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News from the farm for August 14, 2009
Posted 8/14/2009 11:55pm by Heather Redden.
Hello!
Wow, so much has been going on that I've just had trouble finding time to write! I probably won't be able to fit it all in here without writing a book. Summer is finally here! The weather has been odd this summer though I'm certainly not complaining. It hasn't caused too much trouble for us. Getting hit all at once by the heat has been a bit hard on the laying hens. They are doing fine but a lot of heat tends to cause them to lay less. Not good news for our devoted egg followers!
As some of you will have noticed at the market the last few weeks, we do have local honey available now. We decided to offer some cut comb honey and can't believe how popular that has been. We are almost out for the year already. I will definitely plan to harvest more comb honey next year. We have plenty of 8 oz bottles of honey so if you haven't gotten any yet there is still time. Local honey that has not been heated or filtered can be helpful for those with allergies and it tastes great. Local honey in some ways is almost like wine. Unlike what you get in the store which is blended honey from many locations, heated and filtered so that it all tastes the same, local honey has a unique character that changes from year to year depending on what is blooming. Each year's honey is a vintage that will never be repeated again.
Brandon has gotten the romaine lettuce growing again. The weather has made that a challenge. He has done many experiments and thinks that he has it figured out. We are looking forward to that. I miss salads!
The animals are always giving us a lot of joy and great stories but also some times of great sadness. I haven't ever said anything about our cats. They are constant fixtures in our lives and serve the dual purpose of keeping rodents under control and sitting on our laps and purring, both activities of great importance. Our beautiful little long haired lioness, Francis, died last week from unknown causes despite everything our vet and I could do for her. She will be greatly missed for while she was a fierce predator she was also the most lovable, tolerant cat towards our two small children. She would let Julia carry her in all sorts of crazy positions and let Ella chew on her ears and would purr for all of it and come back for more. We were blessed to have her in our lives and so sorry that she could only stay for 5 short years.
On a much more upbeat note, the remaining four turkeys are doing great(I'm knocking on wood so hard right now that my knuckles hurt)! One of them has decided that she is a chicken and has moved into the chicken coop to roost at night. The turkeys are very curious about everything and are constantly making us laugh. One of the toms even decided that it might be fun to play soccer and kicks our daughters' soccer ball around the front yard! Who knew turkeys were soccer fans? We finally have the sheep under control as well.
We've done a lot of trouble shooting on our electric fence, learned a whole lot, and both of us have accidentally tested it. Believe me, it's working great now! It even keeps in Fergus, our Icelandic wether. Fergus is the ultimate fence tester, a huge troublemaker, and the friendliest sheep I have ever met. By the way, he got out of this fence!
I hope to see many of you at the market tomorrow. Enjoy the rest of the summer since it seems to be flying by. Come early to the market for eggs since they always go super fast. If you like our hardneck garlic, it would be a good idea to stock up while we still have some. We are almost out for the season. We will be planting even more this fall than we did last year because it has been so well received. And as always, thanks for all your support.
Sincerely,
Heather and Brandon Redden
www.naturesharborfarm.com
Wow, so much has been going on that I've just had trouble finding time to write! I probably won't be able to fit it all in here without writing a book. Summer is finally here! The weather has been odd this summer though I'm certainly not complaining. It hasn't caused too much trouble for us. Getting hit all at once by the heat has been a bit hard on the laying hens. They are doing fine but a lot of heat tends to cause them to lay less. Not good news for our devoted egg followers!
As some of you will have noticed at the market the last few weeks, we do have local honey available now. We decided to offer some cut comb honey and can't believe how popular that has been. We are almost out for the year already. I will definitely plan to harvest more comb honey next year. We have plenty of 8 oz bottles of honey so if you haven't gotten any yet there is still time. Local honey that has not been heated or filtered can be helpful for those with allergies and it tastes great. Local honey in some ways is almost like wine. Unlike what you get in the store which is blended honey from many locations, heated and filtered so that it all tastes the same, local honey has a unique character that changes from year to year depending on what is blooming. Each year's honey is a vintage that will never be repeated again.
Brandon has gotten the romaine lettuce growing again. The weather has made that a challenge. He has done many experiments and thinks that he has it figured out. We are looking forward to that. I miss salads!
The animals are always giving us a lot of joy and great stories but also some times of great sadness. I haven't ever said anything about our cats. They are constant fixtures in our lives and serve the dual purpose of keeping rodents under control and sitting on our laps and purring, both activities of great importance. Our beautiful little long haired lioness, Francis, died last week from unknown causes despite everything our vet and I could do for her. She will be greatly missed for while she was a fierce predator she was also the most lovable, tolerant cat towards our two small children. She would let Julia carry her in all sorts of crazy positions and let Ella chew on her ears and would purr for all of it and come back for more. We were blessed to have her in our lives and so sorry that she could only stay for 5 short years.
On a much more upbeat note, the remaining four turkeys are doing great(I'm knocking on wood so hard right now that my knuckles hurt)! One of them has decided that she is a chicken and has moved into the chicken coop to roost at night. The turkeys are very curious about everything and are constantly making us laugh. One of the toms even decided that it might be fun to play soccer and kicks our daughters' soccer ball around the front yard! Who knew turkeys were soccer fans? We finally have the sheep under control as well.
We've done a lot of trouble shooting on our electric fence, learned a whole lot, and both of us have accidentally tested it. Believe me, it's working great now! It even keeps in Fergus, our Icelandic wether. Fergus is the ultimate fence tester, a huge troublemaker, and the friendliest sheep I have ever met. By the way, he got out of this fence!I hope to see many of you at the market tomorrow. Enjoy the rest of the summer since it seems to be flying by. Come early to the market for eggs since they always go super fast. If you like our hardneck garlic, it would be a good idea to stock up while we still have some. We are almost out for the season. We will be planting even more this fall than we did last year because it has been so well received. And as always, thanks for all your support.
Sincerely,
Heather and Brandon Redden
www.naturesharborfarm.com
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