Peach Pie with Lattice Top

Our weekly flavor is a summer classic of just peach in a thick syrup and topped with a sugared lattice top.

As always, we start with our signature crust of organic whole wheat flour, local butter, and house rendered pork lard for a flaky crust.

Zucchini Bread

This week will be our last week for zucchini bread for a few. We'll switch it up next week.

Our classic zucchini bread is made with homemade applesauce to add a natural sweetness and keep it moist. Garden fresh zucchini adds a classic flavor.

Enjoy toasted and topped with plenty of butter.

One of the most difficult parts of this business is "balancing." Balancing is where supply and demand are matched perfectly. Never happens, but sometimes you get close. For the last 3 months, we've been scraping the bottom of the barrel to get enough eggs packaged.

Now, the days are long (helps with egg production), the new hens have matured, and seems like everyone is traveling. Now, we have an abundance of eggs!

Pasture Raised Eggs

Our hens enjoy free access to organic pastures where they peck at bugs, grass, and seeds. Their diet is supplemented with non-gmo grains and never any hormones or antibiotics.

Guernsey A2 Milk - If you haven't had it yet, you are missing out. Our A2 Guernsey milk is loaded with flavor and nutrition. If you missed the newsletter articles in the past about milk, here is link: Guernsey A2 Milk Info

SALE - Eggs and Milk Combo - Save $1.50

1 half gallon of Guernsey A2 Whole Milk and 1 dozen eggs.

Sale - Pancake Breakfast Bundle - Save $4.75

Celebrate the hen and the cow this weekend with a bundle featuring: 1 dozen eggs, 1 half gallon Guernsey whole milk, 1 pint maple syrup, 1# maple breakfast links, and 1 package spelt pancake mix. Just $25.

Bundles - 20% Off

Our freezer is getting jam packed and we have a few leftover bundles taking up some precious space.

Barnyard Premium - A large bundle covering most of our proteins - beef, pork, chicken and turkey. Includes summer grilling favorites like pork tenderloin and steak burgers, in addition to family meal staples like butt roast and whole chicken.

Family Dinner Classics - Easy dinners for the family, including a large brined turkey breast roast.

All You Need Now is a Beer - Essentials for the grill or smoker.

Blackberries

Starting to slow down some, but we should still have blackberries for a few weeks.

Sugar Cube Cantaloupes

Small, personal size cantaloupes - a farmers market favorite among customers. Super sweet with a firmer flesh. These are easy to love.

Seedless Watermelon

These week we are so excited to have the first Seedless Watermelons!

Seedless melons are a bit touchy to grow. They require a "pollinator" melon every 3rd melon plant. This melon is a seeded melon that contains the male stamen needed to pollinate the female flower of the seedless melon plant. The pollinator melons are generally not very good eating and are there only for pollination.

Extra Sweet Corn - available online

This week the "Super Sweet" organic sweet corn is finally here. My neighbor Jonas came by last night and said it came on fast with the heat and rain over the weekend.

Super Sweets are a class of sweet corns prized for their concentrated sugars and longer shelf life before becoming starchy. The seeds are more expensive but well worth the result.

Sold by the 4 ears, half dozen, and dozen.

From here on out, we'll try to list some items in bulk quantities for those looking to do some canning.

Here's a rough outline of the best times to "put up" some items:

August - peaches, pickles (next week), tomatoes, hot peppers

September - hot peppers, cabbage (sauerkraut), salsa (peppers, tomatoes, and everything at once)

Bulk Peaches

This week's varieties of Red Haven and PF Flaming Fury are both available in bulk for canning, freezing, baking, etc.

Per half peck (5#) - $13.25

Per Peck (11#) - $24

Per Half Bushel (22#) - $46 (includes $6 refundable crate deposit)

I received a letter with our statement yesterday from the local trailer shop. I almost discarded it, then I reread it and thought a bit.

"How lucky am I to get to farm?" I'm first generation and started with zero experience. It's been tough. Real tough. But it's rewarding and good work. And I'm thankful.

In the letter from the trailer shop, the owner (Roy) announced that one of his long-time employees - Micah - was leaving as he had an "opportunity" to farm. Wow.

Micah grew up in a farming family. His grandad and uncles all farm in our neighborhood. I don't know how I would have made it without the Miller family as neighbors. Just as recently as last month I was making hay at a farm across the street from Micah's uncle. My new-to-me hay rake broke as the thunder rolled nearby. I raced across the street and Daniel gladly let me borrow his rake.

The bigger question is, "why isn't Micah farming?" He has experience, a network, and will surely be successful.

One of the biggest challenges to getting into farming is finding a farm. Land is scarce and getting expensive. Furthermore, farming communities are being broken up ever day for development.

Someone once asked me what they could do with their 5 acre "farm." I replied back, "get 50 acres more." Farming requires space and you have to operate at capacity to work efficiently. It's rare for a 50 acre parcel to be sold. Instead, farms are broken up into 5 acre pieces (depending on road frontage) to give the maximum return to the owner.

Just last week signs started popping up around the neighborhood for a 153 acre farm for sale - being sold in 15 smaller parcels. It just hope whoever the new owners are can keep it in farming and also preserve the historical structures. The farm is the "parent farm" to my farm. 200 years ago it was owned by the same family that settled this area. They built my house and barn as a wedding gift to their daughter in the 1890s. If you are curious how farms like this are sold, here is the link to the auction page: E&F Serquet Farm Auction and Wiki Page

Like the weather, subject to change.