Peterson Farm

The warm weather is still with us so we are planning to be at the Piedmont Triad Farmers Market Saturday from 9:00 until 3:00. Hopefully the rain will stay away until later in the evening.

Time is moving on and it won’t be long until spring is here. We are already beginning to start some seeds in the greenhouse. Although some days feel warm enough to plant in the field we have to remember it is still mid winter by the calendar. We can still have cold winter weather.

We have added another greenhouse this year so there will be room for more plants, herbs, and pre season vegetables. Market demand for more organically grown products seems to be on the increase so we want to provide all we can for you.

We have red kale, green kale, collards, upland cress, broccoli, and turnip roots from the garden.

There is most cuts of USDA grass fed Jersey beef and free range chicken in our freezers.

The laying hens are happy with the weather and slightly longer days and are laying lots of eggs for us. We have quite a few dozen for sale.

The last couple of Saturdays have been very good for sales and we are looking forward to seeing you this week at the market.

It looks like summertime is here early again. Lets hope it does not stay as hot as last summer which was the hottest summer on record.

Vegetables from our gardens are coming in quickly now. We have lots of gourmet zephyr summer squash and heirloom green zucchini. Beets are ready as well as romaine lettuce, broccoli, cabbage, arugula, mesclun mix, and Swiss chard. We have a few tomatoes from the greenhouse.

We grow all of our vegetables using organic practices. We are not ‘certified organic’ so the USDA says we cannot use the term ‘organic’ on our signage. (Fines up to $10,000 and 5 yrs. imprisonment) In our opinion, something is wrong when good healthy food gets put in a category with illegal drugs. Anyway, we use the terms ‘no pesticides’ or ‘naturally grown’. I know these term are not very specific and have no legal meaning according to the USDA. By no pesticides we mean we use only organically approved pest controls. Naturally grown means we use only organic production methods.

I know someone is going to say, ‘Why don’t you get certified?” From our research it looks like we would need to have a PhD. in agronomy and another degree in book keeping just to fill out the application forms. And, by the way, it is a fee of $500 each just to submit the applications – one for crops, another for livestock, and another for poultry. And that is just the beginning. To top it off, we no longer have a certifier in NC so that means we would have to pay mileage for travel from some other state or foreign country.

We agree people need to have a way to have some certainty that what they are buying is what is represented to them. Since the certification process is such a nightmare probably the best way is to get to know your farmer. A farmer that uses the organic standards can tell you what he does in detail. One of the larger farmers at the market told me the other day he would not dare try to do what we are doing because there is too much to learn. There is a lot to learn and we will gladly answer your questions.

We have a good stock of ground beef and steaks from our premium grass-fed Jersey beef for those Memorial Day celebrations.

There is a good amount of pasture raised chicken and several dozen free range farm eggs.

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 expect to see your smiling face at the market!

Blessings,
Joe

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

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

It has been a hot day here at the farm…87 degrees. My Mother used to say one extreme follows another. Of course, Moms are always right. I guess it’s making up for all those below normal temp days.

I am late getting this news letter out this week because things are really cranking up at the farm and at the market. We are busy planting and getting fields ready to plant as well as sowing seeds in the greenhouse. At the same time we have been setting up our permanent space at the market for the season.

We plan to be open at the market every week Tuesday through Sunday. However, we will be there this coming Monday, Easter Monday, 10:00 until 4:00. Our regular hours will be 10:00 until 4:00 each day except Saturdays which will be 8:00 until 4:00.

We have lots of Jersey beef as well as eggs. Remember. we are out of chicken until May.

In greens we have both green and red kale as well as turnip greens.

Offerings in plants include cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, several varieties of lettuce, escarole, Swiss chard, and about 20 varieties of tomato. About 15 tomato varieties are heirlooms. Some of them are Brandywine, German, Cherokee purple, Eva purple ball, striped German, mortgage lifter, June pink, Italian tree, yellow pear, red cherry, black cherry, druzba, pineapple, etc.

I know some of you will want to try the Italian tree tomato. It can grow 12 to 15 feet tall and has the potential to bear 2 to 3 bushels of tomatoes per plant.

Remember, all our plants are grown without any synthetic chemicals.

We will look for you at the market.

Happy Easter.