December 3 Market

 Market List: 

Grass and Apple Fed Lamb, Roasting and Soup Ducks, Tomatillos, Swiss Chard, Missouri Pecans, Thai Basil, 

Smoked Tomatillo Salsa, Sam's Famous Salsa and a few Tomatoes

We've been working hard this week with a couple of young Wwoofers, Kayla and Noah from Wisconsin who are wanting to get a little closer to their food and farther from their office desks. I love being a part of the Wwoof program. Volunteers in exchange for education, food and a place to sleep. We have a few Wwoofers a year and we always line up projects that will both help us function and teach them a little about what and why we do. 

This week, we cleaned and winterized the barn, Here is Kayla pictured hanging Tekfoil, a foil coated bubble insulation. This will help keep the wind out and when it's bitter and the ducks want to stay in the barn, they will be more comfortable. 

  This is Noah, vacuuming the cobwebs off of the barn rafters. For some reason, we have to do this several times a year. The cobwebs get enormous, and it just looks terrible. It's also not great for respiratory issues for us and the animals, especially in the Winter when the animals spend the most time in the barn. 

Noah also ran with Billy to Liberty Apple Orchard and got yet another van load of apples for which to feed the sheep and chickens, while Kayla and I made a batch of Spicy Apple relish. This is the 5th load of apples that we've gotten from Liberty. Stephen is so generous. They're all windfalls that he can't sell but still, he helps us load and sometimes picks while we are gathering from the ground, then he tells us how they would be great for us to make into sauces. The sheep have been on Apples and pumpkins for about the last 6 weeks, and we just processed another lamb for these 2 holiday markets coming up. 

This time, we actually have 2 legs of lamb and ... a rack of lamb, which with our old processor, we have never been able to get. So, something good did come out of that fiasco. Our new processor is Big Bear's Butcher shop in Vienna which is an hour further than we were driving but that's where we are with this right now. 

Just an FYI, the chickens have been laying terribly lately. So, there is definitely a shortage of eggs. The ducks, laying not at all. It's a terrible shame, especially for this time of year when everyone needs eggs for holiday desserts. 

I guess that is about all of the news for this week. We will be at the Tower Grove Farmers Market on Saturday the 3rd and then again on the 17th. After this, we will be dropping out until the Spring markets begin. We'll do the Food Drops again, with eggs, granola, salsa, pecans, jams, jellies etc., hopefully some greens and Kayla and I planted more onions and shallots. We have Snow Peas producing but still not enough for the Market. Kayla will be with me on Saturday and Billy and Noah will be working on a project here on the Farm. I'll see you there in the same spot as last time. Don't forget, the Market starts at 9 this week. 

God's Blessings on you and yours, 

TTFN, 

Sam and Billy