Bluebird Farm Sausage at nature's Bounty!

We are excited to announce that Bluebird Farm Sausage is now available at Nature's Bounty in downtown Morganton. You can visit their website for store hours and location at http://www.naturesbountync.com

Bluebird Farm’s pastured pigs are raised without the use of antibiotics. They spend their entire lives outdoors rooting and enjoying fresh grain, leafy forage, roots, grass, and hay.

The pastured pigs are a valuable part of Bluebird Farm’s ecosystem. In warm weather their pigs help convert forest to a pasture and in winter pigs and layer hens till up garden areas and turn deep hay bedding into valuable compost for the farm’s vegetable fields.

Last regular Farmer Friday

Hello all,

Tomorrow Friday 12/9 will be our last regularly scheduled farmer Friday at the brewery 5-7 pm. The end of the vegetables has finally come. We'll have:

Napa Cabbage, great for cole slaw or stir fries. The cabbage will last bagged in your fridge for several weeks (you may have to peel off the outer leaves before cooking)

Swiss Chard

Kale

Head Lettuce

Beets

Arugula is back!

Cilantro

Kale, chard, and lettuce will all keep a week to 10 days bagged in a fridge.

We will have a full selection of pork and chicken-shoulder roasts and ham roasts are back! Our sausage or salami makes a great gift to the food lover you know.

Unfortunately, we will not have any eggs this week.

See you tomorrow!

Napa Cabbage Slaw

Hello. We're looking forward to Farmer Friday this evening. There was surprise when I got out to the garden. There were still some beets for harvest. They're a little smaller than they were before, and the tops got frosted. But the little ruby red roots will be a great side. I wanted to pass along a napa cabbage cole slaw recipe we had the other day. It was great:

Napa Cabbage Slaw

This is a recipe I made up the other day with a little inspiration from a few cook books. Remember that salads are a great creative way to blend vegetable flavors, textures and colors. They are also where you see the seasons change. Arugula and spinach salads in the spring, lettuce a little later, rich summer salads of tomatoes and cucumbers, back to greens in the fall, then things like slaws late into the winter. Have fun with them, experiment with some new ingredients, play with the dressing. If you use fresh in season vegetables you won’t go wrong.

A quick and easy salad with a little extra body and great fall flavors

One head napa cabbage-diced

3-4 carrots-cut into coins, diced, or grated depending on your tastes

Dressing:

Olive Oil-about ¼ cup

Apple Cider Vinegar-about ¼ cup

Lemon Juice-2-3 tablespoons

Honey-1-2 tablespoons

Garlic-1-3 cloves diced

Salt-to taste

Pepper-to taste

Mix dressing ingredients. Modify as needed. Toss into cabbage and carrots.

This salad goes great with roasted fall vegetables or roast chicken (it’s the salad we had with our Thanksgiving dinner).

William

Farmer Friday is Back and a delicious soup idea

We will be at Catawba Valley Brewery this Friday 5-7pm. Look for us inside because it will be a little chilly.

This week the menu includes:

The wonderful Buttercrunch lettuce

Napa Cabbage-good for slaws, salads, or cooked

Swiss Chard

Kale

Dill

Cilantro

We will have our full selection of pork and chicken. Just last week I made a simple and delicious soup with our chorizo sausage.

Pureed Pumpkin, sweet potato, southwestern soup

Serves 6 with leftovers-scale up or down as needed

Pureed pumpkin- about 4 cups

Pureed Sweet potato- about 4 cups

Chicken Stock-about 4 cups

One onion

1-2 lb chorizo

1-2 cans black beans

Heat pumpkin, stock, and sweet potato.

Saute onion (optional puree onion for a creamier soup)

Cook chorizo

Add onion, chorizo, and black beans to the soup. Salt to taste, serve with fresh diced cilantro and cornbread.

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.