Stock Up And Save!
Just in time for summer grilling, we're offering a 12% discount thru July 8, '21.
Author: CRAIG SCHMIDT
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Are You Ready For BBQ?
No drought here just yet! I've never seen as much water as I have this June. I believe we've had at least 14 inches of rain so far this month. I guess the good part of all that is we've got lots of green grass... and that means the cows and sheep are getting fat. Several days ago we got the sheep caught and I sold some to farmer friend who is starting his own flock. We then got the ram lambs separated out and put them in with my fattening steers. The rams averaged 85 lbs. Before long they will be ready for processing! These steers and ram lambs have it 'made in the shade!' They are some of the nicest looking animals I have raised. We have halves available if you'd like to order in bulk and get your freezer stocked. Talk with your friends and maybe they'd like to split a whole or a half with you. Cattle Field Day I'm looking forward to attending the South Poll cattle field day later this week. I've always wanted to go to one of these events but it's never worked out. They also have a cattle auction and it was at one of these sales that my dad purchased my first South Poll bull and two heifers for me while we were still out of the country. Have a great day,Craig P.S. Have you tried any of our bacon yet? You'll love it!
Pork Cuts Available Now
Summer is here and that means it's time to fire up the grills and start cooking! And, we have just what you've been waiting for...delicious, pasture-raised pork cuts. If you like low and slow, try our Boston Butt pork roasts. Want something a little quicker? Try out our smoked bacon for your weekend breakfast cookout. Or... fire up the grill and slap these porkchops on for a feast. Packaged 4 to a pack. I'm still working at getting some bundle packages put together where you will be able to bundle and save... But it all seems to take a lot of time and I couldn't wait to have you start sampling the pork. Wait! that's not all. We're also restocked on our grass-fed and grass finished beef! I brought home one beef yesterday and have two more waiting at the processor. I think we might be slowly getting the pipeline filled up and hopefully our website won't always say "Sold Out" on all your favorite products. Here are a couple of great Beef bundle options to choose from: 25 lb. Ground Beef BundleVariety Share (30 pounds)Family Favorite Share (25 pounds) I'm happy to see that the duck family is doing well! It seems they live a precarious life and I haven't seen many hatches grow up. Between snakes, raccoons, coyotes and all the other predators around they have to be on guard 24/7. Well, I think I've kept you long enough today.Have a great day,Craig
Is the Grass Always Greener?
The other morning Cora and I were heading to move the sheep when we saw this ENORMOUS turtle crossing the road. Apparently the grass (or the water) was better on the other side. It's that time of the year when the wild blackberries are in season. We've enjoyed picking some and there's nothing like a blackberry pie with ice-cream. I'm amazed at how those berries just do their thing on their own without needing to be pampered and babied along and they are so delicious! We're looking forward to taking a family vacation this weekend and going to see some friends up in the Northwest. Never been to the Northwest before and can't wait to see it. If you need to place an order before June 2nd to be picked up on the farm, we'll see if we can arrange for you to do so. Otherwise, we'll be arriving home June 2. Thanks for your support and positive feedback! That's what keeps us going. I'll share a testimonial from Michelle P below. Have a great day,Craig ----- Hi Craig,This was the best chicken ever! So juicy and flavorful. Thanks for all the hard work you do to make happy and healthy food for our table.Sincerely,Michelle P. ----- Buy chicken now
Whole Chickens
We're happy to announce that once again we have pasture-raised, Non-GMO fed, whole chickens available! It's been a long time since we've had those in our freezers and we're excited to be able to offer them to you again. They vary in size but most of them will be in the 5.5 lb. range. We have some bigger and a few smaller but that's about where they'll be. 'Eggs for a friend' are available again! Buy one dozen pasture-raised eggs, we'll give you a FREE dozen to give to one of your friends. When they create an account and make their first purchase with us, we'll give you an in-store credit worth $4! Where's The Beef? At the processor. We have several beeves at the processor and I'm hoping that I'll be able to pick them up sometime next week. That will g et some of our cuts back in stock again. If plans continue, I'll also be taking some in on the 17th. We have some halves available off of those animals if you'd like to get your freezer stocked with a half side of grass-fed and finished beef. So long! Stay safe,CraigP.S. I don't know how many of you are aware of our referral program, but if you go to account, scroll down to referrals and there it will give you a link to share with a friend.When that friend makes a purchase using that link, you'll automatically receive a $10 credit (happy referring)!
Post Farm Tour Day
From our point of view, our first ever Farm Tour and Meal event was a success! We were blessed with a beautiful day, a nice, manageable sized group of guests and we had fun. Just a brief report on the day: we started off by gathering under the spreading oak trees in our yard while everyone arrived. We all introduced ourselves and then started off by looking at the broiler chicks and the 'ready to process' broilers. Everyone climbed aboard our hay wagon and our trusty John Deere tractor fired up and we were off! First stop was the laying hens. Anyone who wanted to walked inside the movable shelter and gathered themselves a dozen eggs - laid that very morning (get your own eggs here!). Next we swung around and found the lazy pigs lounging out under the shade trees. Talk about taking it easy and living the good life. The fattening steers were up next. I showed everyone how I move them from one paddock to another and then we were off on the trek over to Dad's place where we moved the sheep and a group of yearlings. By the time we got the sheep moved, I was starving! Didn't realize how many calories a tour guide burns. Back at home, we washed up and enjoyed the cool shade while the finishing touches were put on the lunch. Thanks to our families who helped out with making and serving lunch. The menu was: Buttermilk baked chicken (processed on our farm two days prior), grilled bacon burgers, parmesan potatoes, strawberry lettuce salad, freshly baked bread and to finish it off we had some of my Mother-in-Law's famous pies: chocolate, pecan and coconut cream. (there weren't any pieces left :-) That pretty much wrapped up the tour. After everyone made a final pass through the farm store and got stocked up with whatever was deemed needed we were left to our lonesome. I'm already looking forward to when we can do it again. Thanks to each one who came out! I won't keep you any longer. Till next week,Craig
Short & Sweet
I won't keep you long with this newsletter. Seems I've been running fairly hard the last number of days and time to sit at the computer is scarce. Yesterday I took in 3 beef and 5 pigs. We'll soon have our freezers full of pork. Beef supply is still a bit on the lean side. Of the 3 beef I took in, 2 whole cows and a quarter are spoken for so that doesn't leave me a lot to stock our freezers with but there's more out in the pastures! Pictured below are the three beeves that went in Monday. Jet Puffed Marshmallows Anyone? Last week we had some hay cut and baled. We baled it while it still had a good bit of moisture in it and then had someone come with a machine and wrap it. It will ensile inside the wrap and this winter will make really good feed for the cattle. I think that about wraps it up for this week. If you need fresh, pasture raised eggs, we've got plenty of those right now.Tell your friends and neighbors where they can get good eggs.Have a great week,Craig
A Time To Laugh
Eggs & Bacon I may not be a gourmet chef, but... when I storm the kitchen and try my hand at making breakfast this is about as far as my culinary skills take me. I think that some good home grown bacon and scrambled eggs are hard to beat. Add a dash of Cajun Southern Seasoning to them and you talk about good. Piglet Heartbreak Last week I mentioned that I had my fingers crossed that the piglets would all survive. Well, unfortunately I had reason to be worried. One afternoon when I checked on them, we found several of the piglets down in the creek. Miraculously they were alive and survived but I knew something needed to be done to keep that from happening again. I put up some pig netting around the sow and piglets and all was well for several days until... I came out and found several of the piglets stuck in the net. Dead. Talk about making me sick to the stomach. Here the very thing that prevented death by drowning in the creek killed them when they got stuck in it. Needless to say I was quite blue for several days. Still am for that matter. Beef The cattle are loving all the lush, green grass these days! I think they're quite spoiled, getting moved to a fresh paddock every afternoon, but I guess they kinda run the show. Well that's all for now,Craig P.S. Farm Tour Sign-up deadline is April 24. Don't miss the chance to enjoy a front row seat and see how your food is being raised. Tour is scheduled for May 1 @ 10 a.m.
"Makin' Bacon"
Good morning! Pigs New piglets on the farm! They are so cute. I've got my fingers crossed that they can survive the first couple of weeks. I've had some real disappointments with two other sets of piglets this spring but so far these are doing well. Also, I'm going to be picking up some pigs that are ready for processing this Friday. I'm purchasing them from another farmer who is following the same protocols we are: Pasture raised and only fed Non-GMO feed. As soon as I get the meat back from the processor we'll be letting you know so you can stock your freezer with delicious, pasture-raised pork! I also have a half or two that aren't spoken for on some pigs that were born and raised on our farm. If you'd like to reserve one of those, do so here. They're scheduled for processing on June 14. Lamb Our lamb crop is looking really good. They are getting nice and big. By December we should have some really nice size lambs for sale. Actually, I sold several yesterday to a customer who came out to the farm and processed them himself right on site. If you'd like to reserve yours, do so today. I'd hate for you to miss out on our 100% grass-fed & finished lamb. Pastured Eggs We have eggs again! Yay! After swapping out our laying hens for some fresh pullets, they are laying now and we have a good supply of fresh, brown eggs. Beef If you think you may be interested in a half of beef, please let me know ASAP so that I can get them scheduled at the processor. Processing is our biggest hurdle and if we don't get them scheduled in plenty of time we can't get them done. Our first processing date of April 26 is booked already but we'll be processing more throughout the summer. If a half is too much beef for you, we'll also have some quarter beef bundles available later on this year. I think that's all for this week. Enjoy the beautiful spring weather,Craig
A Few Spots Left for Farm Tour
Farm Tour: It's not too late to save your spot for our 1st Annual Farm Tour! This is a free event that will give you an inside look at how we raise our animals and also sample some of our pasture raised meat products. To reserve your place you'll need to change your pickup location. Under account, my account, pickup locations enter in our zip code: 39341 and proceed to add farm tour to cart. That will enable you to reserve your spot. "Dianna's" term as a pet has expired! Someone in the family wasn't happy to have their rosebushes chewed off.The children really enjoyed bottle feeding the lamb and having it roam around the yard following and chasing them around but I guess all good things come to an end. We took the lamb back out to join the rest of the sheep and she seems to be enjoying life in the real world. Broilers The broilers are happy to be out on pasture! I got them moved out yesterday. Their few remaining weeks will find them enjoying Non-GMO feed as well as clover, bugs and whatever else they can find to eat. I'm also mixing in a little Organic Apple Cider Vinegar in their water. We'll see how that works. We plan to process our first chickens of the year on April 29 so they'll be available for pickup for those who come out to the farm tour May 1. Pigs Don't know how well you can see the pigs in this picture but they are loving their new paddock down by the creek. These are our breeding stock. I'm working on procuring some more pigs so we can have pork on hand to sell individual cuts. Stay tuned for when that is available. Thanks and have a great day, Craig
