Peterson Farm

Food. Probably the most important decisions we will ever make is what we eat. The effects of eating healthy or not are for life and, probably more than any other single thing, affects the quality of life we have. Chose healthy food even though it cost more initially. The true cost of eating cheap unhealthy food is poor health and higher medical bills.

A lot of people are looking for more local meats and produce, and that is a good trend. But if the local food is laden with pesticides or is GMO’s that produce their own pesticides, what have you gained? Or if meats are grain based instead of grass based you are missing the added health benefits. Choose organically grown produce and grass based meats for optimum health.

Hurray! Finally! We just received USDA approval for our new grass-fed beef and free range chicken labels. So now we can advertise our production methods since they will be printed on the package labels. It will be a couple weeks or so before we have product with the new labels but it appears our long ordeal with the USDA is over on this one.

Although we are out of some items we have quite a bit of grass-fed Jersey beef, especially steaks and ground beef. The same is true with pasture raised free range chicken. In fact, we just picked up chicken from the processor the day before the USDA label approval arrived. So we need to move these items so we can make room for product with the new labels.

We have switched all our chicken feed to 100% organic feed from Reedy Fork Organic Farm near Elon, NC. (www.northcarolinaorganicfeed.com) They received a grant to install a feed mill and have just started selling feed made from 100% certified organic ingredients. This is the only source of organic feed made in NC. It is about 50% higher (plus a 100 mile round trip ) than the feed we had been using which means the cost of chicken and eggs will have to go up. But we feel, and hope you will agree, that being assured there is no pesticide residues, or GMO grains, or chemically derived grain byproducts will be well worth the price. This is in keeping with our commitment to providing you with the best quality, most healthy food we can produce.

Our gardens are still doing well and we have zephyr gourmet squash, silver queen sweet corn, jade stringless beans, Yukon gold potatoes, our German Johnson tomatoes, salad tomatoes, heirloom green zucchini, heirloom clemson spineless okra, both slicing and pickling type cucumbers, hot and sweet peppers, spaghetti squash, butternut squash, and field peas.

Announcing! Beginning this Saturday (7/23) we will be selling at the Greensboro Farmers Curb Market on Yanceyville Street. Hours are from 6:00 until 12:00. Debra will be managing our table there and she hopes to meet new customers as well as see some of you who may frequent that market. Of course, she will have the same products we have at the Triad market.

Our hours at the Piedmont Triad Farmers Market are Tuesday and Wednesday (10:00 until 3:00) Thursday, Friday, and Sunday (9:00 until 3:00) and Saturday ( 8:00 until 4:00). We are in space #74, farmers area #2.

We will be looking for you at the market!

Hooray! We finally had some rain at the farm! After pumping water almost every day for almost two months it is nice to have a break. And the crops are looking much better.

More and more people are asking questions about how we produce our food products and we think that is a good thing. We gladly answer all your questions and, in fact, encourage them so you can be informed and confident you are purchasing the healthiest food available. With all the deceitful marketing practices around the safest thing you can do is get to know your farmer! Ask questions. Visit the farm. Be proactive in securing your food health. That may involve educating yourself in sustainable farming practices. A good place to start is www.attra.org. Then support your local farmer for the freshest food around.

Fox News and Natural News reports there has been a deadly accident at a Tyson Foods chicken processing plant in Springdale Arkansas. Two chemicals were mixed together which produced deadly chlorine gas causing 173 of 300 workers to be sent to the hospital. Five workers were taken to intensive care and fifty were hospitalized for days. This sounds like something that might happen at a chemical plant rather than a food processing plant.

The chemicals were not identified but various forms of chlorine and ammonia are routinely used in industrialized meat processing. Add to that salt water injections along with artificial flavorings and preservatives (including carbon monoxide, nitrates, and ammonia ), then perhaps irradiation and the meat ends up a processed food product full of chemicals. That is just in the processing phase and does not include the deplorable growing conditions most animals experience.

Our animals, both beef and chicken are processed at a small family owned and operated local plant. No harsh chemicals are used. Only natural lactic or citric acid is used to control bacteria. There are no weight adding injections or preservatives. Even the air is removed from packages by vacuum packing. The resulting meat package is free from any added chemicals or chemical treatments. It is ‘real food’ as pure and natural as can be.

To view the article : http://www.foxnews.com/health/2011/06/29/dozens-us-chicken-plant-workers-hospitalized/

We have a fresh supply of grass-fed Jersey beef including steaks, roasts, ground beef, etc. There is also all items of pasture raised chicken.

Our new laying pullets ( young hens ) are beginning to produce so we will have several dozen fresh farm free range eggs on Saturday.

From our gardens we have heirloom tomatoes, heirloom salad tomatoes, heirloom zucchini , Zephyr squash, cucumbers, green and yellow wax beans, banana peppers, jalapeno peppers, arugula, new Yukon gold potatoes, and sweet corn. ( corn will be silver queen white beginning Saturday )

Hours at the market are Tuesday and Wednesday ( 10:00 until 3:00); Thursday, Friday, Sunday ( 9:00 until 3:00); Saturday (8:00 until 4:00). We are in space 74, farmers area 2 at the Piedmont Triad Farmers Market.

We will be expecting you at the market!