An Important Link . . . . .

Just found this farm's blog a few weeks ago and have been meaning to post this think to a fantastic article written on the "Honest Meat" blog.

http://www.honestmeat.com/honest_meat/2010/09/so-you-say-you-want-a-food-revolution.html

It is a shame about their farm though. I do hope they travel to Maine and see what the farmers here are doing. Maine is a state where our farm numbers have actually INCREASED by 13%.

Here is a great article from the Bangor Daily News that describes what is happening on the Ag Front in Maine.

http://www.bangordailynews.com/story/Opinion/Reasons-for-optimism-about-Maines-farms,157023

Buy local . . . . . Eat Well . . . . .

Is Healthy Food Expensive? I Am About to Bust The Myth.

Pictured on my dining room table is my weekly order to a local food buying club (as some of you know we also host one here at our farm store - pick up is on Friday's).

These healthy and fresh items (picked hours before delivery) include:

4 Pounds Kale
1 Pound Heirloom Tomatoes
5 Bunches of Chocolate Mint
4 Dozen Eggs
1/2 Dozen Duck Eggs
1 Pound Brussels Sprouts
1/4 Pound Mixed Baby Lettuce
3 Large Bunches Beets
1 Pound Beet Greens
2 Pounds Russian Banana Fingerling Potatoes
1 Pound Swiss Chard
3 Bunches Scallions

All of the products above totaled $76.25. Round out this batch of produce and eggs with a gallon of fresh raw milk and a few cuts of pasture raised meats and a pantry stocked with bulk beans, rice, flour and various oils, condiments and spices ~ you can eat very well on $100.00 or less per week.

It is so sad to see what people buy at the grocery store. 9 out of 10 carts are loaded with processed boxed foods, soda's, chips, frozen entrees, etc. Most of these products are not only cheap but so easy to cook . . . . just heat and eat. The health consequences for eating foods loaded with the wrong kind of fats, preservatives, salt, etc. can lead to obesity, diabetes, heart disease and cancer.

We are three generations removed from routinely eating fresh, local foods and knowing how to cook from scratch (healthy meals based on primary ingredients). The local food movement in our own remote area of the country has begun to catch on and I believe will continue to grow. As local farmers/producers it is our job to not only grow and raise the healthiest, best tasting food but show everyone that - YES, it can be purchased reasonably with some simple menu planning and staples bought in bulk.

Future posts will feature some of my favorite (quick) recipes using locally produced products and staples that everyone should have on hand.

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

Hen of The Woods Mushroom!!!

Over the past few years I have noticed a very distictive mushroom growing at the base of our neighbor, Ed's Oak tree. Last year Ed tried some of this mushroom as he was told it may be edible (and I thought so too) and called us the next day to say the mushroom was delicious and he was still alive to tell us about it. Please, if you are foraging for mushrooms for the first time ~ take your harvest to someone who can positively identify what you have picked and don't use yourself as a guinea pig.



This year Ed is down in Portland, ME while his mushroom has grown over the last week. Mark called him up yesterday and asked if we could harvest it. Ed said "go ahead but freeze some for me". Well, we harvested two from the same tree a 25 pound "Hen of The Woods" mushroom and a smaller 5 pound "sister" mushroom. We had these this morning sauteed with a mixture of our chicken and duck eggs scambled and they were great. This evening I made an old fashioned cream of mushroom soup with some raw jersey cream and milk from Olde Sow Farm ~ fabulous.



We froze the smaller mushroom for Ed and bagged up the rest for our freezer. Hen of the Woods is really one of the only mushrooms that can be frozen raw. I put up 18 2 lb bags of mushrooms for this winter (along with our chantrelles).



This mushroom is also known as "Mitake" and is not only a superb culinary gourmet treat but also boasts medicinal traits as well. It is reputed to stimulate the immune system in various ways. Google the mushroom and you can find out more about it.

We have enough meals to get us through until the next harvest in the fall...

Buy local . . . . forage. . . . and eat well.

Kilby Ridge Farm Products for 9/29 - 8/2

I have had many requests to put up our own list of products available for the week as the produce is changing weekly now. Please think about reserving one of our Heritage Narragansett turkeys soon. I will be posting more about them later this week (with some great photo's).

Turkey growth has been outstanding this year and we will have some birds close to 20 pounds!!

The farm store is open between 10 am - 5 pm Wednesday - Saturday. You do not need to be a buying club member to pre-order any of our products. We can also do mail order within the state of Maine for our ducks, chickens and turkeys. All of our heritage birds are Maine State Inspected and are processed by the COOP in Monmouth, Maine.

For produce this week we have:

Beets $4.00 per bunch of 12.
Baby Fennel Bulbs at $4.00 per bunch of six
Brussels Sprouts (limited) : $3.75 lb
Sugar Cherry Tomatoes: $4.50 lb
Sorrel $3.00 per bunch
Red Ball Cabbage: 75 cents per pound
Hierloom flat dutch Cabbage: 65 cents per pound
Hierloom tomatoes (a variety of Cherokee purple, old German and brandywine) in very limited quantities right now: $1.75 per lb. Some individual tomatoes may be as large as 2lbs
Mesculn mix with baby spinach: $2.50 for 1/4 pound bag.
Onions - $2.50 for a trio of large Red, White and Yellow onions in a bunch
Hierloom Dutch Cabbage - 65 cents per pound (heads weigh between 4-6 pounds.).
Winterboor Kale - $2.00 lb.
Fordhook Giant Chard - $3.00 lb.
Frissee Lettuce: $2.50 1/4 lb.
Russian Banana Potatoes (fingerlings) $3.50 lb.
Herbs all $2.00 per generous bunch
Sage, Marjoram, Basil, Chives, Tarragon, Mint (chocolate, peppermint, spearmint), Savory, Parsley - Italian flat or traditional curly.

Eggs - $3.00 per Dozen. Duck Eggs - limited quantities - 50 cents each.

Welsh Harlequin Duck - Whole - $7.00 per pound (weigh between 3-4 pounds each)

Silver Laced Wyandotte chicken - Whole - Fryer size (around 2 pounds or less). $5.00 per pound.

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 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).

Please reserve them early as we were sold out by October of last year.

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.

Buy local . . . . eat well.

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 . . . .