Aug 30th, Local Foods Guide, Heritage days

Lots to cover here. For the market tomorrow we'll have a lot of blackberries and raspberries. Some light rain yesterday really helped. Tomatoes are done. The cool nights and recent dry weather did them in. We'll still have lots of sweet peppers and some hot peppers. Also we'll have all the new jarred products I've mentioned in prior posts. I've written an Ebook called the Hampshire County WV Local Foods Guide which you can find Here. The link is http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dgxxhb9d_2367grxwnd4 Its a work in progress but it will get refined as time goes on and I get more info from all of the producers. Lastly, Hampshire Heritage Days is next Saturday Sep 6th. The Romney Farmers Market will be in its normal location with extended hours until 3 PM. Then we'll return to the farm for the Hampshire Farm Tour. So we'll see you somewhere!

Two More New Products

Yesterday we picked up two more new products that Gourmet Central has made for us. They are Apple Honey Walnut Chutney and Jalapeno Honey Mustard Dressing. We'll have them along this weekend.

What's a CSA Box?

CSA stands for Community Supported Agriculture. Its generally a weekly subscription to a farm's products. We do a Non Subscription CSA which means that we offer the boxes when we have surplus at peak season. The photo is a typical CSA box. Many have asked what it is and what it looks like. Its a half bushel box of what is in season. Cost is $25 and provides a savings over buying the items individually.

One Chicken - 4 Meals

Culinate.com has a good article out today about all the things you can do with a good chicken entitled - "One Bird, 4 meals- Buy a good bird and reap the rewards". You can read the article Here or at this link - http://www.culinate.com/articles/features/one_chicken_four_meals
This article is a good resource for those that are buying our pasture raised broilers.

Hampshire Farm Tour

There will be a Hampshire Farm Tour held in conjunction with Heritage Days on Saturday September 6th. You can find details at http://hampshirefarmtour.blogspot.com More details will be added over the next week or so. The Hampshire Visitors Bureau and Hampshire Review will be publicizing the Farm Tour. Our plans are to have our farm stand set up at the farm and people can come and visit the farm, see the farm animals, etc. Just like farmers markets, what is know as agritourism is growing as people want to see where things are produced. It should be a lot of fun.

Mountain Music at the Market

The Short Mountain String Band played at the market last Saturday and it was enjoyed by all. This is known as Appalachian String Band music and they play a lot of traditional songs. The harmony of two fiddles is really something. But its not just a music group, these are our colleagues and friends. Steve and Christy work for the Dept of Agriculture. Paul is the horticulture teacher at Hampshire High School. Pete is a craftsman in Capon Bridge and his daughter Dakota is in high school. We've seen Dakota play locally since she was about 8 or so. In the near future, they will play at Canal Place in Cumberland, MD as well as at the Appalachian Festival in Frostburg, MD. We're very glad they were able to come to the Romney Farmers Market. The weather was perfect and it really made for a nice day.

New Products

We have 3 new products that Gourmet Central has just processed for us. Honey Apple Barbeque Sauce, Raspberry Salsa, and Seedless Blackberry Jam. Was not sure that they'd be done this week. But I was able to pick them up on Friday and we'll have them at the farmers market.

Market Update - For August 23, 2008

The market season is still in full swing but you can tell that Fall is approaching. A few leaves are even changing color as its been very dry lately. Very cool and pleasant for August with the night time temps in the lower 50's. A daily temperature swing of 30-35 degrees has been the norm. These cool temps essentially tell the tomatoes to finish up for the year. The slant of the sunlight is changing also. We'll have lots of everything including red raspberries. We also have a new batch of chickens that were processed this past week. Those with advance orders should let us know if you want us to bring them to the market for you. The Short Mountain String Band will be playing at the farmers market. Dakota Hobbie, a phenomenal local fiddler, is in the group. She has been playing publicly for about 10 years, since she was about 6 years old. Local peaches and summer apples are in and can be easily found locally. A fresh peach pie with ice cream is a must for mid August. People call from 4-5 hours distant looking for fresh fruit from Hampshire County. Our new sidewalk sign for the market was a big hit last Sat. This is County Fair week in Hampshire County as it is in lots of towns across the country. The Review has a good video summary Here. They call it their weekend update. Its a bit of small town Americana and shows you some of the fair activities that people are enjoying this week. We had a display in the horticulture building at the fair along with an observation bee hive. We also helped out preparing for the Ruritan dinner in the dining hall. Saturday night is the big night for the 4-H livestock sales. Kids that have been raising and caring for their animals all year have to walk them though the show ring. Then their families and local businesses bid on the animals which becomes the child's pay so to speak for raising and training the animal. Its a traditional 4-H activity. (4-H means head, heart, health, hands, and provides great practical life skills training for kids) Hope to see you at the farmers market or maybe somewhere else this weekend!

USDA Canning Guide

We've been selling lots of tomatoes for canning, and folks have recently asked numerous questions about canning. Thought I'd post the link to the USDA Canning Guide which is
http://www.uga.edu/nchfp/publications/publications_usda.html
Just like most topics, there is a ton of available info on the web, most of it good info. But the USDA Guide has been a key reference guide for a long time. With peaches, apples, and just about all fresh produce available, now is definitely the time to preserve the harvest.

Update 08-08-08

Hi everyone, No blog post last week, and here it is Friday already this week. Last night it was in the mid 50's so autumn is not far off. I attended the "Value Added Fair at Fairmont State University this past Tuesday. Fairmont is right in the middle of what WV calls the I-79 Technology Corridor. This meeting was all about farms connecting with resources to make products from their farm. I actually gave a short talk about what we do on our farm. What was most interesting was that the culinary staff at Pierpont Community College, which is located at Fairmont, prepared the lunch which was served in their new cafeteria with local products and products from the farms of the attendees. We provided pasture chicken, heirloom tomatoes, green peppers, and blackberries. The chicken was the main course and they also made a blackberry topped cheesecake. So besides the main course we had products on the salad bar and the desert bar. College sure has changed. The student center is like a self contained resort. There are gyms, media rooms, swimming pool, cafeterias, lounges. It was exciting to see the entire group enjoying these products. Pierpont hopes to start a student run bistro in town similar to the Culinaire Cafe in Cumberland, MD. As far as the Romney market, the banner has gotten a lot of exposure this week and was even featured in the newspaper. there are more banners and signs in the works. We expect a big market tomorrow and we'll have the usual peak season products such as tomatoes, peppers, berries and honey. Hope to see you there.