Early bird signup is very important to our farmers. Each year, we have to commit to what we will buy, at what price, and when. It's hard to do that without the commitment from our members.

We are currently enrolling for our Summer 2025 Season, and Early Bird pricing is valid thru March 15th.

For full details on pricing, payment plans, and pickup locations, please visit our website here.

To Signup:

Option 1: Login or Create an Account and self-register

Option 2: Reply to this email with: First + Last NAME on account, SIZE bag you want [small, large, mini], what FOOD option you want [omnivore, vegetarian, or vegan], and WHERE you want to pick it up [location options here]. We'll help setup your account.

This time of the year is our biggest farrowing season because as the pigs get to about a month old, generally the weather is favorable for them to start exploring outside the barn.

Each sow - momma pig - has a gestation period of 114 days - 3 months, 3 weeks, and 3 days. She cycles every 21 days. The hardest part about a natural breeding program - where a boar physically "services" her - is knowing when she was bred. Most commercial operations use AI and can tell you the exact day to expect piglets.

Every sow wears her piglets differently. There will be some that are just huge and then they'll go another month before having piglets. Others will barely swell and next thing you know you have a surprise litter.

Litters range from about 7 to 12 on average with the breeds I raise. This photo is of a newborn Berkshire piglet having his first drink.

Each sow gets her own pen with 120 square feet. There is a board in the corner that keeps her about 18 inches away from the wall. A space heater hangs behind that board to provide a hot spot for the piglets.

It is important when the piglets are born to keep them warm - but not hot - and dry. If the sow is hot, she may flop around and crush a pig. If the pigs are cold, they'll crowd next to mom - also potentially getting smothered.

Right now, I have 5 sows with litters in the last week and 18 more to go. These pigs will nurse for about 8 weeks and gradually be grouped up and sent into lots in our woods to finish. These piglets should reach 300 to 350 lbs by Christmas time or a tad later.

This is one of the most challenging times of the year for us to get produce. Anything that was planted in the fall for winter production has just kind of been hanging out. Without much sunshine, it didn't want to grow.

Now that the days are longer and the sun is more abundant, the greenhouses are needed for transplants for the spring.

The first vegetables started in the greenhouses are tomatoes and onions. In early March, items like broccoli, cauliflower, and cabbages will soon be started as well.

In this photos, this grower is "snipping" her onions. This promotes bigger bulbs. She takes each tray and snips off the greens. They will quickly grow back, and she'll do this two more times.

These candy onions will then be transplanted to the field and harvested in July.

Plowing: There is so much going on this time of the year at a farm. For many farmers - produce, dairy, and crop - it's an important time to do field work.

Field work means turning the soil over in preparation for planting. Most of our produce growers use a team of horses and a single bottom plow. That means, 1 blade (moldboard) on a plow.

By contrast, this is a picture of a small tractor - 60 hp - with a 3 bottom plow.

Most crop farmers would laugh at this arrangement. Modern farmers hardly use "moldboard" plows anymore - instead preferring a "chisel plow" that can do the job faster, often in swaths up to 20 feet wide.

The next steps after plowing are to use a set of "discs" to bust up clumps, then a harrow to make the soil even finer for a nice seedbed.

Seeding: Most crop guys aren't getting anything in the ground yet except wheat or oats. It's too cold still for corn or soybeans.

Pasture guys like myself have been touching up pastures for a while now. In February and early March when there are freezing nights and thawing days, we generally "frost seed" the pasture. Frost seeding is where you just throw seed on the ground and the freeze/thaw action pulls the seed down in. It's not as precise or guaranteed as working the ground first, but it helps rejuvenate a pasture and add diversity. This works best with cereal grains (cereal rye, wheat, and oats) as well as clover. Grass seeds usually don't take and just become expensive bird food.

With a 50# bag of clover or rye costing $175, you have to be careful. We try to spread at a rate of about 15# per acre. The goal is that some of the clover takes and helps affix nitrogen in the future; for the cereal rye, it sprouts really fast and adds tonnage to hay. Rye also has what's called the "allelopathic" effect that throws off a chemical compound in the soil the prevents other plants from germinating, such as weeds.

This week's nice weather has me on to the no-till drill (pictured). This precisely plants the seed down in the ground for better succcess. We'll touch up a few damaged pastures this way.

Soil Samples: For just $15, the agronomist at the county ag office can run a soil sample. This is a lot cheaper than blindly adding nutrients that you may or may not need.

The big 3 - Nitrogen, Potassium, and Phosphorus - are generally the ones they focus on. Nitrogen is volatile and best applied at greenup or when planting. That's the most costly one for an organic grower who can't use urea. Nitrogen is important of photosynthesis and promotes green growth.

Potassium and phosphorus are very high in chicken litter, which is highly sought after these days. Potassium is important for cell replication and promotes fruit size - such as larger tomatoes or strawberries. Phosphorus works to promote strong root growth.

Other key elements of a soil sample - pH and organic matter. pH can be adjusted with calcium, making the soil more neutral (sweet), and organic matter is the good stuff where all the microbes live to help work in symbiosis with the plant. It also relates to the soil structure and how much moisture the soil can hold and how it drains.

Chicken Grilling Bundle - $42.

-- Mild Italian Chicken Patties (1.25#)

-- Smoked Chicken Wings (1.5#)

-- Marinated Sweet and Spicy Chicken Drumsticks (4 ct)

-- Chicken Breast - 2 per package (1.5#)

-- Chicken Thighs - 2 per package (1.5#)

Ground Chicken Bundle - $32.50

-- Ground Chicken - 5, 1# packages

Versatile, ground chicken from our pasture raised chickens. 1# tubes.

Big Bird Deal - $120.00

Load up the freezer with this generous bundle averaging 25# of pasture raised chicken.

Boneless Chicken Breast - 2 package (~2.75#)

Bone In Thighs - 2 package (~3.25#)

Wings - 2 package (~3.25#)

Drumsticks - 2 package (~3.25#)

Chicken Bones - 1 package (~3.75#)

Whole Chickens - 1 ct (~3.5#)

Ground Chicken - 2 package (~2.0#)

Chicken Patties - 2 package (~2.5#)

Chicken Stock - 1 quart

Brined Turkey Breast Roast - $7.50 per lb

We put together a special item for the shop this week. The chicken isn't the only bird on the farm. Our pasture raised turkeys unfortunately only get the time of day around Thanksgiving. Here, the turkey breast is brined it in our signature brine of chicken broth, fresh herbs, salt and spices.

Simply roast for a delicious dinner roast, or roast and carve thin for a homemade lunchmeat.

Average weight is between 4.5 and 5.5# per breast.

Celebrate the season with these special flavors:

Maple Marinade Pork Sirloin Roast

Back in Stock. We made more.

Delicious boneless roast ready for the oven. The pork sirloin is a tender roast intended for dry, high heat - like a pork loin - not for the crock pot. Think of it as pork chops all connected together. This is an ideal size roast for a family meal.

We started by seasoning these roasts with salt and spices in a dry cure, then rinsed them and packed them in a vacuum bag with a special maple marinade, balancing the sweetness of the maple with the acid of orange and touching it off with a hint of coriander and pepper flake. Reserve the marinade and reduce it down for a pan sauce to serve over the roast.

Maple Syrup - $1 off

Made from sap collected and cooked off this week. This year's harvest for $1 off per pint.

Maple Breakfast Sausage - Bent and Dent - $5 blowout

Our processor made a mistake on the setting of his vacuum sealing machine, so we asked him to repackage a recent batch of sausage. It still doesn't look perfect, but there isn't anything we can do now except eat it. Help us move out this inventory at $5 per 1# package, 10 links.

St Patrick's Da is also coming up. So we've been busy in our kitchen working on some new recippes.

I've been loving all the samples this week. This bread is delicious. I've just kept the butter on the counter so it is ready to spread.

This crusty bread is made with organic whole wheat flour and enriched with fresh buttermilk and egg whites to make a dense, moist dough that produces a hearty, nutritious bread.

We added in some bacon, cheddar cheese, and herbs for a bold flavor! Approx 1.25# per loaf.

Ground Beef Bundle - $37.50

It has been a while since we could offer this. Beef demand has been strong and supply very tight. We recently were able to harvest quite a few heads to get stock back up for a while.

5# of grassfed ground beef - approx 90/10 blend - in 1# packages.

Extra one-time Maple Breakfast Bags available in the omnivore or vegetarian option (sorry, no extra carnivore shares). Find the one-time share in the "Extra One-Time Share" category in the online shop.

OMNIVORE

Maple Syrup

Bone In Pork Rib Chops

Apple Cinnamon Brats

Applesauce

Spinach

Goldrush Apples

Butternut Squash Soup

Apple Cinnamon Granola

VEGETARIAN

Maple Syrup

Applesauce

Spinach

Goldrush Apples

Apple Cinnamon Granola

Guernsey A2 Yogurt

Frozen Blueberries

Cheese and Potato Pierogis

Pancake Mix

MINI

Applesauce

Goldrush Apples

Kale/Lettuce Mix

Maple Syrup

Pancake Mix