In your share this month: 

• Chicken 
• Ribs 
• Ground beef 
• Bacon 
• Italian sausage 
• Lamb shoulder steaks 

On the farm 

With the rain switch suddenly turning off last month, we’ve now settled into the normal summer routine, with the benefit of lots of green grass from all that moisture. Our continued efforts to build organic matter in the soil not only help with that grass growth but also in retaining more of the water that falls onto our property before it has a chance to run off. It’s estimated that each 1% increase in soil organic matter will hold an additional 24,000 gallons of water per acre, and through our multi-species intensive rotational grazing we estimate we’ve seen an overall increase of 2-3% in the nearly two decades we’ve been at this. I’m proud of those numbers, but I still feel like we have the capacity to do much more. Trying to figure out what techniques are working and new ideas to try to help keep the scientist part of my brain engaged even while I’m doing the most mundane daily chores. This year we experimented with a custom-made 16-seed blend of forage and cover crops that we sowed in areas the pigs had turned over and, in some spots, where the pasture seemed a little less-than-robust. We will observe how those areas do throughout the remainder of the year and into next spring to decide what changes we need to make to our mix.  

But the big excitement has been babies, one expected and two surprises. The first surprise came in the form of an approximately 5-week-old kitten that was crying for attention near the end of our driveway. It took us a couple of days to find it, and it definitely seemed like it was the product of a local feral cat, but he warmed up to us within a day and now we have a third cat in our house! Curiously enough, five years ago, in that exact same spot at the end of our driveway was another five-week-old kitten crying out for help, he is now the senior member of our feline family. 

The second surprise was a baby goat whose mom was apparently spooked by fireworks on the night of the 4th and delivered her baby two weeks early. The normal range is plus or minus five days, so this little boy was very weak by the time we found it the next morning. He was too weak to even take a bottle, so we had to tube feed him to even get some milk into his system. Since he could hardly stand on his own, let alone walk, we couldn’t leave him with the rest of the herd because he would certainly not survive. So, another baby in the house! He’s doing much better now, still showing some signs of weakness, but we fully expect him to grow up perfectly normal. 

The third baby was expected, we just didn’t know when. We had purchased three beef cows this spring, two of which were pregnant, but with unknown due dates. Since these cows are at our rental pasture a couple of miles away, we do not have eyes on them as frequently, but we could see the signs that momma was getting close. On the 9^th we found a beautiful jet-black baby girl laying out in the field; when we started approaching mom came charging over as if to say, “don’t get near my baby!” Both are quite healthy and if I can get back in the habit of posting anything on Instagram, I’ll get some photos of all the babies up there.  

Ingredient Spotlight: Lamb shoulder 

The shoulder of a lamb is a flavorful piece of meat, but since it is a muscle that sees a lot of activity, it can be a bit tough if not prepared correctly. Cuts like this are where cooking with a sous vide machine really pays dividends, as that allows you to cook the meat, vacuum sealed in a bag, at a low temperature but for a long time. These can be cooked at 132 degrees for two hours Follow that with a quick sear in a pan or on the grill and it’s done. You can create an herb rub using rosemary, sea salt, garlic, black pepper, and olive oil to put inside the bag before you vacuum seal it to get those flavors well-incorporated into the meat. Slice into the skin of the cut and massage the rub all over the meat. If you are looking to use this as an excuse to purchase a sous vide machine, you can now find them as low as $60 or so, but I would suggest looking up the New York Times Wirecutter article to read their recommendations. We have the Joule and do like it, the only possible downside to it is that it can only be controlled through your phone via Bluetooth connection. But if you are ok with that, the compact size and power of it make it an excellent choice.  

In the absence of a sous vide machine, you can prepare them in a slow cooker. Use the same rub as above, then rest it atop onion wedges, pour in a small amount of liquid (water, broth, a little red wine, etc.), and cook on low for 4-6 hours, then remove the chops and put them under the broiler at 500 degrees for just 1-2 minutes until brown and the fat is crisped.  

In your share this month: 

• Chicken 
• Pork Roast 
• Breakfast Sausage
• Guanciale (Jowl bacon) 
• Top Sirloin 

On the Farm 

Rain. Nevermind…Hot! 

Other Farm News 

Spring and early summer is always an abundant period, both in the amount of new growth and in the amount of effort needed to keep up with all of it. Baby goat and lamb season has been over for a couple of months now, but litters of rabbits keep coming, along with lots and lots of baby birds. There are 200 newly hatched broiler chickens that we pick up every five weeks from a hatchery near Corvallis, and in the brooder right now we have about 80 turkeys and 70 ducks, with more duck eggs and guinea fowl eggs in the incubator. The extended spring weather has impacted growth rates some, with our first batch of meat chickens about 15-20% smaller than what we would expect. We’ll see if the slightly more promising forecast will ease that impact on future batches.  

On the bright side, we are looking at a great year for grazing, as the soils will be able to remain moist much later into the summer than we’ve seen in quite a while. We are just looking forward to a period of dry weather of at least a couple of weeks in length to allow for haymaking at our rented pasture up the road. The grass there is already 4 feet tall in spots and if the wet weather continues into July, the grass will go to seed and lose much of its nutritional value. But I’m sure normal summer will be here before we know it and we’ll all be longing for the cool days of June! 

Recipe – Spaghetti Carbonara from New York Times 

Even though we rarely eat pasta, one of our farm volunteers requested this for his birthday recently, and it was so yummy! It uses the guanciale from this month’s share, and is quick and easy to make. 

Ingredients 

• Salt 
• 2 large eggs and 2 large yolks, room temperature 
• 1 ounce (about 1/3 packed cup) grated pecorino Romano, plus additional for serving 
• 1 ounce (about 1/3 packed cup) grated Parmesan 

•  Coarsely ground black pepper 
• 1 tablespoon olive oil 
• 3 ½ ounces of guanciale, pancetta or bacon, sliced into pieces about ¼” thick by 1/3” square 
• 12 ounces spaghetti (about 3/4 box) 

PREPARATION 

1. Place a large pot of lightly salted water (no more than 1 tablespoon salt) over high heat, and bring to a boil. Fill a large bowl with hot water for serving, and set aside. 

2. In a mixing bowl, whisk together the eggs, yolks and pecorino and Parmesan. Season with a pinch of salt and generous black pepper. 

3. Set the water to boil. Meanwhile, heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat, add the pork, and sauté until the fat just renders, on the edge of crispness but not hard. Remove from heat and set aside. 

4. Add pasta to the water and boil until a bit firmer than al dente. Just before pasta is ready, reheat guanciale in skillet, if needed. Reserve 1 cup of pasta water, then drain pasta and add to the skillet over low heat. Stir for a minute or so. 

5. Empty serving bowl of hot water. Dry it and add hot pasta mixture. Stir in cheese mixture, adding some reserved pasta water if needed for creaminess. Serve immediately, dressing it with a bit of additional grated pecorino and pepper. 

In your share this month: 

• Pork chops 
• Ground beef 
• Shoulder bacon 

• French Garlic sausage links 
• Guinea Fowl 
• Lamb roast 

On the Farm 

If you hang around farmers long enough, you will find that the thing they talk most about is the weather since it has so much influence on everything we do. This very unusual spring has taken that level of conversation up another notch. In March, April, and May, I have recorded about 20 inches of rain this year (compared to 7 last year), with half of that total in April alone, and of course, temperatures have been consistently below normal. Many of our friends who grow vegetables have had difficulty getting things planted because the fields are too wet to get equipment on them. We have fared better since our crop is grass and other forages, but even that has been growing much slower than normal. But what the wet spring has allowed me to do is get my new, experimental, pasture seed mix broadcast onto parts of the property without the need to disturb the soil at all. The continuous damp conditions allowed most of the seed to germinate while it was sitting right on the surface of the ground. I created a 16-seed blend to trial this year in the hopes of supplying more late summer forage, so I have been secretly hoping the sunny days stay to a minimum. We will report back later in the year with an update.  

On-farm events 

We were planning to invite everyone out for a tree planting party this spring until I realized the order of 200 bare-root trees was never going to come because I apparently never actually put the order in. So, I guess we’ll plan for that next spring. In the meantime, we are working on ideas for other events to happen once we can count on more reliable dry weather. Stay tuned! 

In your share 

• Chicken 
• Pork Roast 
• Ground Goat 
• Italian sausage 
• Bacon 
• New York Steak 

On the farm 

So many babies! So far this year, we are approaching 40 baby goats and lambs, with 12 of the goats being bottle-fed. Most of those bottle babies will need new homes, so if you know anyone looking for some young goats with good dairy prospects, please put them in touch with us. In addition to those, we have about 350 baby chicks here, and we are about to start incubating our turkey eggs which will eventually become the centerpieces of so many Thanksgiving dinners. Finally, we are picking up 9 piglets around the middle of the month, to make sure we keep the delicious pork flowing for the CSA shares.  

But what’s been occupying our minds in a huge way lately is the future of the farm and how we keep ourselves from burning out. We’ve realized we are heading down a non-sustainable path where we just have zero time off and a trajectory that will break us. So, after an incredible amount of contemplation, we have decided that we are going to phase out our dairy operation. There were so many pros and cons surrounding this decision, which I will detail in a post on our website soon, but ultimately, we knew that after 15 years of twice-a-day milking, every day of the year, we just could not continue.  

As a result, we will be putting more focus on the meat side of the business, starting with an increase in the number of shares available for the May-August season, to make up for the lost income. Please do share this with your friends and family, as we do need to grow our sales here to maintain farm viability. 

There will be lots more to share as our farm evolves through this year of transition, but in the short term, our goal is to find someone who is ready to start their own micro dairy operation where we can mentor them and have a trusted place to refer our customers. Our current target date is about the end of summer, but that’s dependent on finding good homes for the cows and goats. We’ll keep you posted!