Flinstone Boneless Pork Chops - Each hog grows differently, and when they are raised in the woods, we don't always load them out in the order we need to. I'm saying...some get really big before you know it.

The big hogs are usually some of the best eating as they have had time to put on extra fat, both on the surface and intramuscularly. The intramuscular fat is what we call marbling.

These extra large pork chops are at least 1.7# per package (some are over 2#). They are great for sharing!

This week, extra large pork chops are $1 off per lb.

Guernsey Whipping Cream - To ensure we have enough cream for Thanksgiving, we work with our milk processor months in advance to start working on ways to move low-fat milk - this includes making dried mozzarella for a future Fresh Fork bag.

This year was the first year we got all the cream we wanted for Thanksgiving...and it was actually too much! This whipping cream is a true heavy cream - 42% butterfat - as opposed to the legal standard of 36%. It is literally half of butter (84%).

Get a pint today for adding to your coffee, whipping for a pie, baking, or folding into a rich sauce. On sale $4 per pint.

Ricotta & Cottage Cheese - We don't get the ricotta and cottage cheese weekly, so when we do it is a treat. Kandice at Marchant Manor just delivered a batch made specifically for us. Give them a try!

Just because there is snow on the ground doesn't mean there isn't anything to harvest.

Corn and soybeans are the two major "cash crops" grown in Ohio. They are used for everything from animal feed to oil and ethanol production.

I don't have the land or equipment to grow my own corn and beans. And, the value of those crops usually isn't attractive on a small scale.

Soybeans are usually harvested first in the fall, followed by corn. It isn't encouraged, but corn can be left in the field all the way into February and March. The yields go down, but a farmer can still harvest it.

This year, the price of corn and beans have skyrocketed. I have to buy mine from the "elevator" (feed mill), and last week's bill was $9.52 per bushel. In spring of 2020, it was somewhere in the $4.50 range. Corn makes up at least 50% of the feed ration ground up for hogs, turkeys, and chickens. Beef - a ruminant - can and does live entirely off of grass. My cost for sunshine to grow the grass hasn't changed.

This year, I was hoping to fill my feed bins with corn right out of the field and hopefully save a few dollars. I have storage for approximately 5,000 bushel. I put the word out, and some neighbors planted corn for me. Tomorrow, the contract harvester is hoping to get off about 2,000 bushel.

I think one interesting thing about field corn is that when it is mature, the ear of corn falls over and hangs upside down from the stalk. The husks protect the kernels and water runs down the outside of the husk, not on the kernels, allowing it to dry naturally.

For the best storage, corn needs to be about 15% moisture. The longer it is left in the field, the more it will dry down to that. Right now, the corn is at about 18%, so we will need to mechanically dry it. This is done in a big drum that is heated with a propane heater. The heater blasts hot air into the drum as it tumble the corn. A fan helps exhaust the moisture.

So then why harvest tomorrow? The only reason is because it fits the harvester's schedule. Most farmers today take off their corn as quickly as they can. This contract harvester is done with the rest of his harvest and we are his last client. All the other farmers have conventional corn that goes to the elevator where the elevator dries it. Because I have organic grain that needs to be kept separate, the elevators can't dry it for me without mixing it in with their own. I have to dry it myself.

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