Pleasant Valley Farm

It's (almost) Thanksgiving, and we have had so much to be thankful for this year.  Both Dan and I and our animals are healthy, which is always the biggest thing to be appreciative of.  Considering the less-than-ideal growing season, our garden did splendidly overall.  We were able to put up enough hay not only to get through the winter, but with enough extra we had no worries about buying another cow. Virtually every jar I canned sealed up, and all the new recipes I tried this year turned out to be delicious.  A majority of both the goats and sheep born this year were girls, so we're building up our herd and flock faster than expected.  And we are especially thankful that so many people remembered our farm and came back as customers after a 3+ year hiatus, and we also met many new friends this year.  I'm thankful for LocalHarvest giving me the space to write this blog, and grateful to all of you who take time out of your busy lives to read it. 

Although you might expect us to be having a feast of homegrown food tomorrow, we are traveling.  Both Dan's parents and my mom live in the middle part of the state, so it can be tricky to plan how to make an 8-hour round trip, have time to enjoy family, and make sure the animals are fed as well.  Unfortunately this year, Dan and I won't be together, but we'll each be spending precious time with our own families, and we can cook a homemade feast another day.  Dan and his brother left today to see not only their parents, but their grandfather as well.  He's getting up in years and is not in the best of health, so every holiday is precious. I will get to do some heavy lifting to burn off all of that turkey, as my mom just bought a house, and since the closing was this week, my siblings and I will pay for dinner by helping her move. Although she told me more than once that she wants us to enjoy our time together, she's also excited about boys with trucks coming!

 It's hard to leave the farm, you always worry that something will happen and whoever you left in charge won't be able to handle it.  Dan tried to make things as easy on me as possible tonight by filling up all the self feeders, bringing the cows in early, and making sure there was plenty of firewood in the house for me to keep warm.  I came home from work, optimistic I would have an easy night, just collecting eggs and feeding a bit of hay to the critters in the barn.  As I walked to the barn in the drizzling rain, I noticed Dixie seemed a bit upset.  This made sense because Dixie is afraid of pigs, and Wilbur and Charlotte were near the pond, which is part of the pasture but NOT part of the hog run! So I've got nearly a ton of loose pork, and I'm not sure where Fern was lurking.  Bribery is always the best option in these situations, so I grabbed a feed scoop, opened the hog house door, and nearly had a heart attack when Fern jumped up on the boards inside, looking me in the eye and waiting for her dinner.  I fed her, opened the inner pen door, and went outside rattling my feed scoop and calling the other two pigs for dinner with the "Woof, woof, piggies!!" they are used to hearing.  Char gladly trotted right behind me and into the pen. Wilbur didn't want to come in the building, he wanted through the fence, and it is now pouring as hard as it's rained all year.  As the water drips down my sleeves and collar, I'm chasing the 750-pound boar around with a feed scoop.  Mildly annoyed, he uproots a part of the fence and heads for the feed inside.  After making sure all doors and gates are latched, I need to figure out why he didn't get shocked by the electric fence during this stunt. I replace the fence post he knocked down as best as I can and head for the fencer up by the house.  It's not clicking, so there is a problem.  Following the extension cord, I find it's not p[lugged in.  So that is an easy fix, and I'll hope all is well when I leave in the morning for my turkey day journey.  Dan will be home by evening chore time, and I'll have a few days to spend with my family. Dan will even be running the stand for me on Saturday so I don't have to hurry back.  I do feel bad that I'll miss our last open weekend for the year, but I know Dan and Matt will be just as capable of running it, so feel free to stop by and stock up for winter!

From our farm to your family, we wish you safe travels, plentiful tables, and quality time with the ones you love.  Happy Thanksgiving! 

We have had the pleasure of raising bobwhite quail for over a year now.  They are tiny little birds with big voices and toy-sized eggs which hatch into bumblebee-sized chicks.  They are kept in one of our portable "tractors," a fully enclosed pen which is moveable to put them on fresh grass as needed.  At least, it was fully enclosed.  As I am walking toward the house after a day at work, I hear more noise than usual coming from the forsythia bush in our yard. I'm used to a sparrow or two, but instead I find about 20 quail (which would be all of them!) in the leaves around the base.  I go inside, greet my husband, and tell him about the birds in the bush.  "that's not good..." he replies.  Upon inspection, it seemed one of the doors to their pen had come loose, and they had all escaped.  For chickens, bunnies, or the occasional other small escapee, we have a good sized net on a long pole.  While this usually works pretty well, quail can fly. Really fly, not just a few feet like a chicken or tame duck.  While we enjoy the bobwhites, we had talked about getting Cortunix quail in the spring if we want to market dressed quail or quail eggs.  So we had already decided the bobwhites were pleasant, but not economically profitable to raise.  Although not very common around our house, they are also a native species for our area.  And at best we'd only be able to net a few before the rest realized the power in thier small wings and flew out of reach.  So the decision was to let them be free, but leave the door open to the pen for them to come back if they need food or shelter.  The kitties were becoming very interested in the new yard birds, so we deliberately startled them, trying to spook them into the cornfield where they would be relativley safe. Of course, some went in to the cornfield, some across the road and into the woods, and stragglers ended up on the roof of the produce stand, the chickens' run, and my kitchen windowsill!  Until dark, we could heaar them calling to each other, regrouping their small covey.  And no quail appeared on the porch as cat food, so we are hoping they have retained enough of their wild instincts to fear predators and stay safe.  Although when I see them in the yard or the field, I'll be throwing a scoop of feed their way.  Because once they tasted freedom and space to put thier wings to the test, they don't seem too likely to take me up on my offer of the open cage door.

Female quail on my kitchen windowsill- she's hiding from the cats!

I had planned to try making a large batch of egg noodles today, but the farm was invaded yesterday.  Every fall (and spring too) we have a few days to a week of ladybug invasions.  When I went out to get the mail, a trip that takes all of 2 minutes, I had to brush 4 of them off of me before reentering the house.  The sides of the house were covered with thousands of them.  Hundreds also find their way into our house, as they squeeze through the cracks in the wooden siding.  It's next to impossible to seal up a 100+ year old house from something that small.  So any plans for food making that can be put on hold are for the next few days...no one wants to eat food that has had bugs crawling all over it!

Now I knew one of the best ways to rid yourself of the ladybugs was to suck them up in a vacuum, but they let off this stinky odor when you do.  So I googled "ladybug invasion"  to see if there were any other ideas.  I didn't find much help, but I did learn some interesting facts as to why it is such a problem.  Firstly, these aren't the ladybugs of my childhood, which never seemed to come indoors. They are Asian Lady Beetles, imported to this country and then released.  While our native PA ladybugs die before winter, leaving eggs to hatch in the spring, these Asian bugs winter over.  So the hundreds I have in my house right now will find a place in the walls, attic, or somewhere to overwinter out of the cold.  Then I will see the same bugs invade my home again in the spring when they wake up from their hiding places and want to go back outside.

Ladybugs are great organic helpers.  They love to eat aphids, which can cause serious damage to any plant, so they are very beneficial to have around. The reason that I am dealing with this menace right now is because the Asian Lady Beetle eats aphids more aggressively.  So companies who specialize in biologic controls want to sell you the "best" bug that will naturally take care of the problem.  Problem is, this bug is an alien species.  It has no predators to keep the numbers in check, and it isn't used to our climate, so it uses people homes to stay alive.  While annoying and smelly, these bugs really don't do much environmental damage.  I have to look into my glass before taking a drink and I'll have to clean the dead bugs out of my hanging light fixtures in a few weeks, but those are just minor inconveniences.  It's much scarier when it is a bug (or disease) that is uncontrollably killing parts of the native species in your local environment.  We worry about the Emerald Ash Borer killing the 200 year old tree in our front yard, but there is absolutely nothing we can do to protect it other than letting a local agency hang a purple box in it over the summer to check for the presence of these devastating beetles.  (so far, we've been Emerald-free)  It's just another reminder to me that if I want to introduce a beneficial bug, plant, or other organism onto my farm, I have a responsibility to do my homework and make sure that critter is going to do what I want it to without it also becoming a problem, either for me or for lots of my neighbors.  After all, the true spirit of the word "organic" is to utilize the natural resources to produce crops on your land.  This means without unnatural inputs, like chemical fertilizers.   I would argue that non-native species can drastically alter the local environment at the expense of local, native plants & animals, and that's not any more natural then the chemicals which do the same.

We've had a few good frosts and freezes here, so I've accepted that the peppers and basil and such are done for the year.  However, I was not ready to wake up this morning to 2 inches of snow on the ground!  Even with the wet ground, as I write this at 5 PM I can still see snow around the bases of the outbuildings.

The change of weather, especially the cold and wet combo, is hard on the critters too.   We still have 3 cows out in the field, and the smallest is only about 5 months old.  He was looking hunched up, like he was cold, so we decided to bring these cows in out of the weather.  The 2 older cows, Happy & Louie, have been with us since early January, so they spend a good amount of time in the barn earlier this year.  Little Buzz, the baby, hasn't been in the barn before, but was a bottle baby when we bought him, so he had been used to being handled too. Once we got them to come through the gate from the main pasture into the barnyard, Happy took off at a run and went straight into the barn with the two boys right at her heels. We shut the door and then had to put collars on the three of them  Although none of them walked right up to us, we had them tied in their stalls without too much trouble.  In no time at all, they were happily munching hay and enjoying being out of the wind and rain.

Even with the weather turning nasty, there is still a never ending list of things to keep us busy here.  More animals inside always means more stalls to clean!  I spent a bit of time with Ponyboy, our Miniature stud colt, grooming the piles of burrs out of his tail. Dan and I have been painting & reflooring the pantry and are in the process of putting everything back where it should be.  Our house is over 100 years old, and anyone who has lived in such an old place knows the Old House Dwarves...Dusty, Drippy, Mousy, Drafty, Damp and some others I'm sure I have yet to meet!  So winterizing as best as we can afford is always an ongoing project as well.  Also, in my expanding quest to be as food self-sufficient as possible, I ordered a pasta making machine and had a chance to use it yesterday.  I was very pleased with the results and spent time today bagging up the noodles that didn't get used for last night's dinner.  I hope to spend more time with it and even have some for sale in the near future in the farm stand.  Being in the kitchen sure beats being cold and wet outside these days!

Despite the cold, I'll be in the stand as usual on Saturdays until November 28th.  Our pasture raised lamb was processed more quickly than anticipated, so if you are interested, stop by or give us a call as we have very limited quantities this year. 

We said goodbye to our two black Angus beef cows last night.  Because of government regulations, the only animal we can legally process start to finish and sell here are the chickens.  All other meat animals get picked up and transported to Hirsch's Meats, the local slaughter facility.  Mondays are the days when pickups occur, so we had a very busy day.  First, we had to get the cows into the barn.  Although they have been with us since July 2008, they have been out to pasture since about May with no real human contact except running up to the fence when we threw corn stalks over for them to eat.  Luckily for us, they remembered the sound of feed rattling around in a feed scoop and followed us into the barnyard and then the barn without too much trouble.  They even remembered where their stalls were and let us put collars on them so they could be tied up for the afternoon.  Next we had to catch the two lambs, so the easiest thing to do was lure all the sheep into the barn.  My older ewes came on the run at the sound of the feed scoop with the rest of the flock following right along.  Unfortunately about half of the goats snuck in too.  Just as we were shutting the barn door to sort out the male lambs, a black lamb jumped through Dan's arms and out into the barnyard,  Of course, that was one we needed!  Luckily he ran into the lower part of the barn and was caught.  Upon looking at the younger of the two ram lambs, he had done better than expected on a grass-only diet and was even bigger than the first, despite being a couple months younger.  So he was sorted out into the holding pen, and the rest of the sheep & goats were shooed out of the barn.  Lastly were some pigs out in the movable pig tractor.  It was too muddy & far to move it down to the barn, so we put a crate on the trailer behind the pickup and loaded the pigs onto the trailer, then backed the trailer into the barn.  Using portable gates to make a kind of runway, we simply opened the crate and the pigs backed out and followed the path we had to the pen.  So far, so good!

Later in the evening, well after dark, the trailer arrived.  We had spoken to the driver before he got here, so he knew where to back in.  I don't know how he gets that big stock trailer backed around, but I guess he's had plenty of years of practice.  The pigs were the first to be loaded.  To avoid a pig trying to squeak under the trailer to freedom, we wedged bales of hay in the opening.  It gave them a step to get up into the trailer, too.  We set up the gates again, opened the door of the pen, and all went according to plan.  I've watched enough pigs get loaded by now it doesn't bother me to see them go, especially when there is a new batch of cute little babies running about.  The lambs were next, and we kept all the females this year, so there are still 4 for me to try and tame down this winter.  They each weighed less than a big sack of feed, so Dan was able to just pick them up and carry them to the trailer and put them where they needed to be.  Last to load were the cows.  When we bought them they weighed about 200 lb each, so they could be pulled or pushed to load onto our little trailer without too much problem.  They gained 700-800 pounds with us, putting their weights around 900-1000 pounds, so that wasn't an option.  Dan tried to lead Bandit, the steer, who walked right along until it was time to step up into the trailer.  He then refused to budge, and no amount of pushing, pulling or tail-twisting could convince him otherwise.  Monica was missing her buddy and really trying to get loose, so we untied her and she ran right for the trailer.  She started to go in, but her hoof got caught in the twine holding the hay bale together and she pulled back.  By this time Bandit was loose too, and with a bit of yelling, arm waving, pleading and poking, they did load.  We've had these cows for over a year, and I'll really miss seeing them.  I was even getting a little sad when I walked into the barn to help load the trailer.  I was glad they were a bit uncooperative, because they really weren't that bad (no one, human or bovine, was hurt), but my mind was more focused on the task at hand than on where the  trailer was headed.  We do still have 3 more cows here, and the best part is that when we get the beef back, not only will we have some money to put into various projects around the farm, we'll be able to buy more cows!  Although it's so hard to watch an animal you've raised go to be killed, every animal on a farm has a purpose and not all of them are glamorous.  I wasn't going to name or pet or feed snacks to the cows when we bought them, knowing that they were going to have to die, but Dan reminded me that just because you aren't going to keep an animal for the whole of its natural lifespan, that doesn't mean it won't appreciate love and cookies.  So that's how I look at it too.  They had a good life while they were here, and now I get to fill the empty spot in the barn with adorable little cows who will get more love and cookies.

As I finished setting up the store this weekend, I really noticed how the look of it has changed from the beginning of the season.  Gone are the piles of zucchini  and summer squash. Taking their place are a colorful selection of winter squash and pumpkins.  Tomatoes are nowhere to be found, except in the homemade jars of salsa for sale.  Sweet corn has been replaced by corn shocks and ornamental corn.  Heads of lettuce have given way to heads of cabbage.  Even the sunflowers we placed on the table for decoration have ceased to bloom, and are now being sold, full of seed, as all-natural bird feeders.

Even though I grew up away from farming, I still lived in the country enough to have an awareness of seasonal eating.  Sweet corn from the store was never good, it was best bought from the back of a pickup, especially if that pickup happened to be at the ice cream stand just a block away!  As children, my brothers, sisters and I knew when to roam the woods looking for blackberries and blueberries.  It was, to us, just something everyone knew was true...those store bought blackberries in January were no match for the good stuff that left your hands stained after a day of picking in the summer sunshine!

 When you stop and think, it is an amazing thing that any fruit or vegetable you want can be found, year round, at any local grocery store.  Do you really need to have tomatoes available all year?  It seems many Americans would answer "yes!" without pausing to think about where the vegetables and fruit are coming from, how they are transported across the globe just so we have the option of having them any given week of the year.  It's a luxury we don't even think about.  The longer I am on the farm, the more my eating habits turn with the seasons...while summer is for chicken salad on a bed of fresh greens with tomatoes and cucumber, fall leans more toward a baked squash with sausage and onion stuffing.  While this has been a process, it's one I wasn't really aware I was making.  Sometimes it's kind of a jolt to realize that not everyone is so aware, and that happened a few times today.  An older gentleman asked me where my sweet corn was.  I explained that October is too late in the year for that vegetable to grow here, and the look on his face said that he couldn't understand what farm stand wouldn't offer corn on demand like any self-respecting grocery store.  Another woman commented that it must be fall since there wasn't much on the table.  Both walked out empty handed.  I though about her comment, then tried to see my table the same way...but the potatoes, onions, peppers, cabbage,squash, etc got in my way.  All I could see was a bountiful harvest.  To be sure, there were items that were missing from the grocery store's standards, but to me those vegetables taste all the sweeter when they are fresh and in season, even if that means missing them for months out of the year.  After all, there's always something else in season to make a delicious meal from! 

It's a dreary day outside, but the rain is much needed so we can't complain.  The sunflowers, which all summer followed the sun's daily path with upturned blooms, now look sad out the window.  Their heads are drooping, so heavy with seed that the stalks can barely support them.  In fact, the weight of the seeds and some wind has already toppled a few of the largest.  While I'll leave quite a few for the birds and other wildlife, I'll cut many to use as supplemental food for the animals, especially our birds, over the long winter.  Also, I'll dry a bunch and save the seeds so we can have more golden beauties adorning the outside rows of the cornfield next year!

The gardening season at this point has changed from growing to harvesting.  My herb garden is a great example.  My cilantro did poorly through this summer's weather, producing few usable leaves and bolting straight into flower & seed production.  I let it go, taking up its space in the garden, and my reward has been a bumper crop of seeds which I've been harvesting lately. I miss lots too, but it's alright since the patch is dedicated to that plant and it saves me the trouble of replanting in the spring! The seeds are the spice coriander, and is called for in many Mexican or Chinese dishes.  I love this plant, it is like a 2 for 1 special!  Also, I've gotten lots of dill, parsley and chive seeds.

Amazingly, we haven't had a frost yet although it's looking likely that mid-week that will be coming our way.  About the only plants that will really be affected that are still growing strong are my basils- this year I grew a regular green basil and a delicious lime variety! I've been freezing or drying them in preparation, because once they are frosted they turn black and are unusable.  However, I'm looking forward to frost for a few reasons...the gnats have made it nearly unbearable to be outside recently, and none of the repellents seem to discourage them from swarming one's head and flying into one's eyes.  The frost will bring an end to that, which will make like outside more pleasant, even if it means putting on an extra shirt at times! Also, frost is necessary to bring out the colors of my multicolored ornamental corn.  I planted the open pollinated, heirloom variety Earth Tones Dent last year, and was able to save the biggest, nicest and most colorful ears to replant this year.  I planted lots more than I grew last year, and so far it looks like it did very well.  Checking an ear or two, they are definitely colored, but the true beauty won't show until after a good killing frost.  I love to decorate for fall, so I'm anxious to have that happen.  We will have some at the store too...I've planted enough to have lots of beautiful extras!

Dan and I love going to auctions.  Lately, we haven't been to many as most farm auctions start at 9 AM on Saturdays, which is our mad rush to get the stand in order before opening.  So I was very excited to find an "old farm moving auction" on a Wednesday afternoon only a few miles from the farm.  The advertisements always list a portion of the items to be sold, and what really caught our eye was a corn sheller.  This is a machine that seperates the kernels from the cob.  It is used for field corn, which is hard and dry (think decorative indian corn, but usually all yellow.) Some have motors, but this one is powered by a hand crank that moves in a circle on the side.  We have been looking to purchase one of these to shell the corn to be used in our animals' feed and also as the first step in grinding our own cornmeal.  The last one we saw at auction was a John Deere model (with a motor) and it went for $750, so it didn't go home with us!  This one had obviously been restored, but was in beautiful working condition, and we were very cautious about bidding on other items before the sheller came up, as we didn't want to overspend on small stuff and be short when it came time for what we really wanted.  There were many crocks & other antiques, so there were a lot of antique buyers present.  Luckily for us, the restoration which enhanced its usefulness to us also ruined its antique value for those who would buy it just to sit in a corner and look pretty.  Dan and I discussed how much we were willing to spend on this piece of equipment, and agreed that I would bid on it.  It's good to sort this out ahead of time so you don't overspend or accidentally bid against each other!  When I first started going to auctions, I was far too nervous to bid, afraid I'd make a mistake or buy the wrong thing somehow.  Now that I've been to plenty, I have a better understanding of how they run and can follow what the auctioneer is saying, which at first sounded like gibberish to me.  So bidding can be great fun!  When the sheller came up, I was the first to bid.  It went slowly at first, then a couple other bidders jumped in, but when it was over, I had the winning bid, and for a good bit less than what I was willing to spend if necessary.  My hands were shaking a bit because I was so excited.  It's a standing model, which weighs a couple hundred pounds, and the location it sat in wasn't really accessible to the truck at the time, so we waited until the crowds thinned as the auction ended to try and load it.  That way we could drive up. In the meantime, we bought a few other tools and other useful things for the farm.  I had to laugh though, because much like the dump rake, the corn sheller was a big conversation piece for the older auction goers.  We had a few gentlemen come up to us and ask if we really planned on using it, and most people seem surprised that we do plan on using the equipment we buy at auction. I imagine it's because we are a young couple doing things the old fashioned way, but we really love using things the way they were designed to be used.  Older equipment is a part of America's farming heritage, and a part that slips away as bigger farms and better machines become the norm, so it's very cool to me to be a part of the preservation of how things were done years ago.

As for those of you wondering about the piglets, all 18 are healthy and doing well.  They had their first round of iron shots last night.  The sows don't understand about booster shots, so we locked them outside and when they came back it was over and everyone was doing just fine! 

Before I met my husband, I never really though about the value of eating locally or organically.  I guess I had heard of those terms, but it wasn't until I became involved with the farm and started reading books about the "food movement" that I really had much of an opinion.  I think it's great that there are lots of sources for folks to find out how to eat locally, but like anything else, people need to be aware of their sources and how reliable they are.  

I was approached via email by a magazine called Edible Allegheny, saying they found the farm online and though they might be a great fit for us to advertise in.  Intrigued, I asked for more information and a copy of the magazine to look through before I committed to anything.  It was presented to me as a resource for all of Western PA for local farms, food, and eating seasonally.  I recieved several copies, and my vanity wanted nothing more than to see our farm advertise in such a beautiful publication!  The more I looked, however, the more it seemed to cater to the city of Pittsburgh & surrounding areas, which are more than a 2 hour drive from our farm.  Realistically, people won't drive that far for a tomato or chicken! And the advertising prices were astronomical!  I realize not every publication has the low rates of our local weekly, The Forest Press, but for the price I would pay to advertise in ONE issue would put a new steel roof on my hog house.  It would have covered ALL of my seed orders I sent out this spring.  etc, etc...and with no guarantee that it would bring us any business!!  So I politely emailed the nice lady back and shared these concerns and let her know her ad didn't fit into our budget, but that we'd welcome a representative of her publication if they would ever care to do a story on our farm.  I let her know that we're a young married couple farming self-sufficiently, with horses, on a turn of the century farmstead and I'd love to share that story with her readers.  The email I got in response told me that it sounded exactly like something her readers would love to hear, but they only do articles on places that advertise in the magazine.  If I wanted to take out an overpriced ad, she'd see what they could do about "editorial support."  It really disgusted me that all those pretty articles were not printed for the value of their story alone, but as repayment for paying to advertise in a magazine that is not local as it portrays itself, but is actually a subdivision of a nationwide company.  To me, these are the kind of people who just want to make a buck off of folks like you and me, who are genuinely concerned about where our food comes from, how it was treated, and how its production affects the world we all share. I'm sharing this with all of you not to trash the magazine, I'm thinking about subscribing myself, but just to point out not everything advertising "local" really is.  Or at least not without its own agenda. If you really want to feel good about your food, find a farmer!  Not a magazine, not a supermarket passing themselves off as seasonal, organic and local, but someone who has dirt under their fingernails and can tell you where the food really comes from. And thanks to LocalhHarvest, they take donations only, so small time farmers who don't have thousand dollar advertising budgets can still share our stories with people who care.

Ok, thanks for putting up with my rant this time, but it's been bothering me for a couple weeks now.  I've got to go and start the sausage making process for this week's market, but next time I'll share with you the results of the Delaware chicken experiment!

The corn is put up for the year, one more task to mark as "done" on the to-do list.  Two bushels seems sufficient for my husband and myself.  Though a little time consuming, I really love my vaccuum sealer for putting up food.  I used it on 3 dozen ears this year, so I should have sweet corn well into spring!  We always freeze whole kernel corn as well, and this year for my birthday Dan got me an American Corn Cutter- a little kitchen gadget that consists of a long piece of plastic which is curved to fit the shape of the ear, and 2 metal blades in the middle.  The blades can be adjusted for whole kernel, creamed or shredded corn.  I love my Roma food mill and kitchen gadgets in general, so he though this would be a time saver and something I'd use.  I can't work it to save my life!!  I tried on Monday, and figured I had the blade adjusted wrong.  It was really frustrating, so I set it aside and used a knife and cutting board.  Yesterday, Dan helped me and he had no problems.  He gave me lots of helpful advice, like not pushing down so hard, changing the angle, etc but I still couldn't do it.  So I  gave him the cutter while I husked, and he was done far more quickly than I was the day before with my knife.  Many times in farming, and life, you just have to know when to just ask for help.

One of the many things I love about being on the farm is how easy it is to find a use for things that might otherwise go to waste.  Freezing 2 bushels of corn leaves a lot of husks, cobs and silk behind, but we never throw them away.  My bunnies love it so much, they run up to me every time I  walk by, hoping for husks and cobs.  The cobs still have a bit of corn on them, and the rough inner part is good for a rabbit to chew.  Their teeth never stop growing, so I have to make sure they have chew toys or they will use the hutch itself. The stalks are still full of nutrients and the cows and horses come on the run when they see us cutting and throwing them over the pasture fence.

Well it's off to town now for jars and vinegar- I still have canning to do for this weekend and I need to get moving as I have family visiting later this week.  I just want to say thanks to everyone who reads this blog as well, I was amazed to see Pleasant Valley Farm at the top of the most popular blogs yesterday.  I hope you enjoy reading about my adventures as much as I enjoy living them! 

On a grey day like this morning, I'm reminded that dreary days in fall and winter won't be far behind.  It gives me extra incentive to put up what I can for those cold months when growing anything that won't fit on a windowsill is impossible.  So the dehydrator is humming in the background this morning as I type.  I've sliced tomatoes thinly, and they will keep forever if they dry thoroughly.  I love to put them on homemade pizza or in pasta salad.  I love them so much, but I'll probably sacrifice a few to sell a the stand.  We are most likely done having fresh tomatoes for sale, the blight has pretty much wiped out our plants.  It seemed so sad to me, the bucket full of blighted tomatoes filled up so much quicker than the one for the useable/sellable tomatoes.  Dan told me not to get down, however, because many, many people got no tomatoes at all.  And our pigs love to eat the less than perfect vegetables, so they weren't going to waste.  Still, I love to make my own sauces- spaghetti sauce, salsa, chili sauce- and that isn't going to happen this year unless I buy tomatoes from somewhere else.  So it was hard to feel lucky just then.    

 With temperatures reaching down into the 40's, it's time to start planning for the first frost too.  So I dry herbs or freeze them depending on my plans for them.  The ones that are best fresh I'll try to keep on the window sill during the winter, but I dry a lot of sage for one of our sausage recipes.  I've also been saving seed to sell, give away or use myself.  I have chive and parsley seed already, I'm sure dill isn't far off either.  I also have lots of  cilantro seed, which is the spice coriander if you crush it in a pepper mill.

Our corn has done pretty well, except the raccoons (or possibly the black bear that's been sighted in the neighborhood) found the ripe sweet corn the night before market.  They seem to have an uncanny ability to sense when the corn is at the peak of flavor, and then it's hard to keep them out.  Luckily we had plenty, and what is left over I'm going to freeze.  Last year I bought a vaccuum sealer and tried freezing corn on the cob.  It was the most amazing treat duing the long winter, like a little taste of summer.  Of course, it loses a little texture, but  we were happy with it and plan to do a lot more in the next few days for this coming winter.  I always freeze bags of whole corn as well, it's great to have on hand when making chili or winter soups, or just by itself!

Well, we knew the school buses would be rolling by beginning this week, but we were hoping for summer to stick around a bit longer since it took so long to get here.  Over the weekend it seemed cool and almost fall like, and our low overnight temperatures are hitting the lower 40's now.  I'm just hoping we don't have an extra early frost, since we did have a very late one June 3rd.  But as we all know the one thing you can't control is the weather, even when your crops depend on it.  We're just glad to see the sun again.  Dan cut hay again yesterday, and we're supposed to have clear skies until the weekend.  Or maybe it will just freeze dry, who knows?

The herb garden is winding down in many ways now, and so I've been collecting the seed of my cilantro, which is the spice coriander.  It was quite nice out and very peaceful although I heard more wild bird noises than I'm used to.  Then a roaring, wooshing sound came out of nowhere.  At first I thought it was a big truck going way too fast on the road.  As I looked up, the sky was black with birds.  Too small to be crows, I think they were grackles or starlings- I always get the two confused.  But there had to be thousands of them, all rising at once from my little half acre patch of field corn by the road. It was impressive, in a sppoky way that just seemed to be reminding me that Halloween can't be far off.   

I love this time of year in the garden, everything is so plentiful!  We had our first sweet corn this weekend and a few ripe tomatoes as well.  The plants don't look great, but they don't have the killer blight and the tomatoes are finally turning red! It must be the sunshine, which has finally reappeared. As I type, I'm keeping an eye on my canner as I am making salsa with the leftovers from the market- tomatoes, onions, and hot peppers.  Growing up, no one in my family canned, but I taught myself a few summers ago and I really enjoy it.  I love knowing what's really in my food and being able to control the amout of chemicals, salt and sugar that goes into whatever I'm eating.  I love trying new recipies, and I love finding ones that use the herbs and vegetables I have just out my back door! I do make some other things, like mustards, that I need to buy most of the ingredients for, but they are so much better than anything store bought!  I enjoy canning so much that I have started putting some of my sauces and other things for sale at the stand.  If you stop by, along with 2 kinds of mustards I have flavored vinegar, a sweet & sour dipping sauce, hot pepper jelly, dilled green beans and this weekend, salsa!

 Opening the stand has made us so busy, getting laid off was really a blessing in disguise.  People remember our sausage and we have sold quite a lot of the secret family recipe breakfast sausage.  Dan and I introduced a mild and a hot Italian sausage 2 weeks ago and they were so popular, we're going to have them again this weekend.  So Thursday I'll be busy stuffing sausage and packaging it.  

 Another thing keeping me busy lately is working on the website.  I've added a lot on new pictures of the animals and the stand.  I'm also working on a page with pictures and descriptions of the various polutry we raise, which is taking some time and isn't live yet.  If you'd like to check it out, the address is www.pleasantvalleyfarm.weebly.com.

If you're planning on being in Tionesta for the Rumble on the River Bike Fest, stop by and see us!  We always enjoy meeting the people who follow us online.  And if it isn't too hot, you can meet Puff, our cat who thinks he is the farm stand mascot.  He love to be the greeter and be petted by everyone!  

Recenly I've noticed a strange visitor to the flower garden in the back yard.  To me, it looks like what would happen if you crossed a ruby-throated hummingbird with a crayfish from a nearby creek, but there it was, flitting among my bee balm like a bee.  I called Dan over, as he has spent most of his life on this farm and is well aquainted with everything that lives here, but he was as surprised as I was.  After some research on the internet, I found a picture that looked like my little creature...it is called a Hummingbird Clearwing moth.  Among the food sources listed for this insect were bee balm, mint, butterfly buish, red clover and lilac, all of which all grow here on the farm, so I'm pretty sure I have a positive ID.  I know in recent years honeybees have become scarce, we have notice far more bumblebees acting as our pollinators, so my first guess was that these moths have moved in to take the bee's place since they are benificial pollinators too.    However, I was thrilled to notice that all the melons, squash and pumpkins were being pollinated by real honeybees this week.  I've seen limited amounts of the bees, mostly on the clover that grows in the yard, but not as much in the garden.  It makes me hopeful that maybe our space, free of chemicals, really is benifitting the local wildlife.  I'm not the only one noticing the moths though- a local gardner snapped a photo that ended up on the front page of our local newspaper just yesterday!

We are anticipating a busy weekend here at the farm stand.  Tionesta's Indian Festival ends this weekend with a big parade on Saturday.  If you're in town, we will have the stand open from 10-2 and our special this weekend is fresh sausage made right here at the farm.  We'll have our secret family recipe loose breakfast sausage, plus mild and  hot  Italian sausage links, perfect for cookouts!  We hope to see you Saturday!

Thanks to everyone who stopped by to see us at the stand's reopening on Saturday!  After being closed for over 3 years, we weren't sure what kind of turnout we would have.  Once the stand opened, everything ran smoothly, but we did have a little more craziness than expected that morning.  Frankie Blue Eyes, a rabbit, has been on the loose for about a month, but as he was doing no damage, we didn't try real hard to catch him.  Of course, Saturday morning he discovered the cabbage transplants we had set out 2 weeks ago and was systematically eating them all. After catching him, which required both Dan and I and a large net on a pole, we had to catch the other 2 boys from that pen.  They have not been out since we put wire on the floor of the moveable pen months ago, but not only were they hopping through the yard, but the cats were chasing them.  Now the cats have never chased Frankie, but the other boys must have looked like lunch because the cats were really being aggressive.  Finally the rabbits are put away, the stand is stocked, and I go to change into something a little nicer than muddy jeans and wet sneakers.  Having a few minutes to spare, I thought I'd go into the barnyard and cut a bit of chammomile to pretty up the checkout counter.  As I, in a skirt no less, am cutting stems, around the corner of the building comes Wilbur, our boar hog.  Now the last thing I wanted was a mud covered 800 pound creature coming to rub all over my nice clean clothes, but Wil thought I might be interested in scratching his back like usual.  I'm not sure he understood my threats of turning him into bacon if he got any closer, but we settled on a compromise...I scratched behind his ears and decided that I had enough flowers!  

I got to the stand and hoped my animal excitement was over for the day.  However, Puff had other ideas.  Puff is a great big fluffy housecat that I raised by hand after his mother was killed on the road.  Puff was 3 weeks old then and is now 8 years old and spoiled rotten.  Puff strode into the stand as if he owned it, and being carried back out several times did not deter him.  He thought about jumping up on my table of sauces, probably because they are all in glass jars and they'd make a great mess if he knocked them onto the cement floor.  Luckily for me, that was too much work for a lazy cat.  Then the people started coming in.  I was excited to have customers and Puff was excited to have visitors!  He lay in the very middle of the floor and seemed quite pleased to have new friends to pet him.  Apparently there were too many new friends because he jumped into the horse drawn sleigh and went to sleep.  After awhile he'd feel more sociable and be back down oon the floor, then back to the sleigh again.  I will be back at the stand on Saturday from 10 am-2pm and I imagine "Puff the Farm Stand Mascot" will be too.  We hope to see you there!