Archive for April, 2011

Hormone and Antibiotic Free Food

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at April 28, 2011 in Uncategorized. 0 Comments

We have certainly had lots of stormy and windy weather this spring. April is now a record month for tornados across the US. Our hearts go out to those that have sustained storm damage and loss of life.

We have a huge hickory tree in our yard that is splitting at the base from the strong winds. So we have called the tree trimmer to come ASAP. There is probably two years worth of heating wood in the one tree.

You probably heard the news reports about disease causing bacteria being found in grocery store meats across the country. Almost one half of the samples were contaminated with a high percentage containing antibiotic resistant bacteria. The cause is largely attributed to feeding antibiotics in concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFO’s). These huge industrialized farms produce cheap food but what is the benefit if it makes you sick or kills you? Here are two articles: http://www.naturalnews.com/032099_poultry_superbugs.html and http://www.naturalnews.com/032111_fresh_meat_superbugs.html

Our cattle and chickens are not given any antibiotics or growth enhancing hormones. The cattle are grass-fed and chickens are pasture raised. They are in a natural environment with clean conditions and are happy and healthy. By the way, I know some people want to buy unfrozen meats thinking they are fresher but what they don’t realize is the so called ‘fresh’ meats are probably packaged in cancer causing sodium nitrate or poisonous carbon monoxide as a preservative to maintain a fresh looking color. Our meats have no preservatives, are vacuum packed and frozen immediately. When you thaw them the meat is absolutely fresh without any added contaminates.

We have a good selection of vegetable plants for your garden and even some for those that only have a patio. There is also several varieties of culinary herbs.

Vegetables from the field this week include red kale, musclin mix, broccoli, Swiss chard, along with some leaf lettuce.

We have a good supply of grass-fed Jersey beef with all cuts available. Beef ribs will again be on sale this weekend at ‘buy three and get one free’.

We will be out of pasture raised chicken until about the middle of May. Since we can’t raise them outside on grass in the middle of winter the first flock of the season comes in May.

We have several dozen free range farm eggs.

Our hours at the Piedmont Triad Farmers Market are Tuesday thru Friday (10:00 until 3:00); Saturday (8:00 until 4:00); and Sunday (10:00 until 3:00).

The weather is supposed to be beautiful this weekend so we hope you will come out to the market to see us and buy some of the finest quality food products and plants available anywhere!

Blessings,
Joe

Spring In Full Swing

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at April 14, 2011 in Uncategorized. 0 Comments

Spring is now in full swing! The dogwoods are in full bloom and the pastures are green. The cows spend a lot of time just lounging around or laying in the sunshine.We have been busy planting lots of things in the field including corn, green beans, squash, cucumbers, tomatoes, etc.

Winter greens have bolted seed heads so we only have gorgeous romaine lettuce, leaf lettuce, and arugula from the greenhouse.

We have lots of plants for sale including about 20 varieties of heirloom tomatoes, romaine lettuce, cabbage, broccoli, Swiss chard, squash, cucumbers, okra, and several herbs. All our plants are grown with natural organic fertilizers. We don’t force them to grow fast so when you set them out they will live better and should begin to grow immediately rather than going backwards. We have 4/pks., singles, gallon pots with huge plants, and some hanging baskets with bush cucumbers that already are bearing fruit.

In pasture raised chicken, we only have leg quarters, wings, backs, and necks left. They are on sale at 25% off until we are sold out. Our first flock of the spring season is already out on pasture but will not be ready until around the middle of May. Our chickens don’t just have ‘access to pasture’, we grow them out on pasture in ‘chicken tractors’ that we move regularly so they have plenty of fresh clean grass. According to research, and our own experience, this method produces the highest quality chicken available. We just uploaded some new pictures of chickens, cattle, and the greenhouse. To view them visit our flickr account

We have a good supply of our top quality grass-fed Jersey beef. Ribs will be on sale this weekend at ‘buy three, get one free’.

We have several dozen of our free range farm eggs.

April 26 is International Seed Day. The effort is to make people aware of attempts of giant seed companies to control the world’s seed diversity. Here are two articles highlighting the issues: http://www.naturalnews.com/031919_seed_day_farmers.html#ixzz1IHveqmAo and http://www.d-sector.org/article-det.asp?id=1190

Our hours at the Piedmont Triad Farmers Market are Tuesday through Friday (10:00 until 3:00); Saturday (8:00 until 4:00); Sunday 10:00 until 3:00)

We will look for you at the market!

Blessings,
Joe

Farm Direct to Consumer Growing!

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at April 1, 2011 in Uncategorized. 0 Comments

After several cool cloudy and rainy days it is great to see the sun shine! It won’t be long before we will be wishing for a cool breeze but for now bring on the warm weather!

According to a report from the USDA Agricultural Marketing Service direct to consumer sales is the fastest growing segment in agriculture. Sales have more than doubled in the last ten years and have grown more than twice as fast as other agriculture sectors. We think this is great because people are eating fresher and more healthy food.

A food industry report lists the first item of importance for 2011 is consumers are demanding fresh and organic products. We think this is also great. Consumers have the power to change things for the better.

Here is the link to the two articles: http://www.ams.usda.gov/AMSv1.0/getfile?dDocName=STELPRDC5076729&acct=wdmgeninfo and http://www.foodprocessing.com/industrynews/2010/134.html

We are doing our part in trying to provide you with top quality organically grown vegetables and plants as well as grass-fed beef and chicken.

This week we have both red Russian kale and green Siberian kale, leaf lettuce, and some beautiful romaine lettuce from the greenhouse. We have several varieties of tomato plants along with cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, romaine lettuce, and Swiss chard plants. Also, there are several herbs.

Our freezer is well stocked with grass-fed Jersey beef and we have pasture raised chicken on sale at 25% off.

There is a good supply of fresh free range farm eggs.

Our hours at the Piedmont Triad Farmers market are Tuesday through Friday ( 10:00 until 2:00); Saturday (8:00 until 3:00); Sunday (10:00 until 2:00).

The weather is supposed to be better this weekend so we hope you will come out and visit with us. By the way, you, our customers, are our greatest asset!

Blessings,
Joe