Moonstruck Farms

As I sit in the kitchen hiding from the heat believe it or not I am thinking about Thanksgiving.  I know I have to have my final order in by June 18th.  Please let me know if you do need a Thanksgiving turkey I am only ordering 20% over the total preorder this year.  This is a necessity with us taking on so much this year.  We also have decided to use an old travel trailer or toy box (so if you know of one let me know), gut it except for the nice existing plumbing and electricity and add larger sinks and presto you have a poultry processing unit with heat!!  I don't know what I will do not freezing my touche off at Thanksgiving!! Everything is still pretty "messy" around here in terms of needing a lot of weeding and hardscape still, but we are growing by no doubt.  The new beds out front have added a tremendous amount of space and with the new misting system going in soon the greenhouses can stay planted throughout the year.  Winter and summer squash and corn are going in this week....200 feet done yesterday.  720 leeks in the ground and 350 red torpedos going in the last constructed bed out front.  Lettuce is being tucked in every shadowed corner I can find along with cilantro.   Piglets are escaping and keeping Molly busy herding them back in, and she makes sure she has a word with the cows from time to time to make sure they don't get any crazy ideas like Filet did, but this bunch is a WHOLE lot calmer and they are filling out nice since they are not bunco bronching across the corral all day!! We have gained a lot of new customers from Apple Valley so we are adding a Wednesday delivery from 4:30-5:00 at the Target center near the garden center.  The fruit tree order is finalized including apples of all kinds including cider and cooking Heirloom varieties, peaches throughout the season, figs, cherries and a few pluots for my daughters along with plums for pollinating and some Texas umbrella trees for the cows and pigs.  Time to eat dinner and head out to work in the cool evening air.  Remember we are closed this week, but we will see you next week and in Apple Valley too!

I found out today that even when you have a hate/love relationship with a beef cow they are just on the farm too long not to build some bond with.  Eddie from Barstow Custom Butchering came by and dropped off pork so I was busy organizing it in the freezer and could not be down in "livestock central" as Eddie began his job.  When I finally arrived there was nothing but a hanging piece of meat and that was fine.  I took the liver up to cut, the ox tail and the heart and tongue.  He showed me the marbling that I had attained that would be determined choice due to fat content...perfect.  Our goal is grass fed with just a touch of marbling that we add with the six weeks of grain.  Of course those of you who chose grass fed only will just be fed a little longer to attain some marbling with age versus grain.  He also invited us to come out when the cutting was done after the two weeks of aging so that we can understand all the cut choices better and relay this information to our customers in aiding them in making their choices.  A bittersweet day, but at the same time I thank the Lord for providing us with the beef with the awesome protein and amino acids that feeds my muscles that I so need to complete my daily chores.  Amen!!

The girls took a nice long rest and boy did they come back strong!!  They are laying at 98%!!  We are making angel food cake, scrambles, omelettes, frittatas, cookies, Texas sheet cake and lots more!!  Meyers lemons have been a terrific price from Glen Cairn so we made lemon curd, drizzled it on the angel food cake and added a dollop of whipped cream!!  See why I have to work so hard in the fields...I like to eat good food!!  We will have our first Moonstruck beef soon and I cannot wait!!  Believe it or not it is the hamburger I am looking forward to the most.  I could not believe how good hamburger could taste after I tried the Bashaws!!  Tonight we are enjoying a Italian Sausage Soup with just harvested spinach...yes we have lots and lots of spinach!!  The radishes are huge too!!  Finally all the hard work is starting to show.  We have been taking the time to monitor the greenhouse temperatures and humidity and soil testing every row and all the observations are starting to pay off!  I was opening the greenhouses too early and losing precious humidity.  The West field is planted with sugar snap, snow peas, fava beans and shelling peas....we lost one row to a rabbit break in, but I think I have locked them out again!!  Plain Jane salad mix (speckled bibb, romaine, buttercrunch and spinach) has been a big hit right along with Moonstruck salad mix.  The tomatoes are about 18 inches and I can't wait to see how early we can have this year, but I know now from my monitoring that I can push it one month earlier next year.  Moonstruck signing out...see ya all soon!!

The steers arrived today and not without a little excitement. The trailer was backed up beautifully to the corral so I only had to stand in a very small space that they could go through, but then they came running all at once, and Filet did not know what to make of it so she took off and tried to jump the other end of the corral...luckily she did not make it, but the corral does not look the same anymore to say the least. She is about four weeks from harvest so she is about 800-1000 lbs. These little guys just left the Cherry Valley hills where their Momma's are and were weaned onto alfalfa before coming here. Tony kept them in a corral for about a month before coming here so they are somewhat used to it, and trust me they are much calmer than Filet was, but they are also younger. Filet got to work right away bossing them around and eating almost all the food I put out for them....she will be making weight sooner than I thought!! You could see who the leader was out of the little guys right away, one very curious steer walked all the way up to me and Filet when I was feeding her her grain (by hand in a bucket so they could not get to it) ...need a good name for that guy!! The routine we establish will be that these guys will take a year or so to come to weight...grass fed a little longer so the earliest we will restock will be late Spring 2013. We have two sides still available. Just email me if you are interested at moonstruckfarms@verizon.net.  Moonstruck signing out!!

Okay, the pork scheduling has been a little crazy due to demand and getting set up with a steady piglet supplier and it is done....yeah!!  Moonstruck Farms will be offering pork sides for September/October 2012 and roasting pigs (for those big summer parties) for Summer 2012.  The deadline for these pork orders is April 6, 2012.  for more details please email me.  Next batch of pork will be February 2013. 

Tony talked me into one more head of beef and so I have two sides available and they are grass/grain fed at this time, but if both sides sell for grass fed only I will convert it to grass only.  Beef will be an approximately one to one and half year cycle depending on their weight gain.  If they are ready by next Spring than another batch will come in, but if they are not then I will have to wait for Fall calves....circle of life on the range :) Now I just need to get my hands on the ultrasound equipment they are using for grading the beef....this is how they confirm grass fed beef is at choice grade, but then again I have Eddie and I think he is better than the ultrasound after 40+ years in the business...he has never steered me wrong and my husband has the pig measuring down and he has been within 5 lbs. every time!!

On the lamb front...one share left and no more until August 2012.

The first batch of chicken is sold out for July 2012, but we will do 50 each in August, September and October; 20 Summer turkeys and 50 Thanksgiving turkeys...sorry have to start out slow :)  By the way if anyone has a deal on cargo containers I need a few, but the budget is tight so it has to be a great deal!! My husband is kicking me out of the garage he says I am taking it over!! Hehehhe....he's right!!  Moonstruck signing out...alias the "garage taker"!!

I was out this morning taking “little lady” our Berkshire pig a nice bowl of morning goodies…cracked eggs, leftover cabbage, green beans and the harvest scraps from yesterday for her and she was spinning her 360s in excitement but she had to wait!  She has been happily tilling her pen (and eating some dirt and getting her vitamins and minerals at the same time)and had built all the dirt up right outside the gate and I could not open it!!  so there I was digging her out.  She had basically tried to dig to china like all the pigs do.  the last batch were harvested just in time….all four walls had been undermined and were ready to go down and we were doing temporary fixes until they were harvested.  This weekend Michael will take the whole pen down, tractor away all the tilled dirt and fill it back in and rebuild the pen for the next guys to hopefully not succeed in making it to china!!  The good news is Michael will tractor all that beautifully tilled dirt and all the manure from filet’s corral (she has done some tilling herself with her “bull” action) and build the next tiered bed out front.  I could get used to this tractor idea!! too bad it does not fit in the greenhouses!  We are going to review our tree order for this next year this weekend too since it is not going into next year (but is due this week) and we want to maximize it.  the cherries will take up to five years to produce on the rootstock we are choosing for soil and the apples almost as long.  Sweet cherries and gravenstein, empire, spitzenburg and winesap apples are definitely on the list!!  I am dreaming of a u pick addition in five years!!  we are also adding a "roasting pig" choice for your special gatherings this summer but i definitely need to know as soon as possible if you are interested.  just email me at moonstruckfarms@verizon.net.  Thank you again for all your support!

  

Easter Lamb is ready for processing; just email for more details!  I know I am going to try one of those great recipes that roasts all night with a great red wine!!!  Yes, we are very, very Irish though we have other wonderful cultures mixed in us our Irish heritage seems to come out the strongest in our taste and habits!!  Work hard and play hard!!  Speaking of I have planted for two days straight, spent the day running around catching up on the house and running errands the rest of the day!!  Time to feed the animals, check on the greenhouses and call it a day!!

We were delighted to receive rain all day yesterday and snow overnight.  Everything is soaked and I wish my husband could just take the week off and tractor!! It is perfect outside for planting and building of new beds!  We are also finally getting around to finishing our backyard which one day will host classes and events.  The outside fields are perfect for planting and night time temps are supposed to be right at 40 this week, which is perfect!! This will be the most we have ever planted. We are planting in accordance to sales this last year and prospected growth!!  Rows of snow peas, sugar snap peas, shelling peas and fava beans! This will be our first year planting "pounds" of seeds not packages.  We are still learning, making "Gardening 101" mistakes and then going back and regrouping, but overall we are forging ahead and loving it!!  Today I was pouring buckets of sweat in the new greenhouse as snow flurries fell outside with blue skies and asking myself "who told me to put on long underwear!"  Oh yeah it was me!!  Ugh!!  After a quick lunch break and removal of the long underwear back to work we went putting the final touches on the new greenhouse.  Now I am glad school is getting out Memorial Day Weekend I am definitely going to be hiring my teenagers for harvesting!!  Way too much for me to do this year alone!!  Thank you for your support everyone!!  Moonstruck signing off!

The California Small Farm Conference was fantastic as always.  It gives me time to rejuvenate, reflect and expand my knowledge!!  I took the Soils Farm Tour because it featured orchards!!  Yes we are adding 150 to 200 trees this year and I was so grateful to the farmers that took time out of their busy schedule to do this for us. I went to the Poultry and Beef session and learned they are using ultrasound to ensure the grass fed beef has marbled enough...up to 36 months and the software tells them how much more time on pasture, and I now know the pasture formula that I can duplicate in dry form!! Agritourism was a great source of knowledge for the future!! Grant information galore!! So much to say, but my head is still spinning I will share more in the near future! In the meantime I have a customer who wants to share a grass fed beef side with someone so email if you are interested and there are two lamb shares left.  This will be it until August.  I know I am looking forward to my lamb stew for St. Patrick's Day this weekend.....we always have to have a good dinner to honor our heritage, but mine obviously includes a good dose of Kentucky blood of Cherokee Indian....that is the only way I can explain my addiction to being connected to the land and the animals.  Moonstruck signing off!!

I went to Ash Wednesday mass, and I realized that easter is just around the corner (plus mike can’t stop talking about his big international las vegas karate tournament coming up, it is the day before easter…he loves it and has been training hard for it!!)  I called nancee siebert and we discussed the need for small lamb csa shares.  This is one live lamb to be split between customers. Just let me know if you are interested.  In the meantime mike has to listen to me all night about my exciting plans for the farm including sweet potatoes!!! (which includes begging for a new raised bed to be built by my “studly” husband…yes groveling and flattery is required!!).   First time in bulk…wish me luck.  This year’s focus….food for the masses…carrots, potatoes, sweet potatoes, lettuce, green beans!! I can’t wait!! 

MOONSTRUCK FARMS CSA

SIEBERT LAMB

 

PLEASE WELCOME THE SIEBERTS TO MOONSTRUCK FARMS CSA

THEY ARE FROM THE LANCASTER/PALMDALE AREA AND RAISE SOUTHLAND AND SUFFOLK/HAMPSHIRE MIX HERITAGE LAMBS.  THE CURRENT LAMBS AVAILABLE ARE GRASS AND GRAIN FED, BUT IN THE FUTURE GRASS FED ONLY CAN BE ARRANGED WITH A DEPOSIT. 

THE GRASS AND GRAIN FOR THESE LAMBS IS GROWN ON THE PROPERTY THEY RESIDE ON.

 

 

LAMB SIDE

$225.00

PLUS SLAUGHTER OF $31.00

PLUS CUT WRAP CHARGE OF $40.00

 

TOTAL CHARGE $296.00

(APPROXIMATELY 30 LBS. OF FINISH CUTS)

 

$100.00 Deposit is required to start process.

 

(IF YOU WOULD LIKE ALL STEW MEAT THERE IS AN ADDITIONAL CHARGE AND I AM WAITING TO HEAR BACK FROM FRYERS)

 

Moonstruck Farms CSA would like to welcome the Siebert Lamb Farm to our multi-farm CSA.  The Sieberts have been in the lamb business for over 30 years, and raise Heritage Southdown and Hampshire/Suffolk crosses.  They are grass and grain fed, but only say the word and they will put one aside for grass fed only if that is what you prefer.  There is lamb available now so just drop an email if you would like more information.  Beef sides are almost sold out; I have one "grass fed" only side left for the season.  Sorry this will be it for the year; have to start out slow and five head are plenty for us to start with!!  We have one pork side left that will be sent to butcher in late May, and then we will take a break for a few months with pork available again in the late Fall.   We are taking a few months off so we can keep ourselves busy stocking up on chicken and turkey for the summer and early Fall.  Just a note to keep you updated; now that meat is taken care of time to go plant the new greenhouse with the beginning of the summer crops!!

This is not the most inspiring part of the year for a farmer with barely any eggs and plants limping along in the short days, but can be restful??  I only have the roses, butterfly bushes and fruit trees to prune. Bareroot trees to go into the ground.  All planting to be completed in greenhouses for Spring.  All the animal corrals need manure cleaned out and the allium crops to be planted outdoors....hmmmm........restful...though the Lord has decided that I must since I have been sick!! I am not getting better so I guess I have no choice but to get some extra rest.  In the meantime the seed catalogs are all stacked next to my bed waiting for me.  I do 90% of my ordering from Fedco Seeds in Maine.  They are an employee owned cooperative with organic and nonorganic seed, but absolutely no GMO.  They have a black and white catalog, but great prices so when I need to see a picture I look at the other catalogs!!  So here is where the inspiration comes in this time of year in the form of beautiful seed catalogs and dreams of the coming season!  Another farmer emailed me a comment today and I had to share....it had me and my daughter rolling in laughter!!  So here is a giggle for you I hope...she said, "The seed catalogs are coming in fast and furious.  It is like p*rn for farmers.   I always sit down with a glass of wine and enjoy the pretty pictures".  :)