Welsh Harlequin Duckling

Our ducklings were processed last Friday and we now have pasture raised duckling available for sale in our farm store or through the Calais Buying Club.

We had our first one on Sunday. I roasted in with carrots and parsnips and basted the bird with balsamic vinegar and tupelo honey. Mark thinks it is the best duck he has ever had (duck is one of his favorite meals.) There was less fat than the birds I have purchased in the past from our co-op (they come from New York). The skin turned quite crispy which creates a wonderful texture coupled with the mild and tender meat. I was pleased with the size too (dressed between 3-4 pounds).

The ducklings were processed at about 16 weeks of age and they grew very fast and ate so much feed (even though they were on pasture). Here they are at a few days old in May:



This year we will not make much of a profit as we paid $8.00 per chick and $7.00 to process them. Five Harlequins will be used for breeding next year so we won't have to pay for chicks again. A beautiful drake named "Sir Francis", and four females. Black Indian Runners are also a fun and comical addition to our farm (they are my pets:). I just can't wait to begin baking with their eggs!

Buy local . . . . eat well.

Barberpole mitigated and not eliminated as of yet . . . .

Our fecals came back for August. 100 eggs were found so that means there are still some barberpole out there but they are no where near where we were at 1 year ago. I nearly lost both my Hunnie and Saltie last year. Many of my ewes were very pale in July and August last year. I ended up worming everyone towards the middle of August. This year Saltie has shown "red" eye membranes all summer and so has Hunnie who is growing out wonderfully (and although she will not be as big as her Lodi Mom Pip - she will be close:)

Out of 40 sheep this week, there were four borderlines which I wormed. These sheep were primarily ewes and lambs from meat conformation AI backgrounds.

I read so much from other shepherds about this month as the "Killing Time". Heat stress along with parasites will kill a sheep very, very fast. In this time of year optimal grazing is very, very, important during the early and later part of the day with heat relief as in a cool barn or shaded "sheep shed with fans" during the hottest part of the day. Our Icelandic lambs have nearly 6-8" of fleece at this time of year . . . a cool respite is a must. If a cool shelter during the heat of the day cannot be given ~ then I believe you are raising the wrong kind of sheep and should look at the Barbados Blackbelly or the Katahdin sheep breeds. Eye Membranes need to be checked weekly during the months of July, August and September.

A promise that I made to the editors of the ISBONA newsletter will be undertaken next month. I will be repeating our last winter doses of Ivermectin as we are acquiring another ram from the farm which we bought all of our wonderful foundation ewes - The Lavender Fleece. I want to give this study one more year to be on the safe side.

I thank god every day for giving us such beautiful, intelligent and healthy sheep. In the four years that I have been a shepherd - I have not lost a sheep to parasites or disease. I love this breed of sheep dearly and I hope that other shepherds can learn from my experiences and instead of looking at the month of August as the "Killing Time" . . . . they will be looking at this month as the "Healthy Weaning Time".

Turkey!

We are starting to take deposits for our Heritage Narragansett turkeys. We have a final count of 45 for this year. Price per pound is $6.00. Please specify weights - 8-10 lbs, 11-14 lbs 15 - 18lbs.

Deposits are $25.00 per turkey. We were sold out by October 1st of last year so place your order soon. These turkeys were the first breed ever developed in the US - 17th century in Rhode Island from the Eastern Wild Turkey and the Spanish Black. The flavor is probably the best of all the heritage turkeys we have tried. We hold one of the few remaining flock of breeders in the US (there are only about 300 breeding adult Narragansetts in the US).

All of our turkeys are hatched here on the farm from eggs laid by our breeding flock started in 2007. We do not source any of our poultry from hatcheries after the first year of raising them on our farm. We keep only the best for breeding stock whether it be turkeys, chickens or this year it is ducks (more on this soon . . . . very limited supply).

Buy local . . . . eat well . . . .

Icelandic lamb count for the year and one breeding ram for sale . . . . .

This year one of the ram lambs we used for breeding was too young when we put him with his ewes. Lenny was the only ram that bred his batch of girls this year. We had fewer lambs than I expected - this actually turned out to be a good thing because I was able to focus more on the farm store opening.

I will only be offering our best ram lamb for sale as breeding stock and holding back five ewe lambs to increase our flock size for next year. We will be offering only four whole lambs this year for meat. I will begin taking $50.00 deposits for the lambs starting August 1st. Last year we sold out before October so please reserve your lamb early.

Our lambs are butchered the first week in November and are delivered boxed about a week later. Weights on meat are usually between 25-30 pounds and we price the meat at $7.00 per pound plus the $40.00 custom butcher fee. Lambs are 100% grass fed (no grain) and the flavor of Icelandic lamb is unlike any other sheep breeds - very, very mild with a tender, fine grained texture. "Cooks Illustrated" describes Icelandic lamb as being "Lamb Lite".

Now for the ram . . . . He is a beautiful Moorit Grey just like his mom - Elena. His fleece is spectacular and he is built like his grandsire - BLW-607N Mjaldursson. He is almost as big as mom and only 3 months old!


You can see his front and face here - he is such a "pretty boy".


And here is a good photo of his build:


Price: $500.00 registered and $350.00 non-registered.

Liz and her girls are in the next photo. Icelandic sheep are quite intelligent. Liz has learned to pull down a branch and hold it under her neck so her lambs can reach and eat with her. Both of her lambs have beautiful faces, great conformation and have inherited Liz's special fleece. Sugar - the black/grey ewe lamb, bonded with me at only a day old. She is a great friend and comes when called. Sugar just loves to be petted and hugged. She even allows Declan and Brynne hug her. I have high hopes for her future lambs. Sugar's sister, Spice, has not bonded with me yet . . . . we are getting there slowly. She is cautious like her mom ~ Liz took over two years to bond with me but now we are great friends.

Chantrelles

In the summer of 2006, I found my very first patch of chantrelle mushrooms on our property. This year has been a perfect growing season for them. Warm with dry spells and then some gentle rain. This morning the family went over to our friends property and gathered about 10 pounds of them and we are hoping these will last all year.

After they are wiped/washed I will put them individually on a cookie sheet and freeze them. I will then put them in gallon freezer bags and return them to the freezer. They can also be dried on a screen and then stored in glass jars.

Chantrelles are wonderful sauteed in butter with scrambled eggs and made into a cream of chantrelle soup. I also love them sauteed in olive oil and butter, lightly seasoned with garlic and herbs and then stuffed into the cavity of one of our Wyandotte chickens.

We are really starting the harvest now . . . . the tomatoes are beginning to ripen, peppers are now ready to pick and I am nearly finished with my fall vegetable planting. Hope everyone is having a bountiful summer.

Fresh Wayandotte Chickens Available on Friday July 16th

Our Wayandotte chickens are ready to process. We will be taking 50 birds to a Maine State inspected processing facility in Monmouth, Maine on Thursday. Fresh chicken will be available on Friday and Saturday from our Farm Store.



Wyandottes dress out at about 3-4 pounds at 12-14 weeks. Our next and final batch of 50 will be processed in the beginning of October. These birds have a wonderful flavor. Since our birds are very low in fat - the best way to cook them is by braising. My favorite way to cook them is stuffing the cavity of the bird with a scored lemon and herbs such as thyme or rosemary.

There is a perfect balance of light and dark meat. As with our heritage turkey's the meat is very fine grained and dense. This is the same breed of chicken that our ancestors ate in the 19th century. Now, over 99 percent of chickens reared on farms are the large cornish X breed.



We raise our birds in static coops and train our birds to go into the coop nightly. They have free range of over an acre of pasture during the day. Our chicks are hatched here on the farm from proven breeding stock.

It is exciting having the opportunity to not only raise this rarely found heritage chicken breed but to offer them through our farm store.

Buy local . . . . . eat well . . . . . .

Farm Store Photo's

Took some photo's this morning of the farm store.







Enjoy:)

Buy local . . . . eat well . . . . .