Turkey Knowledge 101

Thanks to working so closely with the Bashaws I have learned a number of things over the last year and a half. I now know that my freezer will hold just around 275 pounds of turkeys!! I now know that my back is very strong thanks to my gardening work, and I can lift a lot of weight in one given day. I know that the legs love to pop out of the bags. I know that when working in the harvesting room to not be anywhere near Ann when she has the spray nozzle in her hands because she will accidentally hit you every time!! I now know to look for the radio cord that Sam stretched across the aisle way because on your first day you will come into the dark from the sun and you and the radio will go crashing across the hallway...quite an entrance for my first day. I now know to never ever let a turkey get over 50 pounds!! I now know not to send Danny on a 5 minute errand because if it is gutting, sorry eviscerating time, he will disappear for at least 30 minutes and I now know that I love the business. I know it must seem strange, but it does bring me closer to nature, to the gifts of protein that the Lord has provided us, and that they should be respected. Once again thank you for your support. The Bashaws have one slot for fresh turkeys for pick up next week, and there are some in the 18-19.5 lb. range in the freezer. Just drop me a line at moonstruckfarms@verizon.net if you still need a turkey...I promise you it will be the best you have ever tried. Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!

Multiple Farm CSA by Rodale Institute

I thought I would share some of the research that I have read over the years that brought me to where we are at. Moonstruck Farms CSA is a multi-farm CSA bringing the best from your local farmers to our local community thus supporting the farmer, bolstering the economy and bringing the freshest organic produce to you our loyal customers.

http://www.rodaleinstitute.org/2010_nf_Multifarm_CSAs_More-farms-are-better

We just found out that a local farm has Berkshire piglets!!! I wish I had not picked up the piglets I did last week, but if orders are filled for those three I am going to go and get some Berkshires. Berkshires are Heritage pigs known for their delicious flavor. If we keep a sow at Moonstruck in the future it will be Berkshires! I am so excited! Until now the nearest breeder was Santa Rosa.

We were able to check one more thing off the "TO DO" list around here at Moonstruck....a piglet nursery. Due to the "big" guys not being "BIG" enough yet and piglets were ready to be picked up for the next batch a nursery was mandated so now we have a new area with a new feeder and new water nipple (down lower to the ground for the little guys). It was a whirlwind weekend, but one less thing to get set up in livestock central now!

A big thank you to Brian Ranch Orchard for donating a large number of sheets of plywood, which will be used to build goat and lamb houses in livestock central, and Michael can't wait to take Thanksgiving week off so he can play with his new welder and build the new gate for the meat harvester truck to go through down in the Northeast corner of the property. The new welder will also create the shelters for the enlarged Nigerian Goat pens and future Dorper sheep pens. We want to be able to lock them up at night to protect them from the coyotes and if they don't remember to go to bed on time...than Molly gets to do her favorite thing...bossing the animals around!! Moonstruck signing out.

More tomatoes????

Okay, the picture is just because I am showing Molly off...she is sitting there patiently waiting for Mike to play with her, but back to business, thank you everyone for your overwhelming support of the Bashaw Farm. They are down to approximately 25 turkeys and I think they will be gone by the end of the week. If you need one for Christmas you should get it now (I get one for every Christmas....the McDermotts love turkey for Christmas...they are not "ham" people and they eat a LOT....all big strapping Irish boys...one is a Triathlete, one Custom Construction Worker and my Black Belt and Farmer Husband, and a sister that is almost as active as them!!). The Bashaws only have only a few pork shares left too so I went ahead and picked up some more piglets so that shares will be available again in April for the CSA customers. There are two sides available for that batch too. We are scrambling to get caught up around here with getting the animals set up in their new pens, designing the poultry business takeover for next year and getting the lettuce going!! It is amazing to watch how the seed knows when to germinate around here. Lettuce is popping up everywhere outside, but inside the greenhouse the ground temps are still high so I am germinating more tomatoes than lettuce!! I guess I need to be a little more generous with the ventilation to get those ground temps down. Automatic vents are on the list for next year and that will make a "no brainer", and save me time. We found out that Edison did not have a lot of success in stopping the Dynocore wind mill appliecation and we are still on the list, but Edison went through the applications with a fine tooth comb and rejected over 80%....hopefully we were not one of them...say a prayer!! We are constantly learning around here....no getting bored in that division, and it is fun playing "scientist" all the time. My next experiment....plastic rain gutter over the rows of Arugula and radishes outside to see if they receive enough sunlight, but shelter from the wind and extreme temperatures. Wish me luck....Moonstruck signing out!!

Freeze coming....fried green tomatoes anybody?

Yes I did some more weightlifting tonight, 50 pounds worth of green tomatoes!! I did a lousy job on my tomatoes this year due to the rush to get them planted outside in July (way too cold in June) and the new greenhouse still being added to the schedule!! I can't wait to see how well they do next year!! The tomatoes did not do well in the peak season in the new greenhouse so I am going to put babies out in July in the new greenhouse and so they are just producing in October, and hopefully will pull us through until late December next year!! We will see how far we can push it with the new greenhouse. We do have a few plants in the greenhouses, but not a lot. We should pull a few pounds a week, but not much. The old greenhouse tomatoes did well in the center of the greenhouse so that is where they will all go next year twined up to the top purlin. They are all over the place now, but I stretched one up and it would have almost hit the 12 foot peak! The one thing I did discover is the bees would not go in the greenhouses during the peak temps, but now that it has been a nice and cozy 80-85 that is where they all have been! Well hopefully 10 or 20 pounds of these will ripen, but the rest are either for fried green tomatoes or to the chickens and pigs who always greatly appreciate the garden gifts!! Moonstruck signing out.

Thanksgiving as most of you know is my favorite holiday. Great food, thanking the Lord for our blessings, and no stress over if we bought the right gift?? So as I am preparing for our Thanksgiving Meal at Church this year I thought of my customers and how grateful I am for your support and the other farmers have made similar comments so....THANK YOU from the McDermott family at Moonstruck, Felice at Brian Ranch, Meredith at Valhalla, Andy at Glen Cairn, Steve at Valle View and the Bashaw Family at Bashaw Meats for supporting your local farms. We truly appreciate all that you do taking the extra effort to buy from us. Happy Thanksgiving Season!!

Well just when I think I have hit the end of weightlifting season....tomatoes, winter squash, cucumbers, zucchini....here come the turkeys. My first big delivery is this week, and I am doing some extra sit ups to strengthen my back tonight!!!! Well, the light season is not too far away...Moonstruck Salad Mix. I must admit I made a mistake this year that I will have to change next year. I designated the new greenhouse for the cut lettuce and the old for head lettuce, but since the new one is so much hotter it was a mistake and the lettuce is just now starting to do an okay germination. It is amazing how seed knows when it is its time. I had some pots in the shade outside my kitchen filled with dill seed I was trying to trick into summer dill, and of course it did not do a thing until last week, and then every last seed germinated. Still amazes me, and so do my Fall roses. With no wind and just right temps they are beautiful, but soon to leave since the winds are already picking up today with the change in weather this week, but that just means fried green tomatoes and Moonstruck Salad Mix!! I love the change in seasons...Moonstruck signing out!!

November tomatoes!!

I have had tomatoes in the greenhouses until December, but never outside in November, and it looks like we might make it!! The temps are providing lush green plants with almost no cracking and they are loaded!! As I sit here I can hear the winds picking up due to the change of weather coming. Forecast says it is going to be close again...nighttime temps of 34!! Might have a green tomato scramble this week...anybody like fried green tomatoes!! Molly is continuing to be one of the best decisions of the year working the livestock with so little training, but she is a bit spoiled. She saw me put my overalls on in the morning and started doing her 360s in the house, and then I was delayed by my eldest and a few dishes calling my name in the sink, and I had to listen to a very VOCAL protest including a variety of whines, low rumbling growls and finally the body being thrown on the floor in complete disgruntlement! I have never had a dog TALK to me so much. Finally we headed outside to plant more turnips, carrots, beets, kohlrabi, rutabagas, green head cabbage, Tatsoi, spinach and Lacinato Kale. Hopefully these will produce before the true dead of winter and/or overwinter well. I want the outside field greens ready to go when the temps get too hot in the greenhouse plus I want room for EARLY tomatoes next year!! BTW the Bashaws had a change in plans and had to take the first batch of turkeys for the smoker today, and so if you want a smoked turkey next Tuesday is the cut off and off I go to the smoker. They are also having quite a few more requests for pick up at the farm turkeys just prior to Thanksgiving and are thinking about adding another batch. Let me know if you are interested. BTW the picture is of my artichoke plant. I goofed up the irrigation and they went to seed, but was rewarded with the beautiful flowers!! Another big day of planting tomorrow...it is cool enough for lettuce in the greenhouses!! Moonstruck signing off.