Furr-Ever Friend Adoption Day

When I first contacted Stray Haven out of Waverly, NY I was excited to know that they would be coming to market. I was hoping that any little exposure would help them to raise funds for the organization or to adopt some animals out. Many people do not understand the amount of time, energy and space that goes into these animals at shelters that really just need a home.

Liz is currently at Stray Haven.
She is a long haired Calico Cat.

After talking to Stray Haven we had begun to think of ways we could make an event at the market to try to get the animals adopted. So we began to think of a pet food drive, cleaning supply drive.

It just so happened that Hubbards Hounds was going to participate in the market and the date that they were going to be there so was Stray Haven. What better day to have an adoption/ donation drive.

So plans began.

June 24 2012 

Newark Valley Farmers Market will be hosting a

Furr-Ever Friends Adoption Day.

10am-2pm

We will also be having a Cleaning supply and pet food donation drive. For any item that you bring on the list, you will receive a raffle ticket. Each raffle ticket will be entered into a drawing for a gift basket from the vendors at the Newark Valley Farmers Market, Cardinal Cafe gift cards and other items.

Items needed:

Hailey is currently at Stray Haven.
She is a 6 year old pitbull who was raised with young
children. She does well with other dogs and cats.
She is a lover.

Dog food
bleach
dish liquid
laundry detergent
replacement mop heads
garbage bags - 13 gal & 39 gal
antibacterial hand soap
squeegees
heavy duty garden hoses
Lowe's & Walmart gift cards
toys
natural dog treats
blankets


 


Stray Haven will be there with Dogs and Cats as well as other items to sell to raise money for their organization
Hubbards Hounds will be bringing dogs as well as other items to sell to raise money for their organization

Make sure to visit their websites and browse around. Take a look at the animals!

Please come join us. Even if you are not looking for a pet, donate an item on the list. Why not? Chance to win free goods!

Payton is currently at Hubbards Hounds Dog Rescue.
She is a small yellow lab mix.

Chi is a Shiba Inu currently residing at
Hubbards Hounds Dog Rescue.

Why adopt an animal from a rescue?

 Many of the cats and dogs at rescues are strays or pets that were not spayed or neutered and then they ended up pregnant and the owners wanted nothing more to do with them. It is not their fault it is the responsibility of the owners to make sure that these animals are well cared for and spaying and neutering is one of the best things you can do for them. Some of the cats were turned over by their owners for one reason or another, most of the time it because they cannot care for the animal anymore or because they are moving and cannot take the animal with them. Either way it is a sad situation.

A lot of the rescues in the area are over run with cats. Some of them have had to stop taking them in due to the fact that they have so many there is no more room and not enough funds or people to take care of them. These cats are loving, young, old, and just looking for a cuddle and a loving home.

These 3 kittens currently reside at Stray Haven.

We rescued our cat Bugs from SPCA of Tompkins County about 3 years ago.

I urge anyone thinking of getting a new pet to think of adopting/rescuing an animal whether it be a dog, cat, horse, pig there are so many types of rescues out there. Please think about them before you go off and buy one at the store or a purebred. The rescues need love just as much as the others.

Anura Liquid Soap Review

By starting the Newark Valley Farmers Market we have had an honor of meeting a lot of great people that live in our community that we had no clue about!

One of those such people is Robin from Anura Liquid Soap!

What is Anura?


           "Anura is a special formulation of recipes designed by a nature-loving chemist. The balance of ingredients in each liquid soap blend was thoughtfully selected to promote healthy hair and skin. Anura is founded on the philosophy that many of the desirable tactile characteristics of commercialized liquid soaps may be achieved without the use of industrial additives and by using natural ingredients alone."




We have had the honor of being able to test and sample some of her products.

 Liquid Soap:

When she first gave it to us my instant reaction was it was a little watery. The smell was amazing. Very aromatic. We were using it for a few days and it definitely grew on me.


It was not as sudsy as soap you buy in the store. But I know suds don't necessarily mean that it is not cleaning. After using it you could just feel the cleanliness on your hands.


Another thing that SOLD me on this soap was:
  We have extremely hard water and even with cleaning the sink frequently we get a lot of calcium build up. Eric Sr was washing his hands and a drop of the soap got on the faucet. All he did was wipe it off with his hand and I could not believe my eyes. The faucet shimmered. It was cleaner than if I had spent time scrubbing it.


Honey Matcha Facial Soap with Peppermint Oil:


I smelled it first because of course that is what you do with everything.


It smelled of honey.


I took a dab and rubbed it between my fingers and you could feel the stickiness of the honey. Being that it was raw honey you could also feel some of the wax particles from the come that the honey was squeezed out of.


I had been outside all day long and it was 80 degrees or so. I was sweating like crazy and my face was absolutely disgusting. No better time than now to use it.


I wet my face and rubbed it all over. It had this creamy yet exfoliating feel to it. It was sticky on my face which kind of felt weird. It felt like I was just rubbing honey on my face. But I continued to rub it on and let it sit for a little bit.


I then washed it off and it took a little bit more water than normal to get it off because the honey was kind of sticky.


But the feeling after I got it off was absolutely Amazing. It felt like I had just had a facial at a beauty salon. I could feel my pores opening up and my face felt so clean.


I don't like the feeling that I get from facial washes in the store because they make my face feel like it is sandpaper dry after I was it off. I can't stand that feeling.


This left my face feeling clean, my pores open but it was not dry. It was moist and fresh!

Overall thoughts:

I LOVE this stuff. I will continue to buy it over and over again. It is all natural which comforts me with my children using it. It also comes from a local producer which supports our effort in buying everything local.

Great job Robin. I believe your product is awesome and I can't wait to try more and watch your product line grow! 

Project Expansion- Kitchen

As you all know our fruit butters have taken off. When we first started making them it was on a whim and we never expected it to be this great!

Our orders and expansion needs have risen to a point where it is not something we can produce as fast as we need out of our home kitchen.

After long thought, deliberation and financial figuring, we chose to take the "leap" and build a certified/commercial kitchen on our farm.  This is a HUGE commitment and long process, but I think we are all ready for it!

The well has already been drilled. The equipment was dropped off and work has started on leveling and filling in where we need more fill.

We tore down the old shed that was right next to our farm stand last year thinking we were originally going to put it there. But after careful consideration and going back and fort we decided it would be better to move it down the road further. Where the old shed is we will continue our plans of an all local farm store and pavillion to put our plants under. That obviously will be worked on a little here and there but the kitchen comes first!

My hopes are that the kitchen will be finished sometime in July. Now realistically I don't know if that will  be possible or not but my fingers are crossed super tight.

We have huge plans including some NEW products that include our herbs. We will be doing so much more than fruit butters and we are so ready for this great new expansion.

This year seems like the year of new additions. We continuously keep adding new items and projects to our farm. This is our first year of doing the CSA. First year of starting the Newark Valley Farmers Market. And now a HUGE first of expanding our kitchen capacity and building.

Adventures in Sheep!

The beginning of this year we were talking about raising some pigs for meat getting them in spring and butchering them in the fall for meat. Dad has been saying for 2 years now that he wanted sheep. We all just kind of kept brushing it off. But this year we got some. We got 2 lambs one male and one female from West Creek Family Farm. They are a merino cross, I can't remember exactly what she told me they were but either way they are so cute.

The Vanvorce's dropped them off and we had their little shelter made and they went right into the pasture and checked things out. Well sure enough we went back up to the house and just as it was starting to get dark we got a call from mom and dad telling us that the sheep were gone. Oy! So we headed out the door loaded the kids in the car and started searching. I drove up and down the road to check to make sure they had not traveled down the road. Eric headed up into the woods in search of them. When I got back from driving around I headed into the woods with him looking for them. Eric Jr went in with Grandma and Julianna was sound asleep in the car.

Not long after I had headed into the woods Eric had found them.  He got one back in the fence and was herding the other one back in when the one that was in squeezed right under the bottom line of barbed wire. There is 4 strands of wire with the lowest one being only a few inches off the ground. How in the world that lamb squeezed under there we aren't sure.

Now silly me in the hurry that I was to get out the door put on sandals....yes, I was crazy. The pasture where the sheep are is a hillside. The hillside has numerous fresh water springs on it so it is continuously wet. So here I was traipsing through the mud with shorts and sandals on. Eric finally got a hold of one and started carrying it down the hill. The other one wasn't following. Then it finally heard the other start crying and headed down towards the shelter.

So I continued my walking through mud to get out of the woods loosing a sandal here and there and having so much mud on my feet that I might as well not have shoes on.

Dad and Eric got them into the shelter and closed them in for the night. They had decided that maybe until they got used to things we would close them into a smaller area.

Covered from head to toe in mud, Eric and I gathered the kids and headed home to clean up and go to bed.

The next morning we noticed that they both had some red on their coats which meant that they probably got cut at one point. Wasn't too bad but still enough to make sure that we took a look. They were fine.

Two days later we had to go to Cornell Orchards to get some more apples.  We were headed back and we got a call from dad saying that the sheep were gone. UGH! So we flew back to the house to find the sheep.

We got home and asked dad how long he thought they were gone. He said he was weed whacking and looked up and there they were in the pen nice and quite just hanging out. Then he weed whacked some more and looked up and the gate was wide open and they were gone. He had no clue which way they headed. 

Eric headed into the woods in search of the sheep again. I had both kids with me and was searching the lawn and the side of the road to see if I could find some droppings or some footprints. Eric Jr the whole time asking where they were and not wanting to search for them. Julianna was fussing and not understanding what we were doing. Dad was driving around the "block" which for us is huge, looking for the sheep. Thinking maybe they had tried to head back to the Vanvorce's.

After a few hours of searching with no noise and no sightings we gave up. Eric had seen footprints in the woods headed into State Land which meant that we probably had lost them for good. We all came to the notion that they were gone. They would either be attacked and killed by coyotes or they would soon return. We called around the neighborhood telling people that the 2 sheep had gone missing and that if they saw them to give us a call.

So the next day Mom and Dad's neighbor called asking if we had sheep. When Eric said yes he then asked if we had a pasture in back of his house. Eric said no and the neighbor then said that the sheep were behind his house headed towards the house.

YAY!!!!! The sheep had returned!!!!!!

We all decided that night that this pasture was just cursed. When Eric was little his parents had animals in pasture back there and they tended to get out quite a bit. The cows we had a few years ago continuously got out. We double dutied and put barbed wire and electrical wire around the entire pasture. Did not stop them.

So now here we are again with sheep and they have gotten out twice in the 4 days that we had them.

They are now happy and content where they are. The little girl has a sore leg from her gallivanting all over the countryside, but hopefully it will heal soon.

We asked Eric Jr what he wanted to name them and he still hasn't come up with any names yet.

So we have two little lambs with no names who are just as mischevious as ever. They are getting used to us now and get excited when they hear the tractor start up and come out looking around when grandma and Eric Jr head over to see them. Eric Jr picks some grass before he heads over and as he starts getting close he yells, "Here sheepies, have some delicious grass for you!" Too cute!

Memorial Day Weekend

I have had numerous people asking me if we will be having the Otsiningo Farmers Market and the Newark Valley Farmers Market this weekend because of Memorial Day Weekend.

YES!!!! We will be at both.

One way I described it to someone was this.

When you are asked to work on say Thanksgiving at your "normal" job, what do you do? You work because that is just part of the job description.

Well for us farmers that sell at markets for their income, generally those our only days we make a decent amount of money (unless of course you have a store at your farm and your not in the middle of nowhere like we are). Our paychecks come from those days at market. So we HAVE to be there.

We love it though. We love sharing our products for you to share and take back to your Memorial Day barbecue or whatever you have going on.

Last year we roasted Rabbit on the grill for Memorial Day! So delicious! Something different, something new to try. Or you can do a chicken or maybe Sausages or steaks from Mcrey Farm.

Whatever your choice, remember we will still be there. Stop down on your way to your event!

Shockingly Awesome Opening Day at Newark Valley Farmers Market.

In all our worry and stress of getting the Newark Valley Farmers Market going we were pleasantly surprised on opening day. We had watched the weather closely as the week progressed, hoping that we would not have rain and that it would be a sunny day.  And we got what we were hoping for. It was 80 something and felt like it was a 100 degrees standing out there all day.

We left the house at 7 am with the thought that if we got there early we could get our stand all set up so then when the other vendors started arriving we would be able to just focus on getting everyone set before market opened. Well, that was not the case. We were the first ones there and the last ones set up. We have so much stuff it takes forever to set up and tare down.

We finally finished setting up and people were just flowing in. It was very steady. I was hoping to take lots of pictures but that did not happen. Thankfully my Sister in-law and some others took some.

There was always a flow through the market.The customers coming through some we knew, some we didn't. There was a general sense of excitement and happiness from everyone we saw.

Customers were raving over the french fries and fried dough from Boer Bakery. My mom and my mother in-law came over raving about the soap from Woodland Cottage and the lotion bars from West Creek Family Farm.

Eric Jr spent most of the day flying through the market playing with everyone and hopefully not driving the vendors crazy. He made great friends and is constantly asking when we can go back to market again. So not only was it a success for us as a vendor but as well as us with making Eric excited to go to market again.

I will have to say that I was a little upset that I was so busy I didn't get a chance to get my treat from Boer Bakery.

We had originally planned this market to be one that I would go to, Eric would help me set up and then he would go home to get some more work done and I would handle the market. But if it is this busy that will not be happening. I will need his help. Which is not a bad thing.

Grassanova playing on opening day in the Gazebo.

We hope you all enjoyed the market as much as we did. And don't forget we do have 3 produce vendors that will be having produce very soon. Keep checking back to get the fresh produce of the season!

New packaging and Senator Libous Order

Ever since we got the account with Regional access, there has been talk of how we should change our packaging of our fruit butters to a more retail looking package. There has been complaints of how hard it is to get the tops off of the Ball jars. And the label was not a retail label. It was a handmade label.

That being said, we decided to change our label. We started looking at things and trying to figure things out. We then had a customer that told me he would help me out. He designed some labels for us and I really thought we liked one of them. We were trying to figure out logistics because we have so many different varieties.

In the midst of all that we were working on the Newark Valley Farmers Market and met Natalie Mattrazzo from Providence Farm. We were talking about our new design and that night she out of the blue sent a design that just "popped." It was amazing and we all loved it. So after a little tweaking and some here and there we finally got the label finished.

During all of this Senator Libous had placed an order with us for one of his events. 250 jars! Thanks to Tia and Laura for thinking of the small people and referring him to us and Old Barn Hollow. We had to have these ready by May 16th. Today.

We decided when we first got the order that we would use this as our relaunch for our new product design.

So here we go:

                                                                                      

 This is a picture of what is called a QR barcode. You can download an application on your phone called QR barcode scanner which is free. You would then take a picture of this QR code and it would take you directly to our website.

I thought this was so cool. It lets you get to see what else we do and who we are besides just Apple Butter. Because as you all know we are much, much more than that! = )

And this is our order for Senator Libous. Packaged, loaded and ready to be delivered!

Getting this order done and the labels and packaging done takes a lot of stress off my back. It was something I was stressing over quite a bit. I don't know why, but I was.

Now of course we are going to be going through our old stock first, but any retail locations will get this newly packaged product.

So if you are looking for it in a retail location make sure you look for this new design! We hope you like it as much as we do.