Hello
A LOT TO WRITE ABOUT THIS WEEK. A rainy morning has me inside writing away. See below to read about
Thanksgiving turkeys
on the farm, some amazing
farmstead cheeses
, and some
new sweet treats
this week.
Thanksgiving Turkeys
It’s hard to believe that the countdown to Thanksgiving has already started. 18 weeks. And actually just 28 until we start breeding next year’s feast.
Thanksgiving turkeys are a big deal around here. Right now I’m frantically working my network of other sustainable poultry growers to try to trade and/or buy new toms (the male turkey) for breeding our Heritage Standard Bronze turkeys for next year! Putting a meal on the table starts sometimes years in advance.
But for this year the Thanksgiving turkeys are started and are off to a good start. I raise two types of turkeys. The first type is extremely limited. It is the heritage turkey – the American Standard Bronze – and it is a slower growing, more “wild” turkey. These birds are hardy on pasture and very active. This “old fashioned” bird has a “more athletic” build, meaning they have less pronounced breasts making them more apt to flight and roaming.
Our traditional “market turkey” is a heritage cross – a cross between the standard bronze and the commercial Broad Breasted White. The result is called the Broad Breasted Bronze. It has larger breasts producing more white meat and it is a faster growing bird, providing a leaner but yet juicy turkey.
The Broad Breasted Bronze turkey is now 3 weeks old. They hatched on July 1 this year, all 1270 of them. The first week of raising turkeys is very stressful. The birds are very susceptible to environment. They want it hot – 99.5 degrees – and need help learning to eat and drink.
In my brooder building – the structure for baby poultry – the birds have in-floor radiant heat as well as overhead brooder stoves. The brooder stoves provide a few hot spots throughout the building that allow the birds to move in and out of the heat as they like. The key is to keep them just right If they are too hot, they will pant and die. If they are too cold, they will crowd each other and suffocate. It’s tricky business and we check in on them every couple hours.
The turkey is also well known as a copy-cat. They mimic actions they learn. To teach them to eat, we start some broilers (meat chickens) with them. The broiler goes immediately for the food and water, training the turkey to do the same.
After about 10 days, the birds become hardier and really start to take off. At this point we can drop the temperature and open the windows. Each day we have to raise the water line a bit more to provide them a comfortable height from which to drink. It’s really like watching a weed grow!
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Above: About 5 acres of old produce patch plowed then tilled to create a seedbed. Sorghum, millet, rye, and clover seed was broadcast across the field. Right: The seed was packed into the soil with a cultipacker to create a flat, firm field. Today...much needed rain to get the seeds started.
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At about 4 weeks of age they will be stronger and hardier. At that point, we’ll move them outside to pasture where they will clip away the clover and grass while chowing down on their milled diet.
To raise 1,200 turkeys I have to allocate about 10 acres to them. By the end of September they will be quite large and roam fairly far. Just this week I worked up 5 acres to plant with some fall forage for them. Getting anything to start from seed in the hot, dry months of July is a challenge. This year I worked with my seed supplier to create a custom blend of sorghum, perennial rye, red clover, and millet to create a tall, shady forage with plenty of seeds and protein for them to peck at.
Over the next couple months I’ll try to give you some regular updates on the turkeys.
Sincerely,
Trevor
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Old Forge Dairy (and the new Blue Cheese)
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Old Forge Dairy Farm and Creamery in Kent has become a true allstar in the cheese world. Cheesemaker and farmer Rebecca Oravets has a small herd of Ayrshire cows, a heritage breed from the UK that is well fitted to cheddars.
With the milk she crafts some truly spectacular raw milk cheeses. Each cheese is aged a minimum of 6 months, with some being aged longer. When aging a cheese this long, one of the challenges is keeping the rind moist enough to allow some of the moisture on the inside of the cheese to still evaporate. At the same time, you want to keep the cheeses from evaporating too quickly and having an inconsistent texture.
One of the tricks that Rebecca uses is to utilize an old fashioned technique called “clothbound.” What this means is that each of her aged cheddars is wrapped in a piece of plain weave cotton cloth. The cloth retains some moisture but also allows the cheese to breath. This allows the cheese to develop crystals and a firm texture without becoming dry.
Each cheese is then aged slowly in a humidity controlled aging room on rough sawn beech wood planks and flipped regularly to help control the aging.
In the end, Rebecca has a truly unique and excellent farmstead artisan cheese. We hope you enjoy!
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Clothbound Cheddar (photos above) – Cheddars are unique in the way they are produced. The “cheddaring” process is where the curd is cut and then salted in the vat. The salt stops the fermentation and stops the change in acidity. The salt being applied directly to the curd allows cheddars to be aged a very long time. It draws out additional whey and imparts a unique salt profile. The cheese is then pressed into molds. This is in contrast to many other cheeses that are “brined cheeses.” Brined cheeses are cheeses that are first pressed into a mold then treated with a salt brine to stop fermentation. Cheeses that are brined cheeses include gouda, alpine style, and swiss.
With Rebecca’s clothbound cheddar, she sets the cheese in a thin cheese cloth when first pressing. When the cheese has drained enough to handle, she dips it in a hot water bath to help form the rind. The first layer of cheese cloth is removed and a thicker cloth is applied for aging.
As the cheese ages, she further controls evaporation by applying lard to the surface of the cheese. After 8 months or so, the cheese is a massive 20 lb wheel that is nearly 12 inches tall.
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Farmhouse Blue – Get it while it lasts! This might be my new favorite cheese. I bought about a 12 ounce chunk last Thursday evening for a dinner party on Friday. I ended up getting caught in a road closure at 11 PM trying to get back to the farm. While I sat in dead-stop “traffic” for 45 minutes in Brewster, OH, I could not control myself and completely devoured the blue cheese. Yum!
Blue cheeses are created by the reaction of the bacteria Roqueforti penicillium with the natural sugars in the cheese. The result is a unique flavor and texture that we all love. For Rebecca’s farmhouse blue, she starts with a salt brined tomme - a young, firm and nutty French countryside cheese. She treats her needles with the Roquefort and pierces the young cheese. The open “wound” in the cheese allows oxygen to enter and react with the bacteria. The bacteria is “aerobic,” meaning it needs oxygen. When you open your cheese from the vacuum seal package, allow it to set out for a few minutes before enjoying for the blue mold to come back to life (the vacuum package is void of oxygen).
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Italiano – This is Rebecca’s response to needing a parmesan style cheese. This firm, nutty cheese is great on its own or grated over pasta.
Alpine - Alpine cheeses are a style of firm, slightly sweet cheeses with a slight acidic ting that reminds you a bit of swiss. Gruyere is your most popular Alpine style cheese. This firm, mild cheese is great on sandwiches as well as featured on a cheese board.
Old Forge Swiss (photo to left) – This is also a brined cheese more similar to a “baby swiss” with smaller eyes. The only way to describe it’s flavor is that it features notes of grass from the cows’ diet and the sweet and sour note unique to a swiss. Enjoy as is or on a ham sandwich.
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Last week Kandice’s ricotta sold out in 30 minutes. Her batch size only yields 40 units. She wanted to make sure more folks could try it so she made another batch this past weekend. There are 40 units of the grass grazed Guernsey A2A2 Ricotta available. This fresh cheese is great with fruit for breakfast, tossed with cherry tomatoes and pasta for an easy dish, or used to dress a salad. Enjoy!
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A young laying hen is known as a pullet. As she starts laying eggs around 20 weeks of age, her eggs are small. These are known as pullet eggs. For about 2 or 3 weeks she will have small eggs. They are just as tasty and nutritious, just small in size. As our new flock of birds start laying eggs, we will have some pullet eggs available for sale over the next month. They are smaller and therefore at a discount compared to the regular large eggs.
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Lauren has had a sweet tooth lately. For those of you who have been with us for a while, you’ll recognize Lauren as the head lady in charge at Fresh Fork. She runs the operations and makes sure we have staff, trucks on the road, and so much more.
She is also responsible for listing items on the online store. Lately she’s been challenging Chef Ashley to a bunch of new products. Two ideas that are coming to fruition this week – s’mores and lemon meringue pie. When coming up with new ideas, we have to address what works with the seasons and what the customer wants.
Right now with the new laying hens, we have a lot of extra pullet eggs that are difficult to market. As a result, Ashley is able to crack them open and separate the yolks and the whites. The yolks are being saved for a custard based product (check back next week) and the whites are great for meringue – like on a pie or for marshmallows.
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The
Lemon Meringue pie is a good fit for us right now because of the meringue (egg whites) and the lemon custard (egg yolks). Chef Ashley is able to make her lard crust using the lard from our heritage hogs and the organic whole wheat flour from Stutzman Farms. She then creates a rich custard using fresh lemons, farm fresh egg yolks, and organic sugar. The pie is then dressed in a fluffy Italian meringue and toasted with a torch. These delicate pies are available only for pre-order.
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A second sweet treat this week is the
S’Mores Sandwiches. Ashley starts by making a honey graham cookie, smearing it with marshmallow cream and chocolate ganache to “glue it together,” then adding a fluff of house made marshmallow in the middle. #stickygoodness
Cookies sold as 4 sandwhiches per box (2 cookies used per sandwhich).
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A BIG HARVEST NOTE: This is the very first picking of peaches. Rich at Eshleman's in Clyde has been calling me constantly with harvest updates. Summary - The peaches will be arriving just hours after picking. They will be firm and he doesn't know exactly how many yet.
If his harvest does not yield what is expected, they may be excluded - not replaced - from the bag. He unfortunately can not guarantee how many are on the trees or how they will grade out after harvest.
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Small Omnivore
Smoked Kielbasa
Green Beans
Candy Onion
Yellow Squash
Cucumbers
Blueberries
Peaches
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Small Vegetarian
Green Beans
Candy Onion
Yellow Squash
Cucumbers
Blueberries
Peaches
Broccoli
Cantaloupe
Zucchini
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Mini
Candy Onion
Squash
Green Beans
Cucumber
Blueberries
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Large Omnivore
Smoked Kielbasa
Green Beans
Candy Onion
Yellow Squash
Cucumbers
Blueberries
Peaches
Whole Wheat Linguine
Sweet Corn
Kohlrabi
Kennebec Potatoes
Lettuce
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Large Vegetarian
Green Beans
Candy Onion
Yellow Squash
Cucumbers
Blueberries
Peaches
Broccoli
Cantaloupe
Zucchini
Whole Wheat Linguine
Sweet Corn
Kohlrabi
Kennebec Potatoes
Lettuce
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Small Vegan
Green Beans
Candy Onion
Yellow Squash
Cucumbers
Blueberries
Peaches
Broccoli
Cantaloupe
Zucchini
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Reminder: Carnivore Share bags are every-other-week
based on pick-up location. You will be randomly assigned to a group (A, B, C). Check for the assignment in your last name. By the end of the season, all groups will have received the same amount of all products.
Week 8 Carnivore Locations:
Avon, Brecksville, Lakewood, Middleburg Heights, North Olmsted, Ohio City Provisions, Strongsville, Tremont, Westlake
**Carnivore share bags are only available at the first "dropoff location" listed on the location tab of your account as of 6/1. Carnivore shares cannot be transferred. We pack for the exact number based on location.**
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SPECIAL ORDER
Location Details
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Your special order will only be delivered only to your primary location as selected in your profile (see below).
Please review this BEFORE placing your order (adjust + save as needed).
Please do not email or call to change the location of your special order.
It sounds easier said than done. Our software prints a pick list per location for what products we must take along. If we attempt to move it manually there is a high probability that we'll mess it up and no one will be happy.
Please leave the "new" location set in your profile until after you pick up your special order.
You will have to log back into your account to change it back to your usual stop BEFORE you place your next order the following week.
When you get to your check-in, please let the greeter know you also have a special order to pick-up. The order is packed separate from the regular share.
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