albemarle, nc

Month: April 2017

Market Stuff for April 29.

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They’ve already dropped their petals! Sigh.

I’ll be at the Charlotte Regional Farmers Market tomorrow til 1pm with:

Curly, rainbow and lacinato kale, rainbow chard, some cut herbs, sweet potatoes, wheat, and plants: sage plants, some beautiful Greek oregano plants a few thyme and lemon balm, probably the last of the regular size tomato plants, tumbling tom container cherry tomato plants,  mini container  purple eggplant.

Our grass fed Angus beef in these cuts: ground, stew, philly steak, cube steak, ribeyes, NY Strip, sirloin, eye of round roasts, bone-in chuck roasts, sirloin tip roasts, liver,  osso bucco, hot dogs and bologna.

We will have a beef quarter available the second week in May! Bulk pricing is $3.50 lb plus the cost of processing.

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Won’t be long! I learned my lesson about using too much alfalfa mulch. It’s a potent nitrogen source and if you overdo it, all you get is foliage and no fruit. I spread it thinly to keep the ground from drying out and to provide a very light, steady nitrogen supply.

That pretty lettuce came up on it’s own, and I was so careful to work around it, then Shane came in with his death boots and stomped it flat when he was pounding in the T-posts. How do you not see that! Are you blind?? But it came back.

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Sage plants from last fall are blooming. I feel like this is the plant you carry into the Home Depot and say mix this up. The perfect shade of green, and the perfect beautiful shade of violet.

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Spring is a fantastic time to start juicing! Celery and cucumber are super hydrating, and purslane, from what I’ve read, has the highest Omega 3s of any plant. I use it in our juices and smoothies. Lettuce is also fantastic for juicing, and it makes a really light tasting juice which is a nice change from all the kale and chard I’ve been juicing.

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Jake stretching his legs. He’s on a dirt lot for the summer – a horse that can’t eat grass 🙁 He has a form of insulin resistance (there’s a ton of sugar in green grass).  I turn him out for a few minutes so he can roll in the grass and have a few bites. He looks good here all stretched out, but he’s obese. He’s one of those that can just LOOK at a bale of hay and gain 150 pounds.

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So it’s a balance of rationing his hay so he doesn’t go too long without food, but doesn’t gain more. The goal is to lose some but with no one riding him that’s not likely. Horses shouldn’t go more than 5 hours without eating, and a fasting period is even worse when they have insulin resistance because when they start eating again it releases a lot of insulin. Not helpful. We use a slow-feed hay net that helps his rations last a lot longer. In Jake’s case, too much grass causes the bones in his feet to start to rotate causing lots of pain and if just left to fend for himself in the pasture would eventually have to be put down as the bones protrude through the bottom of the hooves.

You can see his fat pads on his sides and the lumpy cellulite on his rump.

But he has nice thick mats to stand on and a fan in his stall, and he has room to roam around…but it’s super boring and lonely! He can be a bully to other horses so putting a friend in with him isn’t an option plus then I would have to shovel sh*t for 2. Do you have any idea how many times they go in a day?? 18 times. 18 TIMES!!! I counted.

He entertains himself by putting his feet in the water trough and splashing it all over himself. I’m thankful he handles it well, even when I let him out for a few minutes he comes galloping back when I call him. I have him on an herbal supplement that’s supposed to help his body deal with the insulin so maybe he’ll be able to have limited turnout and I won’t have to shovel so much sh*t.

I’ll see you tomorrow!

 

Market Stuff for April 22.

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I’ll be at the Charlotte Regional Farmers Market tomorrow til 1pm with:

Curly and lacinato kale, rainbow chard, lettuce, kale raab, sweet potatoes, wheat, and plants: sungold, red cherry and pink cherry tomato plants, lots of  heirloom variety tomato plants, tumbling tom container cherry tomato plants,  mini container  purple eggplant, a few thyme, lemon balm and purple basil plants and more edible flowers by popular request!!

Our grass fed Angus beef in these cuts: ground, stew, philly steak, cube steak, ribeyes, NY Strip, filet, sirloin, flat iron, skirt, eye of round roasts, bone-in chuck roasts, sirloin tip roasts, short ribs, liver,  osso bucco, hot dogs, corned beef and bologna.

We will have a beef half (or 2 quarters) available the second week in May! Bulk pricing is $3.50 lb plus the cost of processing.

Time to plant eggplants! Mow.

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Add amendments with this torture device.

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Till in the clover and ammendments.

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Aaaand then repeat here there and everywhere.

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See you tomorrow!

Market Stuff for April 15.

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I’ve been loving all the dogwoods in bloom! This is my favorite one, beside the hoop house 🙂

I’ll be at the Charlotte Regional Farmers Market tomorrow til 1pm with:

Our grass fed Angus beef in these cuts: ground, stew, philly steak, cube steak, ribeyes, NY Strip, filet, sirloin, flat iron, skirt, huge beautiful briskets, eye of round roasts, bone-in chuck roasts, sirloin tip roasts, short ribs, liver,  osso bucco, hot dogs, corned beef and bologna.

We still have some beef left from the winter processing and that will be on sale at 20% off until it’s gone: 2 ribeyes and 8 sirloin steaks. Sirloins are great for kabobs because they cut nicely into cubes and are so flavorful and tender (don’t overcook!) They’re nice and lean, perfect for fajitas or steak tacos.

I’ll have kale raab and lots of beautiful kale in these varieties: curly, lacinato, red russian. Chard, chives,  sweet potatoes, wheat and tomato plants.

This week I have sungold cherry tomato plants, the super sweet orange cherry tomato that is so easy to grow and crazy prolific. I also have more Ildi cherry tomatoes and a variety of colors of full size tomato plants: Cherokee Purple, Kellogg’s Breakfast, American Original Beefsteak, and more.

Herb plants: Thai basil, purple ruffles basil, oregano, thyme, a couple lemon balm plants.

I’m also bringing a few Queen Sophia marigolds, they are edible flowers. It’s impossible to find edible flowers that are grown without any chemicals so I always grow my own from seed. The petals are really striking sprinkled over salads or cakes. I’m growing 3 varieties of edible flowers this year.

Coming up  I’ll have more  tomato plants, container Patio Baby eggplants, container Tumbling Tom cherry tomatoes and I don’t even know what else!

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The crimson clover cover crop is just starting to bloom, I was hoping it would be in full bloom before it had to be tilled in for planting because I love seeing all that gorgeous red.

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In the herb garden we have parsley, chives, mint, chocolate mint, lemon balm, sage, cutting celery. The green stuff in the pathways are mints – spreading out of their boxes. Still have thyme, dill, oregano, purslane, hibiscus, edible flowers, and a few other things to add.

We had rolled out landscape ground cover underneath the herb beds  – the whole area that’s now brown 🙁 and I worked like a dog spreading hardwood mulch at least 6″ deep on top of that so it would look beautiful, then Bermuda grass grew over every square inch of it and it’s looked crappy for 2 years. So now I’m ripping out the landscape plastic and planting regular grass so it can at least be green. I spent the whole morning yesterday digging Bermuda grass out of this one bed so I could put in basil.

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It’s begun. I’m a hay widow.

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I had totally forgotten about this recipe, but now with the herbs looking so fantastic it’s time to make it! Parsley, Lemon and Walnut Pesto on Roasted Sweet Potatoes – but I make it more like sweet potato fries so I can dredge them through a giant lake of the pesto haha.

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🙂

See you tomorrow! Finally a warm Saturday.

 

 

Market Stuff for April 8.

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I’ll be at the Charlotte Regional Farmers Market tomorrow with:

Our grass fed Angus beef in these cuts: ground, stew, philly steak, cube steak, ribeyes, NY Strip, filet, sirloin, flat iron, skirt, huge beautiful briskets, eye of round roasts, bone-in chuck roasts, sirloin tip roasts, short ribs, osso bucco, hot dogs, corned beef and bologna.

We still have some beef left from the winter processing and that will be on sale at 20% off until it’s gone: ribeye, sirloin, cube, stew.

I’ll have kale raab and lots of beautiful kale in these varieties: curly, lacinato, red russian and rainbow lacinato. Collards, chard, sweet potatoes, wheat and more PLANTS!!!

Herb plants: Cutting celery, parsley, fernleaf dill, purple ruffles basil, thai basil, thyme,  zaatar oregano.

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Tomato plants: I don’t have a ton this week but I will have a few of these – all of them very easy to grow and very prolific:

Ildi – very prolific small yellow cherry, 4″ pots

Bloody Butcher in 5″ pots

San Marzano roma in 4″ pots

Sungolds in 5″ pots – and I’ll have TONS more in a couple weeks in 4″ pots

Zarnitza in 4″ and 5″ pots – these are early, very prolific, what I would call “typical” red tomatoes,  heirloom variety,  the plants don’t get super huge and they are very stocky! I think they’d be great for canners. Crack resistant and don’t seem to be affected by extreme heat as I trialed these in the hoop house last year. They don’t have the flavor of some of the varieties I grow but make up for it in poundage 🙂

a few varieties in 1 gallon pots.

Coming soon I’ll have a great variety of heirloom tomatoes and the container cherry tomatoes so if you don’t get them this week, no big deal! The last frost date is April 15.

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It’s going to be near freezing tonight so cover up your tender plants…

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My Aunt Charlotte came to visit and she had to work the whole time 🙂  We got corn, potatoes, kale, broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, tomatoes and herbs and the last of the onions planted, with help from my sister and Shane too.

See you tomorrow!

Market Stuff for April 1.

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Hello! Are you guys seeing these unbelievably gorgeous rainbows everywhere lately?

I’ll be at the Charlotte Regional Farmers Market tomorrow with:

Our grass fed Angus beef in these cuts: ground, stew, philly steak, cube steak, ribeyes, NY Strip, filet, sirloin, flat iron, flank, skirt, huge beautiful briskets, eye of round roasts, bone-in chuck roasts, sirloin tip roasts, short ribs, osso bucco

Ground beef special – buy 5 get 1 pound free.

We still have some beef left from the winter processing and that will be on sale at 20% off until it’s gone: ribeye, strip, sirloin, cube, philly, stew. That’s a fantastic deal on nice steaks (you should see those ribeyes) and even better on stew beef –at $5.20 lb!!

I’ll have some kale raab and lots of beautiful kale in these varieties: curly, lacinato, and rainbow lacinato. Collards, chard, sweet potatoes, wheat and more PLANTS!!!

Cutting celery, parsley, fernleaf dill, Genovese and cinnamon basils, thyme, a few zaatar oregano. I can bring tomato plants if anyone wants, please text me 704.293.1777 or else I’ll wait another week. Although my greenhouse is packed full so I’d love to let some go to new homes 🙂 The last frost date is April 15.

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My early cukes are still in the heated greenhouse because I haven’t cleaned out a spot in the hoops for them yet, I just keep potting them up. They’re in 5 gallon buckets now, sigh. Anyway this guy reached out to a baby okra! How funny. The okra is leaning away like NOOOOOOO. I try to tell myself it’s just a matter of chance but it looks kind of menacing, right?

Finally I asked Shane’s helper to finish cleaning out the hoops for me. He finished today and I just have 3 more rows of tomatoes to put in and the last row will be ALL tomatillos NOMNOM. Onions are in but we’re getting rain regularly so I don’t know if I’ll get potatoes, cabbage, cauli, broc, kale and sweet corn in this week or not.

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There is just one wild dogwood on the edge of the woods beside the hoophouse, and I’ve been noticing for the past couple years that it is so beautiful in all it’s stages! Every season. I think it might be the most beautiful tree ever.

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You can almost see the horn growing out of his forehead 😛

See you tomorrow!

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