End of the Season and (unfortunately)Higher Prices

 Order your Roasting Ducks for the Holidays!

Market List: Grass Fed Lamb, Tomatillos, Tomatoes, Radishes, Swiss Chard, Big Bertha Sweet Peppers, mixed Hot Peppers, Genovese and Thai Basil, maybe some Salad Mix

We've got Sam's Famous Salsa this week, not sure for how much longer. This is of course, the last market of the season, but we will be back for the Thanksgiving market on the 19th. Also, we are bringing, Smoked Tomatillo Salsa, and some Pickled Hot Peppers. It's been a good year for Hot Peppers. Also, there is a Soup Duck available and it is now time to order your Slow Food Cayuga Roasting ducks. We will begin processing them next week. 

This is a picture of how well our plants are doing in our High Tunnel. We still have a lot of tomato plants and are getting some tomatoes but not a lot. The Swiss chard is doing well and if you look closely, you can see the Snow Peas that we have planted. We're trying something new this year. We've purchased a Patio pellet burning stove and are going to try and heat the greenhouse and high tunnel (which are connected together) with it. So hopefully we can keep the chill out enough to keep these Snow Peas and the spinach and other greens going for our food drops. Probably, we won't be able to keep the tomatoes all winter but if we can get an extra month more that we normally do, we will be ahead. 

Another project that we are working on is we are adding on to our old greenhouse structure. We've had a used Sunroom attachment for a while but no glass in it. We are replacing it with double wall polycarbonate and have had a load of topsoil brought in to fill it. All of these structures together, protect each other and will help them use the passive solar more efficiently so that it's easier to extend the season. 

So, this week we have lamb. We have been struggling all season with the drought on getting our lambs big enough to process on grass and leftover produce. I called our processor to set up an appointment. When he finally got back to me, it was to say that he had sold his business. Yikes! The new owner only kills and hangs, they don't wrap or cut up. I guess that he will mostly be selling to ethnic communities that cut up for themselves. I definitely know how to do this, but we're supposed to have it professionally processed to sell at Market. Anyway, it has been a scramble to find a processor, especially right now during Deer Season which is also of course, right before the holidays when we need the larger cuts for meals. I was able to get one in at a place that is an hour away- more than twice what we were traveling and more than double the amount we were paying. And so, we have had to raise our prices. I have been trying really hard to not do this this summer. We did raise the price of salsa because of the jar costs but mostly, we've stayed the same. I did notice a few weeks ago that we are quite a bit lower priced than the other vendors who are selling lamb but still, I really hate this. I know that everyone is feeling the crunch on higher everything, as we are, so I hope that you can understand. 

To recap: Order your ducks now, be prepared for higher prices but season extension will hopefully bring more stuff into the food drops. We'll see you tomorrow for the last Market of the Summer Season but again in 2 weeks for the beginning of the Holiday Markets. 

God's Blessings on you and yours, 

TTFN, 

Sam and Billy