Happy Thanksgiving

A happy thanksgiving from all of us here at Bluebird Farm. We took a pause from the farm work to enjoy family and give thanks to a year of bountiful harvests. It is always awe inspiring to share a special meal with loved ones and take stock of the connections between each other and the land. Simple foods like rice become a full story when I met the man who grew that rice right here in Burke County. Besides the wonderful nutty flavor not present in most rice form the store that rice now is attached to the knowledge of how it was grown, with a memory of purchasing it on a breezy crisp afternoon, and a happy morning in the kitchen with Marie cooking a wonderful meal.

We also want to thank all of you for your support for what we do. We had a great market season with all of your help. Happy Thanksgiving!

Okra with sidekick rodent patrol agent Raven

This fall one of my projects has been training a new member of the rodent patrol team. Okra is a corgi, collie, terrier mix from Burke County Friends for Animals. We went to the shelter in search of an energetic, intelligent, and friendly farm dog. Okra fit the bill perfectly. She is a pretty good listener who loves to run around all day following me on chores and projects. Unfortunately, she enjoys chewing just a little too much. However, we are channeling her chew energy into rodent hunting. In Okra’a world all rodents from rats to squirrels and ground hogs are “MOUSE!” All we have to do is whisper “Mouse!” and she snaps to alert looking to us to show her where to hunt. Once she is on the trail she won’t stop until she’s found something. Sometimes, when we come up empty handed (or empty mouthed as the case may be) I literally have to carry her away from whatever hole she is just absolutely convinced harbors the enemy.

The fall is when we raise next year’s layer hens. The brooder shed provides a cozy shelter for 150 beautiful birds. It is so fun to see them grow in all their interesting colors. We look forward to all their equally colorful eggs in the spring.

Chicks are very fun to time lapse photograph. Click on the photos to animate.

Holiday Market Meat orders

Hello all,

In the coming week we will be attending the final holiday farmers markets of the season in Hickory and Conover. We are taking orders for our pastured chickens and forest raised pork for pick up at market. Remember we can only produce chickens seasonally, we are butchering our last birds before April of next year.

The Holiday market dates are:
Catawba Valley Brewery Farmer Friday 11/18 5pm-7pm

Conover Holiday Market Saturday 11/19 10am -2pm

Hickory Holiday Market Wednesday 11/23 Noon-5:30

Making your Order

1

At the bottom of this blog is an order form for our holiday market selection. Use the order form as a menu. Choose chickens and pork cuts from the list and copy and paste your choices into an email. Don't forget to include the quantity of each item you wish to have.

2

Select which location you would like to pick up your order at:

Catawba Valley Brewery Farmer Friday 11/18 5pm-7pm

Conover Holiday Market Saturday 11/19 10am -2pm

Hickory Holiday Market Wednesday 11/23 Noon-5:30

Special notes:

We will also have our fall vegetables available at markets. We raise our vegetables following all organic rules: no synthetic fertilizers, pesticides, herbicides, or fungicides. We will have crunchy head lettuce, and other great fall crops available.

We will not be taking preorders for eggs because of limited supply (they don't lay as much in the short days) and high demand.

We look forward to seeing you at the holiday markets!

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Order Form

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The end of the Farmers market Season is just around the corner. Order your pastured pork and chicken for pick up in November at the final Holiday Markets of the season. Stock up on Bluebird Farm pastured chicken.

The birds will keep all winter in your freezer, but they won’t need to because there’s nothing better than a warm fresh roasted chicken on a chilly winter’s day.

Delivery Locations Date Time

Catawba Valley Brewery Farmer Friday 11/18 5pm-7pm

Conover Holiday Market Saturday 11/19 10am -2pm

Hickory Holiday Market Wednesday 11/23 Noon-5:30

Pastured Chicken Quantity

3.75-4.25 lbs 4.00/lb

4.25-4.75 lbs 4.00/lb

Pastured Pork Quantity/Number of Packs

Pork Chops, bone in 2/package 7.50/lb

Bratwurst Limited supply: about 1 lb 5.66/lb

Italian Sausage, links About 1 lb 5.66/lb

Italian sausage, ground 1 lb 5.66/lb

Country Sausage, mild 1 lb 4.90/lb

Country Sausage, hot 1 lb 4.90/lb

Chorizo 1 lb 4.90/lb

Fresh Ground Pork 1 lb 4.75/lb

Fresh Ham Roast Limited supply: 2.5-3.3 lbs 4.60/lb

Shoulder Roast Sold out until Dec. 4.60/lb

Spare Ribs 4.50/lb

Country Backbones 2.00/lb

Uncured Bacon (sliced side meat)

About 1.1 lbs per pack 6.50/lb

Whole Belly Great for smoking: 1-2.5 lbs 6.50/lb

Fat Back, unsalted 1.50/lb

Leaf Lard, unrendered The best biscuits ever! 1.50/lb

Artisan Salami Aged for 2 months

Sweet Soppressata Red wine, garlic, and herb 7.99/ea

Pepperoni Excellant peppery flavor 7.99/ea

We will continue to have special orders available for delivery to Conover and Hickory monthly or twice a month from December through March.

Bluebird Farm at Brewery Wednesday 11/9

Special Notice:

We will not be at Catawba Valley Brewery this Friday 11/11, we are attending a sustainable agriculture conference in Durham.

This week you can find us at the Brewery on Wednesday 11/9 5-7 pm.

Killing frosts

Well, it took a little longer than usual. But we have officially had our killing frosts. The tomatoes, peppers, and eggplant are all kaput, lying brown and dead in the field. The most dramatic death goes to the Basil. The moisture in their stems froze, rupturing the stem and exploding out into spectacular ice crystals.

All of out greens have spent the week snug under double layers of row cover. The row cover moderates the climate around the plants by holding some of the ground heat close to them. Swiss chard, kale, radishes, and beets are all happy to keep on trucking in the cold. Even our lettuces have been doing well under cover.

The cold actually brings out some great flavor in fall vegetables. The beets are especially good. Last night I sliced beets thinly and tossed them with olive oil, powdered ginger, cinnamon, and a little salt. Then I roasted them at 350 until they were tender-delicious!

The fall is also a time of planting. Early this week I cleaned out the eggplant beds and reformed them. After pulling some weeds, adding some organic fertilizer and raking them nice and smooth, they are all ready for garlic. In the southeast garlic is a fall planted crop. It will sprout about 4-6 inches before it gets to cold to grow. Then it will sit dormant for the winter. In the spring it will begin growing as soon as the weather warms up enough. It is then ready for harvest next June.

Catawba Valley Brewery Market

It might feel like fall, but Bluebird Farm is still going strong. We spent this morning harvesting beautiful head lettuce, rainbow swiss chard, tender kale, and lots of fresh salad mix. Fall gardening is such a joy because the cool weather keeps the insects away. We've done the big work of bed preparation, weeding, and transplanting. Now practically all we have to do is wait to harvest the vegetables.

Of course, there is the cold weather to contend with. Last Friday after market was the first frost warning. We hadn't had time to prepare yet so after market we ran around in the dark with our row cover and wire hoops to protect all the vegetables. They came through the two light frosts well. If the weather predictions are right I'll be out again in the evening covering all the vegetables so we can have crispy greens for weeks to come.

Friday Brewery "Menu"

Buttercrunch Lettuce

Beets

French Breakfast Radishes (the flavor is excellent with the cooler weather)

Dill

Cilantro (last night I added dill and cilantro to mashed sweet potatoes. A delicious southwest-ish twist)

Salad mix

Arugula

Kale

Swiss Chard

Pastured Chicken-roast chicken with fall veggies on the side is an easy, filling, and delicious meal.

Full selection of pastured pork, sausages, chops, roasts, artisan salamis-the whole nine yards!

Bluebird Farm at the Brewery!

Farmer Friday's at Catawba Valley Brewing

October is coming to a close and the Morganton Market as ended for the season. But don't worry, we are still growing delicious food! You can now find us at

Farmer Friday at Catawba Valley Brewery from 5-7pm on Friday afternoons

The fall garden has provided a bounty for tomorrow's market. I will have

Crispy, buttercruch head lettuce
Arugula
Salad mix
Swiss Chard
Red Russian Kale
Radishes
Beets
Dill
Cilantro
and the end of some summer crops:
Eggplant
Sweet Peppers
Poblano peppers
Jalapenos

Also, the weather is perfect for roast chicken. I will have a full selection of our pastured pork including our new artisan salamis Pepperoni and Sweet Soppressata (fully cured and ready to eat while you enjoy a beer!).

See you Tomorrow 5-7!

William

Ram pump and rain

Fall Garden

Rain, rain, and a little more

Where was all the rain in August? We try not to complain about much needed water, but boy howdy ten cloudy days with 6 inches of rain-not exactly what we were wishing for. The pastures are now a rich green of a fall growth. The sheep certainly look forward to their munching.

In the garden we could see the vegetables green up as they finally received the water they needed. The cooler weather helps the delicate greens stay tasty and crisp. However, I think they have enough water and could use a little sun for growth. While too little water in the summer is hard on vegetables too much rain can cause problems as well. We can see some fungus and rot problems around the edges of greens. Sun and air flow in the next few days should clear it up.

Sweet potato harvest

Success of the ram pump!

Way back in the spring we received a grant from the Rural Advancement Foundation International (RAFI) for sustainable farm development. RAFI distributes funds from the golden leaf fund (money from the tobacco trust fund settlement) to assist farmers to transition away from tobacco and develop alternative enterprises. We received the grant to help us develop our pastured animal operation. We already constructed our walk-in freezer. But the second part of the grant was to build an energy free hydraulic ram pump. The ram pump is a pump that uses falling water to lift water up. There are only two moving parts-just two valves. You can read about hydraulic ram pumps at http://www.clemson.edu/irrig/equip/ram.htm

9/28/11

Just today I finally succeeded in making the ram pump work! It has been challenging to get the water to flow downhill to the pump. Then I had to fiddle with the pump for much of an afternoon. But now it is lifting water 30 feet! Now it is just a matter of hooking up the rest of the tubing to run the water all the way to the top of our pasture. From there it will collect in a cistern to be gravity fed out to all the animals. Stay tuned for photos and video on our website.

Ram pump detail

10/5/11

The ram pump has officially pumped water to animals! I used it to fill 2 of our water barrels at the top of the property. The pump even seems to work better than anticipated. You can see a video of the pump in action here:

http://www.youtube.com/user/BluebirdFarmNC

Ram pump inlet pipe