Mulberry Creek Farm CSA

Mulberry Creek Farm NewsBlog

Volume 2: Issue 1 – published occasionally at the whim of the editor - 1/25/10

In this issue:

Introduction

Garden News

How the CSA Works

Poultry Products

Hog Hearsay

Jams, Jellies and Honey

Miscellany

It’s mid-January, we’ve had a couple weeks of real winter, and then got a bit of a thaw. Glenn has been scouring the seed order catalogs and dreaming of this summer’s crops. The critters are plugging away up there on the hill and we have some recent arrivals. 2010 will be an exciting and busy year at Mulberry Creek Farm!

Garden News

We’ve only heard from one or two people with input about what you might like to see in your share baskets this summer – don’t forget to let us know. We will certainly consider any requests, especially if several of our customers request the same thing. While we use many heirloom varieties and harvest our own seeds, we also rely on seed order houses for many things. We will be placing seed orders within the next few weeks so if you have suggestions, speak now!

We had 16 members in our Garden Share CSA last summer. For 2010, we are going to expand. How much will depend on how many memberships we get early enough. March 1st is the deadline for early bird ordering this year because we have to pay the rent on the fields by March 1st. It’s beneficial to all of us if the farm can avoid borrowing money! Early bird orders must be paid in full by March 1st. $450 for a full-share, $225 for a half-share. I’ll get the order form updated and posted as soon as I can. Last year’s members have first dibs – we won’t accept any new members until after February 15th. After that, it’s first-come, first-served!

2009 Members only: For every new member you help get signed up, we will give you a week free at your membership type and level!

Regular membership due date is April 1st. Share prices are the same as last year: $500 for a full-share, $250 for a half-share. Half-shares may be either half as much every week or a full-share amount every other week. Again, I will be getting the updated order form posted as soon as I can.

We will again offer installment payment plans for non-Early Bird membership orders. You may order your membership at any time, but installment plans are not eligible for the early bird discount. Please contact us for more information or clarification.

Please remember that we practice sustainable farming and use as many organic practices as possible. We use pesticide and herbicide only as a last resort/rescue and our fertilizer is organic. Glenn has recently found an organic way to grow pest-limited sweet corn, which should come as great news to some of you.

This year, we are planning to rent an additional six acres, which will give us more flexibility in planting as well as provide more of a buffer between us and the conventionally farmed fields upwind. Your early share memberships will help us accomplish this goal.

Glenn is working on planning a larger and sturdier greenhouse and hopes to have one up within the next couple of months. This will allow us to start summer crops earlier as well as have early spring crops more readily available.

2010 Share Drop-Off Locations - We are planning to offer the same drop-off locations as last year: here at the farm, Hoffman UMC in West Milton, Five Rivers Vineyard Church in Englewood, and United Theological Seminary in Trotwood. We have had a number of requests to add drop-off locations. If you desire a drop-off location in Vandalia, Dayton, or any other place, we will consider adding a drop-off location if there are at least 3 members picking up there, and we would prefer at least five members per location.

How the CSA Works

CSA stands for Community Supported Agriculture and embraces the philosophy of communities supporting farms and farms their communities. In exchange for committing your dollars to us early in the season, we guarantee you a share of the harvest all season long. Become a Mulberry Creek Farm CSA Garden Share member and receive a weekly share of naturally grown fresh vegetables and fruit (when available) from early June to October, and/or a monthly share of crisp, sweet storage vegetables in November, December and beyond as available. An egg share will get you a dozen eggs each week; a half-share is a dozen every other week, following the same seasonal dates as the garden share. For poultry and other products, it’s a more open arrangement. Some people prefer to purchase several chickens at once and put them in the freezer (which is great for us); others pick up a chicken every week or two with their other shares. Turkeys and ducklings are on demand or in season. There is more about what we think Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) is all about on our “About Us” page.

Member Terms and Conditions haven’t changed. By becoming a member, you (the member) agree to be a shareholder in the Mulberry Creek Farm CSA Program and we (the farmers) agree to do our best to provide a bounty of seasonal, local, healthy produce to you as a shareholder. You are also agreeing to share the risks of natural farming with us and that those risks may occasionally affect the items that are included in your share basket. You are also agreeing that the CSA works within the honor system, that it is your responsibility to pick up your share within the appropriate time on your designated delivery day, and that you will contact Mulberry Creek Farm when occasional scheduling conflicts prevent picking up your share on time and that if your box is not picked up on the designated day, it will be donated at our discretion. We (the farmers) agree to be at the designated drop-off location, day and time with your share.

We all understand that there are occasional hiccups in the system, unforeseen circumstances come up, or we just plain forget! Those of you who have been members know that we’re flexible. If you can’t make it or forgot, just give us a call. At the same time, we appreciate your understanding when we have things come up or just plain forget!

So, each week you pick up your share on your designated day and place. We do appreciate that you return the previous week’s basket or transfer your produce to your own bags (we do often use bags and baggies for shares, especially later in the season when there’s more than the basket can hold). Spread the news about our CSA—show off your shares, share your produce and point people to the website! Enjoy the delight of eating seasonally, healthfully, and naturally! And of course don’t forget to share your favorite recipes and cooking tips that we can post on the website for everyone to enjoy.

Work Shares and Volunteering: We often get inquiries from people about working on the farm. While we are always interested in extra help, we are not in a position to hire workers. We pay in eggs, chicken, or produce, sometimes jelly or honey. We understand that some folks are unable to “get down and dig in the dirt” so, unlike many CSAs, we do not require our members to work.

However, we do believe that you, the member, will appreciate your produce much more if you’ve actually helped in planting, weeding, and/or harvesting and we encourage our members to spend a couple hours on the farm helping – we always make it worth your while! Or simply bring a lawn chair and enjoy the fresh air and sunshine and keep us company while we do the work!

As always, we’re open to responding to questions, concerns, rebuttals, and so forth. Feel free to contact us at any time.

Poultry Products

Chicken Broilers: Our supply of frozen broiler chickens is dwindling quicker than we had anticipated! Once the frozen chickens on hand are gone, we will not have chicken broilers available again until the end of March or first part of April. We hope to be able to maintain a steady supply after that. Please let us know your interests – several of the broilers on hand are already spoken for. Broiler chickens are $8 apiece and may be ordered individually or in units. We will consider a discount for bulk purchases.

We do have a number of soup chickens available – they’d be good for soup, chicken salad, the crock-pot, etc, but we wouldn’t recommend them as baking chickens. Soup chickens are $6 each. Call ahead.

Turkey: We selected the very best of our turkeys just before Christmas to keep as breeding stock. We hope to be able to breed our own birds for the entire demand this year, but that means that we need holiday orders as early as possible. We cannot guarantee having birds available if you wait until fall to order.

You will not find a better tasting or healthier turkey than a heritage bird grown on pasture. They do take much longer to raise than conventional birds you find in the store, so they’re more expensive. Our customers who have tried them have assured us that the benefit is well worth the cost. We thought we would need to raise the price this year; however, we have decided to leave it at the 2009 price, well below the price for the typical heritage pasture-raised turkey. As always, if you have questions, please let us know. To reserve your bird, we require a deposit of $25 with the balance of $5 per pound due at time of pick-up. If you’d like to make payments toward your turkey, the smallest birds will be about 10 lbs. and size will go up from there to approximately 20 lbs for the largest.

Duck: After a taste test here on the farm, we have decided to limit our ducks to the heritage Cayuga. Their flavor was phenomenal! Our duckling is sold out until mid-late summer but if you’re interested in duck meat, please let us know. We will accept reservations at $10 per bird.

Egg Update: Egg production was down for a bit during the darkest and coldest days, but is now again on the upswing and we anticipate having an abundance of eggs again by the start of the next share season in mid-February. Eggs are $3 per dozen: a full share of a dozen per week is $50 and a half share of a dozen every other week is $25. We do offer a discount for “Re-Use My Cartons” that puts the full-share at $45 and the half-share at $23. As with other share types, Egg Shares may be purchased in multiples.

Hog Hearsay

If you’ve been following our “blog-lets”, you’ll know that Luna and Nova both had healthy farrowings in mid-December producing strong litters. All available piglets from the December farrowing are spoken for – one breeding trio will be going to a farm in West Virginia and another six of our piglets will move to a farm near Cleveland. We are keeping one breeding trio and a boar for meat and we look forward to being able to testify ourselves on the delectability of Mulefoot meat next fall.

The next farrowing should be in early summer with availability in late summer. We hope to be able to offer pork by the whole or half-hog in early 2011. If you are interested in purchasing a whole or half hog for meat, we can raise it and have it processed for you. Contact us to get your name on a list for reservation information - first come, first served – or for more information.

Jams, Jellies and Honey

Just as a reminder, our old-fashioned, all natural jams and jellies are plentiful. Most are made from fruit grown right here on Mulberry Creek Farm. We have flavors you won’t find in the store, too! Many of you enjoyed the jellies and/or jams you received from time to time in your share baskets last summer – don’t forget to restock! Again, everything is $4 per jar except the seedless varieties, which are $5 per jar. We do ship – contact us for shipping and handling pricing.

The bees are still hibernating, but we occasionally see a few brave and daring ones active on the warmest days. We are looking forward to a great honey season for 2010! We do still have a bit of 2009 honey available. It is raw-honey without water or any other additives. There is even a bit of beeswax floating on the top so you know it’s straight from the hive!

Miscellany

Those of you who have stopped by have seen the progress made on the barn – the laying hens are mostly under roof, now, which is helping with egg production. Once they get used to their new home, Glenn will let them roam again. For now, though, there’s not much in the way of grass or bugs for them outside! There is quite a way to go on the barn, but we hope to have it completed before snow flies next fall.

We are also working on a new and much larger greenhouse. We hope to be able to have many early spring greens available, as well as start many seeds for transplanting. It’s always Glenn’s goal to have excellent tomatoes before the 4th of July!

We have the ability to rent an additional 6 acres of cropland, to our immediate west and south. We intend to plant some of it in alfalfa hay for the critters, but the rest will give us a lot more flexibility in planting so we should be able to avoid some of the crop failures we had last year. We’re still new at this whole CSA thing and are learning as we go. Hopefully the lessons of 2009 were good ones.

Those of you who have been to the farm since Thanksgiving have noticed how muddy and pitted the lane has become. We do apologize about that and are going to try to get something done about it as soon as we have the finances. We were all set to have a load of gravel brought in when we had the property-line fence issue turn up. All our gravel money went to that fence, which is great to have, but has slowed down the gravel project. We thank you for your patience in this!

As soon as we have some good days in the spring, we’ll be starting on spring clean up. We’d love to have helpers come out to collect trash and deadfall, get stuff picked up that has blown around over the winter, do some painting projects, work on early garden preparation projects, or just keep us company. Pop me an e-mail if you’d be interested so we can let you know when our workdays will be.

That’s the news as it is from MCF! Don’t forget to get those Share Membership orders in as soon as you can – and, as a reminder, 2009 members will get a week free for each new member you get signed up!

Eat local!

Peace -

Gail

Just a quickie with the basics - I'm working on a NewsBlog but for the moment and will get the full details out soon.

Hogs: All available piglets from the December farrowing are spoken for. Next farrowing should be in early summer with availability in late summer. Contact us to get your name on a list for reservation information - first come, first served. See the Hog page for more information.

Poultry: We anticipate having fresh chickens available in mid-late Spring. We will accept orders for chicken by the unit, by the month, or in bulk. Contact us for more information. We will accept deposits for holiday turkeys any time. We will not breed more than we have demand for so be thinking now about that flavorful and succulent heritage turkey for your holiday table next Fall or Winter. Duckling is avilable and we will be developing the flock. Contact us for more information. Egg production is down due to the cold and dark, but we anticiapate having an abundance of eggs again by the start of the next share season in mid-February.

Garden/Produce: We are currently accepting 2010 Garden Share memberships from 2009 members only. New members may sign up after February 15th. Early Bird discounts offered to shares paid in full by March 1st. More information to come.

Honey, Jellies, Jams: We have a continued supply of raw honey, old fashioned jellies and jams, and a few syrups. We hope to make more honey and bee products available this year. We will ship within Ohio. Contact us for more information.

Sow Nova delivered six healthy piglets during the night! Again, they will be available as breeding stock or as feeders with pick-up or delivery in mid-February. Contact us for more information. Reservation form is nearly ready to post.

Our Mulefoot sow Luna has given birth to 8 healthy piglets! We will post more (including photos) as we have more information, but most will be available for reservation and ready for pick-up by mid-February - contact us for details.

Mulberry Creek Farm NewsBlog

Volume 1: Issue 13 – published occasionally at the whim of the editor

12/01/09

In this issue:

Introduction

Garden News

Turkeys, Chickens and Ducks

Egg Update

Hog & Hive Hearsay

Jams & Jellies

Miscellany

It's hard to believe we're in the first week of December and it's been as mild an Autumn as this. As I write, however, the weather forecast calls for much colder temperatures within the next few days - I think winter may be upon us!

The big news on the farm is that in the next couple days we expect to have babies! Luna and Nova are both due to farrow this week, one on Thursday and one on Sunday. We'll welcome visitors to see the piglets.

Garden News

Amazingly, there are still several of the hardier fall greens in the garden - we're hoping they'll still be thriving when it comes time to pack our Christmas Winter Share baskets in a couple weeks! We did have a huge disappointment with our potatoes - the reds are holding out fine, but the whites haven't kept at all. We're not sure why, but that's the way farming goes sometimes.

Speaking of the garden, we're in the beginning stages of planning for next year's planting so if you have any input you'd like to share, please let us know. I posted a few survey questions in last month's NewsBlog and I'll try to get them sent in a separate e-mail as well. 

Glenn already has his grow lights set up indoors and is getting ready to start planting seeds shortly after the new year. He is also making arrangements for about 5 or 6 additional acres for next season which will give us more flexibility in planting, and should help aleviate the flood issues of this year. Additionally, that acreage will act as a buffer between our livestock and the conventional farmer upwind.

Turkeys, Chickens and Ducks

We had rave reviews over the heritage turkeys for Thanksgiving! Donna and John Moore told us it was the best turkey they'd ever had. I'll have to say that we won't be going back to those dry, mushy store turkeys! This was our first pastured, heritage turkey and with my first taste I thought: "This is how turkey is supposed to taste!"

We do have 6 more turkeys that will be ready for processing sometime around Christmas. If you're interested in giving one a try, let us know. Again, we need a $25 deposit to hold your bird and the remaining $5 per pound is due at the time of pick-up. Next year we'll probably need to raise the price, but hopefully not to the $12-$15 per pound for the same birds from farms listing on Local Harvest!

We still have chickens in the freezer and Glenn is growing more. The first batch is due to hatch within days and he's considering hatching on a schedule to keep fresh birds available as much as we can. Again, chickens are $8 each.

Ducks are available on order. If anyone hears of a local poultry processer who does waterfowl, please let us know. Ducks are $10 each.

Egg Update

Our hens are producing around 3-4 dozen eggs a day now and we can cerrainly support more customers. We're offering a discount to any current shareholder who gets another signed up - that goes for eggs, poultry or garden shares. More to come on that later on, but be sure to have your friends mention your name when they contact us.

Glenn is in contact with Bushel and Peck, just a mile or so from us, about carrying eggs from us. We'll keep you updated as we know some of you shop there.

Hog and Hive Hearsay

I already shared the news that Nova and Luna are nearing delivery. We are very excited about having our first piglets on the farm! Glenn has already sold one breeding trio and we anticipate being able to sell others for breeding or feeding out for pork. Mulefoot is supposed to be one of the best tasting porks around. We will likely feed out at least one or two ourselves and hopefully have freezer pork available next fall. Let us know if you might be interested in all or part of a hog - we'll work on coming up with some kind of share plan over the winter.

The bees have hunkered down for the winter but on warmer days we can see some out and about. Glenn's uncle used to keep bees and has given us all his old hives so over the winter Glenn will be cleaning them up. Hopefully next spring we'll be able to begin to expand our honey business.

We do have some honey available. Let us know if you'd be interested - it won't last long!

Jams and Jellies

Our first shipments of jam and jelly have gone out! There's still plenty back there and they make wonderful Christmas gifts. Contact us with your order and we'll make arrangements with you for pick-up. Again, everything is $4 per jar except the seedless varieties which are $5 per jar.

Miscellany

Our fall building projects have come a long way! Glenn has the chicken house nearly complete enough to hold them for the winter, the hog farrowing houses are done, except for light and heat which Glenn is doing today. The spot for the farm stand has been leveled so construction can start as soon as it's warm enough in the spring and Glenn is in contact with two or three people about renting or purchasing an unused greenhouse. It's always busy around here!

We had a bit of an interruption in barn buidling a couple weeks ago when a neighbor created a stir because a turkey pooped on his patio (turkey poop is big!), so we put a fence along the north and west property lines. The down side is that the lane will have to remain muddy for a while as we spent the gravel money on the fence. The good news is the fence will help keep our critters a lot safer. Once we have the fence extended all the way around (west of the creek) we'll be able to do more with livestock. Excellent lawn care!

I guess that's the news from Mulberry Creek Farm! Thanks as always for your support! Please continue it by purchasing a share for next summer and selling us to your neighbors! Don't forget ... eat local!

Peace on Earth and Goodwill to All!

Gail

Apple Butter

Apple Jelly

Apricot Jam

Cherry Pie Jelly

Currant Jam

Elderberry Jelly

Gooseberry Jam

Grape Jelly

Red or White Mulberry Jelly

Mulberry Syrup

Peach Jam

Plum Jams:

Purple Plum

Red Plum

Yellow Plum

Yellow Plum Wine

Sugar-Free Yellow Plum (and this has NO sweetener whatsoever)

Raspberry Jam

Raspberry-Currant Jam

Rhubarb-Peach Jam

White Mulberry Jam

Seedless Blackberry Jam

Seedless Red Raspberry Jam

Mulberry Creek Farm NewsBlog

Volume 1: Issue 12 – published occasionally at the whim of the editor 11/08/09

In this issue:

Introduction

Garden News

Turkeys, Chickens and Ducks

Egg Update

Hog & Hive Hearsay

Jams & Jellies

Miscellany

Can you believe it’s November already? There are days, like yesterday, that it feels like September and we’ve continued to harvest what hasn’t been frost-killed.

Summer shares are long past and we’d like your feedback. Please take a few minutes to answer these questions (via e-mail, or from the contacts page on this site):

1. Was the Mulberry Creek Summer Garden Share what you expected?

2. Did you feel that you got value for your cost?

3. What was the best part about participating with us this year?

4. What would you like to see us do differently next year? (additional crops, pick-up times/locations, whatever)

5. Are you planning on purchasing a share next summer?

6. Will you recommend us to anyone else?

Garden News: Fall / Winter Shares Update

Some of you have already purchased a winter share from us for either Thanksgiving or Christmas or both. We really should have called them Holiday shares, shouldn’t we? Oh, well. Anyway, I sent most of this information in an e-mail a few weeks ago, but here’s the update.

There will be two pick-ups for Fall/Winter garden shares, one the week before Thanksgiving and one the week before Christmas. (If you would like to arrange December pick-up for a different week, we’d be happy to do that, if at all possible.) Due to the size of the shares we'd prefer that you to come to the farm for pick-up, however if this would be a hardship, we (as our customers know) are pretty flexible. Please contact us to arrange for your pick-up day and time. (If you are also getting a turkey, you might want to wait until the 21st or later.)

There is only one size, but most items are good keepers. Shares are $60 for one, $120 for both.

As with our summer garden shares, a full share should provide side dishes for a family of four. In this case, a share should provide several side dishes for a family of four for the holiday table. Or for whenever you'd like to eat them! There are still a few shares available so if you’ve been on the fence, read on for what those shares look like. When I sent the e-mail we had not yet had a hard freeze and weren’t sure what would stand. I can report basket contents now with some confidence! As always, if we cannot provide the item on the list, we will be sure to include something in its place.

From Mulberry Creek Farm:

4-5 kinds of winter squash (great as pie, baked, casseroled, or just as decoration)

both red and white potatoes

carrots

turnips

leeks

celery

greens (beet tops, chard, turnip greens, kale)

parsley

garlic

horseradish

and a couple surprises!

We’ll also add pie pumpkins, apples and onions from another farm and broccoli and sweet potatoes if they’re available.

I’ll try to include a sheet of recipes and cooking instructions for some items, but there are already several on the recipes page on this site. If you have one to share, please post it to the forum!

If you have not yet ordered and would like to, let me know and I’ll get the order form to you. Or simply dowload the order form from the link on the home page of this site.

Turkeys, Chickens, and Ducks

Turkeys are scheduled for the processer late the week before Thanksgiving so will be available for pick-up any time from the 21st on. Once we have them back, I’ll send out a list of weights on the available birds to those who have ordered. Please give us a call to arrange pick-up time and location as well as make your selection as to size. First to call gets first pick of the available selection.

Once all the share-holders have selected their bird, we’ll post a list of the sizes of birds remaining. As a reminder, a $25 deposit will hold your turkey, and they are $5 per lb.

Once again, if you ordered a turkey but have not yet sent us an actual order form, please do so ASAP! We don’t want you to get lost in the shuffle. It’s a lot easier to track orders with the order forms than with checks (which sometimes get deposited before I can get them jotted down).

IMPORTANT: Do not try to roast your Mulberry Creek Farm Heritage Turkey the same way you have roasted your store turkeys in the past! If you do, you will end up with an over-cooked dry bird. There are links on the recipes page for how to prepare a heritage bird. I will try to get instructions printed out for you to pick-up with your bird.

We will have a few turkeys available for Christmas as well.

It will be some time before we have freshly processed chickens again but there are several in the freezer at $8 each. Maggie thinks they're great!

Those of you who ordered birds with a Thanksgiving Winter Share will be able to pick them up at the same time.

We have re-worked the poultry shares so you can actually buy a share for a chicken or duck a week or every other week, etc. Glenn is processing the ducks himself so please give us a few days notice when you want one. Ducks are $10 each and would make a delightful addition to the holiday table or any other time.

Egg Update

Egg production is up! Our spring pullets have reached maturity and are laying regularly. The Winter Egg Share season has already started but if you’d be interested in a dozen or more a week (or every other week for a half share), let us know. The link to the order form is on the home page. It’s a MS Word document so if you have problems downloading/printing it, if you send me a note I can e-mail or snail mail you one.

Here are the particulars:

Full share (1 dozen per week): $50

Half share (1 doz every other wk): $25

“Re-Use My Cartons” (discounted to $45 full share, $22 half share)

Total is due at time of order. Ask us about other payment arrangements.

The Winter egg season runs from October 15 – February 14. We will continue to accept orders until there are no more available and will pro-rate each week that has already passed when you place your order.

Hog and Hive Hearsay

The big news in the hog department is that we are expecting! Both Luna and Nova are due around the 14th of December. We will be sure to send a note around when the piglets arrive and will be delighted to receive visitors as soon as it’s safe.

Many of the piglets will be for sale for either breeding purposes or to feed out for pork. We are working on getting a reservation form up but purchasers can expect to pay around $200 per pig. Mulefoot Hogs are the rarest of swine breeds and Mulefoot pork is considered a gourmet meat. We can’t wait to try some!

Our bees have slowed for the winter and are in the initial stages of bee hibernation. We do have some raw honey available for sale: $5 per 8 ounces. We hope to be able to expand to two or three hives next summer and anticipate being able to offer more honey and honey products later on. We were amazed that we were able to harvest honey this quickly! Our bees are hard little workers and the honey is de-lish!

Jams and Jellies

Jams and Jellies are still here! We will be processing more this winter and will consider some flavor mixes based on what we have available. We are able to ship within Ohio so if you’re interested contact us for pricing. We must have payment prior to shipping.

All jams and jellies come in 8 oz. traditional jelly jars and, in fact, we are constantly on the trail to find Ball/Kerr/Mason etc. jars, particularly in the ½ pint (8 oz.) and pint (16 oz.) sizes. We will offer 5c per jar in good condition and an additional 5c if the jar is returned with a ring in good condition and another 5c if the label has been completely removed. We’re open to barter arrangements, too (which, at the moment, is about all we can do!) If you bring us jars and we fail to give you something in return, please remind us!

Everything is $4 per jar except the seedless varieties which are $5 per jar.

Apple Butter

Apple Jelly

Apricot Jam

Cherry Pie Jelly

Currant Jam

Elderberry Jelly

Gooseberry Jam

Grape Jelly

Red or White Mulberry Jelly

Mulberry Syrup

Peach Jam

Plum Jams:

Purple Plum

Red Plum

Yellow Plum

Yellow Plum Wine

Sugar-Free Yellow Plum (and this has NO sweetener whatsoever)

Raspberry Jam

Raspberry-Currant Jam

Rhubarb-Peach Jam

White Mulberry Jam

Seedless Blackberry Jam

Seedless Red Raspberry Jam

We have been asked numerous times about strawberry jam. Glenn has planted a strawberry patch and we hope to be able to offer U-Pick Strawberries next summer as well as a variety of strawberry products.

Miscellany

The barn is coming along in spite of any number of set-backs. The two side “sheds” are framed, roofed, and partially sided. One side will be the hen house (and other poultry) and the other will contain equipment storage and, most importantly, farrowing stalls for the hogs. Glenn is working on getting dirt fill for the hogs bedrooms and also getting more done on the hen house. The middle section, which will be 2 floors and house our storage and work-space, will have to wait for next summer. Find me on Facebook to see photos under 2009 Building Projects. I’m having a hard time getting images uploaded to this site but will be working on that.

In fact, I will be working on website maintenance and updating this coming indoor season. If you have input, feedback, etc. please pop me a line.

I’m sure there is more to share but I better get this posted! Thanks as always for your continued support!

And finally … eat local!

Peace –

Gail

Hi all -

I actually attempted to get a newsblog on the website not long ago but ... sigh ... lost it all as I was posting and haven't been able to get back to it!

So here's a brief update:

The last week of summer shares will be October 12-18.

The new egg share season will begin the following week so don't forget to renew your egg share!

We have re-worked the poultry shares so you can actually buy a share for a chicken a week or every other week, etc. They're $8 each. Ducks are $10 each. Glenn is processing the ducks himself so please give us a few days notice when you want one. We will let you know when we have freshly processed chickens so you can work that into your plans if you'd like. After a couple days, we freeze everything. We are taking another batch of chickens to the slaughterhouse next week so will have fresh/non-frozen chickens from about the 9th until the 11th of October. You'll need to come to the farm to pick them up.

Turkeys are selling quickly - if you have told uis you want one, we MUST have your $25 deposit immediately! We will not hold a turkey for a word only request. There aren't that many of them. Turkeys will be processed on November 21st. If you have made a deposit on one, we will be sure to let you know pick-up arrangements ... it wouldn't hurt for you to contact me, though;-)

We will also have turkeys available for December holidays, but not very many. If you're interested, let us know right away.

Some of you have asked about winter shares. We're still working out the details since, as you know, the heavy rains this summer damaged or destroyed many of our winter crops. We had planned on providing winter shares through February but will not be able to go that long. Here's our plan: We're looking at a two month share (you can certainly purchase one month and not the other) in Nov & Dec with a once per month pick up prior to the holidays. November it would be the week of the 22nd, December it would be the week of the 21st. Due to the size of the shares it would be beneficial if you came to the farm for pick-up. If you need yours earlier or coming to the farm is a hardship, let us know and we'll work something out. Since these will consist mainly of storable stuff we can be pretty flexible. It also means there is one size only, but you can certainly double if you'd like. That way you might have squash well into the winter months, for instance.

Between spring freezes and summer heavy rains, we lost our fall greens, popcorn, some squashes, dry beans, about 2/3 of our onions and a considerable chunk of our potatoes as well as our tree fruit. We will be looking to other local farms to supplement what we are able to provide. It will still be quality produce at very reasonable prices.

If you have questions or suggestions, don't hesitate to drop an e-mail or give a call! BTW Glenn will be out of town for the next few days obtaining materials for our barn - come on by on Saturday, October 10th to lend a hand getting the barn up!

This week: it's supposed to frost sometime this week so we are keeping a close eye on less hardy plants and you may see a wealth of peppers, celery and herbs! Otherwise, expect a Long Island Cheese Squash (never had it - looks a bit like a butternut variety), carrots, peppers, sweet corn, herbs, celery, kale, and ... drum roll please ... a bit of honey! Yes, we spent several hours yesterday collecting it and will have 4 oz. for each of you this week to try!

We still have LOTS of jams so don't forget your pre-orders for those and for poultry.

Pass the word around!

Volume 1: Issue 9 – published occasionally at the whim of the editor 9/01/09

In this issue:

Introduction & Farm Stand

Garden News

Poultry & Egg Update

Hive Hearsay

Miscellany

This week’s baskets include lettuce, peppers, carrots, tomatoes, watermelon, green beans, beets and an acorn squash.

Don’t forget to pre-order your poultry so we can have it ready with your basket! (See below for more information)

Last newsblog (don’t tell me it’s really been a month!) I told you about my new job as office manager for the TransPlant Project and of our participation in the farm stand there. The project started well and we had a number of customers stop at the stand, several of whom had become regulars. We had begun selling annual memberships, too. Then, due in part to the illness of our founder’s wife (last week they determined that it is a form of pancreatic cancer) the project was not able to sustain itself, the stand was closed and all the staff was laid off.

That was a long sentence to say that I am now able to devote full-time to farm concerns (including more regular newsblog updates?  Believe me, I have been trying to do more on the site, including more regular updates, but we’ve been having a lot of trouble here with internet reliability and keeping a good connection long enough to upload.

Of course, it also means that now both Glenn and I are, other than the farm, unemployed. So we urge you to get out there and tell your friends and neighbors how much you have enjoyed this CSA! We are planning to offer several more shares next season.

Garden News

We’re in that transitional season between summer and fall. The weather is cooling off and we anticipate more cool weather crops appearing in baskets in the coming weeks. Hydroponically grown lettuce has already been enjoyed. Unfortunately, we didn’t get broccoli and cauliflower planted quite soon enough and the amount of rain we have received this summer has played havoc with several of our crops (we had some onions and potatoes rot in the ground and spinach and other fall greens got drowned before they really took off) so we will possibly be looking to other farms we trust to provide you with a few things from time to time to keep your baskets full and well-rounded.

Our final planting of sweet corn will be ready to harvest within the next week or two and winter squashes and pumpkins are starting to ripen. We are still digging potatoes and our onions will be ready to pull soon, too. We’re still picking green beans, too.

We had hoped that the orchard opportunity would provide you with a variety of apples but the spring freeze and too few pollinators in the orchard mean we will need to go elsewhere for your fall apples.

Poultry & Egg Update

We have delicious duckling at $10 each and broiler chickens at $2 per lb. If you have expressed interest in a holiday turkey, we must have a deposit of $25 to hold your order by the 15th of this month. We have turkeys for both Thanksgiving and Christmas but both are in very limited quantity and they are going quickly. They are $5 per lb. and we will let you know a bit later what the size ranges will be. Those of you who have been to the farm have seen the birds roaming around at their leisure, able to eat grasses and bugs (and grapes, and young spinach …)

Our spring pullets are nearing egg laying age and we will, very soon, be overwhelmed with eggs. If you or anyone you know is interested in an egg share or half share, please call. We pro-rate the egg shares based on the number of weeks left in the season (the next full season begins mid-October). We offer a discount if you return your cartons. A few of you already enjoy eggs and we constantly hear how much you enjoy these eggs! You may also choose to order eggs by the dozen at $3/doz. from time to time.

Hog and Hive Hearsay

Last newsblog I mentioned that the honey would be ready to harvest “soon” and soon is rapidly approaching. The trouble now is “how to harvest?” We need to find a honey extractor within our budget – know anyone who has a spare lying around?

Our trio of Mulefoot Hogs along with three Pomeranian geese arrived a few weeks ago and are enjoying their new home. Although the pigs miss the cookies and pancakes they were used to eating, they are getting lots of fresh garden veggies. We also anticipate piglets in mid-December and they will be for sale by mid-February either to raise for breeding or to feed-out. Please visit our Mulefoot Hog page to learn more about these fascinating animals!

Miscellany

Jams and Jellies are still here! We are adding more varieties all the time (there are grapes on the stove as I write awaiting processing). We will be shiping soon, for those at a distance within Ohio who have ordered. Again, all come in 8 oz. traditional jelly jars and, in fact, we are constantly on the trail to find Ball/Kerr/Mason etc. jars, particularly in the ½ pint (8 oz.) and pint (16 oz.) sizes. We will offer 5c per jar in good condition and an additional 5c if the jar is returned with a ring in good condition and another 5c if the label has been completely removed. We’re open to barter arrangements, too (which, at the moment, is about all we can do!)

Currant-ly our varieties include:

Jams: peach, peach-rhubarb, regular and seedless blackberry, regular and seedless raspberry, red plum, golden plum, plum wine, apricot

Jellies: currant, gooseberry, grape, apple, mulberry, elderberry

We also have apple butter and hopefully (cross your fingers for our pear crop) will be able to offer pear-butter, as well.

As always … eat local!

Peace –

Gail

Volume 1: Issue 9 – published occasionally at the whim of the editor 8/02/09

In this issue:

Introduction & Farm Stand

Garden News

Poultry & Egg Update

Hive Hearsay

Miscellany

This past week’s basket included onion(s), lettuce, beet greens, Swiss chard, tomatoes, bell and banana peppers, sweet corn, green beans, basil, parsley, and garlic. This coming week will see more tomatoes, peppers, and corn, shallots and more onions, and (I think) potatoes, among other things, depending on what’s ready.

Intro

Things have been very busy here on the farm! I have the new job, but it seems that it’s not a lot easier getting updates to the computer and then online. We’re progressing, however! I am the office manager for a brand new non-profit organization called the TransPlant Project “which aims to create a more self-reliant, socially just and ecologically sound community by providing education and employment for ex-offenders, as they transition from incarceration to restored citizenship, and provide fresh, safe, affordable and locally grown food and flowers using the best green business practices.” There was an article about the project in the Dayton Daily News several weeks ago and a link to that article is on the home page of this site.

The headquarters of the TransPlant Project is also the location of our Farm 2 Fork Fresh Market. Up to now, Farm 2 Fork Fresh has existed only in the form of a CSA (community supported agriculture – see the About Us page here for a definition) through Dorothy Lane Market. Mulberry Creek Farm is listed in the CSA promotional material as featured. Ultimately, Farm 2 Fork Fresh will actually be a market of primarily Miami Valley Grown products at the location on N. Main. At the moment, while we are still in the renovation stage, we have a farm stand open there 7 days a week at which you will find fresh produce from Tüken’s Orchard in West Alexandria, Fulton Farms in Troy, Spring Hill Farm in New Lebanon, and, of course, Mulberry Creek Farm.

The farm stand at 8051 N. Main, Clayton (mailing address is Dayton) is open 7 days a week: 10-3 Saturday and Sunday and 10-6 M-F. I’m there a lot of the time during the week, Glenn is there on and off, and the rest of the time other TransPlant staff are there, most of whom can at least tell you which farm something came from and sometimes can tell you more. For instance, pretty much everything from Tüken’s is organic, while pretty much everything from Fulton is conventionally grown, and both seem to focus on commercial hybrid varieties that ship and shelf well. Mulberry Creek Farm uses sustainable practices (we follow organic procedures, but may use rescue only chemicals) and much of our produce are heirloom varieties (corn isn’t – you wouldn’t eat heirloom corn on the cob) so our tomatoes will have blemishes and cracks and there may be free protein crawling around in something. If you have questions about variety or practices concerning any of the farms involved, Glenn can tell you a lot.

Garden News

Big news flash: we have plenty of sweet corn and green beans for those of you interested in freezing and/or canning! Here’s the deal. We (Glenn and Maggie) will pick corn for you if you come to the farm to pick it up. Call ahead and it will be ready. If you want beans, either Glenn can pick it for a small amount added to the cost of the beans or you can arrange with him to come pick it yourself. Bulk sweet corn is $2.50/dozen and we’re still deliberating about the price of the beans – make Glenn an offer!

There is a garden out there … somewhere … its weed heaven! Glenn and his occasional and regular volunteers have been doing stellar work keeping the weeds at least somewhat managed, although lately more work has been going into building fence. What is out there is mighty tasty, if I do say so myself!

We’ve had comments nearly every week that a particular item in the share box was a first and I’ve tried to keep some recipes and cooking directions on our recipe page. For beet greens from this week: prepare them like any other green. By the way – if you’re a fan of stuffed zucchini (one of my favorite ways to prepare it) those tiny little underdeveloped things you get in the store won’t cut it. Neither will the average sized ones that have been in your share baskets! If you want a zucchini you can really do something with, please let us know. We have a bumper crop and they’re about to take over. I’ll try to get a recipe for stuffed zucchini on the site today.

Shallots are coming along and our second crop of lettuce is developing nicely. Glenn has replanted broccoli, cauliflower, spinach and other cool weather crops for fall harvesting, so there’s something to look forward to. Potatoes are starting to be dug and carrots are still going strong. Look for continued and even increased peppers and tomatoes! I’ll work on getting some tomato-based recipes on the site soon, too. Don’t let me forget!

The weather has been very good to us through the latter part of July – let’s see what God has in store for us in August to keep us faithful!

Poultry & Egg Update

We ate our first pasture-raised chicken last week – amazing flavor right through the bird, not just the goop we put on the surface. Very tasty!

I only just realized I have yet to come through with pricing on individual broilers. Well, it’s $2 per pound. We do ask that you order by the number of birds you want rather than the weight. Every chicken is a bit different in weight but they’re all reasonably close. We’ll keep you updated with more poultry options as we have them available. Again, our prices are going to be a bit higher than what you’re used to paying in the store, but our birds are also living a much healthier life out there in the grass than the commercially raised birds. See our Poultry page for more information on why this matters.

And we still have chicks and pullets available, as well. Drop us a line or, better yet, give Glenn a call for more information.

Hog and Hive Hearsay

Glenn has both honey supers on the beehive and they have begun producing honey for us! We hope to be able to harvest our first honey this month and will keep you up to date. I don’t know when we’ll be ready to begin distributing. (Our shareholders will get the first taste … after us, of course!)

We will be getting our trio of Mulefoot hogs within the next couple of weeks and Glenn and his volunteers have been hard at work creating a fenced area for them. I hope to have photos up on the site soon (and the many others we have taken since the last time I uploaded pix sometime in March!)

Miscellany

Jams and Jellies are here! We have been hard at work turning all kinds of fruit into jellies and jams. We have several varieties. All come in 8 oz. traditional jelly jars and, in fact, we are constantly on the trail to find Ball/Kerr/Mason etc. jars, particularly in the ½ pint (8 oz.) and pint (16 oz.) sizes. We will offer 5c per jar in good condition and an additional 5c if the jar is returned with a ring in good condition and another 5c if the label has been completely removed. We’re open to barter arrangements, too.

Don’t forget to check out the recipe page while you’re here – there’s often something new!

Finally … eat local!

Peace –

Gail

We're finally there!

OK ... we had planned on having a roadside stand on our place by mid-June. Then the weekend of July 4th. By the weekend after that, we'd finally accepted the fact that we won't get a farm stand on the farm this year. Sigh.

BUT we do have our produce at the TransPlant Project farm stand, which is probably more convenient for many of you, anyway. If you haven't had a chance to see what we're doing with TransPlant, check out the link to the article on our home page. It's an awesome opportunity for ministry. (Although the Big Boss keeps reminding us that TransPlant isn't a faith-based organization, we see everything as being an opportunity for ministry!)

So. TransPlant is at the former location of Yard Barber, across from Stillwater Medical Center on OH-48, 8051 N. Main, Dayton. (Dayton mailing address, location in Clayton. Go figure.)

The farm stand will be open 7 days a week and, while we'll be living into our hours, here's the initial plan:

Sat 9ish-3ish

Sun 10ish-3ish

Mon-Fri 10ish-6ish

Lots of "ish's" but it all depends on when we get each day's offerings from participating farms and when we sell out of stuff each day. Glenn or I will be there some of the time, especially since I'm the TransPlant office manager and Glenn's the volunteer site manager!

Since we're but one of the farms represented, you also get to select from stuff that we don't have, particularly fruit. Today, for instance, there were raspberries and blackberries to die for, cantaloupe and watermelon sweeter and juicier than any you'll ever get at a chain grocery, and early season apples that (I'm told) make excellent sauce.

Of course, we're well represented! Glenn is taking a load of green tomatoes tomorrow, for instance. Where else can you get green tomatoes?!? We also have marvelous slicing tomatoes and a plethora of other stuff, too.

Come on by after church! Our prices are competitive with other markets specializing in sustainably and locally grown produce.

Enjoy!

Gail