Hello

Sorry about the poorly framed photo above. I had to keep an eye on Mom as I helped her new calf to its feet yesterday. Some cows are more aggressive than others and will charge. This one was fairly trusting of me with her newborn.

Read below about calving on the farm...and the surprises that we sometimes have.

This week the tastes of summer continue as we feature blueberries, peppers, and uncured hot dogs (simply means a hot dog smoked with only the naturally occurring nitrates from concentrated celery juice.

Enjoy,
Trevor
Still Time To Join this Season - Prorated
As our season continues, please tell a friend to join us for the remainder of the season.

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HIRING
To apply:
1) email info@freshforkmarket.com
2) state your availability
3) state what position you are interested in

We are looking for additional part-time labor, including:

Drivers - with or without a Class-B CDL, drivers are part of the delivery team from the warehouse to the pickup locations

Greeters - rain or shine, our greeters help check in the members at the back of the truck.

Packers - at the warehouse, Wed thru Friday, the packers assemble the totes for the week
Canning Season
As produce becomes more available and lower priced, we will be offering produce in larger quantities for those interested in canning and freezing.

If you go to the CSALogin site and click shop, you will find a Bulk for Preserving Category.

This week's bulk items include:
Roma Tomatoes - perfect for canning whole or making tomato sauce and salsa
Pickling Cucumbers - firm, small cucumbers perfect for canning

And for general reference, a lot of bulk produce is sold by the volume. For example, the saying is that a "pint is a pound the world around." There are:
2 pints in a quart
4 quarts in a peck
2 pecks in a half bushel
2 half bushel in a busherl

The most common sizes for canning are Peck (approx 10#) and half bushel (approx 20#).

Other Notable Product Back: Last week there was a very strong response to the mushroom sale. While we won't have shitakes until next week, we do have a good supply of oysters from Erie Seed and Spore.
Setting Skins on Potatoes
The difference in new skin vs cured potatoes
A few weeks back we had the "new skin" red potatoes. The new skin means that the potato was dug while the plant was still alive and the skin wasn't given time to "cure." The skin is therefore very delicate and often rubs off when washing.

This week, the potatoes were treated a different way. First, the potato plants were mowed off to kill off the plant. The potatoes were left in the ground for about a week before being dug.

The potatoes are then left on a wagon with plenty of air around. The air moves through the dirty potatoes and allows the skin on the surface to dry out and become stronger.

Finally, the potatoes are washed and packaged, ready for your enjoyment.

This process allows the skins to "cure" or "set." Otherwise, you'd have very little long term protection for the potato. These potatoes should be stored in a cool, dark place and should be good for several months.
The Immaculate Cowception
This year I'm up to 8 calves on the farm. This is unusual as I don't have a bull on my farm. I used to...but keeping him away from any open (not bred) heifers was near impossible. For the last 5 years he has resided at a rented farm about 2 miles away.

Our first calf was born on Feb 28 in about 4 inches of snow. The 8th, and hopefully the last, was born just yesterday afternoon in direct sun and 90 degrees!

Which leads me to ask, Who is the Daddy?
First, let's get our terminology right. There are 4 "genders" of beef:

Cow: this is the mature female who has had 1 or more calves. She can have 1 calf per year, and usually she is bred for 6 to 7 years, although 10 years isn't impossible.

Bull (photo to the right): this is the mature male with his reproductive organs intact. A farm usually only has 1 bull and he can "service" up to 75 females in as short as 3 month time window.

Heifer: this is the unbred female

Steer: this is the neutered male

Generally, the quality of beef is related to the genetics, the management of the herd (grazing practices), the feed (quality of the pasture), the age, and the gender.

Fat is important in beef for tenderness and flavor. Fat comes from the quality of the feed and the gender. A bull is generally very muscular and very lean; a cow will tend to be fattier, but her condition varies a lot depending on how recently she carried a calf.

Tenderness also comes from the age of the animals. Over 24 months and the meat structure becomes more firm and less tender. As a result, we tend to slaughter beef that is young and gender neutral - generally steers and heifers. Cows and bulls are generally used to grind for burger, sausage, or cooked products like bologna.

Finally, if you look at gender and age together, you realize that the male hormones create lean beef. It is common in many beef operations to "steer" the bull calves when they hit 9 months of age. During those first 9 months, the bull calf grows faster with the testosterone. However, I "steer" my bulls at day 1 so that they grow slower and develop more intramuscular fat as opposed to lean muscle. In a traditional corn-finished feedlot operation, the high energy grain diet is used to equal things out at the end.
I keep the "finishing" herd on my farm. That means that all the bulls have been "steered" and the heifers are not for breeding. This is for best quality.

But then where did these 8 surprise calves come from? There are three possibilities I can think of:
1) The fence wasn't good and the neighbor's bull came over...which I have seen. However, none of these calves demonstrate characteristics of a holstein dairy breed.
2) The band fell off a bull calf
3) There was a stag

A stag is a male with only 1 testicle. When banding the young bull, it is possible for one of the testicles to be tucked up in the loin of the animal, protected it from the castration.

It's an age old question around farm country. Can a stag breed with just one "seed"? I have yet to get a decisive answer from the old Google, but I can tell you now with certainty that I had a stag last summer and now I have 8 calves.
Bag Contents
Small Omnivore
Smoked Hot Dogs
Blueberries
Grape Tomatoes
Green Peppers
Red Onion
Fennel
Red Potatoes
Garlic
Kale

Small Vegetarian
Blueberries
Grape Tomatoes
Green Peppers
Red Onion
Fennel
Red Potatoes
Garlic
Kale
Plums
Eggplant
Mini
Red Potatoes
Garlic
Fennel
Grape Tomatoes
Kale
Large Omnivore
Smoked Hot Dogs
Blueberries
Grape Tomatoes
Green Peppers
Red Onion
Fennel
Red Potatoes
Garlic
Kale
Peaches
Pink Slicing Tomatoes
Chicken Patties
Large Vegetarian
Blueberries
Grape Tomatoes
Green Peppers
Red Onion
Fennel
Red Potatoes
Garlic
Kale
Plums
Eggplant
Peaches
Pink Slicing Tomatoes
Gouda
Dried Pasta



Small Vegan
Blueberries
Grape Tomatoes
Green Peppers
Red Onion
Fennel
Red Potatoes
Garlic
Kale
Plums
Eggplant

For more recipes, visit our archive at https://freshforkmarket.com/recipes/
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