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July Fruit Trio - $20

1 quart Methley plums

2# cling peaches

1 pint blackberries

Peaches are Here

Matt at the previous Eshleman Orchard in Clyde was able to harvest a mere 54 half bushels off of the nearly 60 acres of peaches they have. Not good by any means, but something. Here the staff sorts thru them to grade them out for us.

This week's peaches are sold in 2# bags and are a cling type. Get them while you can. We likely won't have crates available for canning this year.

Blueberry Pie

I like all pies, but this one I've been waiting for. I'll say that next week about something else....

But really. Plump blueberries lightly sweetened and cooked into a gooey filling bursting with flavor and a delicate lattice top crust.

Small Pies - 6 inch

Large Pies - 9 inch (about 3x the weight)

Weekly Meats - 10% off

For those who need more or vegetarian shares needing the meat option.

Chicken Wings

Turkey Confit Quiche

Cantaloupe - $5

It's that time of the year where big, heavy fruit also starts hitting. Now cantaloupes. 2 weeks from now...probably small seeded watermelons. So the next 6 weeks looks like a lot of fun!

Large cantaloupe, approx 6# each.

Zucchini Bread - $6

This is one of our customer favorites. This quick bread is made with fresh organic zucchini, organic flour and sugar, farm fresh eggs, and homemade applesauce - the secret ingredient for keeping it extra moist and reducing the amount of sugar.

That's not a very exciting picture to most. But to me, it looks great.

That's a new "frost free waterer" that we have. I've started installing these everywhere. They take much more time and money, but makes life a lot easier on the farm.

The concept is simple. There is a float valve (like your toilet) that opens a valve. A culvert pipe goes 7 ft deep in the earth and geothermal heat keeps the water from freezing in the line. Insulation protects the rest.

What's most important about this design this time of the year is that there is always water there for the beef, and it's fresh and cool. That little waterer is rated for up to 100 head of beef!

Science Meets Common Sense

What sold me on this new water setup was the convenience; the math just makes it easier to justify.

Research shows that if beef are within 800 feet of water, they can gain up to 0.5# more per day. That's significant. That means less days, less labor, and less feed.

With our hills, it's a little tough, but we've positioned the waterers so that the beef can get to them within 800 feet and ideally in site at all times.

If they can't see it, they are afraid to go by themselves. Instead, the whole herd goes and hangs out at the water trough. If they are hanging out there, they aren't eating and they aren't spreading their manure on the pasture.

Water Per Head

How much water does one animal need? Cattle drink depending on the heat. At 40 degrees, the standard is 1 gallon per 100# of body weight. So a 1,000# steer on pasture uses 10 gallons per day.

When the heat climbs into the 80s, that number doubles. 2 gallon per 100#. Right now in the mid 90s, probably closer to 2.5 gallon. So 25 gallons per animal!

My one farm I rent doesn't have electric. We pump water to a 7,000 gal cistern. That means at full capacity I only have a week's water supply on hand.

** This is the end of asparagus for the season. We expect to probably get enough for Wed/Thurs, then we'll switch to tomatoes.