Farm Updates
This Week’s Spring Bounty
Whether you are one of our subscribers or just shopping the farmers market here are a few tidbits on what you might find there and how to prepare it. First, I would advise taking a nibble shortly after purchase so you know what everything tastes like and to spark your creative culinary juices, so to speak. Next lets talk about the Calendula Flower. The petals can be used in salads and the leaves are also edible but not known to be palatable. Interestingly, it’s traditionally been used as a culinary and medicinal herb. It’s been...
read moreWe’re Hosting a Lunch with Joel Salatin!
Come visit the farm, eat good food, support the preservation of local farmland and rub elbows with celebrity farmer Joel Salatin! Some may ask, “Who is Joel Salatin?” He’s the farmer that was made famous by Michael Pollan’s Ominvore’s Dilemma. He’s also a farmer we try to emulate. And he has a new book out . . . We hope you will join us. Either way, be sure to spread the word among your food interested friends. Find out more and buy tickets...
read moreSurprise Calf
What?! There’s a new calf in the field?! Yes, I suppose we’re greenhorns. But to be fair, we did suspect that the cow was pregnant–we just didn’t know the time frame. One of the reasons we got Highland Cattle is that they are known to have easy, unassisted births. So there you go. New mama and baby are doing great. And bull Valiant is an adorable papa. As the season continues to advance in its wonderful growing ways, we are selling whole oven-ready chickens, eggs and possibly veges at the farm, 5145 McDonald Ave NE,...
read moreOur Garden Subscription is Starting!
For those of you who have signed up for our Garden Subscription, you get to pick up your first “box” today. Actually, it’s a food grade bucket. When you bring back the bucket the following week, you can fill it with food scraps from the food we provided and/or organic scraps from other vegetables you’ve purchased elsewhere and we will turn it into rich compost for the farm. Soon we will house these buckets in recycled cloth shopping bags with the Heyday logo on them that will look something like this (this bag is a...
read moreOven-ready chicken update, dogs in the news, garden subscriptions, egg tips and more
We’ve decided to wait one more week before selling our next freedom ranger whole oven-ready chickens. We’ve also updated our farm calendar into the future to account for the slight shift in timing that seems to have taken place related to the growth of the chickens. Please update your own calendars accordingly. When we sell our chickens on May 11 and 12, 3-6 p.m., we will also likely have Heyday pork (USDA portion-sized cuts), eggs and vegetables available for purchase as well! Speaking of vegetables, we still have room for more...
read moreMaremma Sheep Dogs Used in Australia to Protect Penguins
Someone recently pointed out this project to me and it made me feel good about our choice to get our own wonderful Maremmas (and that picture is of one of our boys–aren’t they getting big?!). Speaking of Rainier and Olympus, the dogs did well on one of their regular walks amongst the chickens this morning. Rainier bypassed an egg without a word from me! As a side note, one of the perks of the job is giving those eggs that end up in the field instead of a nesting box to the pigs–the grunts and yolk running down the chin . ....
read moreOven ready chickens this Friday and Saturday at the farm
We’ll be selling whole oven ready chickens this Friday and Saturday, April 13 and 14, from 3-6 p.m. at 5145 McDonald Ave NE. We’ll also have eggs available. We hope to see you there!
read moreSpring Break for Spring Chickens
We are postponing our monthly chicken selling dates this month to April 13/14 instead of April 6/7 because of spring break. We figured a number of people may be getting away and avoiding the pineapple express. Related to the weather, spring is here (albeit one of the wettest Marches on record) and we are busily tending starts and transplanting an array of organic garden produce for the season. Here is a sneak peek at some of the items we plan to offer: imperial artichokes, five color silver beet chard, red cash lettuce, walla walla onions,...
read morePuppies will be puppies!
Yes, Olympus and Rainier have a lot to learn. But we love them anyway. Our training has progressed and regressed all in the same breath. We removed the kennel, added a new shelter, and gave them free reign with the chickens and they were doing great until one morning when they didn’t do great. But anyone that has spent any time in training a dog knows that all training issues come back to the human. So here’s what happened. The chicken house did not get closed up properly one night. So, come morning, when the chickens came out...
read moreSpring 2012!
In honor of Spring 2012, now several minutes old, we wanted to give an update about the garden we are planning and preparing to plant. The greenhouse is really starting to green out with all kinds of starts – pac choi, onions (3 kinds), chard, lettuce (3 kinds), kale (2 kinds), and lots of peppers (4 varieties so far). It’s one of those odd events on the farm – needing to water the seed starts in the greenhouse when it is so wet outside, but it is sheer pleasure to duck inside and enter the tropics of the greenhouse. While...
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