This is a reminder to our CSA members that have not finished paying for their shares yet.
All money is due by April 30, 2012.
We only have 2 markets before then:
April 14, 2012
April 28, 2012
If you cannot make it to one of those markets please make sure that you send the payment in the mail. It needs to be received by April 30, 2012.
We are very excited for our CSA this year.
We ended up with 10 half shares and 2 full shares this year.
Next year we plan on offering more. So if you did not get in this year don't worry there is always next year.
June is your first pick up! It is coming fast and the chickens and rabbits look great!
Have a great day!
Friday, April 13, 2012
Wednesday, April 11, 2012
It's Time
It's official. There are only 3 weeks until market season starts up again! Wow!
Our first outdoor market for Otsiningo Farmers Market is on May 5th! Mark your calenders
Newark Valley Farmers Market starts May 20th.
Vestal Farmers Market for Wednesdays starts May 30th I believe.
We have not yet set a date for opening the stand at the house but we are tentatively going to say mother's day May 13th.
This time of year is always challenging for us. Too much to do and too little time to do it. The greenhouse is full force bursting at the seams with plants. At least our heated section. We still have some stuff to plant, lots to transplant and even more to do outside.
We already have cilantro and dill growing in the field. We were lucky enough to get it in the ground during that warm spell that we had. Our Sage and Lavender that was planted in the field last year is already starting to come back. Which means we will have herb bunches early this year!
Unfourtunately I was sick all week with this horrid cold that I just could not shake. The kids ended up getting it and therefore halted my efforts in the greenhouse. So this weekend will be catch up in there.
The ducks are ready for their new home outside. Eric is building their shelter today I believe. I can't wait to see them waddling around the farm.
Our rabbit sales for Easter went well. We are so thankful to those of you that purchased your Easter bunnies from us this year. Thankfully we still have some that will be ready in time for markets.
We are getting ready to start building our kitchen. Finalizing details and plans. This is a great exciting expansion to our farm. We have lots of plans for the kitchen besides just our fruit butters and jams. I am not going to release our ideas just yet but just know there are exciting things coming this season when the kitchen is finished!
A little update on the Newark Valley Farmers Market:
We are very excited to announce that we have a great group of vendors. For our first year we are excited.
Our vendors are:
Boer Bakery- Endicott- Breads, pastries, goat meat and prepared hot food.
Cross Creek Farm- Berkshire- free range chicken, brown eggs, rabbit meat,
turkey, fruits, vegetables, fruit butters and jams,
bedding plants, herb plants, dried herbs and herbal teas.
McRey Farm- Maine- Grassfed Beef, pork and lamb
Providence Farm- Berkshire- Heirloom vegetables
Stray Haven- Waverly- Animal adoption and awareness
West Creek Family Farm- Newark Valley- Fiber products, vegetables,
maple syrup and goat milk soaps and lotions.
Woodland Cottage- Newark Valley- Handcrafted soaps and custom sewing.
Opening day "Grassanova" will be playing. They play popular and acoustic bluegrass music. Great music for opening day at the market. We will have chairs set up for you to be able to sit and enjoy the music. So even if you just want to come to listen to the band please do so.
We have been working very hard on getting this market together. Our hopes are to make this a family event, meeting place and just overall great time for everyone involved.
I would like to thank everyone who has helped us a long the way to get things organized and supported our efforts. The Village of Newark Valley has been a great sponsor and we thank you for everything.
Our first outdoor market for Otsiningo Farmers Market is on May 5th! Mark your calenders
Newark Valley Farmers Market starts May 20th.
Vestal Farmers Market for Wednesdays starts May 30th I believe.
We have not yet set a date for opening the stand at the house but we are tentatively going to say mother's day May 13th.
This time of year is always challenging for us. Too much to do and too little time to do it. The greenhouse is full force bursting at the seams with plants. At least our heated section. We still have some stuff to plant, lots to transplant and even more to do outside.
We already have cilantro and dill growing in the field. We were lucky enough to get it in the ground during that warm spell that we had. Our Sage and Lavender that was planted in the field last year is already starting to come back. Which means we will have herb bunches early this year!
Unfourtunately I was sick all week with this horrid cold that I just could not shake. The kids ended up getting it and therefore halted my efforts in the greenhouse. So this weekend will be catch up in there.
The ducks are ready for their new home outside. Eric is building their shelter today I believe. I can't wait to see them waddling around the farm.
Our rabbit sales for Easter went well. We are so thankful to those of you that purchased your Easter bunnies from us this year. Thankfully we still have some that will be ready in time for markets.
We are getting ready to start building our kitchen. Finalizing details and plans. This is a great exciting expansion to our farm. We have lots of plans for the kitchen besides just our fruit butters and jams. I am not going to release our ideas just yet but just know there are exciting things coming this season when the kitchen is finished!
A little update on the Newark Valley Farmers Market:
We are very excited to announce that we have a great group of vendors. For our first year we are excited.
Our vendors are:
Boer Bakery- Endicott- Breads, pastries, goat meat and prepared hot food.
Cross Creek Farm- Berkshire- free range chicken, brown eggs, rabbit meat,
turkey, fruits, vegetables, fruit butters and jams,
bedding plants, herb plants, dried herbs and herbal teas.
McRey Farm- Maine- Grassfed Beef, pork and lamb
Providence Farm- Berkshire- Heirloom vegetables
Stray Haven- Waverly- Animal adoption and awareness
West Creek Family Farm- Newark Valley- Fiber products, vegetables,
maple syrup and goat milk soaps and lotions.
Woodland Cottage- Newark Valley- Handcrafted soaps and custom sewing.
Opening day "Grassanova" will be playing. They play popular and acoustic bluegrass music. Great music for opening day at the market. We will have chairs set up for you to be able to sit and enjoy the music. So even if you just want to come to listen to the band please do so.
We have been working very hard on getting this market together. Our hopes are to make this a family event, meeting place and just overall great time for everyone involved.
I would like to thank everyone who has helped us a long the way to get things organized and supported our efforts. The Village of Newark Valley has been a great sponsor and we thank you for everything.
Wednesday, March 28, 2012
Adventures in Duck
Our ducks have finally arrived!!!! They are so cute!We were originally only going to get 6. We were getting 6 Rouen. When we realized that Rouen's are not that good for egg laying. So we decided to get Khaki Campbells as well.
Well then when they were supposed to ship them out, there weren't enough Rouens hatched at that time so it was delayed a week. They then called us yesterday to tell us that they only had 3 Rouens and that they needed to substitute with Khaki Campbells or they could do Pekins. So we decided to fill the rest of the Rouen order with Pekins.We are very excited to start this adventure. We have done a lot of research. Eric Jr is so excited and wants to swim with them. He told me the next time that we go swimming we have to take the ducks! He is so funny sometimes!
We are hoping to sell the eggs and I would love to start hatching our own ducks as well at some point.
And yes....the Rouens and Pekins will be for meat, if that goes well....who knows, we may be selling duck at some point!
Tuesday, March 27, 2012
Easter Bunnies
What does every kid want for Easter?Well besides candy!
An Easter bunny of their own. Not stuffed, not chocolate, but a real bunny!
They are going fast, we already have some on hold, so make sure you get your order in ASAP!
Monday, March 26, 2012
Building a Brooder Box
We have not had an actual brooder box the past couple years while raising the chicks. We had a lot of issues with loosing some due to being over crowded and heat lamps not being positioned properly. So we slowly learned how to fix these issues and this year being that we were starting the CSA and needed to have more chickens available at all times, we knew we had to build a better brooder box.
So I took pictures as Eric built it to show you how we built ours. Now obviously if you are a little farmer or are just getting a few chicks for yourself this brooder box is too big, but it will give you the idea.
The base is made using a large pallet with plywood screwed to it. It is very windy on our hill, so instead of using a slotted bottom like we have in the past we chose a solid one. The draft is something that can effect the chicks as well.
It is framed out with 2x4's. With plywood on the outsides. It will eventually get painted to protect the wood from the elements.
The hinges we had from something. Eric is the king of saving everything, so we decided to use them for this.
We placed a center piece under the top part of the framing to hang the heat lamps from. Generally they need to be in the center because if they are closer to an edge a lot of times they will all try to huddle under the lamps and end up squishing each other. We generally use 2 but this box will allow us to use 4 if need be. Hopefully it won't get that cold but hey it is NY so you never know.
We generally only keep the chicks in this box for 3-4 weeks. Just enough to get their feathers and be able to go out on pasture. Then they get transferred to the pasture with an enclosure that we close them in at night.
So I took pictures as Eric built it to show you how we built ours. Now obviously if you are a little farmer or are just getting a few chicks for yourself this brooder box is too big, but it will give you the idea.The base is made using a large pallet with plywood screwed to it. It is very windy on our hill, so instead of using a slotted bottom like we have in the past we chose a solid one. The draft is something that can effect the chicks as well.
It is framed out with 2x4's. With plywood on the outsides. It will eventually get painted to protect the wood from the elements.
We placed a center piece under the top part of the framing to hang the heat lamps from. Generally they need to be in the center because if they are closer to an edge a lot of times they will all try to huddle under the lamps and end up squishing each other. We generally use 2 but this box will allow us to use 4 if need be. Hopefully it won't get that cold but hey it is NY so you never know.
We generally only keep the chicks in this box for 3-4 weeks. Just enough to get their feathers and be able to go out on pasture. Then they get transferred to the pasture with an enclosure that we close them in at night.
Wednesday, March 14, 2012
Picture time
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| Chickens enjoying the nice weather |
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| Cock-a-doodle-doo |
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| The starting of our new chicken brooder. |
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| Julianna using it as a dance floor. |
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| One of our youngest bucks. Look at the coloring on him. |
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| Want some babies....100 total for this breeding cycle! |
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| Have a wonderful day! |
Friday, March 9, 2012
Sun, Dirt and Fresh Air
I love this time of year. It is a time when all the spring time birds come back around, when the sun starts shining all around and when we can get the kids out of the house for longer periods of time!
Our house is very small and as Eric Jr gets bigger he is outgrowing our house. His energy is amazing, but being cooped up inside for winter tends to get him a little agitated, frustrated and just pure mad. He tries so hard to keep himself occupied and play (running from couch to kitchen, kitchen to couch) and he does a pretty good job. Now that Julianna is old enough to play they tend to chase each other a little and play together.
But this past week the sun was shining and that was our chance. Eric Jr was so excited to go outside he couldn't sit still enough for us to get pants on him or put his shoes on. We finally got everyone dressed and out to the greenhouse we went!
We started planting the flowers that we will be growing this season. The kids played in the dirt and mud and played hide and seek in between and around the tables. Laughing hysterically at times. They decided it would be fun to throw dirt all over each other and then Eric Jr shook his head and dirt was flying everywhere as Julianna was laughing so hard she fell over. It's moments like these that I love the most about Eric and I working from home and being able to enjoy the moments that are so great with our children.
We also finished cleaning out the old shed/barn/garage thing that was on our property that we will be turning into our Kitchen and store! We are working on measurements, estimates and drawings to see how it will all come together! This is very exciting for us.
We got our first batch of chicks last week and are expecting our ducks to come within the next couple weeks! We are getting ducks not only to raise for meat but we are getting them for duck eggs. Another new adventure we are trying this year.
Now off to get ready for market tomorrow at the Metrocenter. I hope you are enjoying the sunshine and nice weather just as much as we are.
Our house is very small and as Eric Jr gets bigger he is outgrowing our house. His energy is amazing, but being cooped up inside for winter tends to get him a little agitated, frustrated and just pure mad. He tries so hard to keep himself occupied and play (running from couch to kitchen, kitchen to couch) and he does a pretty good job. Now that Julianna is old enough to play they tend to chase each other a little and play together.
But this past week the sun was shining and that was our chance. Eric Jr was so excited to go outside he couldn't sit still enough for us to get pants on him or put his shoes on. We finally got everyone dressed and out to the greenhouse we went!
We started planting the flowers that we will be growing this season. The kids played in the dirt and mud and played hide and seek in between and around the tables. Laughing hysterically at times. They decided it would be fun to throw dirt all over each other and then Eric Jr shook his head and dirt was flying everywhere as Julianna was laughing so hard she fell over. It's moments like these that I love the most about Eric and I working from home and being able to enjoy the moments that are so great with our children.
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| "Mom, I found a Woolie Bear." |
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| Playing hide and go seek |
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| Searching for T-Rex |
We also finished cleaning out the old shed/barn/garage thing that was on our property that we will be turning into our Kitchen and store! We are working on measurements, estimates and drawings to see how it will all come together! This is very exciting for us.
We got our first batch of chicks last week and are expecting our ducks to come within the next couple weeks! We are getting ducks not only to raise for meat but we are getting them for duck eggs. Another new adventure we are trying this year.
Now off to get ready for market tomorrow at the Metrocenter. I hope you are enjoying the sunshine and nice weather just as much as we are.
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