Monday, November 17, 2014

News and Buying Club

Greetings from Dancing Hen Farm!

Our buying club will be open this week!  Ordering starts tomorrow (Tuesday 11/18 at 5 am) and closes Thursday (11/20) at 5am.  All orders need to be placed online.  If you have not already done so, you will need to register for a Free Winter Buying Club share.  Deliveries will be made to Bloom Naturally Friday night (5:30 to 6 pm)  and Dallas (10-10:30 am) and Forty Fort (11 to 11:30 am) on Saturday.

Yes, the weather, yes I need to say something about this weather.  COLD, that is the word!  The lows are being predicted in the mid to low teens the next few nights.  That is frigid for November!  And obviously not very conducive temperatures for growing vegetables!  Even with protective row covers, we may very well lose many of our plantings.  With more normal winter temperatures, we can harvest protected hardy greens into December.  Only time will tell how crops handle these temperatures and as Farmer Don always reminds us "Mother Nature bats last".

With that being said, a small disclaimer about our buying club selection.  We will do our absolute best to fulfill orders.  There is no reliable way to predict what will be harvestable on Friday.  Farmer Don has done his best to make our availability list reflect what he feels will survive these temperatures.  We may however need to make adjustments come Friday, our harvest day.  You may also see kale become slightly wilted.  This kale is still edible and will be very sweet, but the texture may be altered.

Pork!  Yes, our apple orchard pork will be on the buying club this week.  Look for cured bacon and ham; sweet rope and loose country sausage, chops, and roasts.  We will be selling these products by the pound and will not know final cost until we pack your order and weigh the exact item you are getting.  Farmer Don will list the price per pound in the description of the item and will give you an estimate of how much the pack will weigh.  However your online order total will only reflect .01 for any pork items.  We will have your actual order total when you pick up your order.  If you have questions about this, please contact us at the farm.

We continue to have chicken available as well.  Look for half and whole broiler chickens on the buying club.  Stew hens are also in good supply right now.  I cannot say enough about cooking a stew hen for some nutritious bone broth.  I put stew hens on to cook early in the morning and allow them to cook all day.  There is nothing to compare to coming in from the cold and smelling that simmering broth!  You can use your broth immediately, or refrigerate it of freeze it for later use.  Chicken broth can be canned as well, but you must use a pressure canner to safely can this low acid product.  My adventures with the pressure canner will have to wait for a later newsletter!  Let's just say, I have much better luck freezing broth!

We currently have plenty of eggs available for buying club members.  Stock up now for your holiday baking needs!

Speaking of eggs, we said good bye to one of our roosters this week.  Fancy Pants went to live with Jenn, Ed and family in Shavertown.  He was the rooster for our orchard flock of chickens.  We moved these chickens to the barn for the winter, but he still considered the orchard his home.  Every night he would make his way, alone, back up to the old coop and climb up onto a roost.  We were already worried about how he would interact with our other roosters and didn't want to see him spend a cold winter alone in the orchard.  Jenn and Ed were looking for a rooster for their backyard flock, so the other night Farmer Don picked Fancy off his roost, gently placed him in a box and delivered him to his new home.  He will be missed here, but we think he will be happy with his new small flock of hens.  Farmer Don told me Jenn and Ed's daughters were already taking pictures of him!

Next Tuesday (11/25) is one of my favorite farmer's markets, Fork Farm's Thanksgiving market.  The hours for this market are from 1 to 6 pm.  This is a festive fun market, with everyone shopping and getting ready for Thursday's feast.  We will be at market, but, as always, the weather will dictate what we have available.

Well, it seems my buying club newsletters area taking the same format as my CSA newsletters.  Talk about markets means time to end the newsletter!  So, I will end here!  Stay warm and thank you again for your support.

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