Hello Farm Friends, My Dad & Me Family Farm welcomes two new ladies to the farm. David and I rode to Bowden, Georgia and picked up Elsie and Rose. Elsie weighs in at about 1300 pounds, which is very heavy for this breed of cow and so Jim, our young bull, is somewhat intimidated. Elsie is pushing him around the pasture like a rag doll, but Jim doesn't
give up. He's in love!
Rose is about 1200 pounds and is very similar to our original cow, Maggie that we
purchased from Berry College over 10 years ago. Both animals seem to have good personalities, lead well and stand quietly while milking. These two registered Jersey girls are old pros and will provide much needed "extra milk" for all of our farm friends. I can't seem to get enough cold Jersey milk especially when I am enjoying one of Anna's Dark Chocolate Granola Bars! David & Tina along with Willie & Ellie are doing a fine job at our second
farm near Hokes Bluff. My Dad & Me Family Farm Alabama is providing quite the needed support for My Dad & Me Family Farm Georgia.
David keeps us with "fresh cows" here in Powder
Springs, and Susan and I milk them twice a day and bottle the sweet Jersey milk into half gallon glass jars. David also takes care of all the expectant mothers, the young heifer calves, and the steers.
Recently, we have acquired 7 little piggies that
David is raising for future breeding stock. The American Guinea Hog was very popular in the south in the early 1900's. They perform well on pasture and put on good lard even when the groceries are lean. We look forward to fresh pork in the near future.
The
new farm in Alabama is booming with activity and
helping the Georgia farm to thrive as well!
We are so blessed to have a brand new flock of laying hens that David has been caring for these last 6 months.
Raising a new flock is not only time consuming but very expensive. The 150 new hens ate nearly $3500 worth of organic feed before we saw the first egg. This is the greatest challenge to farmers. The heavy cost up front before the first sale.
The new hens are now reaching full production and the egg quality is without equal. David is raising them on pasture and using a movable structure called an Egg Mobile to house their organic feed, water, and nesting boxes.
Birds are moved to new pastures and allowed to forage for all types of bugs and fresh greens. We are fortunate to have David and Tina working so hard on our new 62 acres and the chickens are expressing their appreciation with the most wonderful eggs you can buy! We have two new classes coming up in our "Country
Education"series.
Susan will be teaching folks how to cut up and prepare a whole chicken.
Choose Wednesday, Sept. 28th at 11am or Saturday, Oct. 1st at
11am
and come join us for a fun learning time at the farm.
Daniel will be doing a class on Saturday, Oct. 1st at 10am, on setting up a home milking parlor. If you have ever dreamed of milking your own cow or perhaps doing it for a living, come join us and find out what it is like to milk your own cow. Classes are $10 each and are provided free to all Gold and Platinum
members. Bring your questions and spend some time with your local farmer. This Saturday, Sept. 24th is broiler chicken pick-up day between 5 and 6pm. If you have ordered birds please respond to this email by confirming that you will be here to pick up your chickens. Susan tells me we have a small number of birds left for this Saturday, so if you would like to reserve some, please email Susan and she'll be glad to set them aside for you.
Susan and I have gathered in the first wave of Butternut squash. There is a bumper crop this year!
Yesterday, I picked our first pumpkin. Some call this the "Cinderella Pumpkin" also known as "Long Island Cheese". These are excellent pumpkins for making pies!
Sweet Potatoes are coming along nicely. We will dig them after the first
frost.
David, Jacob, and I built our farm cupola with weather vane, a long time ago, in fact I think it has been
better than 20 years ago. We brought it from Mableton where it sat atop our garage and now it rests in the corner of our back yard just behind our pomegranate tree. Anna captured this nice picture that is loaded with special memories. See you soon at the farm,
Daniel, Susan, & Anna David, Tina, Willie, & Ellie
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