2021 Most Recent Newsletter

Greetings from Dancing Hen Farm!

 CSA Members:  I hope everyone enjoyed their CSA boxes.  Thanks for returning boxes to us.

 Can you believe it is August already?  What a roller coaster the weather has been this summer.  From cool, almost fall like, with morning lows in the low 50's and upper 40's.  To a brutal heat wave with day time temperatures pushing 90 plus and overnight lows in the 70's.  Personally, I will take the cooler temperatures.  The heat is hard from me to deal with, as is the need to keep the air conditioning on and the house shut up. 

 In general our fields are looking good.  The weeds, of course, are growing nicely!  Our true summer crops are a bit slow to ripen, but this heat should push them along a bit.  Our cooking greens continue to look beautiful.  A few years back Farmer Don was all about nutrient density of certain vegetables and greens are very high on the nutrient dense list.  Meaning they are packed with vitamins and minerals for a low caloric intake.  We love our greens and add them to stir frys or scrambled with eggs.  We love these green eggs for either breakfast or a quick summer dinner.  Green eggs are simply scrambled eggs with greens stirred in.  Any of the cooking greens do well with eggs.  I usually saute the greens a bit first with some garlic and/or onion and then add the eggs and cook until the eggs are the consistency you like.  A nice salad and some bread make these eggs a fulfilling supper.  Our bok choy this season has been some of the best we have grown for a number of years.  Bok choy, another nutrient dense vegetable, and another vegetable that does nicely in stir frys.  There are also some really great salads out there which use bok choy.  We used to do some cooking demonstrations at farmers markets and would often feature a bok choy salad with a creamy vinaigrette dressing and goat cheese.  All parts of bok choy are edible, but for a milder dish, omit some of the leaves and just use the stems.  Salad greens are also coming on strong.  Farmer Don is very happy to be starting to harvest some mixed greens.  A few will be on this week's choice, with hopefully larger numbers available in the coming weeks. 

 In our kitchen, like most of you, we are busy cooking zucchini!  Zucchini on the grill, zucchini in stir frys, zucchini as a side vegetable, zucchini added to salads and so on!  Yes, it is still zucchini season.  Farmer Don is telling me harvest is starting to slow down, so if you haven't gotten your fill of zucchini yet, order some before we run out.  Yes, we do actually run out of zucchini!  In fact, I need to get some in the kitchen, as I haven't made any zucchini bread yet.  I am also contemplating making some zucchini relish, as peppers are ripening.  Often the zucchini ripens too far ahead of the peppers to make relish.  On the preservation list this year are tomatoes, tomato sauce and applesauce for sure, with some extras thrown in if I have the energy.  If you see Farmer Phil out doing deliveries, you will have to ask him about all the pickling and preserving his parents have been doing.  They have been busy!

 Do any of you remember a number of years ago when I had some snakes take up residence in my herb bed?  Two to be exact and I was convinced they were going to have some huge number of babies.  At that time we had two CSA members who were amateur snake charmers.  Ok, so they were amateur snake hunters, but doesn't charmers sound so much better!?  Anyway the snake charmers were unable to capture the snakes and I never saw any babies.  At some point the snakes left my herb bed and have never returned.  Well this year, earlier in the spring, Farmer Don came down to the house carrying something.  He stood outside the window holding up a long ribbon of some sort.  This "ribbon" was really long - at least a foot longer than he is tall and he is about six feet, making the "ribbon" easily 7 feet long.  What in the world?  I got up to get a better look to discover he was holding a snake skin!  A 7 foot long snake skin!  Oh my!  "Where did you find that?"  I asked.  He told me laying on top of the bushes along the edge of the orchard and then he showed me a second one which was only 5 or 6 feet.  Only 5 or 6 feet!  Ok, so I do not mind snakes, but I have to be honest and say I do not want to run into either of the snakes which left behind those skins.  I mean what are they eating?  They aren't making too huge of a dent in our groundhog or fox populations, but I cannot imagine they are getting that big on field mice and voles?  Anyway I had the great my plan to take a picture of Farmer Don holding both skins and use the picture as a lead into this "snake newsletter".  It was getting dark when he brought them down to the house, so I told him I would take the picture the next day when the light was better.  Farmer Don hung the skins on our back porch where he felt they would be safe.  Of course he did not account for Dilly Dog's ability to get at anything we are trying to keep from her, so first thing the next morning, she ran out the door and snagged a snake skin even before she pottied!  Before I knew it she had the second one down as well.  I decided a half chewed skin didn't make a great picture, so I had fun watching her play with them.  Shaking them, growling at them and rolling on them and yes, also chewing on them like snake jerky.  Eventually we picked them up and poor Dilly had to go back to chewing on her toys.  I have yet to see any super large snakes on farm, but I am treading lightly and keeping my eye out!

 Ok, considering this newsletter has been sitting on my computer for several weeks, I think it is time to simply consider it done and send it out for everyone to read.

 As always Thanks to all members and friends of our farm.  Without your continued support, we would not be able to farm and care for this rocky hillside we call Dancing Hen Farm.

 Closing in Farmer Don's words: "be safe, be well and enjoy those veggies"

2021 CSA Week 4 Newsletter

Greetings from Dancing Hen Farm!

CSA members.  We hope you are enjoying your Week 4 boxes.  Week 4 was not an egg week.  Week 5 is an egg week.  A huge "Thank you" to everyone who has returned boxes to us.

Ah yes, the weather.  Today brings clouds and cooler temperature.  I just checked radar and it looks as though we may remain dry this evening and night.  But, that has not been the case recently, when each day brought high temperatures and evening storms.  Other than Thursday, I cannot remember a day recently without the storms and rain.  On farm, we have been easily getting 0.5 to 2.0 inches of rain a day.  This much rain is almost as challenging as a drought on farm.  With these heavy rains, we are lucky that our fields drain fairly quickly.  However this much rain and days of high humidity means foliage stays wet and wet plants leads to disease problems.  Weeds also love the rain, so many of our fields are starting to look a bit like a jungle.  Time to get out the hoe and even the weed eater to tackle those pesky weeds.

 Our fields are filling up and believe it or not, soon we will be transitioning to planting late summer and fall crops.  Cucumber are setting fruit, so we should have cucumbers available in the next week or so.  Greens continue to be harvested and look really good thanks to the rain!  The Chard and Red Russian kale are both looking beautiful right now.  Red Russian is my favorite kale.  I think it less bitter and I am convinced the red hue is giving me some different, healthy, phyto-chemicals then green curly kale.  Try a massaged kale salad with this red kale for those hot days when cooking seems exhausting.  Our Romaine Lettuce continues to be harvested and we are waiting a new planting of leaf lettuce to size up soon.  A second planting of eggplant went in the ground today and our next planting of summer squash, cucumbers and lettuce has also been planted. 

The farm is still collecting pets.  The most recent is a chicken.  This chicken has decided she should live at the house, not in the coop with her 100 or so sisters.  Each night she makes her way to the porch.  We watch her walking down from the barn, through the yard, a bit before dusk.  She then walks along the railing, cooing and clucking, until she finds her spot to roost.  When chickens roost they tend to poop a lot, so now Farmer Don has to muck the porch!  A job he is not fond of.  We have tried several tactics to get her to go back home, to the coop, at night.  We have shooed her off the porch only to have her clucking and cooing her way back before we even get a chance to sit back down.  Farmer Don has carried her back to the coop and placed her in the far corner near the roost, but she was not deterred!  Nope, she followed he and Dilly all the back to the house and proceeded to once again find her roost on the porch railing.  She has been doing this long enough that Dilly now considers her a member of the house pets and rarely even gives her a second look.  We have to be a bit careful with the chickens and Dilly.  She is not as gentle as Rosie was with them.  Rose would herd the chickens away from the house and back towards the barn.  She sometimes would nip at them to move them along, but she never grabbed them with her mouth.  Dilly, on the other hand, does not have any herding instinct.  She would prefer to grab the chicken and proceed to carry it back to the barn.  Kind of comical to see Dilly, who as I have said before, is not that large, carrying a full grown chicken around.  And as you can imagine, Dilly is not as gentle with the chickens as we would like.  She usually initially grabs them by the neck and unfortunately the outcome is not always a positive one for the chicken.  Since our chickens are free range, Dilly has fairly constant access to them.  For that reason we have spent a good bit of time teaching her not to "carry" chickens and for the most she has learned.  Only occasionally do we now find her with a chicken in her mouth.

It seems our kitchen has been filled with leftovers recently.  We seem to only cook one or two dinners a week and eat the leftovers the rest of the time.  I think we need to learn to cook smaller quantities!  Farmer Don made a really good ratatouille which we had for three meals!  As a side dish to chicken the first meal and over pasta for the next two.  I also made use of beets to make one of my favorite, pickled beets and eggs.  My sister and I are already starting to plan for canning.  We are hoping to can peaches this year and of course tomatoes, tomato sauce and hopefully applesauce.  Last year we didn't get much canning done, as I was not feeling up to it.  This year we are determined to get some jars on the shelves!  Stay tuned for our canning adventures!

Let's see, I talked about the weather, the fields and harvest, the adventures of the farm and now the kitchen.  I am thinking it is time to wrap this newsletter up.  I am ashamed to say I started it over a week ago!!!  

So, as Farmer Don would say:  "be safe, be well and enjoy those veggies"

Until next week (hopefully)...

2021 CSA Week 1 and 2 Newsletter

Greetings from Dancing Hen Farm! 

We hope everyone had a safe and happy July 4th.  We had a simple picnic here on farm with Farmer Phil and his family.  With illness and the pandemic it had been quite a while since we had people over for a meal.  It felt good to plan the meal and cook for others!  I think everyone had a good time, nothing too exciting, just a relaxing early supper on the back porch.  Of course beware, because next time we are threatening to get the games out!

Welcome to Week 1 and Week 2 of our CSA. 

I apologize for blending 2 weeks newsletters in to one.  I need to get back into the habit of weekly newsletters.  With that being said, I hope our CSA members enjoyed their Week 1 and week 2 boxes and are ready for their Week 3 Box.  My plan is to have a Week 3 Newsletter out to everyone later this week.

First some CSA notes.  Members, please remember we reuse the wax boxes your shares are packed in. This week we have a lot of brand new boxes being used.  They are stiff and will require patience to keep them from tearing when you open them. Farmer Don says please remember to push not pull to avoid tearing the tops!  Thank you, these waxed share boxes are an expense for the farm as they cost over two dollars each.   We also reuse clean egg cartons and berry boxes.  These items can be returned to your pick up site and we will collect them.  Another reminder:  The window to choose items for your share opens on Thursdays at 6 pm and closes Sundays at 6pm.  Forgot to sign on or finding most items not available when you do sign on?  Please consider a Farmer's Choice box.  These boxes have looked really good going out this year. 

The weather, what would a Farm newsletter be without me talking about the weather.  What a roller coaster ride the weather in June provided!  We had a heat waves early and late in the month with some chilly weather in between.  We actually had an overnight low of 43 in mid June -- that is very cold for June!  These cool overnight temperatures were good for our lettuce and kales, but not good for peppers or Asian greens.  Peppers will actually drop flowers and fruit at these temperatures.  Temperatures below 50 cause some Asian greens (such as napa cabbage) to bolt or set a flower stalk.  For this reason we are in the process of re-planting our napa cabbage and our peppers may be delayed in harvest this year.

Speaking of harvest we continue to bring in some beautiful bok choy.  Our kales and Swiss chard are also looking really good right now.  Zucchini continues to be harvested and with any luck we should be able to keep zucchini and other summer squash going for the majority of our season.  We have started harvesting romaine lettuce and it is looking really nice.  Our pea harvest is pretty much over as the heat has taken its toll on the pea plants.  Next week we are hoping to have spring onions and garlic available.  This year we are again partnering with some other growers in our community to bring you the best selection of items.  One of these growers has greenhouse space which is where the early tomatoes and eggplant are coming from.  

Dilly is still ruling the farm.  She has outgrown some of her puppyhood and is starting to settle down.  Never did I think I would say Dilly and settle down in the same sentence!!  But she is suddenly content to hang out with us on the porch or lay on the couch for an afternoon nap.  She is learning the workings of the farm, learning what is good and what is bad and learning what to avoid!  I am fairly certain she now knows porcupines and skunks are bad and she is slowly learning that chickens and barn cats are good.  She has most definitely determined that groundhogs are bad and one of her personal vendettas is to eradicate the farm of them.  Dilly s not a large dog, so she can handle the smaller groundhogs by herself, but needs help from Farmer Don for the larger ones.  This leads me to a classic Dilly story!

The other afternoon, Farmer Don was off farm, and Dilly was patrolling the property.  I was inside and heard a ruckus outside the garage door.  Dilly and another animal seemed to be in the fight of their lives.  Being an overprotective doggy Mom, I decided Dilly needed help and made the decision, the WRONG decision, to open the garage door.  With the garage open barely a few inches in ran a groundhog with Dilly close behind.  As the groundhog made a run for me and inside of the house, I screamed and quickly slammed the inside door.  But, the fight continued, inside the garage now.  Every time I open the door to check things out the groundhog seemed determined to run for the inside door.  When I heard Dilly yipe, I opened the door to find that the groundhog had Dilly on her back!  Now all three of us were screaming.  Dilly had recovered and was now on all fours growling and barking at the groundhog, the groundhog was on its haunches hissing and squealing at Dil and I was standing in the doorway yelling for Dilly to get inside.  Dilly did eventually listen and came running in the house with me.  At about this time the back-up calgary (my sister!) arrived to help.  She helped me back the car out of the garage and scoot the unhappy hissing groundhog out with the broom!  Thankfully Dilly escaped the fight without a scratch.  I am not sure about the groundhog, as handling a hissing, angry groundhog is not high on my list of things to do.  If nothing else, I think Dilly convinced it to not hang out by the garage door!

There have been some changes here on farm over the last year.  Most notable is that we have downsized quite a bit.  Our CSA membership is less than half of the members we had last year and we do not anticipate attending farmers markets this year.  Farmers Don and Phil will miss their friends and customers at market!  We are trying to figure out the logistics of a setting up a pay as you go summer buying club, so our market customers can still order from us if they like.  Pre-ordering will most likely be required and you will need to meet us at a designated place and time to collect and pay for your order.  Watch up-coming emails for more information and details.  Please send us an email if you think you might be interested!  (dancinghenfarm@epix.net) 

Ok, ok, I know this is getting really long!  So, I will close this saga here.

Thanks again for your support of our farm and local sustainable agriculture.  

And as Farmer Don would say "be safe, be well and enjoy those veggies".

2021 CSA Details and Farm News

 

Greetings from Dancing Hen Farm!

We have finally made some decisions concerning our 2021 growing season.  Farmer Don has been writing this newsletter for over a week, but his life is quite busy right now, so I thought I would take over the task. 

So, first for our CSA.  We will be offering a CSA to our customers again this season.  We will continue to be a full choice CSA.  You will again be able to sign into our website and choose the items you want in your box each week.  We are hoping to start deliveries sometime in June and end regular deliveries in October.  Deliveries will again be on Wednesdays.  We will be making some changes to our CSA.  We will be eliminating our chicken shares from the CSA.  If you already purchased a chicken share for this season, we will touch base with you on an individual basis.   In an effort to be more sustainable and cut our fuel and delivery costs, we will not be offering home deliveries this summer.  Again, if you already sent in payment for your 2021 CSA to include home delivery, we will contact you individually.  Farmer Don is very optimistic about this year's growing season.  He is feeling well and is ready to get growing for us and for our community.  Thanks to everyone for your continued support of our CSA.  It is hard to believe this is our 14th season!  If you have questions about the 2021 CSA or our farm, please do not hesitate to contact us. 

The 2021 CSA is now officially open for registration.  Like last year, we are limiting number of members.  Shares will be reserved in order in which payment is received.  At this time we take cash (in person) or check.  We are not set up to take plastic.  Please visit our website to register and sign up for a share.

As we celebrate the spring equinox and the first day of spring, I do believe we are making the turn from winter into spring.  The sun is getting higher in the sky and we are starting to get some warmer days.  The snow seems to have finally melted.  I know we can still get some snow storms, but it is so nice to feel this rebirth we call Spring.  Here on farm the crocus are blooming and the other spring bulbs are pushing up from the soil.  Animals and birds are slowing returning and waking from their winter slumber.  We have seen robins, groundhogs, chipmunks and skunks.  If you see Farmer Don you will have to ask him about the skunk.  The other week he had a minor and very much unwanted encounter with the wrong end of a skunk!  His story gets more and more animated with each telling.  I am convinced soon he will be telling everyone he fought the skunk off with flaming arrows! 

Dilly, Dilly, Dilly; yes, Dilly is still ruling the farm and the house.  She is a very active pup!  She is busy learning what does and doesn't belong on farm.  Farmer Don is convinced she will be a good varmint dog.  Only time will tell, she does seem very interested in our farm enemies, but she has yet to have a one on one encounter with any.  Shady also was a good varmint dog until she had a run in with a groundhog and after that she watched things from a safe distance.  I don't think Dilly has seen the chipmunk yet, but she is very interested in the groundhog and the rodents in the barn.  And, of course, the barn cats.  We are very thankful Dilly was in the house when Farmer Don was doing battle with the skunk!  Dilly is also our resident kleptomaniac.  She is the ultimate counter and table surfer, stealing whatever she feels is of high value.  She chews her finds and then hides them under the couch!  Yesterday this was a pen.  She brought the rubber finger grip to me in the bedroom.  It took me awhile to determine what she had and where she got it.  When I went looking for my pen, I realized what Dill had and then panicked that it had exploded and ink was seeping into the rug.   Luckily the pen seemed to be fairly Dilly proof.  It sustained enough chewing it became trash, but thankfully no leaking ink. 

Several weeks ago Dilly was spayed and needed to wear the collar of shame, only she didn't seem to mind the collar.  Any other dog I have ever owned or been around has tried to remove this big collar as soon as it is put on, but not Dilly.  She even learned how to manipulate it to get into small places and even was still be able to steal off the table.  It was so cute to see her jogging around outside with this big plastic cone on.  Secretly, I think she may have actually liked the collar!  The vet was amazed that all her stitches were still intact when we took her back for the follow up appointment. 

On farm we are busy planning and planning for this upcoming season.  We have lined up some help for the summer.  Farmer Don will be working some off farm, so we have arranged for our neighbor Paul to stop by and water plants and animals.  He has also agreed to allow Dilly to run while he is here.  I am sure he will become one of her best friends!  We also are welcoming Jason back to help up on Saturdays.  Rumor has it he will be bringing his boys around as well to help with chores and projects.  We are also planning on our friend John assisting Farmer Phil with deliveries this year.   I am sure there will be more people added to this list as the season moves along. 

We hope everyone is weathering the COVID pandemic well.  Hard to believe it has been over a year now of masks and social distancing.   On farm we are thankful toilet paper is again available at our local grocery store and that for the most past we have remained untouched by the virus and the pandemic.  We very much feel getting vaccinated is a personal choice.  Farmer Don decided he would feel safer, being off farm if he were vaccinated, so he spent a bit of time this morning at the Benton Fire Hall getting his first of the series of two COVID vaccines.  Hopefully his second shot will be available when he needs to receive it.  I am waiting to get the vaccine until I can feel confident it will not aggravate any of my pre-existing health concerns.  Please, everyone, stay safe out there. 

Ok, this is getting long!  Time to print and have Farmer Don read and review this newsletter before I send it out to everyone. 

 

 

 

Helping Mommy with the plants.

 

Greetings from Dancing Hen Farm!

Welcome to Week 18 of our 2020 CSA.  This is the final delivery for this year's CSA.  Last week, Week 17 was an egg week.  This week, Week 18, is not an egg week. 

A special note to Chicken Share Members:  We will be in touch with you personally to talk about the final delivery.  Our last batch of chickens have not sized up yet, so we were unable to deliver them with this week's final CSA delivery.  Stay tuned for further updates.

Sorry for missing last week's newsletter.  Life got a bit complicated last week and I honestly did not have the opportunity to sit down and even scribble out a short newsletter.  And I have to confess, I was secretly hoping Farmer Don would return as newsletter author for the end of this season.  But, it seems you are stuck with the Farmer's wife again.

After some cool temperatures over the weekend, it looks like warm weather is returning for a few days.  We bottomed out at 26 this weekend, so now our growing season is officially over.  Today is a beautiful spring/early summer day, only it is October!   Time to savor every sunny warm day and save up this feeling for those long grey winter days still to come.

Life with Dilly Bean continues to be a daily adventure here at Dancing Hen Farm.  This week she managed to drink Farmer Don's coffee!  And Farmer Don couldn't understand why she was a wild woman that morning!  And now she knows any mug or glass has a treat for Dilly and the possibility of a giant Dilly mess to be made.  And now we know all glassware needs to be kept well out of Dilly's reach.  We are learning most everything needs to be kept well out of Dilly's reach!  Last night while Farmer Don was packing boxes she managed to steal a dozen eggs and smash them all over the floor.  For this trick Dilly was rewarded with a squirt from the hose and a puppy time out.  Eggs are a precious commodity here on farm, so Dilly's little devilish deed meant Farmer Don had to head to the chicken house before sunrise and gather another dozen eggs for pack.  One of our customer's has Dilly to thank for a really fresh dozen eggs.

As I have done in other newsletters this year, I want to again thank everyone for the support.  2020 has not been an easy year for us or the farm.  It has been so nice to know we have such a supportive community rallying around our farm.  So thanks to each of you for your support, your understanding and your compassion. 

Please watch your email for the start up of our fall/winter buying club.  For now, Farmers Don and Phil will be at the Back Mountain Market at the Dallas High School starting at 9 am.  We will have eggs, some veggies and pastured pork for purchase.

I will continue to keep everyone updated on farm activities, but not as frequently as our summer weekly newsletters.

Thank you again and in the words of Farmer Don: "be safe, be well and enjoy those veggies".

 

2020 CSA Week 16 Newsletter

Greetings from Dancing Hen Farm!

Welcome to Week 16 and a half of our CSA.  Week 16 was not an egg week. After last week's delivery there are 2 weeks remaining in our 2020 CSA.

The weather has been really beautiful lately!  Well, beautiful in the sense of nice fall days, but the lack of rain is not a good thing.  We are hoping that Tropical Storm Delta will bring us some soaking showers on Monday.  We need several days of soaking rain to even start to replenish our deficient water table, but even one day with rain will be a welcome sight. 

I have to apologize for this newsletter being so late.  I had been so proud of myself this season and getting newsletters sent out in a timely fashion.  But, that was before a Canine Terrorist moved to Dancing Hen Farm.  This little brown and black terrorist has teeth as sharp as needles and nails sharper than our barn cats!  Yes, Dilly is settling in and true to puppy form is ruling the farm right now.  Silly Dilly evokes images of a goofy little puppy full of puppy cuteness.  Oh she has plenty of puppy cuteness, but this cuteness is intermixed with a hyper active energy level which rivals an Irish Setter I grew up with. 

The other morning, while I was still upstairs getting dressed for the day, I could hear Farmer Don having a round with our little devil, err I mean angel!  Farmer Don is one of the most patient people I know, so if he was raising his voice, something was up.  When I made it down the steps, I found newspapers strewn from one end of the house to the other.  It seems Dilly found our wooden box of papers for recycling.  She decided the best game in town was to grab an entire section and run with it, allowing it to flutter and flap behind her like angel wings!  She would then stop and chew on the paper a bit, making spitballs any teenage boy would be jealous of.  As Farmer Don cleaned up spitball messes, she would dart back to the box, grab another section to start the game again.  The more Farmer Don said "no", the wider Dilly's grin got and the faster she ran with her angel wings.  So much for positive reinforcement training!  We managed to corner her and gave her a time out!  That paper box has been in the same spot for years and neither Rose or Shady were ever even curious about it!  Needless to say Dilly is keeping us busy.  Right now Dilly is laying innocently enough on my foot chewing her kong, only I know from experience, it is only a matter of minutes before she moves from chewing her kong to chewing my foot!

In the kitchen, Farmer Don has been using up tomatoes to make large batches of pico de gallo.  This fresh salsa is a true seasonal item and always a farm favorite.  I just need to watch that he doesn't make it too hot!  We have plans to make some sauerkraut soon.  I miss having fresh lacto fermented foods to eat.  Farmer Don and I both need to build up our gut health, so the sauerkraut will be a good start.  My sister and I also still have plans for some applesauce canning this fall.  Applesauce is a favorite between our two houses.  Speaking of apples, Farmer Don and I also need to make some apple crisp!  Another favorite!  Farmer Don likes his crisp with ice cream, but I like mine with just a bit of milk.  Apple crisp with milk was often how we ate apple crisp when I was growing up.

Between chasing a new puppy, we are still finding time to prepare for the upcoming winter.  I have been getting plants ready to bring inside to overwinter and Farmer Don has been shutting down irrigation systems and harvesting the last of our fall crops.  We are ready for the slower pace of fall and winter.  Hopefully the slower pace will allow for some rejuvenation of our energies and also allow some time for puppy training. 

So, I will end here with a vow to get this newsletter out before Sunday.  It may be late Saturday night, but it WILL be before Sunday!

Thanks again to everyone for their continued support!

Be safe, be well and enjoy those veggies!

 

 

Greetings from Dancing Hen Farm!  Welcome to autumn, Welcome October and Welcome new farm member Dilly Bean!

Welcome to Week 15 of our CSA.  After this week's delivery there are 3 weeks remaining in our CSA.  Week 15 is an egg week.  This week is also a Chicken Delivery week, so please remember to pick up your chicken at your drop site.

We are finally getting a bit of rain here on farm.  Saturday's rain was a bit of a surprise. Farmer Don was at the Back Mountain Market and did not expect and therefore was not prepared for rain,  but he is not complaining.  Rain is a welcome sight this year! The forecast is for possible significant rain today and tonight.  This rain is too late for our summer crops and too late for our neighbors' corn and soybean crops.  However any rain will help with replenishing our water table. 

Can you believe we are welcoming October this week?  And have you noticed the trees are starting to change.  Almost overnight there are bursts of red and gold!  Farmer Don and I like to observe the local microclimates this time of year.  For instance the trees in Bloomsburg and Berwick are not nearly as far along as those up here in Northern Columbia and I am sure further north the colors are really getting brilliant!  We are hoping to maybe take a little drive this week and do some leaf peeping.  However, our new farm member, may keep us closer to home!

So never, ever did I think this soon after losing both our girls would I be writing about bringing a new puppy into our family.  But, that is exactly what I am doing!

We were not certain we were ready for another dog, but then Silly Dilly Bean stole our heart.  She was an owner surrender to a veterinary hospital.  Dilly is a 3 month old small mixed breed, we are still trying to determine the mix?  One thing for certain, she is all puppy!  We have not had a puppy on farm for quite some time and that puppy was Rosie.  Being a Border Collie, Rosie had her own unique way of being a puppy.  But, Dilly is very much a typical puppy.  Full of energy and sass.  Dilly is slowly learning her name and to potty outside.  She still does not understand why she can't chew up the afghan on the couch or our shoes.   Dilly loves to steal things and run around trying to get us to chase her.  We try not to play her game, but sometimes we do not have a choice.  Today, she stole a bottle of cooking oil off a shelf in the kitchen and came running through the living room with it.  I envisioned a large oil spill on the rug and then a squirmy puppy getting saturated with oil and running throughout the house!  Luckily Farmer Don was able to wrestle the bottle from her before she put a hole in the bottle with her razor sharp puppy teeth and before the lid popped off!  Dilly will definitely be keeping us busy and I am sure I will have many more Dilly stories to share with everyone!  I want to thank Ashley and all the staff at the Sunbury Animal Hospital for taking such good care of Dilly.  The care, love and training she received at this facility is very evident. 

The slower pace of fall and winter is starting to take over the farm.  Soon, all of our fields will be empty of crops.  Animal chores will, of course, continue.  We have one more batch of meat birds finishing now and we still have our pigs in the orchard.  With the pigs need for a daily walk around the neighborhood, they have not gained weight as quickly as we had hoped.  Therefore we don't anticipate them going to market until sometime in November.  If you are interested in freezer pork meat, please contact us at the farm for details.  

I want to take a moment to thank everyone for your support over the deaths of Shady and Rosie.  The cards and messages we received made us realize we and the farm, have built a good community of people.  As Farmer Don always says the CSA (and the farm in general) is about community.

With that I will end for this week.  Please, be well, be safe and enjoy those veggies!