Hot Off The Haywire

Farm Fodder - Page 5

Ah, the wind. It really amazes me that any of the plants can survive the thrashing of 40 + mph wind gusts. Of course some don't, as we've had several melon plants snapped off at ground level. If it's this windy Saturday at the market, we should either have a "no tent day", or we could have some type of contest called "find that tent" where market customers win some type of prize. Like if they find one in Tulsa county they could get a sack of lettuce, but if they find one in Wichita they get a sack of lettuce AND a t-shirt!  

All kidding aside, the wind has been brutal and worrisome. Similar to my Georgia Bulldog's "bend but don't break" defense from last year, if you get bent long enough and hard enough you'll eventually break. Otherwise the vegetables are doing well in the warm weather. Melons, sweet peppers, and tomatoes are flowering, and the early squash, zucchini, and pumpkins I planted are setting fruit. Here's a close-up of an acorn squash called Honey Bear:

And here's one of a zucchini called Bush Baby:

Also, our apple, pear, and plum trees are setting fruit, so we should have them available at the market for the first time later in the season. At the market Saturday we'll have assorted lettuces, collards, radishes, turnips, and a few bags of spinach.

In porkerville, things are rolling right along as well. Allison Goss stopped by the farm with her husband and children to get some more photos of the farm for the article she's writing. She posted a few of the photos on her Facebook page you can see here.  I made a pair of videos this week. This first one is of Perk and Twiggy's piglets after they were allowed out of their arks:

 

 

And this second one I made of Geez and Myfoot when the dinner bell was rang:

 

 

(note: You can subscribe to our YouTube channel here if you want access to all our videos on file) At the market Saturday we'll have all our assorted pork products, plus a new Chorizo Dawg, that we'll also be grilling in limited quantities.

Thanks for reading and watching, and come see us Saturday!

Pork & Greens

Clover - It Just Might Drive You Grazy

After planting some more sweet corn and melons today, I finally got down to our spring grazing paddock to get some video of the growing pigs while out grazing. The clover is almost knee high, and it's starting to flower, which is where we like it to be growth wise before we turn the pigs loose on it. Clover seems like "nectar of the gods" to the pigs, and it got me thinking (and this is what happens when you work alone and the hamster wheel begins spinning) and I thought of only one thing more attractive to a pig, so here goes (but first you need to set the tune) :

There's only one thing a pig can't resist

It's called an Oreo,

They've been the ruin of many a poor pig,

It's how I get them to the butcher, soes I know!

  Ok, enough of the debouchery. Here's the video I got today:

 

 

Perk & Twigg's pigs are doing well, and are now free to roam their paddock. You can see them on the lam here:

For those that can't get to the Cherry Street market, I got a photo before the market opened of our booth and dawg cart, and Jackie Smith, who puts the creative touch on the signage and booth layout:

Short and sweet for today. Thanks for reading!

Pork & Greens

Farm Fodder - Page 4

We had a visitor at the farm on Tuesday. Allison Goss, of This Land Press (check it out), stopped by to take some photos and interview me about the farm. She's a really cool journalist giving a unique perspective of Oklahoma and her people. When her article is published I'll make sure and provide a link. As it was, I turned the table, well actually the camera, on her and got a shot of her in front of some Georgia collards:

Speaking of collards, things on the veggie front are looking really good! Maters, squash, pumpkins, and a few melon plants are flowering, and we finished weaving the pepper plants. Next week we may have a smattering of squash and baby zuccini if the weather stays warm. I finished reseeding the sweet corn today, and it looks like the critter problem is abating somewhat. We set out watermelons and more okra this week as well.

At the market Saturday we'll have the same lettuces as last week, plus a Boston Bibb lettuce and possibly some heirloom Lolla leaf lettuce. We'll have Georgia collards (pronounced Jaw-ja Cawluds for non-southern types) and a lot more radish bunches, but it looks like the turnips will be another week out. We may have a bag of spinach or two as well.

 Pig nation is rolling right along, although we almost had a disaster on our hands. Twiggy and Perk decided they wanted to have piglets in the same spot. When they farrowed their first litters they picked out individual spots (like they're supposed too), but for whatever reason they chose to remain in the same ark space. Luckily only one piglet got mashed, but had they farrowed earlier, or had it been hot (it was actually quite cool this morning) a lot more piglets would have been lost. I took the divider down to give them more space, and then sat with them for a while till everyone calmed down. (me included  ) I took a short video of them here:

 

 

We turned the grower pigs into the spring grazing field yesterday, and I'll try to get some video of them this weekend. I turned out the 2 pigs I had put in our Root-O-Tiller, as they had outgrown it. I got a snap of the last bed they made, and you can see how well they tilled and de-rooted their spot:

At the market we'll have all our usual pork products, plus some mild sausage and bratwurst already pattied. There are 8 sausage patties to a package and 4 brat patties to a package. We'll be grilling dawgs as well, although this week I'll be directly across the street from our booth. Thanks for reading, and stop by and see us this weekend!

Pork & Greens

Battle Tested!

Well, even though I feel like I've been rode hard and put up wet, our first attempt at grilling dawgs at the Cherry Street market went as well as can be expected. As with any new venture, the learning curve can be quite steep, like trying to scale Everest in sneakers. I definitely learned alot about what to do, and especially what not to do, but first and foremost, I want to thank everybody that came out in the not so ideal conditions to support us!

A few gems of wisdom I gleaned from the day include:

1. Make sure the cart is oriented so the juices from the dawgs flows toward the drain pan, not away from it. (memories of the Exxon Valdez flashed before me towards the end of the market)

2. No matter what your friends tell you, don't put wet paper towels in one of the steam pans. (unless you're out of kindling or want to see if you can get one of the LP gas canisters into orbit)

3. Line the bottom of the pans with foil to make clean up easier. (KP duty when I served in the army was like a paid vacation to Bali compared to the aftermath Saturday)

4. Organize the cash in the apron so it's easier to change money for the customers. (my system, which really means no system unless one humongous wad counts, was akin to trying to shuffle a deck of cards while holding a brick in each hand)

5. Don't forget vital tools when it comes to securing the cart in the trailer. (I left my drill at the farm I needed to secure the cleats around the tires so the cart wouldn't roll around in the trailer. Driving to the market I had to pull over and put my spurs on, as the trailer was bucking that bad)

With all that said, everyone seemed to think the dawgs were tasty (the pigs want their props) and we really appreciate the nice comments from everyone. We hope to have some green pepper & onion brat dawgs and a limited amount of chorizo dawgs (for you spicy hot connoisseurs) in two weeks. Next week will be brats and hots.

 I also want to give a huge thank you to Jackie Smith for holding fort at the booth while I'm at the cart. She's taken to it like a duck to water, and her help has been invaluable to us! Thanks for reading, and a huge thank you for supporting your local farmers!

Pork & Greens

Hot Diggity Dawgs

We finally received our first batch of "heritage" dawgs, and we're ready to introduce them Saturday at the Cherry Street market. Our plans to offer sausage biscuits was nixed by the health dept because only pre-cooked meat is allowed to be served from a mobile pushcart.

There are two things that separate our dawgs from the conventional fair you buy at the grocery store. First, our dawgs are made exclusively from prime shoulder and ham cuts. There are no chicken parts, beef parts, or fillers (and who knows what parts or fillers are being used) in our product. Second, our dawgs are made from rare breed pork, thus the "heritage" label, and are as rare a product as the pigs we use are rare as a breed:

We're going to bring around 160 hot and brat dawgs to serve, and we'll offer them steamed (Chicago style) or griddled, and we'll have steamed buns as well. Condiments will include grated cheese and chopped onion from Downing Family Farm, and mustard, ketchup, relish, etc, so you can fix em how you want em. We wanted to offer chili, but the health dept nixed that as well. If you'd like to see other condiments let us know, and we'll run it by the health dept to see if it's permissible.

We'll also have a limited quantity to sell from our booth. They come in 7 or 8 dawg packages, so if you want some to take home you might want to plan an early visit to the market. Thanks for reading, and we'll see you tomorrow!

Pork & Greens

Farm Fodder - Page 3

Well, after such a beautiful opening day at Cherry Street, rain is in the forecast for this weekend. While the rain is much needed at the farm, it's not quite as welcome at the market. Hopefully, the bulk of rain comes Friday night and gives us a few decent hours of weather Saturday morning or the joke will be on us, and nothing is quite as unfunny as loading, unloading, and standing in a pouring rain.

On the vegetable front, the warm weather really has everything looking good that hasn't been devoured by mice, or raccoons, or crows, or deer, or... man, the varmits are really out in full force this year. I just hope some of the neighbors are planting some field corn to lure them away. We finished putting all the tomato plants in their cages, and got a start on setting the rebar posts so we can stake and weave the pepper plants.

 Desperate times require desperate measures, so we resorted to starting the squash and cucumber seed in flats and then transplanting them as soon as they break soil, all in an effort to keep them from being main course in a seed feeding orgy of critters at the farm.

We'll have Simpson leaf, Red Rosie romaine, and Troutback romaine lettuce at the market Saturday, as well as radishes and possibly a few turnips. Next week we might have some baby zuccini, as they're about an inch long already. Hopefully in two weeks we'll have some Georgia collard greens (can you say cornbread?) and green and red cabbage. I took a snap of the cabbage that's really taking off:

On the pigeration front, brat dawgs and hot dawgs will be served up Saturday, so come get a treat before they run out. We got Perk and Twiggy moved to their farrowing pasture and should get more piglets on the ground by mid week. I hauled a new feeder down from Stillwater Milling to put in with Geez, Myfoot, and their pigs who have really started chowing on solid feed. The warm weather has the pigs heading for the wallows, as nothing seems so wonderful to a pig as mud, mud, glorious mud! We have the coop delivery this week, as well as picking up meat from the butcher and hauling four more to the butcher on Monday. I got a snap of Twigs and Perk in full mud attire:

Thanks for reading, and stop by and see us Saturday!

Pork & Greens

p.s. Here's a photo of one of our POW's captured this week. He wouldn't cooperate during interrogation about the location of the raccoon's HQ (kept playing possum) so we were forced to use waterboarding techniques. (He actually liked that so we just turned him loose!) 

Come On People Now...

Perspective. Odd that it takes something so simple as a phrase from a song to clear your path, bring some clarity to your waters that can seem oh so muddy at times. A song heard often enough, but never really listened to, like knowing what light is, but not knowing what it really is. (I couldn't even remember the band, and had to look them up) 

I was driving to the restaurant supply store to pick up some stuff for the market this weekend, mind racing at warp speed trying to sort through the mountainous list of things that need to be done between now and Saturday. Pushcart things, harvesting things, feed order things, farrowing set-up things, coop delivery things, pork pick up at the butcher things, meat sorting things, planting things, load up for the market things, and all the other things I've already forgotten but will instantly remember when I need them but don't have them.

And then the lyrics hit me, subtly at first, as if I heard them, but really didn't hear them at all, except they didn't just float by, but got in their orbit and waited until they could land, mind and information having to get on the same page:

"When the one that left us here returns for us at last, we are but a moments sunlight fading in the grass"

A really beautiful verse that I've heard dozens of times before, but it's relativity wasn't fitting to the circumstances until today. You see, all that we're doing in the grand scheme of things is really not significant except when we narrow our perspectives down to only what we could see if looking in a mirror, and that's what really causes all the angst, causes us to spend our time worrying and fretting, and not enjoying the life given us that is so fragile and fleeting.

So I just rolled the window down and felt the warm air slide through open fingers while digesting the meaning of that verse and decided to quit worrying about everything and just accept that everything will be ok, that looking back ten years from now nothing done or not done, or remembered or forgotten will be important. (unless, of course, I forget the mustard )

Has a song or a verse had a similar effect on you?

Thanks for reading, and this song is definitely eyes closed, headphone worthy!

Pork & Greens

Farm Fodder - Page 2

 Do you ever find yourself standing on a hill in your mountain of dreams, telling yourself it's not as hard, hard, hard as it seems? That's kinda of the way this week has been for us, trying to get everything ready for opening day at the Cherry Street market. We've decided to wait until the second week to start grilling, and for for two pretty good reasons in my opinion. First, it wouldn't be fair to Jackie to just throw her to the wolves running the booth by herself for the first time. If our cart location was beside her it wouldn't be so bad, but we're across the street so that won't work, because she'll need some help getting familiar with everything. Secondly, I found out today that we'll have our heritage hot dawgs (spelling is homage to my alma mater, and cannot be used to point out my level of intelligence to others  ) available for the second week. Yeee Haaaaw!

On the vegetable front, it's looking like week two for them as well. Some varieties of lettuce are almost ready, and the good week of weather forecast for next week should have them salad worthy. Radishes will also be ready, and possibly turnips. Cabbage, beets, broccoli, and cauliflower are at least two more weeks out. Carrots are several weeks out, and peas are out indefinitely, as the fricking raccoons devoured all but a few of the seed.

The summer veggies are looking good. Sweet corn is about four inches tall, squash and zuccini plants are growing well, and the green beans are sprouting like mad. I even seeded some okra just to see what would happen since it's in plastic mulch, and low and behold it's all sprouted. The raccoons have taken an enormous toll on the seed we've planted, but we're reseeding and trying to trap them, so I guess we'll see who says "uncle" first.  I took a photo of some "Troutback" romaine lettuce that kinda shows how close it is to being ready:

On the pig front, we carried four more to the butcher Monday. We've got to move Twiggy and Perk to their farrowing digs this coming week. We'll move the larger pigs into the spring grazing pasture in two or three weeks, as the clover should start flowering and setting seed about then. Geez's pigs are four weeks old, so we'll start watching her body condition and not let the pigs pull her down too far. She's already looking pretty thin, so we'll watch her closely. Myfoot's pigs are a week behind, and her condition looks really good. I don't know how that girl can nurse 11 youngsters and stay so well conditioned. I got a shot of them out and about today that you can see here:

Tomorrow will be spent making a(nother) list and checking it twice, and then packing up and waiting on the 3 am wake up call. We're really excited about seeing old friends, customers, and fellow vendors at the market this Saturday, so (if I'm not asleep and snoring like a freight train) stop by and see us! Thanks for reading!

Pork & Greens

Shocking News!

Well, it would only be shocking if you touched one of the wires while it was hot! I've had alot of folks ask about fencing for pigs, so I made a short video of what stuff we're using. You can see it here:

 

 

Also, the trap is laid for my Viet-Coon enemies. By this time tomorrow flags will be at half mast in Coon country. Counting coup on those bandit eyed de-seeders is a pleasure I look forward to. Here's the conTRAPtion with a little fishy bait to lure them in:

Thanks for reading!

Pork & Greens

You Say Tomato, I Say Tuh-mater

After weeks of wild and crazy weather it looks like everything is back in it's season, with a weather forecast for next week that should excite anyone with green thumbs, brown knees, and a sore back.

There's something truely special about the tomato plant. Not the plant itself, but the symbolism of the plant because when you can start setting tomato plants out in the garden you know a page is turning. The dreariness of winter is but distant memory, the re-birth that happens every year is felt once again, the longing for those beautiful, warm summer evenings only a page away.

So, even though you have your own favorite variety, your own way of growing (cages versus stakes, versus weave) even your own pronunciation (you say tomato, I say tuh-mater) the pleasures and rewards of planting, watering, tending, and harvesting are shared experiences, a bond between man and nature as old as life itself.

I set out over a hundred tomato and pepper plants yesterday, and I can feel it today, knees a little stiff, back a little sore, skin a little sun burned, but they're little pains that feel good in their own odd sort of way. No pain, no gain as they say. Here's a photo of some tomato plants I took yesterday (these are a yellow cherry):

Thanks for reading, and have a wonderful holiday!

Pork & Greens