I never understood the idea of Christmas in July. Sure, there is some irony there. It’s hot and humid, and at worst a thunderstorm instead of cold with a blizzard. 

But what we do understand is its significance in the beer world. Our friends at Great Lakes Brewing Company host an annual event each July to celebrate Christmas in July – with Christmas Ale of course.

At Ohio City Provisions, we have the good fortune of partnering with GLBC to make custom sausages for their brewpub, including a Christmas Ale brat and many other beer-infused brats. 

So, this week we will be at their pub on Thursday as they serve our sausage alongside Christmas Ale. In the meantime, you can enjoy some off-season holiday fun this week at home, including:

Wholesome Valley Farm Christmas Sugar Cookies – fun, holiday shapes covered in our American buttercream frosting. $6 per package, 4 cookies approx. 1#

OCP and GLBC Christmas Ale Brats – 4 smoked links, 1.25# per package, a holiday beer infused sausage with a spice profile engineered to play well with the signature GLBC Christmas ale – cocoa, brown sugar, cardamom, ginger, and dried cherries. 

And if you are interested in trying the other sausages we are making for Great Lakes, here is one other flavor we currently make for their menu:

Dortmunder Beer Brat - 4 links, 1.5# per package – A mild sausage that pairs well with mustard and kraut, this juicy smoked sausage is loaded full of Dortmunder beer.

PEACHES



The peach harvest is starting to pick up and we have a good supply this week of peaches in 2# bags.

Remember, let your peaches ripen on the counter then refrigerate them once they are fully ripe for the best eating.

Peaches - 2# bags - $5

NECTARINES



We get a very limited supply of these each year. Roger at Maurer's in Wooster enjoys having them on the farm.

I've always struggled to describe the flavor on a nectarine. Slightly peach like, but very acidic with a unique sweetness - perhaps tropical like a pineapple.

Any way you describe this waxy beauty, they are delicious.

Sold per 2# bag, $7.

BLACK RASPBERRIES

This week the black raspberries are also coming in. They are highly perishable, so we have several harvests coming in this week.

Please keep them cool and dry and eat them right away.

Without a fungicide or chemicals, the high humidity will cause the berry to sweat when it comes out of refrigeration, and from there they get moldy.

We have fresh berries coming in each day but please help us out by storing them properly and eating them promptly once you receive them.

One trick is to add a teaspoon of vinegar to a cup of cold water, then rinse your berries in this to kill any budding molds. This will extend the shelf life if you want to keep them for several days in the refrigerator.

Per Pint - $7

BLUEBERRIES

Very limited supply, order online.

Per Pint - $6

CANTALOUPE

They are in every share this week, but if you are like me you may need extra. I enjoy mine with sea salt and chili flake, or plain, or served as a cold soup blended with beets. So many options!

Per Melon - $3.5

Beef Sugo Kit - $25

This week we have a great bundle available, and it's inspired by Italian sugo - a tuscan style ragu - that's based on beef chuck roast, tomatoes, and pasta.

Bundle includes:

Beef Chuck Roast - approx 3#*

Tomato Juice- 32 oz

Fresh Tomatoes - 2#

Tagliatelle Pasta - 8 oz (long, flat ribbon noddle similar to this photo)

There is a lot of room for interpretation on this recipe, and you are free to improvise.

The basic concept is -

Step 1: braise a beef chuck roast in a combination of tomatoes (juice, pulp, or crushed tomatoes) with the addition of stock and/or wine

Step 2: cool the roast. shred the meat and reduce the cooking liquid.

Step 3: Serve the beef and sauce (derived from cooking liquid) over a bed of pasta.

There are countless recipes on the web with great photos and instructions. Here is a short list of a few I can endorse:

Little Spice Blog Beef Ragu

Delicious and Sustainable Blog Beef Sugo

Simply Recipes Italian Beef Pot Roast

*if a roast isn't close to 3#, we may adjust with beef stew meat to give a fair portion.

I take pride in raising all of our poultry outside on pasture. Why? It's healthier, all around, and tastes better.

The exercise gives the meat texture and there is something to be said for things we can't understand. For example, why do hydroponic tomatoes and soil grown, in season tomatoes look the same but taste so different? It's the same reason I'm sure why a barn raised bird is mushy and bland and a pasture raised bird is firm, juicy, and full of flavor.

It's as simple as working with nature, not against it. But this isn't easy.

Chicken is one of the most difficult products for us to compete with on price. First, our feed is more expensive. Second, the slaughter fees are much higher on a small scale. And then lastly, labor to manage them outside can be overwhelming.

In a typical CAFO operation, a 600 ft by 100 ft barn has 50,000 chickens in it, every 6 weeks! I raise 70 birds per mobile structure, 31 structures at a time, 30 weeks per year.

So over the years, I've been trying to get creative about how we manage birds on pasture. Currently I have two designs that work for my farm:

Big Shade Wagon - as seen in the header picture of this email and here. Approx 500 birds under each structure, moved daily inside a fenced in field. Dogs protect the birds from the night-time predators.

Advantages - faster to move, less labor

Disadvantage - on weather extremes - hot, cold, and heavy rain - the birds can overcrowd and harm each other; requires flat ground

Salatin-style Chicken Tractors

These are pioneered by Joel Salatin in Swoop VA. Here are some photos of my improved design that I've come up with over the years. It's all based on 10 ft 2x4s for efficiency of cuts, speedy manufacturing, and easy repair. I currently have 31 of these structures on pasture, and each needs moved daily.

Over the year's I've made many changes, but this year's big innovation is the new 1-piece tin feeder box with wheel kit. Previous models had a feed box up front, but they were pieced together with scrap metal roofing, pvc pipe cut in half, and wood. The boxes were heavy and broke easily. Oh, and when it rained, the feed would get wet and cake up. It was a major chore to clean them out frequently, which wasted a lot of feed.

This new design is a team effort, but mostly courtesy of my wife who asked me the no brainer question once, "Why is the feed box on the outside?" I stumbled for an excuse and decided to talk about how my design was wrong.

We started talking about how to move the feed box inside, and came up with this year's design that protects the feed from rain and creates an easy-to-load hinged lid that speeds up feeding. (seen to right).

The biggest improvement of this design is that it makes moving the drag pens a 1 man job. Previously, one person picked the front up with a 2 wheel dolly and the other guy picked up the back with a dolly. We would attempt to push them forward in unison, but the birds would scramble and get caught under the frame.

With this design, an axle is slid into the front and each corner lifted from the ground and a wheel installed. The single person goes to the back of the pen and pushes. The birds run away from him and the pen can be moved quickly with less harm to the birds.

The design is working great and we are wasting less feed and it takes only about 45 minutes to an hour for one person to move the pens each day, 7 days per week.

Red Cabbage is a favorite of mine, with it's natural sweetness and ability to lend itself well to pork, chicken, or beef.

We have many recipes on our website, and here is a selection of some for your convenience.

Vegetarian Borsht - https://freshforkmarket.com/recipes/vegetarian-borscht/

Slow Cooker Braised Red Cabbage and Beef - https://freshforkmarket.com/recipes/slow-roasted-balsamic-beef-with-red-cabbage/

Parkers Red Cabbage with Grape Jam - https://freshforkmarket.com/recipes/parkers-braised-red-cabbage-with-grape-jam/

Braised Red Cabbage with Cherries - https://freshforkmarket.com/recipes/braised-red-cabbage-with-cherries/