefully fixing a long awaited problem of enough carrots for the year.  With sales up it looks like the large onion order I made is not going to be enough so we will have to rely on green onions through the winter though I am hoping the red onions will last until December.  I am also going to try Crystal Wax onions from seed in the greenhouses that are a small bulb like onion.  We will be taking the new greenhouse out of production in August clearing it for an September planting of greens, radishes, etc. thus allowing the old greenhouse to continue production of the summer crops until they die out in November/December.  We will then clear and reamend planting as soon as the day length starts to return towards the end of January leaving January for onion/garlic planting again for the next year.  In the meantime the poultry operation is well underway with Cornish growing like crazy and little tiny turkeys who are already spreading their wings and strutting their stuff saying "Yes, I am the man"....someone needs to tell them they are not even the size of a softball yet!!  Moonstruck signing off!