Green Babies Everywhere! 12/30/16

Hello SMALL Farm Enthusiasts!

We have survived 9 weeks of no rain and the rains are coming again,
thankfully.  With our almost 3% organic matter soils, we do not dry up
and blow away like some, but we did burn thru our stockpile faster than
usual and are feeding more hay than I like. Luckily we have a guy making
chemical free, quality hay only 9 miles from the farm.  We did get our
winter rye planted when the first rain came a few weeks ago and it is
coming on strong now.  The peas in summer do fix some nitrogen in the
soil that makes the rye grow better. So we will soon be grazing this
amazing green again and the color will return in the milk. Quantity of
milk will return, too, but for now we remain pretty limited in fresh
cream. There is plenty of frozen available,
thankfully.  In the past I have referred to this time as the time of
millions and millions of babies, rye plant babies that is.  They are
tender and very perishable at this stage. If you drive over them you can
see exactly where you drove 3 weeks later. Continued rains are
important in the beginning until the plant gets some roots down a bit. 
We do not use any chemical fertilizer on our rye plantings, zero, and we
do not use chemicals of any kind on our animals or farm. We do not use
chemical wormers or fly spray and we do not vaccinate our animals
either. We do not vaccinate our children because we do not like the
chemicals used as preservatives in them and the same goes for animals.
We strive to produce clean food that is free from any form of harmful
anything. We also strive to produce nutrient dense food, feeding kelp
free choice and minerals in front of the cows at all times. We only milk
once per day because we only get a gallon or 2 from each cow per day.
The commercial dairies get 10 to 15 gallons from each cow per day and
often milk 3 times per day and of course the life expectancy of those
cows is 4 years average vs ours live to be 10 to 15 years old and more.
Healthy milk comes from healthy cows eating grass and hay, not grain and
shot up with hormones and wormers and vaccines etc. Even certified
organic allows chemical wormers to be used once in the life of an
animal, and vaccines are commonly used. That is why we call ourselves
beyond organic because we do not feel like the USDA organic standards
are good enough, we do not use a lot of things they allow.   

A Friendly.....WARNING! - you may NOT receive cream,
even if ordered.  Due to the natural fluctuations of milk production on
grass, and due to the fluctuations in order volume, we cannot guarantee
you cream at any time. We always fulfill milk orders before cream, which
means that there is OFTEN not enough milk to make all the cream that is
ordered. This is the reality.  If needed, we will remove or reduce your
cream order before processing your order, without contacting you. If
you would like

your cream replaced with frozen cream
or another product in the event that we are out of fresh cream, then
tell us by leaving a note in the "Comments" field when submitting your
order. We give no guarantees when it comes to fresh cream, especially in
winter when production is lower.

New Products

Sugar Cane Seed for sale now at FCF for $3 per stalk, Only 20 stalks this year. Also frozen cane juice for sale. 

Sweet Potatoes 
are still here although the digging of them is over, so what we have is
all we will get. Tis the season, stock up now as the shelf life is
good. No Budnip used! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=98S24g7ZZmw

Satsuma’s are on SALE from Little River Organics.  We have full bushel boxes at $15 off, half at $7 off and quarter bushel mesh-bags at $5 off and half bushel gift boxes ready to be labeled and shipped UPS, by you, as a gift.

Living Breads JIVA Organic Rooibos Masala Chai  - 1 Quart concentrate (makes 8 cups of tea)

Meyer Lemons,
only $1.90/lb and grown by our friend and next door neighbor.  These
were grown organically with added, natural amendments to the soil. 
Whole Foods sells the same type of lemons for $3.95/lb and New Leaf in
Tallahassee for a whopping $6.99/lb!  Buy in bulk and freeze the juice.

Pork Highlights

We are back in stock with most pork.  We just took 13 hogs to butcher, so we are back with plenty of Pan Sausage, Salt-Only Fresh Links, and Smoked Bacon, along with our other normal cuts. Also by Jan 7 we will have 50/50 pork/beef with pan seasoning and also chorizo links in stock (in addition to the 1lb ground chorizo we already have). The Pork manager will be on vacation from Dec 24th to Jan 5th
visiting family in Canada, and he is very grateful for our current hard
working intern couple Josh and Murphy who are tending piggy-kingdom
while he's gone. If you need to contact the pork manager, Ben, during
that time, he may be reached at his email, bfisk@westmont.edu.

Thanks for supporting a small, family farm and contributing to a more sustainable future,

Dennis and Alicia