July 2011 newsletter

Happy summer Everyone! Heat, bugs, bees, pools, sprinklers, bonfires and of course FRUITS AND VEGGIES! We hope all of you are enjoying the summer and time with the kids/family. As always, things are crazy busy at the farm. Weeding and harvesting mostly. I give all our workers a lot of credit. With the heat and no rain it makes it hard to be in the fields. I suppose if there was too much rain, there’d be too many weeds, like last year. We do need some rain so say a little prayer to mother nature to bless us with some natural water for our natural crops.

We have some new additions to the farm: 2 mamma pigs and 2 baby jersey calves. We are hoping to have baby piggies in a couple weeks. Anyone that wants to visit with the kids should send an e-mail or call to set up a day or feel free to bring them when you pick up your produce during open market times. (Fridays and Saturdays work best). Rosie is 2 months old now and we are starting to get on a schedule, which is making it a little easier to get things done on the farm. The kids are also working hard putting together boxes, washing tubs, making mud pies, and running thru the sprinkler! We were able to get up north for the 4th of July and just have family time, no work! Thank you all for waiting til I got back to answer your questions or get you your products.

Chicken Update:
Leo has been butchering our 1st batch of chickens the past couple of weeks. Our 2nd batch of chicks are growing nicely. We are still taking orders for whole and cut chickens. You can get them cut into halves, quarters, or pieces. We will try to always have freshly frozen chickens available to purchase daily as well, for those of you that would just like to pick one up when you want. They are between 3-5lbs right now.
Current Prices:
$2.50/lb (add $1 to the total of cut ones for the cost of labor and packaging)

Turkeys: We are taking orders for your homegrown fresh holiday turkey. Not many left so place your orders soon.

Goats:
The goats are loving their new home in the grass pasture. I love to watch them. One minute they are all spread out eating away at the grass and the next they are all laying together under the shade trees. Anyone visiting the goats please know they are in an electrically charged fence. There is one big metal green fence that we can all stand by and feed the goats without getting a little shock.

Eggs:
We are officially WI State Certified Egg Producers. We passed inspection with flying colors. From what I hear the inspector was very impressed. This means we will be able to sell our eggs @ markets and stores and other places off the farm. We haven’t purchased them yet, but you will start seeing blank egg cartons with our labels on them. When the time comes, please help us out by saving and returning your cartons.
Prices:
$3.00/doz
$4.50/18pk

Fresh Eggs Available Daily at the farm. If you and anyone in your neighborhood is interested in weekly or biweekly deliveries please contact me so we can set something up.

WPB MEMBERS:
Well, we are approaching week 6 of our boxes. I have to be honest that it is a little overwhelming sometimes to figure out, harvest, clean and bundle, and box produce. But it is so cool to watch your boxes fill up and head out the door to your kitchen table. We are learning a lot every week, like how to keep produce looking fresh if we harvest the day before, or how to keep greens from shriveling up in the heat. You may have also noticed that one week you get very little of something or it’s not quite ripe and the next week you get an abundance with lots of taste. Timing has been challenging since this is new. Also the weather makes things different every week. We hope everyone is enjoying their boxes so far. Please let us know how we are doing. We want to hear the good and bad so we can keep learning how to serve our customers better. Also, please try to hang on to your foodie cheat sheets every week. You may need some info. from the past sheets as I always try to put new stuff in the current sheets every week. The biggest thing to remember is to always wash your produce and to know how to store your fresh veggies (or how to freeze them). If you find a great recipe please feel free to share with me and I will post it for everyone to try. Personally I like most of my produce raw, right out of the garden, but love to hear how everyone is preparing their local, farm fresh food!

If we get some rain, some of your upcoming produce will be:
Peas, Broccoli, Cabbage, Summer Squash/Zucchini, Beets, Lettuce, Cucumbers/Dill, Basil, Parsley, Rosemary, Thyme, and other herbs. Along with Green, Purple, and Yellow Beans, Kohlrabi, Fingerling Potatoes, New Red Potatoes and raspberries. (and maybe blueberries). Sweet corn and cherry tomatoes by the end of the month. Please know that if we don’t get rain, the productions of crops will slow down dramatically. This is just part of being involved in a member shares box program. Just keep sending your good rain energy to the farm.

WORKERS SHARE:
We are still looking for help at the farm. If anyone is interested in working 4-5hours a week in trade for a Weekly Produce Box, please send me your contact information, along with the days and times you may be able to work. We look forward to having you join us in the fields and sharing in the wonderful things you will help us grow.

Markets:
We are having a great time at the Eagle Plaza Market in Sauk on Wednesdays. Seeing a lot of return customers and lots of new ones too. I even had a good sales day during a rain storm, weeks ago. I set up thinking, “it’s just sprinkling right now, I’ll set up my tent and see what happens. We had lots of customers, even when the rain started coming down hard. Anyone driving by when I was packing up that day got a laugh too. I was putting the tent down, (the rain was coming down pretty hard at the time) and was standing on the outside, not thinking about what was about to happen… all the water on the tent came rushing down on top of me, almost taking me to the ground. One of the moments when you hoped no one was looking.

Market at the farm has been slow. Please let me know if there are more available times that work better for you to pick up produce. We have not started at the Spring Green Farmers Market for a couple of reasons. Not enough produce and lack of time and energy on my part (because of the kids!). We are making deliveries on Mondays so if anyone needs something delivered please let me know by 10am on Monday mornings.

Current Market Times:

Sauk: (Eagle Plaza parking lot)
Wed: 11am-1:30pm

OPEN MARKET AT THE FARM:
Wed: 3pm-7pm
Fri: 2pm-6pm
Sat: 10am-2pm (times may change)

Facebook and blog:
I recently updated face book with some new pictures from the farm. Check ‘em out!
Don’t forget to check out our blog pages for recipe updates.

Though we have been very busy, it is really great to see all your smiling faces. The best is when an 8 year old picks out something like broccoli or berries for dinner that night. Knowing we grew it and that there are many people supporting us to provide that meal is an unexplainable feeling. And we are not even half way thru yet. Hopefully there will be lots of goodies available in the next couple months. Please don’t forget about those winter months when you are craving fresh foods. We’ve been freezing berries and broccoli so far. I think about that winter grocery bill and how we might be able to cut back on cost with the frozen goodies in our freezer. Plus all the colors in the freezer makes it look pretty, not just full of boxed and bagged things from the store. Just ask about our ¼ and ½ bushel pricing!!

Please feel free to forward this newsletter to any family members, friends, neighbors, and co-workers that you think may be interested in the farm and what we have to offer. If they do not have e-mail access, have them give me a mailing address, as I am more than happy to mail newsletters every month.

Jamie