Hello
Living in Amish country, we’ve come to learn that many of our neighbors have a very traditional self-sustaining lifestyle. They grow their own vegetables, do a lot of canning, and stock their pantry with storage crops for the winter, including potatoes, onions, and dried beans.
Dried beans are an important staple in our food system. They are very nutritious, shelf stable, and versatile in the kitchen.
However, over the years we have learned that many of our members aren’t accustomed to cooking dried beans and to prepare them it takes a while.
Our suggestion: don’t put that bag in your cupboard. Instead, cook it right away and freeze them in smaller units. The beans can quickly be thawed and added to salads, soups, or prepared as a side dish very easily.
Cooking beans is super easy. In fact, we’ve put together a guide to bean cookery
HERE
. There are also a few bean recipes included below in the recipe section.
Sincerely,
Trevor & the FFM team
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Make Hay When the Sun Shines
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These past few weeks have been hectic around the farm. The pastures and hay fields were maturing and there was too much grass for the beef. This is a stark contrast to the situation we’ll likely face in late summer.
There is one pasture in particular that I rent from a neighbor. It’s about 7 acres and pretty much a pure stand of red clover. Clover, and other legumes, are dangerous to beef as they are so high in protein that they can cause the animal to “bloat” and die rapidly. Grazing clover is scary and this pasture is a last option for use just in case we run out of grass.
Well in May and June, I wasn’t short on grass so I decided the best option would be to take a 1
st cutting from the field. This isn’t difficult for a modern farmer – use a tractor to cut it one day then rake, bale, and wrap it the next for high moisture baleage.
However, the neighbor from whom I was renting the field is a Swartzentruber Amish guy. Without going too deep into it, they are the strictest sect of Amish. Their homes don’t have indoor plumbing, they can’t have reflectors on the lamps in their homes, they can’t have rubber on the wheels of their buggies or a windshield, and they absolutely don’t use tractors, skid loaders, or even gas powered equipment in the field.
What I didn’t know was that these rules would apply to me making hay. So for the last month my farm hand David has been busily trying to coordinate with the neighbors to borrow horses and find horse drawn implements that would allow us to take the hay off.
Unfortunately, every other farmer was busy making hay at the same time we needed to, as it is all weather based. One window after another passed and we didn’t get it off. Finally, it was the end of last week and a team of horses became available. We first went to cut with the traditional sickle bar mower, but by now the hay was “laying down” and the mower of the Swartzentruber Amish couldn’t get it. Due to the urgency of the matter, the rules started to shift and we were able to bring in more “modern” (if you can even call it that) implements.
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First, a neighbor came over with a haybine – this is essentially a mower that can better pick it up, cut it, and crimp it in one pass. This expedites the drying. Above is a photo of Marion with his team of Percheron horses and the haybine.
The weather was hot and sunny – high 80s and no clouds. This was perfect hay making weather. By Saturday, we saw that rain was coming at the beginning of the next week. Initially the plan was that we would have to rake the hay and make small square bales of dry hay. Being as mature as the hay was and being clover, we would have had to ted it (flip it over) about twice and it would take about 5 solid days of no rain to get it off. The weather wasn’t in our favor and we couldn’t find a small square baler that a team of horses could pull. So, the rules changed again.
We were able to bring out two teams of horses to quickly rake the field and a third team to bale it on Saturday. The baling apparatus is quite interesting. It’s a round baler designed for tractors. Because the Amish are the best at finding a different means to the same end, they have improvised what’s called a “power cart,” which is their workaround to having a tractor. So the team of horses pull a cart that has a diesel engine mounted to it. From that cart, the drive shaft -called a PTO – is connected to the implement. In this case, the power cart was a 45 hp diesel engine pulling a round baler.
The team of horses pulled the cart and baler around until all bales were made – 46 to be exact.
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The next challenge was getting the hay off without a skid loader. The Swartzentruber's traditionally make loose hay which means they fork it onto a wagon then unload it loose into their barn. That’s a ton of work and 7 acres would have taken 5 of us about a week to get it done. The small square bales (which were part of the original plan until the hay became too heavy and the weather wasn't looking ideal) could have been an option for us to hand load onto a wagon then unload into my barn. But the big rounds -which weigh close to 1,500 lbs each – had to be moved by equipment.
We brought in another improvised Amish solution called a bale wagon. The bale wagon has a small gas engine and a hydraulic arm that picks up the bales and places them on a conveyor. 4 bales at a time are collected and brought out of the field were we were then able to grab them with the skid loader and place on my trailer.
From there, the process is quite simple. We unloaded them where we wanted and called someone in to wrap the hay. The bales are loaded onto the bale wrapper and a thick plastic wrap is stretched tightly around them to preserve their freshness.
By dark, we had 46 bales made and wrapped, just in time as Sunday evening thru Monday morning we got 3.5 inches of heavy rain. That would have ruined the entire crop.
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It's summertime, and we realize you may be out of town and traveling at some point during the season. We offer up to 4 vacation weeks (carnivore share gets 2 weeks) that can be submitted in your account.
Vacation weeks must be entered in your account by
11:59pm the Saturday BEFORE your vacation week
to receive a credit.
Vacations can be submitted in your account via the "Vacations" tab. Select the Week # that corresponds to the dates you'll be gone. Or, tell the greeter when you pick up your share the week prior to your vacation and it can be entered on the spot for you.
FFM credits will be available for use when you return from your vacation week. They can be used for purchases online or at the back of the truck only (cannot go towards previous purchases or subscription payments). Make sure you spend at least $1 within the first 4 weeks upon return. If left untouched for 4 weeks, the credit value will reduce by 50%.
**If you are on the weekly payment plan,
your weekly payment will process as scheduled and you will be "refunded" via FFM credits in your account.
If you miss the vacation submission deadline, you have the flexibility to pickup at another location Wednesday - Saturday (as long as you don't have a carnivore share). You can also send a friend or family member to pick up for you. All they need to do is tell us the first & last name and/or email address associated with your account.
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Small Omnivore
Black Beans
Candy Onion
Cilantro
Snow Peas
Bunching Onion
Yellow Squash
Corn Cracker Chips
Chorizo
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Small Vegetarian
Black Beans
Candy Onion
Cilantro
Snow Peas
Bunching Onion
Yellow Squash
Corn Cracker Chips
Cauliflower
Zucchini
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Mini
Cauliflower
Peas
Bunching Onion
Yellow Squash
Lettuce
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Large Omnivore
Black Beans
Candy Onion
Cilantro
Snow Peas
Bunching Onion
Yellow Squash
Corn Cracker Chips
Chorizo
Ground Beef
Zucchini
Lettuce
Strawberries
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Large Vegetarian
Black Beans
Candy Onion
Cilantro
Snow Peas
Bunching Onion
Yellow Squash
Corn Cracker Chips
Cauliflower
Zucchini x2
Strawberries
Cheese
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Small Vegan
Black Beans
Candy Onion
Cilantro
Snow Peas
Bunching Onion
Yellow Squash
Corn Cracker Chips
Cauliflower
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 4 Carnivore Locations (even numbered weeks):
Avon, Brecksville, Lakewood, Middleburg Heights, North Olmsted, Ohio City Provisions, Rocky River, 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. We pack for the exact number based on location.**
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