Hello Trevor-
There is a season for everything, and right now it's BLT Season. Farm fresh tomatoes, field grown lettuce, and salty, smoky bacon.
This week, we are also excited to celebrate the peach's tangy cousin, the nectarine. Each share gets a 2# bag of nectarines this week.
We also have more exciting fruit offerings this week. Seedless Watermelon and traditional seeded, Crimson Sweet Watermelon are here. As are the first plums - a red fleshed, burgundy skinned Morris plum. Peaches are still prime for freezing, jam, and canning.
In this week's Newsletter
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Seedless and Seeded Watermelons - a refreshing snack
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Zucchini Bread - $5 per loaf. made with applesauce for natural sweetener, and to keep it moist, this seasonal classic is the perfect breakfast toasted and served with a slab of butter.
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Peach Pie with Lattice Top- A classic summer flavor
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Morris Plums. Red flesh, burgundy skin, and classic sweet tart plum flavor.
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Pickling cucumbers are slowing down- Second planting has peaked and is slowing down. If you want to can any or ferment some, but them this week.
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EGGS - BUY 2 and SAVE -- Our hens are laying eggs faster than you can eat them. Buy 2 eggs and do some baking this weekend, hard boil some for a snack or to enjoy on a salad, make homemade mayo (for your BLT), or challenge yourself to some deviled eggs for the weekend. **For the promo price, select the "2 Doz Egg Promo" item.
Thanks, and cheers to another tasty week!
Trevor
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Peach Pie with Lattice Top
Our weekly flavor is a summer classic of just peach in a thick syrup and topped with a sugared lattice top.
As always, we start with our signature crust of organic whole wheat flour, local butter, and house rendered pork lard for a flaky crust.
6" Pies - $9
9" Pies - $22
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Zucchini Bread - $5.25
Each quick bread starts with organic flour, organic sugar in the raw, zucchini, and some applesauce for natural sweetness and moisture.
Enjoy toasted and slathered in butter.
Per 24 ounce loaf - $5.25
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**To get the sale price -- select the item "2 Doz Egg Promo"
The hens are still at peak on production. Save $1.50 when you buy 2 dozen.
Our hens enjoy free access to organic pastures where they peck at bugs, grass, and seeds. Their diet is supplemented with non-gmo grains and never any hormones or antibiotics.
2 doz eggs - $8
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Bone In Pork Rib Chops - SALE - $8 per lb
We recently started cutting our hogs a bit different - more like we do at OCP.
The best pork chop, in my opinion, is the well marbled rib chop. On a hog, the neck muscles turn into the core of the shoulder (coppa), then run down the back. That group of muscles over the rib-cage are your rib chops. Towards the end of the ribs, the 4 muscles that came down from the neck transition to one, leaner muscle. That's the short loin - or the boneless loin chop.
Historically, we cut all pork chops as boneless, and you didn't know if you were getting loin chops or rib chops. So to make it fool-proof, I started cutting the hogs so that the rib chops are bone in.
The bone-in pork chop is always a rib chop. It has multiple muscles connecting with some intermuscular fat. There is a bit of belly on the bone as well.
In my opinion, these are the best chops and should be enjoyed on the grill, cooked no more than 145 degrees. Allow them to rest and they will carry up to about 152 degrees. Carve and enjoy.
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Around the Farm: For the Birds | |
July and August so far can be summarized with one word - poultry. We have been so busy around the farm shuffling birds here and there. Every bird - chicken or turkey - has multiple touch points:
1) First 3 to 4 weeks in the "brooder" staying warm
2) Then catch them at 4 AM, move them outside
3) Move their structures every day, 7 days per week
4) Then harvest day, catch them at 4 AM to keep them cool and get them while they aren't running around
For example, last week we had broilers (meat chickens) to harvest, broilers to move outside from the brooder, turkeys to move from barn 2 to pasture, and younger turkeys to move from the brooder to barn 2. So we started 4 out of 5 days before 4 AM.
Then today we had another broiler harvest. Then later today the next batch of broilers hatch and go in the brooder. Tomorrow, the final turkeys hatch and go in the brooder. Then Thursday, my standard bred chickens go outside (read below), Oh, and Friday is duck harvest.
If you aren't tired just from reading that, try being my farm hands. A big thank you to John and Jeremiah for all the hustle and early mornings!
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The Turkey Update
We run 3 groups of turkeys at Wholesome Valley.
Group 1: Heritage Turkeys. Doing great right now and we just finished grouping up all the hatches into one big group and moved them outside. For the first 10 days they are "trapped" in their new, outdoor structure. This trains them to where to roost at night. By this weekend, they'll be free-range and visiting the neighbors (literally). This year's hatches have been great and our numbers are nearly double so far.
Group 2: Broad Breasted Bronze Market Turkeys. This is our big group of faster growing, hybrid turkeys. 2,500 of them that just moved from the brooder back to Barn 2. Here, they sizing up and "hardening off" without supplemental heat. They are also learning the new water bells that they will have outside. They move outside at the end of this month to the "pecking patch."
Group 3: More Broad Breasted Bronze Market Turkeys. To be born, Wed, 08.07. This is our final group that is much smaller and we raise to meet demand for smaller turkeys. It also helps us reduce the risk of having all of our turkeys in one group.
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Standardbred Chicken (aka, Heritage Chicken)
Raising pasture raised chicken has its challenges. The weather and predators are two of the big ones. But the biggest two challenges are actually the consumer and the genetics. Which came first?
The Cornish cross meat chicken is very fast growing and produces a lot of tender breast meat. Despite my attempts to steer demand to drumsticks and thighs, we sell breast 10:1 to all other cuts.
It's a real chicken and the egg question. Was the Cornish cross developed to meet the demand for breast meat? Or is it that a whole couple generations of consumers came up with the luxury of abundant, cheap chicken breast?
The struggles of the cornish-cross
The Cornish cross is not a hardy bird. It was bred to work in a confinement barn situation where the environment is controlled. They don't forage well, they aren't athletic, and they struggle when it's too hot, too cold, or wet. They pile up and smother each other. They pant and have heat stress. They are obese and lazy. But they produce breast meat, and that's what the customer wants.
So, I wanted to try something different
Standard bred, or heritage, chickens are similar to our heritage turkeys. They are very hardy and much better at foraging. However, they grow at a much slower rate, and the difference in size between male and female is more pronounced.
A few years ago, I made some connections to get some good genetics of dual purpose and "meat type" standard bred chicken, including Delaware, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island Reds. To read more about my multi-year adventure in Standard Bred Chicken, refer to this newsletter article from 2022.
4 weeks ago, I met up with a breeder from NJ. It was simple - birds hatch and you start driving west, I'll start driving East. We met in Altoona PA, and I got my fresh chicks.
The last 4 weeks the chicks (above, pictured today) have been in the brooder. They will go out on to pasture this Thursday, and my plan is to harvest some at 8 weeks, 12 weeks, and 16 weeks. In the old days, the terms fryer, broiler, and roaster all referred to the age and size of the bird. Bigger birds were older and tougher, requiring longer, moist cooking techniques. Younger, smaller birds were tender and cooked fast (hence frying).
As we harvest the first Standard bred Chicken, I'll update you in this newsletter and include some recipes to try out these special birds.
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Peaches, Nectarine, Apples, Melons and More | |
This week we have so many more exciting fruit options. This summer has really been a great one for fruit.
Morris Plums - $4.25 per 1.5# bag
Sweet and tart plum, red flesh with burgundy skin. Approx 12 to 14 plums per serving.
Nectarines - $4.25 per 2# bag
Sweet, acidic, with that unique firm but tender flesh. Nectarines are truly a treat!
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Cantaloupe, Athena - Larger and more available this week - a medium to large (5 to 8#) cantaloupe with tender, sweet flesh. $4 each
Sugar Cube Personal Size Cantaloupe - small, softball sized cantaloupe with extra sweet, firm flesh. Excellent eating qualities. $2.15 each
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Peaches - Freestone Varieties
Red Haven A timeless farmer's market classic, nearly fuzz-less on the outside and with a sweet, yellow flesh.
PF Flaming Fury. I was first introduced to Paul Friday's Flaming Fury line about 10 years ago and I love them. Paul Friday is a famous Michigan peach grower who spent his life trying to improve the quality of peaches. Today, he has over 30 patents on peaches ideal for our climate. The Flaming Fury works for the grower with better yields and disease resistance, and it's great for the consumer with improved flavor, size, and texture. These are excellent peaches.
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Yellow Doll Watermelon - Last Call
These are almost done. This will be the last week for these little gems.
The yellow doll has a bright yellow flesh and is seeded. It is a small, very delicate melon that cracks easily.
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Sweet Corn
Super Sweet sweet corn available this week.
The last few weeks we've been selling out of the dozen ears. We have more listed this week.
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Dandee Apples - an improved Paula Red
This season is so stange. It doesn't seem right to be promoting apples next to peaches, watermelon, and nectarines, but it is what it is!
This week we celebrate another good eating apple. The Dandee is a newer variety that is an improved type of Paula Red. it has a sweet-tart flesh with a creamy yellow/white color. It has a satisfying crunch and performs well as a snacking apple or baker.
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Mattie works in our farm kitchen two days per week. She's been a great addition to the team and helps take a leadership roll, quietly putting order to the chaos of Tuesday and Wednesday orders.
When not at the farm, Mattie stays busy at home with her roadside stand (selling flowers and vegetables) and growing certified organic vegetables for Fresh Fork.
One of her favorite items to grow is watermelon. Many of you may remember the great melons from last year. She put more out for us this year, and the first ones are here.
2 Options this week: Red Seedless & Crimson Sweet Seeded
The melons are sold in 3 sizes - small (approx 3 to 4 lb), medium (5 to 7 lb), and large (over 7#)
I had the tough job last night of over-indulging on watermelon, trying to find the words to best describe them. But in the end, they taste nearly identical - the only difference is that one has seeds and the other doesn't.
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Pickles and Canning Produce | |
Pickling Cucumbers
Certified organic pickling cucumbers from our friend (and baker at WVF) Mattie Hershberger .
Approx 4 inch size, great for pickle chips or sliced into small spears.
Harvested fresh daily and chilled immediately. Use these for an acidified traditional pickle - using vinegar - or a simple fermented pickle.
2# and Half Peck (~5#) increments available.
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Bulk Peaches
This week's varieties of Red Haven and PF Flaming Fury are both available in bulk for canning, freezing, baking, etc.
Per 2# bag - $4.45
Per half peck (5#) - $9.75
Per Peck (10#) - $17.90
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Like the weather, subject to change. | |
Small Omnivore
Nectarines
Zucchini
Green Peppers
Lacinato Kale
Carrots
Candy Onion
Lettuce
Tomatoes
Bacon
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Small Vegetarian
Nectarines
Zucchini
Green Peppers
Lacinato Kale
Carrots
Candy Onion
Lettuce
Tomatoes
Beets
Eggs
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Mini
Nectarines
Zucchini
Lacinato Kale
Candy Onion
Carrots
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Large Omnivore
Nectarines
Zucchini
Green Peppers
Lacinato Kale
Carrots
Candy Onion
Lettuce
Tomatoes
Bacon
Whole Wheat Bread
Mayonnaise
Garlic
Eggplant
Ground Chicken
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Large Vegetarian
Nectarines
Zucchini
Green Peppers
Lacinato Kale
Carrots
Candy Onion
Lettuce
Tomatoes
Beets
Eggs
Whole Wheat Bread
Mayonnaise
Garlic
Eggplant
Cantaloupe
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Small Vegan
Nectarines
Zucchini
Green Peppers
Lacinato Kale
Carrots
Candy Onion
Lettuce
Tomatoes
Beets
Peaches
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