Farm Friday

Here I am at Averett University pointing out the dishes made from our farm products

I've been a bit quite on my blog but that doesn't mean it's quiet on the farm. Since I left my part-time job in April and gone full-time on the farm, I'm busier than ever. One thing I've really gotten behind is homesteading. When we decided to farm full time, we realized that one way to make it successful was to become more self-reliant and to avoid purchases that were unnecessary or that we could make ourselves. So now most of our days revolve around running the farm as a business and homesteading.

This week was packed full of both! We worked the farmers market on Saturday, plus did our mid-week deliveries. In addition, voting took place for the Bon Appetit Farm to Fork Grant Program and we made an appearance at Averett University, our closest Bon Appetit cafe. We were very touched by the number of friends and supporters who went out of their way to eat a meal at the cafe and to vote for our farm. We also got a lot of local media coverage with the daily newspaper calling me on Monday for a story that ran Tuesday and then to join us at the cafe on Tuesday for a story that ran on the front page of the newspaper on Wednesday. One supporter even contacted a television station that sent a report out to cover the event. We were on the news both Tuesday evening and Wednesday morning. If you're interested, you can watch the segment here.

This week I baked some bread (four loaves), made chicken stock from a chicken carcass leftover from a crockpot meal (for husband, not for me), dehydrated some chanterelle mushrooms (looks like we're going to have a good crop soon and I wanted to make sure I could preserve some), and cooked lots of leftover vegetables to serve our dog Ginny. She loves the new low-fat, organic, whole food diet that I have her on and her health has significantly improved. 

We're pretty much between seasons right now - and our weather is showing it - so we're planning on taking off next week. When I say taking off, it doesn't mean we won't be working; we'll just sit out the farmers' market and not do any deliveries next week.

Have a good weekend!