Bluebird Meadows Farm

We raked hay this morning.  It is lovely hay, in spite of having to worry about rain Friday and Saturday.  It rained only a light sprinkle, "no more than a heavy dew" we say.  Now Larry is out mowing off the overgrown chicory fields and then we'll start to bale around 5 PM.  I love it on days like today with no threat of rain for an extra day--makes life less stressful.

Larry will make some square bales while I make most of the fields into round bales.  We like the small square bales to feed occasionally to the sheep if they are in the barn, as well as to sell--mostly to people with a few sheep or horses. 

The early garden is done, and we have tilled most of it in and started planting the fall garden.  We're going for a bigger fall garden this year because I haven't preserved as much as normal; we sold all our extra produce at the Farmers' Market.

On Thursday we extracted honey.  We got about 150 pounds of nice light honey--mainly clover, alfalfa, and basswood.  We bottled some and had it at the Farmers' Market yesterday.  We still had someone who wanted buckwheat.  I promised him I'd search out a bucket of dark honey and bottle it for him, but I couldn't promise buckwheat.  After getting buckwheat several years ago, I made Larry promise not to plant buckwheat again; now I have a demand for it.  I'm trying to talk him into planting a field that will bloom late--well after the clover season is done. 

And speaking of producing what the customer wants, I have had an inquiry from an upscale restaurant to purchase lamb, but grain-finished lamb rather than exclusively grass-fed.  He says that the flavor is milder and they are more fat, and that is what his customers want.   No problem; I have nothing against bringing some lambs in and feeding them grain; they love grain.  My older sheep know what grain is and love it, and they've been baa-ing when they hear me pour the grain for our bottle lambs; they want their share, too.   Actually, I'm eager to try this grain-fed lamb myself to see which I like better.  I love the flavor of our lean grass-fed lamb, but am open to checking it out.