Last weekend was the first time I’ve ridden since May or June. The wind was really blowing, which is super spooky for some horses – namely mine. He snorts like a pig the whole time (or like a wild stallion, however you want to look at it) but he has had a 6 month vacay from work so he’s just got to get back into the groove.

The ground is so saturated that every step a horse or cow takes turns grass to mud. They put their foot down and it just slides. Ugh, the pastures. Then driving the tractor through to bring hay in…you can’t even imagine the mess. Just where I feed the horses, the mud is so deep it’ll suck your boots off. Ready for this sunny week coming up!!

I’ll be at the Charlotte Regional Farmers Market tomorrow until 11. I won’t be there next week.

I have a little baby arugula, a few savoy cabbages, turmeric, 2 kinds of sweet potatoes, some fresh herbs: sage, parsley, mint, chives, and hard red winter wheat.

I love Thanksgiving. So much delicious food. We never have pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving because I haven’t ever been able to grow pumpkins. I make this sweet potato pie instead, and everyone says they like it better! However this year I actually grew some mini pie pumpkins called Cinnamon Girl. They are SO GOOD. One pumpkin makes only one pie, and then I eat the whole pie. Hells yeah. I think there were like 10 of them and now I’m down to five. I usually make something like this healthier version. Mostly on Monday nights when Shane goes to eat with his friends. Pie night 😉

I’ll have our 100% grass fed & grass finished, Animal Welfare Approved Angus beef in these cuts:

ribeye, NY strip, sirloin, skirt, osso bucco, short ribs, stew beef, philly steak, cube steak, brisket, sirloin tip roast, eye of round roast, boneless chuck roast, liver, soup bones, hot dogs.

Ground beef special – Buy 5, Get 1 free.

Bulk pricing on our beef: quarters, halves and wholes – $3.50 lb hang weight plus the cost of processing (.75/lb)

We are now also offering (almost) half-quarters – not quite 1/8 of a cow (60 lbs) for $460. This is a great savings over the regular price you pay per piece, but quarters, halves and wholes are still the best deal.

And now, we are proud to be supplying Misfit CLT Beer & Food Co with our delicious beef.

If I don’t see you tomorrow I hope you guys have the very best Thanksgiving week! I’m so grateful to have such amazing folks as our customers. We appreciate you so much. <3 See you tomorrow or in a couple weeks!

Moo and Abby 🙂

I’ll be at the Charlotte Regional Farmers Market tomorrow until 11.

turmeric, a little horseradish, 2 kinds of sweet potatoes, hard red winter wheat.

I’ll have our 100% grass fed & grass finished, Animal Welfare Approved Angus beef in these cuts:

ribeye, NY strip, sirloin, skirt, osso bucco, short ribs, stew beef, philly steak, cube steak, brisket, sirloin tip roast, eye of round roast, boneless chuck roast, liver, soup bones, hot dogs.

Ground beef special – Buy 5, Get 1 free.

Bulk pricing on our beef: quarters, halves and wholes – $3.50 lb hang weight plus the cost of processing (.75/lb)

We are now also offering (almost) half-quarters – not quite 1/8 of a cow (60 lbs) for $460. This is a great savings over the regular price you pay per piece, but quarters, halves and wholes are still the best deal.

And now, we are proud to be supplying Misfit CLT Beer & Food Co with our delicious beef.

See you tomorrow!

fresh horseradish root! To use it, scrub and scrape it, then grate it and mix it into some white wine vinegar to preserve it in the fridge, or just add it to mayo, sour cream, bloody Marys, etc.

I’ll be at the Charlotte Regional Farmers Market tomorrow until 11.

horseradish root, turmeric, 2 kinds of sweet potatoes, hard red winter wheat, some herbs and a little ginger. I pretty much had a crop failure but there were a couple plants that made it.

I’ll have our 100% grass fed & grass finished, Animal Welfare Approved Angus beef in these cuts:

ribeye, NY strip, sirloin, flat iron, flank, skirt, osso bucco, short ribs, stew beef, philly steak, cube steak, brisket, sirloin tip roast, eye of round roast, boneless chuck roast, liver, soup bones, oxtail.

Ground beef special – Buy 5, Get 1 free.

Bulk pricing on our beef: quarters, halves and wholes – $3.50 lb hang weight plus the cost of processing (.75/lb)

We are now also offering (almost) half-quarters – not quite 1/8 of a cow (60 lbs) for $460. This is a great savings over the regular price you pay per piece, but quarters, halves and wholes are still the best deal.

And now, we are proud to be supplying Misfit CLT Beer & Food Co with our delicious beef.

Someone let me know that I shared the wrong link for my breakfast recipe last week so here’s the correct one! I’m still hooked on it.

It seems like we should be slowing down now, but we’re still super busy! Shane is trying to get his triticale drilled for next year, and I’m still pulling up my plastic and getting it stored for next year so I can get my clover cover crop planted, still planting in the hoops and we are renovating the house he grew up in to move in there. It’s taking a really long time. It was built in the 70s so you can just imagine what it needs. So exciting! But I just finished getting the garlic planted and the hoophouse that had tomatoes in it this year is finally ready for planting. I have arugula, spinach, radishes, leeks, green onions, collards, lettuce coming up in the other hoop.

Moo will be 11 soon! He’s getting very gray 🙂

I’ll be at the Charlotte Regional Farmers Market tomorrow until 11:30 or 12 with:

turmeric, 2 kinds of sweet potatoes, hard red winter wheat. I get tons of questions about what to do with turmeric, aside from tea and adding it to smoothies. I just chop it up and saute it with my onions and garlic, carrots etc. when I’m making stuff. Here’s a recipe for  Turmeric Rice with Coconut Kale  using the powder, but subbing the fresh instead you would just mince it and add it when you add the ginger.

I’ll have our 100% grass fed & grass finished, Animal Welfare Approved Angus beef in these cuts:

Filet, ribeye, NY strip, sirloin, flat iron, flank, skirt, osso bucco, short ribs, stew beef, philly steak, cube steak, brisket, sirloin tip roast, eye of round roast, boneless chuck roast, liver, soup bones, oxtail.

Ground beef special – Buy 5, Get 1 free.

Bulk pricing on our beef: quarters, halves and wholes – $3.50 lb hang weight plus the cost of processing (.75/lb)

We are now also offering (almost) half-quarters – not quite 1/8 of a cow (60 lbs) for $460. This is a great savings over the regular price you pay per piece, but quarters, halves and wholes are still the best deal.

And now, we are proud to be supplying Misfit CLT Beer & Food Co with our delicious beef! Stop by (near McAlpine Park) and have a freaking delicious burger, hot dog or some hot chili!

It’s calving time, and there are babies everywhere!

The cauliflower is starting to head and I have arugula and spinach coming up in the hoop house. It’s time to plant garlic so I amended with gypsum, sulfur and boron and then tilled; I just wanted to get that done before the rain today and I can plant next week. Gypsum is a form of calcium that doesn’t affect the soil pH. It also adds some sulfur to the soil and most of us around here can use it.

This is in a sloping area and I farm it in strips to help prevent erosion, except for it was so overgrown I couldn’t see exactly where the edge of the bed was that I wanted to till. I have a lot more space than I use in any season and I can’t keep up with it all.

I came across this recipe when I was looking for something new to make for breakfast and it’s so good! I have it almost every day; I just thought I’d share it. See you tomorrow!

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

baby turmeric, probably the last hibiscus roselles for tea, eggplant, peppers, winter wheat and Beauregard + Covington sweet potatoes.

baby turmeric hands!

I’ll have our 100% grass fed & grass finished, Animal Welfare Approved Angus beef in these cuts:

Filet, ribeye, NY strip, sirloin, flat iron, flank, skirt, osso bucco, short ribs, stew beef, philly steak, cube steak, brisket, sirloin tip roast, eye of round roast, boneless chuck roast, liver, soup bones, oxtail.

Ground beef special – Buy 5, Get 1 free.

Bulk pricing on our beef: quarters, halves and wholes – $3.50 lb hang weight plus the cost of processing (.75/lb)

We are now also offering (almost) half-quarters – not quite 1/8 of a cow (60 lbs) for $460. This is a great savings over the regular price you pay per piece, but quarters, halves and wholes are still the best deal.

And now, we are proud to be supplying Misfit CLT Beer & Food Co with our delicious beef! Stop by and have a freaking delicious burger.

Shazam.

See you tomorrow!

Look at that FACE! Gah. Smooch smooch smooch!!

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

savoy cabbage, hibiscus roselles for tea, sweet potatoes, eggplant, peppers, winter wheat.

I’ll have our 100% grass fed & grass finished, Animal Welfare Approved Angus beef in these cuts:

NY strip, osso bucco, short ribs (Braised Short Ribs with Cheesy Grits, anyone??), stew beef, philly steak, cube steak, brisket, sirloin tip roast, eye of round roast, boneless chuck roast, liver, and hot dogs made from our 100% grass fed Angus beef, no added nitrates or nitrites.

Ground beef special – Buy 5, Get 1 free.

Bulk pricing on our beef: quarters, halves and wholes – $3.50 lb hang weight plus the cost of processing (.75/lb)

We are now also offering (almost) half-quarters – not quite 1/8 of a cow (60 lbs) for $460. This is a great savings over the regular price you pay per piece, but quarters, halves and wholes are still the best deal.

We’ll be all stocked up on beef cuts for the market next week.

We had our first ever twins today. They’re hard to see in the photo, so small! The mom left with the one baby standing in front of her and the one lying down didn’t go, and she didn’t come back for him. He was weak and Shane didn’t think he had nursed, and the buzzards were circling so Shane called our neighbor to see if she wanted a bottle calf to raise. Thank goodness she did, and has given Shane an update that he drank 3 pints of colostrum so that’s great news. She has another calf that she raised from a bottle.

This week my sister came and helped me transplant 6 flats of green onions and leeks in the hoop so we’ll see how they fare. That’s the only news on the vegetable front.

I gave Solomon a bath this week and took some pics while I was waiting for him to dry.  The sunset made a cool effect! Just highlighting how special he is <3

His color is called flea-bitten gray because of the speckling. When he wants a treat he whacks you in the face with his nose…my botched attempt at teaching him to give kisses.

See you tomorrow!

Hola!

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

savoy cabbage, hibiscus roselles for tea, sweet potatoes, eggplant, peppers, winter wheat.

I’ll have our 100% grass fed & grass finished, Animal Welfare Approved Angus beef in these cuts:

NY strip, osso bucco, short ribs, stew beef, philly steak, cube steak, brisket, sirloin tip roast, eye of round roast, boneless chuck roast, liver, and hot dogs made from our 100% grass fed Angus beef, no added nitrates or nitrites.

Ground beef special – Buy 5, Get 1 free AND this week shank (osso bucco) is 10% off.

It’s normally $5.50/lb which is a great deal even at the regular price. I don’t really have an actual recipe that I use, I just salt/pepper then brown the whole shank really nicely on all sides then throw them in the crock pot with lots of onions, tomatoes, carrots, potatoes, garlic, celery, oregano, thyme etc. It makes like a beef stew, except it’s a super awesome stew because it has all that rich bone marrow, plus the flavor the bone gives it and the meat is more the texture of brisket or short ribs which I really like. I also think they’re perfect for soup. I found this recipe for Peppered Beef Shank in Red Wine for the crock pot that looks pretty much to die for and has better instructions for someone that hasn’t made it before.

Bulk pricing on our beef: quarters, halves and wholes – $3.50 lb hang weight plus the cost of processing (.75/lb)

We are now also offering (almost) half-quarters – not quite 1/8 of a cow (60 lbs) for $460. This is a good savings over the regular price you pay at the market, but quarters, halves and wholes are still the best deal.

We’ll be all stocked up on beef cuts for the 10/20 market.

Ryan, my farrier (horse-shoer, hoof trimmer) was here this week…did you know that some farriers still make the shoes to fit the horse? This is like an art. Only two of the eight horses need shoes, the rest are good barefoot.

So first you cook ’em.

Then you whack ’em.

and then spark ’em – these are the technical terms, people. Pay attention.

Then he whacks ’em, cooks ’em, sparks ’em some more and matches them to the hoof multiple times in between.

So cool. He can actually make shoes from scratch. Carats’ front hooves are different sizes; one side is short and flat and the other is tall and narrow, and they are always changing so Ryan makes sure the shoes are fit to give the best support. I’m sure he would strangle me if he knew I was using the words cook, whack and spark to describe his…forging? IDK.

I took a lot of pictures while the shoes were being made.

LOOK –  you can see the reflection of the world in his eyeball.

Can you tell by that long gallop stride she’s an ex-racehorse 🙂

See you tomorrow!

P.S. She wears a fly mask, it’s not a blindfold like some have shared their concern about 😉

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

chestnuts, fresh and dried hibiscus roselles (for tea), Carola potatoes, sweet banana peppers, jalepenos, Tobago seasoning peppers and eggplant, hard red winter wheat, sweet potatoes.

I made this Greek Eggplant Dip on Sunday for the Panthers game- I always like it but I was surprised that Shane really liked it. Lots of garlic and smoked paprika 🙂 A double batch because it’s better the next day.

I’ll have our 100% grass fed & grass finished, Animal Welfare Approved Angus beef in these cuts:

NY strip, osso bucco, short ribs, stew beef, philly steak, cube steak, brisket, sirloin tip roast, eye of round roast, boneless chuck roast, liver, and hot dogs made from our 100% grass fed Angus beef, no added nitrates or nitrites.

Ground beef special – Buy 5, Get 1 free.

Bulk pricing on our beef: quarters, halves and wholes – $3.50 lb hang weight plus the cost of processing (.75/lb)

Here is my current vegetable situation – grasshoppers ate most of the lettuce, all of the beets and carrots as soon as they came up, and the napa cabbage. I have green cabbage coming in soon and then broccoli and cauliflower I hope. The beds with the cabbage, brussels sprouts, broc and cauli flooded during Florence and stayed really wet so there are some rot problems there. I’ll have turmeric in October, but the ginger was a total crop failure.

I have green onion and leek transplants to put in, but there’s no point in planting anything else. I bought a ton of insect fabric to protect the crops but they just ate through it. Once it gets cold the bastards will die off and I can plant in the hoop houses but by then it will be too late to plant anything outside; anyway it will be November before I have any kale, beets, etc.

I pinned this recipe for Coconut Hibiscus Iced Tea Latte that sounds amazing, but I haven’t made it yet. Hibiscus is also known as sorrel, and this is the sorrel drink recipe with ginger and cinnamon that lots of customers have told me they love so much.

See you tomorrow!

Tea hibiscus. The massive plants got pushed over by the rain we had from Florence but they’re doing ok.

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

chestnuts, hibiscus roselles (for tea), Carola & Huckleberry Gold potatoes, sweet bell peppers, sweet banana peppers, jalepenos, Tobago seasoning peppers and 3 kinds of eggplant: purple, Rosa Bianca Italian and mini fairytale, hard red winter wheat, sweet potatoes.

Chestnuts are here! I wish ALL vegetables and fruits grew inside a treacherously spiny hull like that.

I’ll have our 100% grass fed & grass finished, Animal Welfare Approved Angus beef in these cuts:

NY strip, sirloin steak, skirt, osso bucco, short ribs, stew beef, philly steak, oxtail, cube steak, brisket, sirloin tip roast, eye of round roast, boneless chuck roast, liver, and hot dogs made from our 100% grass fed Angus beef, no added nitrates or nitrites.

Ground beef special – Buy 5, Get 1 free.

Bulk pricing on our beef: quarters, halves and wholes – $3.50 lb hang weight plus the cost of processing (.75/lb)

This recipe for hibiscus lemonade arrived in my inbox just yesterday, from Anthony William. He says that hibiscus has antioxidant properties similar to those in red wine. Who knew?

4 cups water, divided
2 teaspoons dried hibiscus
½ cup fresh lemon juice
4 tablespoons raw honey or maple syrup

Directions:
Bring 1 cup of water to a boil in a small saucepan. Remove the water from the heat and add the dried hibiscus. Allow the resulting hibiscus tea to steep for at least 10 minutes, and then strain the tea into a mug and place it in the fridge to cool.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the remaining 3 cups of water with the lemon juice and honey until the honey has completely dissolved and a smooth lemonade has formed. When the hibiscus tea has cooled, stir it into the lemonade base and enjoy! For a more medicinal tea, double the amount of hibiscus.

He also says it can be frozen into ice cubes to add your water anytime-awesome idea.

Chestnuts – how to roast! Here is a link to some really cool info on roasting that I wasn’t aware of, but all that aside, simply score the flat side with an “X”, spread onto a sheet pan and roast at 350 for 20 to 40 minutes or until the kitchen smells amazing and the shells are curling up at the X. They will mostly just pop out of the shell when you break them, although sometimes there is still shell attached which can be eliminated according to the info in the link.

AND I made something so delicious while we were in the house during Florence. Sweet Potato Hot Fudge Cake. Fudgy cake that’s not too sweet and makes it’s own hot fudgy sauce.  Holy bleep. So good. We killed it in one night and it was amazing, except it has coffee and cocoa so I was up til 2 am, sigh. Definitely a keeper though.

So this is the creek on Saturday morning (I really REALLY enjoyed my day off, BTW 🙂 Note the height of the banks.

And here it is Sunday evening. Completely overran the banks and flooded the woods and the road to the creek. You can’t even see the creek from here, it’s several hundred yards up the road. That little speck beside Shane is Bug, she loves to swim. Yep, she’s swimming.

Flooding across another road…

By Monday morning it was all gone and we just had a couple trees down and no damage, if you don’t count the waterlogged brussels sprouts that are now dying. I count them.

Cleaning out the tomato hoop, one of my least favorite things to do… every season is always my favorite when it gets here, but the weeks that drag on and on during the end of summer are always my least favorite time of year. And tomorrow is the first day of fall!! Woohoo!! I’ll see you then 🙂

Hoping everyone makes it through the storm safe and sound. See you next week <3