Farm Notes

Pictures of our new home base

2010-04-22T07:58:00.000-07:00

New Lease!

2010-04-18T11:53:00.000-07:00

Awesome Farm just signed a great new lease for a grazing home base. It's really beautiful. We'll put pictures up soon. Right now we're putting up a electric perimeter fence in preparation for the sheep and cattle that are arriving soon. More news soon.

New farm birth!

2010-03-19T16:16:00.000-07:00

Three weeks ago, KayCee and I had our first human baby. Whoa! He's small and soft. His name is Sparrow Okemah Wimbish. He can't wait to meet you.

Knitted goodness from Awesome Wool

2010-02-16T12:40:00.000-08:00

Our friend Margaret has been knitting and felting up a storm. She has been using a lot of our wool and roving to make some beautiful slippers and fashion forward flowers. Check out her Etsy page to see: http://www.etsy.com/shop/feltspar

Makes it all feel worth it

2009-12-21T07:33:00.000-08:00

It's just feels so good when we get letters like this. I had to share this one:

Hi Owen & Kaycee

Hope the work on the farm is slowing down enough that you can enjoy the holidays!

and that you have happy holidays!

Thank you so much for growing such awesome beef! We split a share with my in-laws and are so completely satisfied with every meal we have had! It was our first time doing this - so we had some trepidation re: storage, overwhelming quantities, cooking with grass-fed beef (after encounter with snooty NYC steak-house waiter!) -- but its been amazing!

We started with a bang to celebrate an old friend's brief return for Cuba. This was a high pressure meal because beef is not available under the Cuban rations system! And it was stunning stroganoff!

Bear with us during this list-- these meals were so good; the beef so tender and delicious - it is worth repeating them!

1. A chuck steak cut into stew cubes for a stroganoff using a Tyler Florence recipe

2. Ground for thai lettuce wraps

3. Spaghetti bolognese

4. Most extraordinary porterhouse! - 4 minutes each side on charcoal grill (on freezing november night). I had just eaten at snooty steak house & this was so much better!

5. Shepards Pie with last of potatos from Roxbury Farm mashed on top

6. Chili with beans too.

We are trying to figure out a Christmas / New Year's roast. But thank you so much for all the work that went into growing this meat. We are enjoying every meal. Best wishes for a peaceful new year

A Split 'n' Share Success Story

2009-11-20T17:57:00.000-08:00

Sometimes my guilt about not-posting, keeps me from posting. The fall has been so, so busy with many changes all around, that computer time has not been my priority. However, this posting was too good to pass up. We have been distributing our first ever round of grass-fed beef to folks who bought a quarter of a cow's worth.

Here's what one satisfied customer has to say:

http://hvfood.ning.com/profiles/blogs/a-split-n-share-success-story

Grass-Fed Beef for Sale

2009-09-07T12:28:00.000-07:00

Awesome Farm is teaming up with our neighbor Wardsback Farm to bring you 100% grass-fed and grass-finished local beef. These steers are raised right down the road from us, and they are ready for slaughter now. We will take them to the butcher and have them cut to your specifications. The beef is sold in split quarters, halves, or whole steers. All the meat is cut and wrapped in butcher paper. All beef is $4/lb. You can expect between 100-175 lbs of beef per quarter. A split quarter means that we mix up the cuts from the front and the back of the animal so that each quarter gets a little of everything.

Excellent, local beef for a price that is way lower than what you'd pay in the grocery store!

You can order right from our website: AwesomeFarmnNY.com

People are often curious about how much freezer space they will need to store their beef. A cubic foot of freezer space will hold 35-40 lbs of beef. So, if you're ordering a half a steer, expect to need about 8 cu ft of freezer space.

Feel free to contact us with any questions!

Fabulous Yarn and Awesome Farm

2009-08-12T13:59:00.000-07:00

Awesome Farm yarn is now available through Fabulousyarn.com! We're pleased to be able to work with this business, which is based in our town. Thanks, Judy!
This is the link: http://www.fabulousyarn.com/awesome.shtml

Thoughts from Dana

2009-07-26T15:10:00.000-07:00

Dana Gentile is working with us this summer and has been an amazing help enabling us to get so much more done on and off the farm!

Guest Blog Entry: Livestock farming

I am living upstate this summer, interning with KayCee and Owen on Awesome Farm to learn about livestock farming. They are hard at work producing really great quality grass fed meat, and they inspire me every day with their dedication and enthusiasm. When working on a livestock farm, every day is a workday. For now I look forward to my weekends off, but I can't help to think that every day workdays are in the near future for me as a livestock farmer. I think this hard work and commitment is sometimes forgotten when we buy meat in a store. We forget the farmers behind the product and also forget that the product was alive and had a healthy life. Working with Awesome Farm, I am grateful for the hard work and dedication that goes into livestock farming, and it certainly makes me want to know the farmers behind the local protein product. It's not just anyone who can care for these animals and deal with the life and death that occurs daily on a farm.

I have seen Awesome Farm's meat birds, also called broilers, go from chick to carcass. About 120 chicks are shipped via USPS to Awesome Farm. Their new home, a brooder barn, is ready for them with brooder lamps, wood chips and hay for bedding, water, and feed. The first thing we do when we unload the chicks from the box is to introduce each chick to the water by putting their beak in the water so they know what it is and where to find it. These little chicks get the idea and are drinking water and eating feed shortly after coming out of the box. They are so cute and very fast. We have to walk very slowly in their area as to not step on these little guys. The chicks live in the brooder until they are old enough to live in the meat bird pens out on pasture. These pens are moved daily so that the birds have the best fresh pasture. They are also given feed and water daily. I have to say, for me, moving the chicken pens each day is quite challenging and physically hard work. But the chickens deserve the best grass--as do the future chicken eaters--and that makes it worth the effort.

I have also had the pleasure of working during Awesome Farm's chicken slaughters. Being part of the slaughter process, makes me feel more connected to the food that I am eating. It is really important for me to understand how a chicken becomes dinner on my plate. After seeing the chicks from day one, it is pretty amazing to be part of the slaughter and see the bird turn into the meat you and I will consume. At first I wasn't sure how I would feel going through the slaughter process but my thought going into this was: "If I can not participate in the slaughter, I should not be eating meat." Thank goodness I am completely comfortable with the slaughter process because this Awesome Farm chicken is so good!

Laying Hens hitting the road

2009-07-23T09:01:00.000-07:00

After a good run with the laying hens, we're saying good bye to them. We are quickly phasing out our egg operation in order to put more of our energy into our meat bird and lamb enterprises, and into planning for the future. On one hand, it's sad . . . we get really great feedback about our eggs, and we certainly love eating them. On the other hand, this transition is part of us moving our farm more in the direction that we want: more animals that eat grass and less animals that eat grain.

We're glad to have been able to provide you with eggs over the past year. Now, we're focused on making our chicken and lamb the best it can be.

*Owen*

40 Farmers under 40

2009-07-21T17:01:00.000-07:00

We were named to a list of 40 farmers under 40 list put out by Mother Nature Network. This list is very exciting and full of farmers doing all kinds of amazing things. Apparently Fortune.com is also picking up this list and we may end up there soon as well.
See all of the 40 farmers under 40 by going here:

http://www.mnn.com/food/farms-gardens/stories/40-farmers-under-40

2009-07-08T13:09:00.000-07:00

My cousin Amy, her husband Charles, and their three kids came to visit Tivoli and the farm last weekend. James (age 8), Ben (age 5) and Will (age 2) were natural farmers. While Will did a lot of toddling about and closing chicken house doors, James and Ben caught wayward chickens, gave out feed, and most importantly bottle fed the two lambs. They also rode on McGinty, our ornery donkey. I loved having their company and their help for weekend chore duty. They hope to be back in August and James has already begun negotiating his schedule and salary for next summer.

">

From Meyers visit

Something old, something new

2009-06-23T14:40:00.001-07:00

On farm news:
This morning the entire flock of sheep escaped from their paddock. The permanent fence that was one of the borders is highly compromised at one point. We blocked it with plywood and did our best to tie it shut, but the sheep got an itch and they went for it. I suspect the wily Icelandic led the charge and the Dorsets followed, headed towards a newly planted hayfield and getting dangerously close to Hearty Roots' vegetables. Owen and I arrived just in time and quickly and easily shepherded them back into our side of the fence. We put a cattle panel up in front of the compromised fence and hopefully they will be contained until tomorrow when we move them on over to greener pastures.

On our way back from sheep herding, I encountered the biggest surprise in a long while! One of our laying hens was cautiously walking along the gravel driveway leading to our pasture with 4 baby chicks at her feet. There are three black chicks and one yellow one, probably Australorpes and Buff Orpingtons respectively. We didn't even know a hen had a nest. We didn't even know they had it in them to go broody and hatch out babies. We will just let her be and do her thing, and hopefully all will go well. Photos to follow soon.

Off the farm news:
You can now follow us on Twitter: www.twitter.com/awesomefarmny.
We would also love if you became our fan on Facebook. When Owen gives me the password, I will get to updating it, but for now help us social network so we can sell some chickens and lamb!

Some more pictures from Dana

2009-06-15T07:41:00.001-07:00

Slaughter equipment

2009-06-15T07:27:00.000-07:00

Dana took some photos on our last slaughter day that highlight some of the new equipment we've been using. In order: Soak tanks, kill cones, chicken crates, scalder, evisceration tables, feather picker. The new set up is working really well for us. The chickens are coming out looking really good, and we're up to a pace of about 30 birds processed an hour.

sheep and lamb video | not to be missed

2009-05-25T15:01:00.000-07:00

Thank you Basha for this video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xl8jTV2nPxE&feature=channel_page

First Chicken Slaughter

2009-05-23T12:45:00.001-07:00

On Wednesday, May 20th we had our first chicken slaughter of the season. This year we have a paid crew and a fancy mobile processing unit. We can now scald and pluck 4 chickens at once, making things move much more quickly. It took a while to get used to the new equipment, but we pretty much figured it out. The bottleneck occurs at the evisceration station which is still done by hand and requires a bit of time and attention to detail.
In the end we got all 119 birds processed. We then bagged them in our new heat shrink bags and labeled them with our fabulous new stickers. Folks across the Hudson Valley are beginning to enjoy the juicy, delicious taste of these pastured birds.
We have some chickens left and they are being frozen. If anyone wants one, please let us know and we will get it to you.

Special thanks to our awesome slaughter crew: Craig, Dana, Tracy and Anne!

Lamb Count

2009-05-23T12:33:00.000-07:00

We are up to 114 lambs! Things are seriously slowing down in the lambing department, so we don't expect many more, but I am sure a few more will surprise us.

Moving the sheep and all the lambs is definitely a challenge. The lambs don't really get the idea of moving on to greener pastures. They seem to prefer to hang out where they last were. The lambs don't really respond to being herded. The only way to get the stragglers is to have them follow an adult sheep. Yesterday we moved the flock from one side of the farm to the other. Owen and I acted as sheep dogs and completely exhausted ourselves.

And we are still counting

2009-05-14T18:01:00.000-07:00

As of this morning, we had officially checked in 88 lambs! After the lambs are born and have been cleaned up by their mom, we give them a little check up. We record the ewe's number and then record the date the lamb was born, the sex and weight of the lamb, and it's ear tag number. We give each lamb a shot of Selenium and Vitamin B, cut the umbilical cord if need be, weigh the lamb, and tag its ear. Within about five minutes the lamb is back with momma.

It is pretty wild in the pasture with all of these lambs. There is so much communicating going on, between the adult sheep and especially between the lambs and their moms. Some of the lambs are getting big enough that they travel in little lamb packs and run and jump and play in a big group. It is quite a scene.

One of the Icelandic sheep had two lambs and must have rejected one of them. When we arrived at the farm the other morning, Owen and I were surprised to see a black lamb with one of the Dorset/Polypay ewes. We couldn't imagine that she had given birth to a black lamb, so we went in for closer inspection. Somehow the Dorset momma adopted the Icelandic lamb and added it to her brood. The lamb she herself had and the adopted lamb both seem to be doing well and everyone involved seems happy.

2009-05-06T19:20:00.000-07:00

The lambs keep coming!

Can you take it?

2009-05-04T19:11:00.000-07:00

This sheep has triplets! At first I was concerned about her parenting choices. The lambs often seemed to be strewn about all over the pasture and the smallest lamb (weighing 3 pounds at birth) was often kicked off the teat. But now she really impresses us. The three lambs are always right around the momma and all lambs seem to be nursing equally. When the family relaxes, there is usually a lamb on the mama's right, left, and at her feet. Pretty awesome.

Lamb Count

2009-05-04T19:05:00.001-07:00

21 as of this evening. There will probably be more when we check back in in the morning.

First lamb of the year

2009-04-23T17:44:00.000-07:00

One of our Icelandic sheep gave birth to the first lamb of the year today! A healthy little girl lamb. It was up and nursing in no time at all. This ewe had two extremely tiny lambs last year, so I'm happy that she went with one normal sized one instead this year. Well . . . I guess lambwatch is on. They'll be a lot more where that came from.

Work Weekend rocked!

2009-04-19T13:09:00.000-07:00

Holy Smokes. Work weekend was the best. More than 40 people came on Saturday and Sunday and accomplished a whole bunch at Awesome Farm.
All of our meat bird coops were repaired. A new meat bird coop and three laying chicken houses were built. 65 sheep were sheared, vaccinated and hoof-trimmed. 75 fleeces were skirted (bad wool separated from the good wool).
Everybody really dove into the projects and made things happen.
Our cooking captains rolled out amazing lunches on both days. Rice and dal, polenta, fruit crisps . . .
Our three shearers came on Saturday afternoon: Mike, Bruce and Tracy. They got the whole job done in less than four hours.
Saturday night was pizza party and a jazzy band at the local watering hole.
Thanks so much to everyone who came out for work weekend! We look forward to hosting again next year.

Work Weekend Pictures

2009-04-19T13:00:00.000-07:00