Happenings on the Ranch

Many of you who enjoy our eggs and stand in line to get them at our farmer’s market locations will be pleased to know our eggs are back!  We’ve taken care of the licensing issues and I now have a routine (somewhat) for grading and weighing the eggs.  The process is still a little bit slow right now so I’m not bringing as many eggs to market as I’d like.  But I have no doubt that as I get faster the process will also get faster.

However, the bad news is because the heat skyrocketed this week our hens’ egg production is down.  Anytime it gets over 85 degrees, the fewer eggs the hens tend to lay.  Unless you house them completely indoors all the fans in the world won’t make much of a difference.  Even though they have plenty of water and plenty of shade the heat and humidity just does a number on their systems.  We have a few more younger birds that are just beginning to lay so we hope that will make up a little bit of the difference, but our egg production will not be at peak levels again probably until the end of August.  Just a heads up!

In other news, I think our internet connection problems have FINALLY been completely resolved.  Apparantly a lighting strike during one of the storms hit the phone company’s switch and caused it to not only blow out service but to blow many of our modems, too.  They came out and replaced it but we continued to have sporadic problems until early this week.  The good news is we are now back to fully functional so, not only will I be able to post more often, I’ve now been able to get back to updating our weekly harvest page.  Now you’ll all be able to see what should be available for you at our market locations and on the farm.

Additionally, if you are a person who likes to preserve what’s in season and would like to find out about bulk pricing, please shoot me an email or leave a comment.  We generally offer tomatoes, beets, green beans and corn in large lots for canning and freezing.  There are minimum quantities but if you want to preserve a lot of the good stuff we’re getting in right now it will definitely save you money in the long run!

Until next time!  ~Karin

Well, actually, they are here!  After returning from a wonderful five days in St. John, Virgin Islands, for my brother’s wedding (fabulous, by the way) we are rested up and ready for the busy season.  We’ve started by butchering 50 heavy chickens for your eating enjoyment.  These beauties are averaging around 4.75 pounds (some lighter, some heavier) and will be available at farmer’s market starting tomorrow.  You can also choose to pick up on the farm.  If you pre-ordered chickens, expect an email from me tonight confirming your order and asking about your preferred pick up time/location.  The price is $3.85 per pound, plus tax.  We’ve also got plenty of eggs available.

The veggies are coming in nicely with all this rain.  Leafy greens are all looking like wonderful green carpets, the cabbage plants are very healthy and the sweet pea plants are growing by leaps and bounds.  Radishes exploded in size over the past week from all the moisture and the green onions are nice and crisp.  And the tomato plants are looking wonderful.  Those of you who’ve been with us a few years know that we often don’t have tomatoes until after the 4th of July.  If the weather keeps up the way it has been, though, we may have the first tomatoes at the beginning of June!  I’m so excited … I’m dying for a fresh, ripe ‘mater.

Now’s the time of year when we begin updating our website with the weekly harvest list.  If you want to get an idea of what we’ll have at our farmer’s market locations, check out our Weekly Harvest page.  This list will typically be updated by Tuesday night and may have items added or removed throughout the week prior to each market day.  I’ll be updating the list right after posting this entry so if you’re planning to come to the Lee’s Summit market this week you’ll know what to expect.  Keep in mind some items are in limited quantity so if your hankering for something specific on the list, get to market early!

Until next time.

~Karin

Devon’s pygmy goat, Nana, had her first kid this past week.  This little boy is adorable.  He has his mama’s markings and weighed in at just 3.5 pounds.  Because it’s been so cold, he and Nana are in our laundry room until he gets a bit bigger and is able to handle the chill.  It’s so fun watching the little ones as they get bigger.  Devon has yet to decide whether he’s going to sell this one or not.  If he decides to sell him, we’ll post the listing on our main page so keep checking back!

We’ll also be unveiling our new website design shortly.  The navigation will be easier to follow and pictures easier to find, so be sure to check back soon.