USDA Meat Inspection - Recent Events

Recently, an article in the Washington Post described the plight of a small farm near Charlottesville that was selling uninspected pork products. They also were using Certified Organic labels without authorization. The real irony here is that most of the food borne contaminants such as ecoli are coming from the industrial food system, certainly not from small farms. The Beans at Double H Farm in Charlottesville were butchering their pork on the farm. Even though small farms have been butchering their own pork safely for generations for their own use, this is clearly not permitted when the meat is to be resold. As far as the organic certification, most producers have simply dropped it due to the cost of the regulation and because of the fact that its nearly impossible to verify that any purchased feed is truly "organic". There was another story last June in Britain where 89% of "organic" chickens were contaminated. So just because organic feed was used, there is no assurance that the processing was done cleanly. For grass based operations, feed is less of a consideration anyway. Joel Salatin has been processing poultry on the farm for 2 decades without incident while there have been countless incidents of problems with commercial chicken. While meat products are not our leading farm products, I wanted to do this post to clear the air in light of recent news items and any future news stories you might hear related to meat processing and small farms. Our beef is currently processed, and our first lamb will be processed next year, at a USDA inspected facility, Emrick's Meat & Packing Co south of Hyndman, PA. Their address is 1966 Hyndman Road, Hyndman, PA 15545. Phone 814-842-6779. They also have a small grocery store at the same location. A USDA Inspector is on site at their facility on the days that animals are processed. You should visit them if you have an interest. For chicken, its not as strict. There are exemptions for small producers, 3000 birds in VA and 1000 birds in WV and on farm processing is permitted. However, we have not gone that route. Our poultry is processed at Berry Blossom Farm in Waynesboro, PA. This is a smaller scale Amish run commercial poultry processing facility and we transport the birds there. Their address is 14116 Hollowell Church Road, Waynesboro, PA 17268. Phone: 717.597.4945 Again, if you have an interest you should visit them. The you can visit a large poultry factory, and contrast the difference. So, I hope this fully documents any processing that our farm has done for meat products. Most people, except for enlightened consumers that seek local producers, don't even want to be confronted with food processing facts. They just want to see the meat products in their cellophane containers. But if you do have an interest, you should have access to all the facts related to the processing. As far as our farm, I've outlined all of the pertinent facts here but if you ever have any questions, just ask.

Persimmons

Foraging for wild foods and game are longstanding Appalachian traditions. Foraging examples would include ramps, morrel mushrooms, black walnuts, hickory nuts, native plums and dozens, if not hundreds, of other items. I took the photos near the gravel lane leading to our house. This persimmon tree is absolutely loaded with fruit. If you taste one before it is ripe it will parch your lips and mouth. The fruit softens after a freeze or two at which point the fruit becomes very sweet. Pretty amazing that with no cultivation, watering, fertilizing or anything, a bountiful natural fruit crop occurs. If you do a web search for persimmons you'll get a wealth of information. We hope to try a few recipes this year. The new Nov/Dec issue of Hobby Farms magazine had some info also. "Wild On The Farm": Sweet and sumptuous wild persimmon pudding is a Thanksgiving tradition throughout the South. Persimmons are also delicious right off of the tree but only in late autumn when they're at their mouthwatering sugary best. The word persimmon is derived from the Algonquin word"pessamin" , meaning "dry fruit". Dried persimmons were a staple in Native American villages; the Indians taught white settlers to eat persimmons too. Of persimmons, Captain John Smith wrote, "If it be not ripe it will drawe a man's mouth awrie with much torment; but when it is ripe, it is as delicious as an Apricot". Persimmon trees flourish from Massachusetts to Florida and as far west as Nebraska and Texas. A member of the Ebony family, the persimmon tree's wood is highly prized for fashioning textile shuttles', pool cues, and golf clubs. Only female trees bear fruit.

Joseph "The Man"

Well the big day finally arrived! Joseph has been anxiously waiting to meet his girlfriends.

The Ewes gave Joseph a warm welcome. He especially liked Mary, but she wasn't sure if she wanted him so close... so she gave him a run for his money. He got tired of chasing her and turned to Molly. Molly was friendly and apparently ready to get together. So was Missy. Sweetheart, Little One, and Mary went out to graze. Later on, everyone was in the barn snuggling up together like old pals.

So, if everything happens like it's supposed to, we should have little lambs hopping around the farm mid March 2008. Way to go Joseph!

Sylvester Junior

We just got a new barn cat and we've named him after a cat we used to have, Sylvester. There must be millions of black and white cats named Sylvester, nothing very original there. The first Sylvester died at age 18 after moving the the farm. So the new one is Sylvester Junior. The black and white coloring is reminiscent of the original Sylvester. Ruth took this photo of one of the sheep getting acquainted with Sylvester Junior.

Autumn Glory Festival, Oakland, MD

Hello everyone,
Just a reminder that we'll be at the Mountain Fresh Pavilion in Oakland, MD on Saturday from
10 AM until 5 PM. See www.mountainfresh.org for info. We'll probably get there about 9 AM if you are running nearly. This is in conjunction with the annual Autumn Glory festival held in Oakland, MD. See www.visitdeepcreek.com for more details. This is actually a 5 day event,
Oct 10-14th, although we'll just be there on Saturday, Oct 13th. This will be the final day of our market season for 2007. Hope to see you there!

Bit of Fall Color

We're starting to get just a bit of fall color now and Jonathan Jessup has posted some new photos which are outstanding. You can see them by clicking Here.

Donkey Slide Show

Hello everyone, Ruth created a slide show with some photos of our mini donkeys using a new tool called Slide.com. Some good pics.

Farmer's Market - October 6th

Hello everyone,
We are starting to get a bit of Fall color this week but there is no real chill in the air yet. Temperatures are still in the upper 80's. We haven't had any rain in nearly a month. This weekend is the annual Apple Harvest Festival in Burlington, WV. This is the big event of the year in Burlington and proceeds support the Methodist charities and the shelter and orphanage in Burlington. They do a lot of unheralded work which you can see at their web site, www.bumfs.org. At the festival, Apple Butter and Brunswick Stew are made over open fires and fresh apple cider is pressed. Anything you can imagine being made with apples, i.e. pie, cobbler, sauce, cookies, dumplings, etc, well its all there. The woodsmoke, creek side setting, and fall color make for a nice setting. A nice brochure about the festival can be found by clicking Here. Also this weekend is the Folk Festival in Springs, PA. This is real Amish Country, for example, the children all go barefoot and their tractors have solid steel wheels. Springs PA is just North of Grantsville, MD. More details are at www.springspa.org. We'll be at the Romney Farmers Market on Saturday AM from 9 AM -12 Noon and then we'll be over at the Potomac Eagle Station from 1PM to 2 PM. Our honey harvest is done for the year and Ruth packaged lots of different bottle sizes this week. We'll also have plenty of red raspberries. We hope to see you somewhere!

Romney Farmer's Market - Sep 29th

Hello everyone, Just a short note to say that we WILL be at the Romney Market on Saturday. The weather looks to be beautiful, sunny and 77. We'll have raspberries, honey, and many jarred products. We will probably be there until 11:30 AM as after that we have been invited to set up over at the Potomac Eagle train station at Noon. This is when the 10 AM train returns and before the 1 PM train departs. This weekend is the start of the Potomac Eagle fall season and they will run daily. See www.potomaceagle.info for full details. Looks like they have big crowds already lined up for this fall as more people discover the train and Romney. We were told yesterday that the 1st class tickets for all of October are already sold out. This is also Heritage Weekend in Moorefield, VA and many folks will be going there also. The fall festivals season is in full swing with something scheduled nearby most every weekend. For ex, the Burlington Apple Harvest festival is next weekend. So come on out and enjoy the fall color over the next 3-4 weeks!

Mary Poppins and Choco Bell

Next March will be our first lambing season on the farm. There are numerous predators around our area including coyotes, foxes, and bobcats. All of which would happily prey on baby lambs. So we had been casting about for a solution to protect our sheep flock. The normal solutions include a Great Pyrrennes dog, llamas, or donkeys. We heard of someone, Mr Bob Odle, that was downsizing their farm operation and had 4 mini donkeys available. So we purchased two of them, already named, Mary Poppins and Choco Bell. We can see by their reaction to our dogs just how they work to protect a flock. They face the dog directly, stare them down, and then walk straight at them to get them to back off. If necessary they will stomp an intruder with their front feet or turn and kick with their back feet. They are fearless when faced with a growling, barking dog. Ruth is holding Mary Poppins here. They have a stripe and cross on their back which is their biblical tie to "the way of the cross". These animals have been around a long time. So they are now part of our farm family and have their own job to do, to protect the sheep flock.