Anonymous Farm

Ready to take the piggies to the butcher. Keeping a few sows, the boar and the piglets... but there are plenty ready to go. We are using the IOWA processor we used last year, Mattiesens. We were very pleased with both their quality and their cost. We are charging $3 a pound hanging weight and the processing cost is added on depending on your choice of cuts. Sold in half or whole animal only - partner up if you don't have a freezer big enough. Click on cut list  for ideas. 

Need beef or pork? We are shifting the primary product to these guys.   

3 pigs went to market, we used Johnson's as Galloway's was on vacation. Alan is still non-weight bearing after his skid loader accident. The beef and 2 more pigs will need to go soon too, so place your orders.

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8 litlle piggies went out one day

Through the corn field to the waterway

Mamma doc said come back come back

but it took a whole week without rain to get them back!

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Piggies are plentiful on our farm... by our measure at least. After taking our winter harvest of pork to the processor, not counting the newest batch of piglets, we again have more children than pigs.

Six children make for a plentiful home (bigger than the homes of either of our nuclear families of origin, but smaller than the country cousins in Ireland).

Mrs Piggie went to freezer camp this winter. We hate to see her go, but at 3 years old, she was getting too big to comfortably fit through the 1st floor side doors in our antique corn crib. We bought her as a piglet, after being weaned by a local vet's husband (our mechanic). She had a good life: fun in the sun, the escape to the corn field accross the creek with her piglets last year and 2 healthy and productive pregnancies... She was the first animal we bred. Paul Muller shared his Berkshire boar, with great results.

...she will make good bacon  and brats now. So it goes on a family farm.

We seem to have room for sales, and are considering seeing if another local CSA that focuses on veggies would like to cooperate. We would hate to split the meat sales to less than custom processing sizes. But it seems that few families are ready for freezerfuls... The problem is that processing for individual meat sale is so much more... if only customers wanted whole animals we could keep our focus on the family farm and not the marketing...

Happy winter! 

Four of our eight little piggies were taken to the processor this week. Hana and her friend Skylar are saying goodbye along with our reverse herd dog Aggie. When the piglets escaped last month Aggie wasn't the best herding dog, she kept scattering them when we wanted her to round them up. So Alan sent her to them and had her lay down, then when he called for her the piggies followed her home.

We are processing these little piggies in the fall to maximize the flavor. being young, they should be tender. Being fall, they have recently enjoyed the harvest leavings and the fresh pasture and forage of the farm. Winters are cold and stored feeds may not leave meat tasting as fresh as when harvested at the peak of the season. Soon we'll be able to test that concept. 

Skylar's daddy shared some wonderful fresh venison with us that he harvested with an arrow and processed himself. Thanks to Joe! Not us, we'll leave the processing to the professionals and enjoy giving them a good life while the domesticated livestock share our farm with us. We like to invite Joe to visit when the wildlife are plentiful.

The week before Thanksgiving and the turkeys are all gone. Since we sold out early (with the help of Aggie thinning out our pastured turkeys we think), Paul Muller will be trading us pork for turkey this year so we won't have to go without. Thanks to Paul!

We will be taking orders for 2010 if anyone has any special requests for custom animals or produce. We have had one request recently for a large order of chickens for shipping that we are considering... but we prefer selling locally to people who know the care that goes into our farm. 

We received an email asking about our CSA... this was the response:

Anonymous Farm is a small family farm. We offer shares of pasture raised meat animals or garden produce grown to order.  This is also our first year producing honey.  Customers have input on seeds ordered, and weather and wild-life may limit availability by harvest time.  Work share for local customers is also an option where volunteer time on a regular basis can be exchanged for goods. Natural pest management is employed and chemicals are avoided. The health of our ecosystem and family are our top priority.

Pork, beef and other custom shares are available and butchered to order when ready by local licensed processors.  Meat is sold by the half or quarter animal for freezer use and transported to the processor where the processing fees are added and the customer picks-up the packaged meats. When whole animals are shared, often one customer picks up and distributes the packages.

We do deliver limited goods locally.

The farm is diversifying and evolving. Got freezer beef? We sold out our pastured chickens in no time at all and will encourage repeat customers and new customers to pre-order so we know how many to raise. 2 young goats were processed and have been tried with great success. We only bought a few Turkeys (less than 10) and have most of them spoken for.

Many of our customers are mourning the loss of our fresh eggs... but there is only one Alan and I made him decide between eggs and beef. So we now have 6 baby beef in our barn being bottlefed as we speak. Next year we think we will buy a dairy cow to act as momma to the baby beef we buy to cut out the middle-man of bottlefeeding... but for now we are out there caring for the calves and baling hay for the winter. I should really say Alan and Trevor are doing these things right now, as I am writing and enjoying a minute of rest.

On the egg front, we let the birds hatch out their young this spring and had several suprises. The first crop of ducklings dissappeared free ranging in less than a week. The one Pekin duck has adopted all the other ducklings.  She was confined for a week in the otherwise vacant hen house with a weed filled run attached. Now she has 16 fuzzy followers ranging around the farm. One buff hen hatched 5 chicks, 2 of which Alan found in a plumbing access in the barn. These were rescued and temporarily housed with a bunny that the boys bought. They escaped and seem to have become someone's dinner. 3 other chicks were following their momma hen last time I saw them. The real suprise came when those silly geese insisted on sitting and we gave up fighting them. We were sure they were all girls and being obstinant in their defence of the sterile eggs. Were we suprised when 3 hatched!

 The sow had piglets 8 of which we expect to survive. They were born on my son's 10th birthday! One seems to have been stepped on in the throws of labor and has pretty bad wounds on it's sides... but may survivie yet.

We let the ducks brood this year, free range... and have 5 still setting. One hatched 6 ducklings who followed their momma everywhere. The waddled to the waterway and to the corn field, to the garden and to the barn... but the wildlife showed no mercy and in less than 10 days we went from 6 to 3 to 2 to 1 to none. Alan noticed that there seem to be empty egg shells near the nests too and worries that something is stealing the eggs before they can hatch. We will have to reconsider the free range brooding idea and determine a compromise between protecting them and allowing them freedom. What joys and challenges...

Next episode... when will the little piggies come?

The last of the Spring kids have been born. Sad to say we lost a few. The plants are just starting to grow. Kids born last year: Gertrude is the tan one with the white belt. Splosh has the white face & body with black ears and Shirley has the white wiggle on her face. There are a few others that were born before the herd joined our farm last year, but I'm featuring the ones born here.

Hansel & Gretel are the first two of 2009. Then Christian and Frostie were the only survivors of 3 mothers who all delivered sooner than expected in sub zero temperatures. Mrs. Black is the nanny who is raising Frostie and Christian. Two survived from a set of triplets born in the home basement. Anders and Sun were named to go with Hansel & Christian (Hans-Christian Anderson). So it seems we have added 9 goats (5 girls, 4 boys) since we started... and the second year of the herd on Anonymous Farm has hardly begun.

We tried milking Mrs Black and the other two goats that had delivered at the same time. She had the most milk of the three and took to nursing the little ones on her own. We will let the other females run with the buck to see if late summer brings more kidding.

This year's boys have all been fixed... we don't want any unexpected early kids next winter. Last year's boys will have to be sold or go to the butcher.

The chickens are laying well and the roosters will be going to the butcher soon. We are trying to keep them separated, but we won't be suprised if one of the hens is hiding some fertile eggs somewhere. The ducks have started laying and my dad in Chicago has tried the eggs. It's hard to find eggs for those with allergies to chickens, but ask and you shall recieve.

We are hoping to collaborate with others on this year's garden. Plans are in the works. This is the time to make requests.