Possum Tales July
We have had lots of family visiting over the last month. It has been a blessing to have them close and watch them discover life on the farm. I am very grateful to be able to focus all of my attention back to the farm, including getting this letter out to you! Brian’s attention never wavered from the farm, of course! I saw a T shirt Recently that said Farmer’s Wife- Yes, my husband is still working. No, I don’t know when he’ll be home. No, he isn’t imaginary. Yes, we are still married! Sums the summer up for me! Now, back to the news…...
Visit the Farm
We love when customers come straight to the source for their food. Please come visit, walk around and take home our beef, chicken and eggs. We love to answer questions about our growing practices and animals. Plus, when you visit the farm you hold an extra special place in our hearts.
Chicken
We currently have whole chicken, breasts, leg/thighs and tenders for sale. Our next butcher date for Broilers is October 14th. Here is the Poultry order form to place an order for October chicken. We look forward to seeing all of our Chicken CSA folks :) We hope you enjoyed the cookies last time :)
Beef
We are vending at the Oakland Farmer’s Market on Saturdays. Come down and see us! We currently have a full selection of steaks, roasts, ground burger, beef sticks and jerky.
We butchered our Dexter cattle this spring. Each animal has a different flavor and tenderness profile. We are phasing the Dexters out of our herd due to a lack of consistency in their product. We will be harvesting only Angus crosses for the rest of this year.
Beans and Chicken feed
We got the shell beans planted and are excited about this new adventure. We are hoping many jars of canned cannellini beans will be put up this fall and maybe a few pounds to sell. Due to the rainy weather this spring, we were only able to plant 1 of the 2 acres of soy we hoped to get in the ground. Organic Soy is the hardest ingredient for us to source. We are currently driving 3 hours into PA to get soy. The Certified Organic oats and corn we are using are grown about 20 minutes from the farm. Here are some photos of Brian and friends grinding our feed. Grinding feed in small batches on the farm insures are doing an even better job of making sure that the hens and chickens are receiving the freshest, purest, nutrient dense food we can make.
Eggs
We have slightly more eggs now and have been able to resume deliveries to the Mountain People’s co-op. We deliver on Thursdays. So, if you are in Morgantown and jonesin’ for Possum Tail Farm Eggs, catch them on Thursday evening :)
Fences
We are working hard to install thousands of feet of new fences. These fences are part of a large contract we have with the Natural Resource Conservation Service to continue to improve our grazing spaces and techniques.
“The Rain”
This is our public service reminder folks to be patient with small farmers this summer. The rains have been devastating for many of our market vegetable farmers. They have lost many crops to the wet. If you’d like to help, buy what they do have, try some new vegetables and volunteer to help on the farm!
Turkeys
Avian Flu has hit the Turkey Hatcheries and we did not get our shipment of Turkeys this year. We apologize for the inconvenience to the folks who have already placed their orders. We have the option to buy Turkeys from a conventional farmer and finish them here. They would spend about half of their life here. Is this a good option? Let us know what you think, we are really in a pickle.
Where to Find our Yummy Food
Our Beef and eggs are now at the Mountain Peoples Co-op in Morgantown. All things Herbal in Fairmont is carrying chicken, beef and eggs. We make weekly deliveries into Morgantown. Orders over $50 can beplaced by phone or e-mail and picked up at the Terra Cafe on Thursdays. We vend at the Oakland, MD farmers market on Saturdays. AND, you can come to the farm!
Just for Fun
We currently have a resident skunk who has figured out how to get into the hens electrically fenced area to eat eggs. He waddles under the fence, miraculously avoiding being shocked, and proceeds in search of eggs that have been laid on the ground. (Background info-Skunks will kill hens) Somehow, the hens seem unconcerned about the skunk and even huddle around waiting to clean up bits of broken shell he leaves behind. (Note-This may or may not be the skunk that sprayed woofer Cosmo last year.) As farmers we have choices. We could kill the skunk or allow him to continue on. He isn’t really hurting anything. He has not been aggressive towards the hens (that we know of). The eggs he is eating are on the ground, not in the next boxes. We don’t think he could reach the next boxes (where the eggs that earn us our livelihood are). So, he lives. This is a small experiment in cohabitating with wildlife.