Support Local Agriculture

Article from the News & Observer:
http://www.newsobserver.com/105/story/1349927.html

We have done a CSA in the past at our farm so if you are interested in participating with one in your area I can help you locate a farm or visit your local Farmer's Market.

Christmas traditions

I love that some families have traditions that they do every year for Christmas, birthday, etc. I read a few different blogs where they talk about "traditions." I tried to think of "traditions" that my family has for the holidays.

Growing up at some point we switched to opening all of our gifts on Christmas Eve and then we got to open our stockings on Christmas morning. We also would eat fresh seafood at Christmas rather then turkey or ham. Another Christmas Eve tradition was to read from the Bible the story of Joseph, Mary & the baby Jesus.

Now I have 2 little boys of my own and want to start my own Christmas traditions.

My first obstacle was Santa Claus. I was not going to introduce Rosty to Santa Claus (he has never visited Santa at the mall, etc.) but I guess I did not think about preschool having them color Santa pictures, read Santa books or sing songs about Santa. So, we somewhat have incorporated Santa into our "traditions." Although, when Santa would visit me as a child I would only receive the 3 things because the wise men brought baby Jesus 3 things. So we do have Santa visit but we don't glamorize him.

Another tradition for me is Christmas baking. The boys helped me make shortbread cookies this year. We had trees, stockings, stars, candy canes & a train. We also made candy snowflakes & Christmas tree lollipops from a Wilton candy kit that I had bought. We were not home for Christmas this year but we normally make a birthday cake for Jesus.

I always buy the boys matching Christmas pajamas but this year instead of giving them the wrapped package to open as an early Christmas gift Rudolph delivered them. When the boys came home from preschool on Tuesday there were 2 wrapped gifts laying on the steps complete with gold glitter down the steps and in the yard. There was a note from Rudolph saying he brought them an early present. Charlie is still too little to know anything that is going on but Rosty thought it was cool.

Another tradition is buying the boys a Christmas ornament each year. They each have a box that I put their ornaments in every year and my hopes is that when they move away from home and start their own life they will have a box of Christmas ornaments along with a lot of memories. We normally put an artificial tree in the playroom and they decorate that tree with their ornaments but this year we let the boys pick out the tree and they chose a smaller tree so I let them decorate the tree with their ornaments instead. Rosty enjoyed looking at his ornaments and me telling him who they came from.

I have a few decorations that I put out every year.

One is the nativity scene that my mom gave us for our first Christmas.

Another is a ceramic Christmas tree with Strawberry Shortcake standing beside it. My Popa gave me that tree when I was probably 8 or 9 years old. Another special decoration is a Christmas troll that my brother & best friend Wayne gave to me. It's just another one of those special things to me.

My favorite part of the Christmas gifts was always my stockings.

So I shop all year long and put away little gifts and trinkets that I find. I wrap most of the gifts that I put in their stockings (a special paper that is hidden and no other gifts are wrapped in this paper). This year I had stickers made with the boys names on them- they love stickers.

If I can think of anymore of my holiday traditions I'll update this blog. But please share with me your traditions too. I may incorporate them into my families traditions.

Christmas 2008

I don't even know where to start with all that we did during our Christmas vacation so here is a quick run-down:

Sunday (December 21st)

Rosty was a shepherd in the Christmas play at church. He had a few speaking parts and he did them well with a little bit of help. What I did not know about the Christmas play was that our adult choir was going to be singing in between scenes along with songs from the congregation. Our church likes songs with at least 4 verses and we sing them all. The children never practiced with the choir so we had no idea how long the program was going to be.

Oh, did I mention there were 12 songs.

It was just a long morning with all the kids.

Monday(December 22nd)

Let's kill Christmas turkeys today!!! With the wind chill it was 19 degrees. Need I say more! We were fortunate enough to have some help so the day went very smoothly.

The kids preschool was open today and tomorrow so they went to preschool.

Since we were going to be celebrating Christmas with my family we had Christmas with Lee's family on Monday night. Since Lee's sister and her family were down from Connecticut we had all of Lee's family at our house. We have a play room full of toys and with 4 boys under the age of 5 yrs. old it gets crazy!

Me and Lee prepared our local foods meal for Christmas. It consisted of baked ham and collards cooked with a pork shank. The pork was from our farm and the collards from KC Farms. I also had a beef stick that me and Lee had made from our beef & cheese from Ashe County & we had cranberry sauce that I made homemade from fresh cranberries our friends brought us from Massachusetts. The wine was from a vineyard in Mt. Airy, NC.

It's always fun to me to try and prepare our meals as local as possible.

We also had several desserts that I had made that afternoon.

Tuesday (December 23rd)

Yet another busy day.

We had to deliver some of the Christmas turkeys which included a trip to Chapel Hill. Then we went to Matkins to pick up a beef that we had processed and we delivered half of that and took the other half home to our freezer and were back at the farm by 2 o'clock for a turkey pick-up. We then had to go stock up on feed and run a few errands before picking the kids up at preschool.

Remember that we were leaving for Tennessee the next day and I still had not packed anything!!

After getting the kids and feeding at the farm we decided to go visit Lee's grandfather who is in the hospital. We went with Lee's mom, his sister and her family and after that we met Lee's dad and brother for Mexican food.

I finally got home and packed.

I packed my clothes, the kids clothes, the gifts, the Leapster, the DVD players, pillows, blankets and a cooler. I hope I didn't forget anything!!

After doing all of this we opened our gifts. I did take 4 gifts each for the boys to open on Christmas Eve though. My husband surprised me and bought me a new pressure canner! I am so excited!!! I have 2 water bath canners and always have to borrow my neighbors pressure canner. Everybody gets canned goods next year for Christmas.

My parents got to our house about 10 o'clock that night and we finally got to bed.

Wednesday (December 24th)

We are finally on our way to Tennessee.

We get to Pigeon Forge and our cabin is still being cleaned so we go and eat at The Old Mill Restaurant (a favorite of my daddy).

The cabin was about 15 miles outside of town. It was described as secluded and they did not lie about that. I prayed every time we turned into the drive that my van would make it up the steep incline. The cabin was great! It was decorated for Christmas complete with a decorated artificial tree. On the main floor was a kitchen, den and bedroom with full bathroom. There was a loft upstairs also with a full bathroom. Rosty loved the basement it had air hockey, Foosball and a pool table. There was also a hot tub on the deck.

We have always opened our gifts on Christmas Eve so we did that and finally got the kids to go to bed. I woke up at 2 o'clock Christmas morning from a dream. I dreamed that Santa didn't wake up and the kids had no gifts on Christmas morning.

Thursday (December 25th)

Happy Birthday Jesus.

Rosty slept upstairs with my parents and Charlie with us. Since the flooring was wood it creaked every time someone walked around upstairs. It was after 7 o'clock when I heard little feet creaking around and running down the steps. We woke Charlie up and they both reached the den at the same time.

Rosty's exact words were "Just what I wanted!"

Rosty got 2 Leapster games and the trains Stanley & Mavis.

Charlie got 3 of the Car's cars and a Car's sleeping bag.

They each also got a Mobi Little Tykes nightlight- these are really cool!

After getting up and getting dressed we went into Gatlinburg and went to the Ripley's Aquarium. It was a lot of fun. The kids enjoyed it!

We ate Christmas lunch at a BBQ place.

Later that evening we rode through Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg to look at their Christmas light display.

Friday (December 26th)

I had wanted to go to Dixie Stampede because I thought the kids would really enjoy the show. When we got up on Friday it was such a pretty day we decided to do Dollywood. Let me rephrase that my parents took the kids to Dollywood and me and Lee had a day to ourselves. I would have liked to gone but I had such a wonderful day with my husband. Very rarely do we get a day to spend together and have nothing to do (see Monday- turkey killing).

We went to a couple of outlet malls. The second one we had to leave because there were too many people and I DO NOT do crowds. We went to a couple of book stores. We went to the Apple Barn for lunch which consisted of fried apple pies and hot apple cider.

The Apple Barn is what you would call agritourism.

There are 2 restaurants, a big gift shop, a candy shop, a creamery and a winery. They produce a lot of the products there at the farm/orchard. We purchased some apple cider and some apple wine.

We also went to an arts and crafts community.

There was pottery, limestone statues, wood carvings from tree stumps, etc.

That evening we met my parents and the boys in Pigeon Forge at the Apple Barn Grille (another favorite of my daddy's) for supper. I'll save the story of our waiter for another post!

Saturday (December 27th)

We got the 2 vehicles loaded up and it was time to start home.

We took the scenic route home we went on the Parkway and through Cherokee. We stopped in Black Mountain at the Farmer's Market store to get salmon from the Salmon Guy- yummy!!

We had a great Christmas- thanks moma & dadddy!

Jesus is the Reason for the Season

The following story I received via an email forward:

A woman was out Christmas shopping with her two children.After two hours of looking at row after row of toys and hearing them ask for everything they saw on those many shelves, she was feeling the overwhelming pressure that so many of us feel during the holiday season, and was relieved when she made it to the elevator.When the elevator doors opened, there was already a crowd in the car.Determined, she pushed her way into the car dragging her kids and packages. When the doors closed she couldn't take it anymore and stated, "Whoever started this whole Christmas thing should be found, strung up, and shot."

From the back of the elevator everyone heard a quiet calm voice respond, "Don't worry, we already crucified him."

For the rest of the trip down, the elevator was so quiet you could have heard a pin drop.Don't forget this year to keep the One who started this whole Christmas thing in your every thought, deed, purchase, and word. If we all did it, just think of how different this whole world would be.

Just last night I heard Lee talking to Rosty about Christmas and why we really celebrate Christmas. He then told him the Christmas Story which includes Joseph, Mary and the baby Jesus NOT Santa Claus, Rudolph and elves.

Don't get me wrong...my kids do get gifts at Christmas but they will grow up knowing that Christmas means a lot more than presents, trees, candy canes, etc.

Batman's coming to supper

This is just a funny story....

Me & Lee have a friend from college whose last name is Batman. In college he was always referred to as Batman.

Well, Batman and his wife were suppose to come to our house on Sunday. We were at the farm and Lee said, "I guess we better head home and see if Batman is there."

Rosty's eyes got big and he said "Batman is coming to our house?"

I looked at Lee and smiled and said "You didn't know mommy & daddy were friends with Batman did you?"

We fessed up and told him that we didn't really know Batman but for a few minutes we were the coolest parents ever!

Rosty's birthday party

Since Lee was out-of-town the week-end of Rosty's birthday we decided to have his party the next week-end. It was a cool day outside but that did not keep Rosty and his friends from playing outside on the swing set. Then they came inside and dumped every toy that he and Charlie own onto the floor. But as long as they had a good time it was fine with me.....

Rosty had invited several friends from school to his Diego birthday party. We grilled hot dogs and Wild Turkey Farm's brats. Then we had cupcakes. I had games planned but nobody wanted to play my games.

I am always so good at taking pictures at the kids parties. I take pictures of the food, the desserts, the kids, opening presents, etc. but for some reason this is all I have. I'm sorry Rosty! One day you'll look back and wonder why there are only 4 pictures of your 5th birthday party. Next birthday I will delegate a picture taker position to someone.

Rosty's 5th Birthday

Rosty's birthday was October 30th but I just have not had my camera handy to post pictures. So bear with me as I tell you all about Rosty's birthday. We actually celebrated for about a week. Lee was leaving to go to a conference in SC on October 30th so we did our celebrating a day earlier. We did the traditional go to Pancho Villas to eat & of course Rosty had to wear the sombrero.

After eating we headed over to Great-Grandma Menius's house so Rosty could open his gift from her. Lee's parents joined us and we brought our gifts over too. Rosty's big gift was a Leapster. This is a handheld game for kids and he absolutely loves it. It's great for long trips- my suggestion is to buy rechargeable batteries though!

Here is Rosty with the case for his Leapster

Here is the Leapster.

Rosty opening presents.

Petey & Freckles bought Rosty rechargeable batteries- what smart dogs

The next day me and the boys went to my parent's house to celebrate Halloween and Rosty's birthday. On Saturday it was Rosty day. We started the day with a quick trip to Chuckie Cheese. The boys had some tokens left over from a previous trip so we spent about an h our there playing games. We then went to Toy's R Us so Rosty could pick out his birthday presents. Of course, he had to get a new Leapster game & a Diego DVD. After eating lunch we went to Monkey Joe's. This is Rosty & Charlie's new favorite place. It is nothing but those big inflatible blow-up slides and climbers.



Here is Rosty and his birthday cake.

This is Monkey Joe's.

That little head you see at the bottom of the pictue is Rosty climbing up the ladder.

Here's the birthday boy!

In Sickness and in Health

Well, the Menius Household has been hit with the winter blues.

Charlie was sick over the Thanksgiving holiday and the following Monday. His fever finally broke and he was feeling good. Then Rosty had a well visit to the doctor. By Friday evening he was sick. Me & Rosty were in our pajamas all day on Saturday. He laid in my bed and watched movies most of the day.

On Sunday we were still not feeling real good so we decided not to share with our church family and we stayed home. That's when the razor blades in the back of my throat formed!!! When I say I had a sore throat, I'm not lying. It hurt to eat, drink and breathe (thru my mouth). I have been living on Gator-Ade.

Monday morning I got up and nobody had a fever so we got dressed and went to school. I still felt bad and decided that I would leave work at lunch so I could get some rest. Well, I got to leave earlier than that. Preschool called and Charlie was throwing up. She said it was so bad that he would not leave the toilet. So I left work at 10:30 am and tried to sneak into the building. But God bless little Makayla....she saw me and had to tell Rosty that his mommy was at school. This led to Rosty coming to Charlie's class and saying that he did not feel good either and then came then tears. Well, I knew he had not felt good all week-end... so I take them both home.

All the moms out there know how it is to be sick yourself and have to tend to one child much less two children and then let them be sick on top of that. I had Rosty lay on the couch and rest. I told him if he was sick then he did not need to be playing. So he laid on the couch all afternoon. He even napped for awhile. Charlie was laying in my bed with me. I wanted him close by in case he started throwing up again.

Lee had been to the Farmer's Market in Raleigh the week before and had brought me some collards. I thought this was the perfect time to cook them because I was going to be home all afternoon & I would be making my rounds from the bedroom to the den every so often anyway.

There's a point to all of this I promise... Both boys were napping and I was in the kitchen and I hear Charlie coughing so I walk back to check on him and he meets me in the hallway and he has thrown-up. It wasn't really bad but he had been laying on our bed and of course it was on the pillow, the sheet, the blanket and the quilt so it all had to be washed. Let me back up and say that I had just washed everything(mattress pad, blankets, quilts, pillows, etc) over the week-end because our dog had been sick and she is on the beds sometimes. So I strip the bed and wash it all again.

Well, a couple hours later I'm in the kitchen again checking on the collards and Charlie comes be-bopping in there and I'm thinking he's feeling better. Nope, you guessed it. He starts throwing up again. At least it was on the linoleum;-)

We had a rough Monday night. I turned my alarm off and decided I wasn't going to work on Tuesday. We get up on Tuesday (late) and nobody has a fever (except me). I started getting dressed and Lee said, "Go to bed." He took the kids to preschool and I went to bed.

I woke up when I hear him come home a little later and I hear another voice. Rosty had a fever again. Lee worked from home yesterday and kept Rosty while I slept and rested. By doing this I was able to go to the boys Christmas program last night. I apologize to all the parents there because I literally put my hair in a ponytail and had no make-up on. So I may have scared some kids (and adults). After the program we got our Christmas tree. So tonight's fun is decorating!!

While home on Monday and Tuesday I got to watch a couple of movies. I saw 27 Dresses & Hairspray. I also watched Diego Saves Christmas & Diego Ready, Set, Go.

So today is Wednesday. Charlie went to school, Domisty went to work and Rosty went on a farm visit with Lee. He's still not 100%

Happy Thanksgiving

All of my friends are so good about including pictures along with their blogs but not me... I'm going to try and get better. I still haven't posted the pictures from Rosty's birthday party.

We had a great Thanksgiving. We were with Lee's family this year. Grandpa B fell the Sunday before and broke his hip so he was not able to be with us. We were missing a few others due to sickness and having to work but we had a great meal.

Anyone who knows me & Lee knows that we are into "eat local." This year for Thanksgiving we raised turkeys. We processed a total of 22 and of that we kept 4 of them. We kept a bigger one for our family meal (30 lbs) but Lee's mom just cooked the breast and legs. I made a sweet potato pie with sweet potatoes from our garden and cooked collards (supplied by KC Farms- friends from the Farmer's Market) seasoned with smoked pork jowls (the pig was raised by us). Our neighbors went to Massachusetts in October and brought me back 4 pounds of cranberries so I canned all of that into cranberry sauce- if you need cranberry sauce let me know, we'll never eat 18 jars!! We also provided a summer sausage which me & Lee made from some of our beef. We had several other delicious dishes too. I also made a peanut butter pie (I got the recipe from a friend) and that was definitely a big hit with everybody!

So lets fast forward to the week-end.... Since we do have a garden and are blessed with lots of fresh vegetables I like to preserve them when I can. We still had some potatoes that we had dug so I decided that they needed to be canned. I have a waterbath canner so I borrowed my neighbors pressure canner and went to work. Potatoes are very time consuming to can. First, I had to pick through them, then wash them, then peel them, them chop them and then boil them for 10 minutes and then FINALLY I get to can them! Lee helped me chop them up- thank you honey! So we now have potatoes.

Well, our good friends the Correll's had given me a few pumpkin pie pumpkins. You guessed it I could not let them go to waste. If you thought potatoes were time consuming.... With the pumpkins you have to wash them, cut the tops off and scoop out all the seeds and membranes, get the rind off the best way you can, boil them and then FINALLY can them. And of course I could not let the pumpkin seeds go the waste.... I hope to make pumpkin pies for Christmas.

I'm not done yet- I've been busy! I bought a box of oranges from a local school. What can I do with oranges??? Let's make marmalade. I did. Another time consuming project. I had never made marmalade before so I was very careful to follow all 17 steps. But somewhere along the way I missed a somewhat important step.

First you wash the oranges (and lemons), then peel them in quarter sections, then you need to scrape about half of the white fleshy part off, then you should have cut the rind into small strips combine with water and baking soda and simmer for 30 minutes. I somehow missed the cut into strips and I got to end of the recipe and was like why do I have these big strips of orange and lemon peel..... So after doing all the other steps- I won't bore you with the details. I reread the directions and realized- 'Duh!" So I took my kitchen shears and started snipping away. So I may not have the prettiest looking marmalade but I did it!!!! I tried a little of it and it wasn't bad. I was hoping to give it as Christmas gifts but it will probably just go to my mom and granny since it isn't very pretty. They have to like it since I made it!

I have more oranges left so I need suggestions??

A 5-Pointer

Lee has not had much opportunity to hunt in the past 7 years..... So this morning he decided to walk back in the pasture. He has seen a pretty big buck back there a couple of times but today he got a 5-pointer. He has already done the "skinning" & tonight we will cut it up and freeze it. My rule when we got married was "if you kill, you clean it and then I'll cook it." Although, there are some things that Lee is better at cooking like quail & squirrel.

I can't wait to have some roast with potatoes & carrots;-)

I have a really good Venison Meatloaf recipe if anybody is interested let me know.

Slapped Cheek

I was informed this morning by Charlie's preschool teacher that he had "slapped cheeks" or Fifths disease.

This is from kidshealth.org:
Especially common in kids between the ages of 5 and 15, fifth disease typically produces a distinctive red rash on the face that makes the child appear to have a "slapped cheek." The rash then spreads to the trunk, arms, and legs. Fifth disease is actually just a viral illness that most kids recover from quickly and without complications.

When Charlie woke up on Saturday he had a rosy red left cheek. I thought it was something that he had slept on but it never went away. He was also outside with us at the farm feeding, etc so I thought maybe it was from the wind. Then he still had it on Sunday morning but I was not sure what it was until this morning.

I have been told that Fifths disease is going through the preschool..yeah. If you remember Charlie also got hand, foot, mouth disease (blisters/skin rash) from preschool. I know things go around and it's really hard to get a 2-year to cover their mouth when they cough or sneeze but Rosty was never sick with these things. I guess with Rosty they were super protective because of him having RSV.

Be warned that it is going around.

On another note..... Me and Lee made summer sausages yesterday. It was really neat. We used our meat grinder which has a casing attachment. I fed the grinder and he held the casing. Then we baked them on low heat in the oven while I took to boys to Christmas play practice and Lee had a meeting. Lee then finished them off by smoking them on the charcoal grill. We had a test taste this morning- yummy!!

Bad Mommy, Good Charlie

We all have those moment when we do something and then our next thought is "Oh, no!!" I did that on Saturday morning.

Me and the boys were at my parents for the week-end. We had a fun night of trick or treating on Friday night and on Saturday morning we were off to celebrate Rosty's birthday. Our day consisted of an hour of play at Chuckie Cheese, then off to Toy's 'R Us for Rosty to pick out his birthday gifts from my parents, next we ate at Arbys and ended our day at Monkey Joe's.

I had taken Charlie outside to put him in the van so we could get ready to head out for our big day. I had cranked the van up to warm it and then put Charlie in his booster seat and slid the van door shut. You can probably imagine what happened next I heard the locks click. I tried all the doors and the hatch everything was locked.

I went inside and told moma, "I have a situation. I just locked Charlie in the van and it's running."

Normally, Lee would be with me and we would have 2 sets of keys. Lee was at a conference in Anderson, SC. None of us were really sure what to do. Daddy kept walking around the van looking in the window and moma went to look for a clothes hanger.

I was talking to Charlie through the window. At first he would wave to me and then he started saying "Mommy, get me out!" The whole ordeal was less than 10 minutes but he started getting a little anxious.

I told him to mash the red button on the seat belt. He tried but he couldn't then he started saying "Out mommy, out mommy." I told him I was trying. Then I had that light bulb moment. I said, "Charlie stand up in your seat."

After getting a little twisted in the seat belt he finally stood up. Then I told him to go to the door. I tried to get him to unlock the sliding door but he couldn't figure it out. Thank goodness Popa Donald was there because he told Charlie to go to the front seat and roll the window down. And he did!!

Needless to say my brave little boy got to pick out a special toy of his own when we went to Toy's 'R Us.

I still have not figured out why all the doors locked. Normally, the van has to hit 15 MPH before the doors automatically lock & I warm the van up all the time and the doors never lock on me. I am just very thankful that the situation had a good ending and my baby is safe.

Pumpkin Carving with daddy

Charlie scooping out the seeds

Rosty & Charlie with their Jack o'laterns

Rosty helping with the face design

Scary pumpkins!!!

NC State Fair pics

Rosty

Rosty is the leader (in the red hoodie). He went on several of these maze/slide type activities he loved it. He actually did this one twice in a row.

Rosty is in the middle train. He would not look at me.
Lee & Charlie were checking out the vegetable exhibit.

Rosty, Charlie & Lee in the Dizzy Dragon.

Rosty, Lee & Charlie on the merry-go-round.

I was sitting on the bench behind them.

Pictures from the farm

Turkey

Feeding the baby calf

Charlie & Rosty

Rosty was helping Charlie get through all the turkeys because

he still gets a little scared sometimes.

This is one of our sows.

She had just recently given birth (if you couldn't tell).

The babies would not come out of their house for a picture.

Charlie helps to bottle feed the calves.

Happy 5th Birthday Rosty

Today is Rosty’s bday. Five years ago today the Lord entrusted me and Lee with a beautiful baby boy to raise and love. He tested us right off. Rosty was one month premature and his lungs had not quite developed yet. When I saw him in the nursery under a breathing hood he was purple and gasping for every breathe he took. I’ll spare you all my emotion but it’s very hard to see your newborn that you have held only a few minutes purple and gasping for breathe. Since our local hospital was not equipped to handle his situation he was transferred by ambulance by a respiratory team to Baptist Children’s Hospital in Winston-Salem, NC.

The respiratory team had given Rosty a treatment of Surfactin (which helps keep the lungs from collapsing, the body produces it naturally but Rosty just had not at the time he was born) before leaving the hospital to get him stable enough for the ride and he started to breathe better and he was not purple. At that moment I know for a fact that my home church was praying for him (it just happened to be revival that week). I know prayer works because I saw it first hand. We also had several family members at the hospital at that time and some close friends who prayed with us before he left the hospital.

Obviously, I had just had a baby and could not leave the hospital so Lee’s parents drove him to be with Rosty and my mom and Granny stayed with me. I did however leave the hospital the next morning after only being there for about 27 hours total and yes I had strict orders from my doctor to take it easy.

Going into the NICU (Neonatal Intensive Care Unit) to see any child is not easy especially if it is your own child. We had to wash our hands and arms and wear gowns over our clothes. When I saw Rosty for the first time he had tubes and wires all over him. He was not breathing on his own and was on a respirator (he was on the respirator for 7 days). There again I had that emotional moment. One of the drs saw me crying and came over there and looked at Rosty’s chart and told me he was going to be fine not to cry.

We all learned a lot being in NICU. Mainly that God was good to us. The baby beside Rosty was blind and had lost all her toes. Another baby boy born the same day as Rosty had to have brain surgery at 3 days old. Then there was the baby that I never saw anybody come visit the whole time we were there. There were families of different races and different social classes but it didn’t matter we were all moms and dads wanting our babies to get well and come home with us.

Rosty was 7 days old when I got to hold him again. He was 14 days old when he got to come home with us. Rosty is definitely a special little boy. I love him with all my heart.

We actually did not have a digital camera during this time so I do not have any pics to post from his hospital days.

Happy Birthday Rosty. I love you!

The NC State Fair

I started this post last week and got busy and never finished it.....

We took the the boys to the fair on Sunday (October 20th). For the past 10 years if me and Lee have gone to the fair it was to work. We were either in college helping the Animal Science club with the many activities they did during the fair, helping friends with their livestock or working with the Jr. Dairy Livestock show. When I heard there were things to do outside the Jim Graham building I was shocked!!

Going back with kids is a lot different.

Last year we did go to the fair with both boys but Charlie was too little to do anything and because Rosty was showing a turkey we had the whole clan. My parents, my granny, brother Wayne and his family and Lee's mom. So we had plenty of help and plenty of grandparents to stand in line with Rosty when he wanted to ride a ride.

This year we were there on Sunday- a week-end and it was crowded!! The lines were ridicously long. I had bought our tickets on-line (54 to be exact)so I did not want them to be wasted. Lee and Charlie rode a couple of rides but decided they would rather walk around than wait. Rosty used all his tickets and had a blast!!

The main reason we went on Sunday was because our good friend Sheila Jordan was being inducted into the NC Livestock Hall of Fame. We were very honored that she invited us to share this special time with her.

I love my kids!

I know as parents we all have those moments with our kids. Last night I was attempting to can the apples we brought back from our trip to Asheville. The boys had been playing and had not given me a thought until I began working on the apples. I was making apple preserves (which I have never done) so first I had to peel the apples, then core the apples, next I had to mix the apples with some lemon juice and water and bring to a boil...add pectin....add sugar...anyway you get the picture. It takes a few minutes to do all the steps plus you need to keep a watch on the apples so you don't scorch them. Well, the boys decide they should bring all their toys to the kitchen and play right in front of me. I convince them to play on the table. Then Charlie decides he wants grits. Nothing will do unitl he has grits. He cried for about 20 minutes straight even after I fixed his grits, got him a Band-Aid for his "boo-boo" and he talked to Grandma Sherry. Of course Rosty decides he needs grits too. Rosty also picks this time to give me a big hug and say "Mommy, thank you for not being mean to me." What... Is someone being mean to you?? I have no clue where that came from.

Well, I eventaully get my apples ready to go in the jars. I followed the recipe so why did I fill up only 3 jars instead of 6 jars. I guess I didn't follow the recipe too good, huh?? No actually I did but I used pint jars instead of jelly jars (which are half-pints). Oh well.....

I hope to can some apple wedges tonight & my neighbor brought me 4.5 pounds of cranberries back from Massachusetts. I found a cranberry sauce recipe. I know what what my contribution to Thanksgiving dinner is going to be.

Lee was at a meeting last night so he missed all the fun! But this is how I ended my night and now you'll know why I love my kids.....

The boys had both had a bath. I went to the kitchen (with Charlie) to get something to drink. Rosty's instructions were to brush his teeth. As I walked back into my bedroom I said, "Rosty lets go to bed."

He say, "But I haven't brushed my teeth yet."

As I was walking into the bathroom I say, "Why not- ROSTY!!!!" The child had a handful of markers in the bathroom and had drawn on his face and stomach. Hindsight, I wish I wuold have taken a picture. Like I said he had been out of the bathtub for like 5 minutes. I take the toothbrush and toothpaste out of his hand laid it down and start cleaning him up...again. After I finish I turn around and Charlie is standing behind me. He has taken the toothpaste. It is in his mouth and he is squeezing it out. I have no clue how much Dr. Suess toothpaste he ate!

I know I will have lots more stories like this to share throughout the years. But I do love them with all my heart. I thank God everyday for them.

Anniversary Getaway

On September 29th me and Lee had been married for 7 years. Wow! I can not believe it has been that long. Lee had to go to Asheville with his job so I decided to tag-a-long and call it an anniversary trip. He was going to visit some of his NC Choices farms (Lee works for NCSU the NC Choices program and works with hog farmers)and since we also farm I knew I would enjoy the visits too.

We visited Grateful Growers in Denver, NC. They raise pigs, chickens nad turkeys on pasture. As we were leaving it started to rain and continued to rain a nice steady rain all day long. Then we went to Underwood Family Farms in Lawndale, NC. They raise hogs, cattle and sheep. The third farm we went to had a mobile chicken processing trailer- this was cool!

We made it into Asheville and got checked into our room and then went to the tailgate market at the French Broad Co-op. Since it was raining I think they were short a few of their vendors. We bought from the Salmon Guy some fresh Sockeye salmon and some smoked salmon. He has his own boat and he goes out fishing in Alaska and then brings back fresh salmon. Lee fixed it last night and it was delicious!!!

That night we ate supper at Tupelo Honey. They are one of several restaurants in Asheville that patronize the local farmers and buy many of their products from the farmers. I had the organic chicken breast sandwich served on sourdough bread from the local bakery. Lee had a local pork trio (brats, brisket and pork chop). The next morning we ate at Early Girl Eatery which was recommended to us by several people.

On Thursday we visited Hickory Nut Gap Farm. This was a good visit for me. They have a store that is open on Thursdays. I got fresh apple cider, a bushel of apples (I plan to can then tonight) and hot dogs. These hotdogs are made from the pasture-raised pork- YUMMY!! We then headed to Flying Cloud Farms. They raise vegetables, cut flowers and pigs. We ended our visits by going to Imladris Farms. They raise rabbits and berries. I will have to find out if they have a website. I highly recommend their jams. We bought 4 while we were there- raspberry, blueberry, blackberry and mixed berry (all 3).

We also visited the Black Mountain Tail Gate Market store. Lee met the owner on a trip to Joel Salatin's farm.

Even though we were busy it was nice to be together and visit the farms. We actually did pick up a few pointers and ideas from some of the other farmers and we enjoyed visiting with them.

I was hoping to post pics but it seems Charlie has hidden the cables to the camera.
Maybe later.

The Joys of Prednisone

I got a shot of Prednisone & a prescription topical cream and I am a different woman today.

Thank you Dr. Narrovo!

Poison Ivy

I am absolutely miserable! Last Monday we were working in the yard. I was working in my much ignored flower beds and must have gotten into some poison ivy. This has happened before but never to this extent. I have band aids on both arms and hands trying to cover the spots up because I am itching so much.

I have a really bad spot on my wedding ring finger. From the knuckle down to my hand it is a big blister. I have 2 places on my left thumb and 2 places on my left arm.

My right hand has one place on my thumb, 2 on my wrist and another cluster on my forearm.

The worst developed over the week-end it is beside my left eye.

I made a doctor's appointment for this afternoon. I'm hoping since it has been a week and it has not seemed to improve that she can give me a shot or something. Plus, I have been itching like crazy.....

We've got baby pigs

We had 2 pregnant sows and they both had 11 baby pigs. Each moma lost one baby but we still have a total of 20 baby pigs. The first pig delivered on October 1st and the second on October 3rd.

I hope to get pictures this afternoon.

I took my camera to the farm on Wednesday to take pictures forgetting that my batteries were dead. I had it in my pocket while feeding and then while picking crowder peas. When we were leaving it was not in my pocket so I thought it was gone forever. Luckily, it was inside Lee's parent's house. It had fell out of my pocket when I had sat down to eat.

Patterson Farm's Field Trip

Today Rosty had a field trip to Patterson Farms. I planned to post pictures but wouldn't you know it my camera batteries died. I almost grabbed the ones that were charged and I was like no, I don't need them.

Anyway, for those of you not familliar with Patterson Farms. It is basicially a pumpkin patch. We started with the petting zoo, then went on a hayride (without the hay)and eneded up at the pumpkin patch. Rosty picked a big pumpkin for him and a little pumkin for Charlie.

The highlight of the trip for the kids is the playground- for my kid anyway. They had a picnic lunch and then got to play. There is a mini-corn maze, a John Deere trike track, a huge corn box (think sand box with kernel corn), a wooden tractor & boat that the kids can climb in and on. They have also found a way to recycle old tractor tires. Clean them up, stick them in the ground and the kids will climb on them!

Magazine junkie

I love magazines! I'm a magazine junkie. When I get a new magazine I read it cover to cover. I get all kinds of magazines- Cookie, Mary Janes Farm, Woman's Day, Real Simple, All For One, Southern Living, Self....I'm sure there are a few more too! I also trade magazines with a lady from work so I get to read Better Homes and Garden & Martha Stewart's Living.

I have noticed in a lot of my magazines lately they are pushing organic in a big way. I do purchase several "organic" things for my family. Yes there is an increase cost but one comment I recently read was you can spend the money on organic now or give it to the doctor later. My biggest expense is organic milk- I pay $5.99 a gallon for milk and I buy 2 gallons a week (at least).

I just wanted to share some of the things that I have been reading and hope that you will think about your eating habits and where your food is coming from. My big push is to support your local farmer. I know there are people like me & Lee everywhere. You can always call me or email me and I will help you find a farmer who raises all natural, no hormones, no antibiotics pork, beef, & chicken. Ask the farmers question. They should have nothing to hide. One thing I am asked a lot is if we have "happy animals." We do! We are actually certified by the AWI (Animal Welfare Institute). We have 3 baby bull calves that we are bottle feeding right now. I love walking to barn in the evening with their bottles and they all run to me. I love to see Rosty call out "Turkey Train" and all the turkeys line up behind him and follow him to their food. So I think I can say we have "happy animals."


So do me a favor and go visit your local farmers market or try www.localharvest.org

Here are 12 fruit/vegetables you should buy organic- nectarines, celery, pears, peaches, apples, cherries, strawberries, imported grapes, spinach, potatoes, bell pepper & red raspberries.

Week-end Adventures

I could almost call this post Pigs, Puke & Privet minus the Privet. Where to start, where to start.... Well, on Thursday night Charlie came and climbed in the bed with us and about 30 minutes later he started throwing up. He did this about every 2 hours. We went through 2 sets of sheets and every clean towel in the bathroom. He finally quit but had a fever that I kept feeding Motrin. Then he had these mysterious red bumps. I was concerned about chicken pox. I took him to the doctor and he wasn't quite sure what they were (how reassuring). He thinks some type of bug bite.

Both boys are recovered now. The sad part was that Friday we were suppose to go to Day Out with Thomas. We have gone every year starting in 2005 but Charlie was sick and it was raining.....

Saturday started another day. We were suppose to go to both Markets but it was raining in Salisbury so Lee decided he and Rosty would go to Davidson and me and Charlie could have the day off. We ended up taking Lee more bacon & sausage so we went to Davidson anyway. It was a pretty slow day. Our goal was to just sell all the eggs and then leave. We like eggs but I don't think we could have 264 in a weeks time! While at the Market me and Rosty stepped in an ant bed. Poor Rosty they were crawling all over him. We had to strip him down to his underwear because the ants were in his clothes and shoes. Luckily, mommy had some spare clothes in the van.

Once we finally got home and ate our lunch (grilled cheese & chicken noodle soup). It was nap time. Let me back up for a minute and talk chicken noodle soup. I'm not against store brand items but some things you just can't buy the store brand. I have discovered that the Harris Teeter brand chicken noodle soup does NOT taste like Campbell's. Spend a few extra cents and get the good stuff.

I digress.....while my family napped I finally got to watch Juno. It was good as movies about teenage pregnancy go. Then me & Rosty watched Little Mermaid.

Me & Lee are involved in the Young Farmer's and Ranchers group in Rowan County. We were suppose to go bowling with the group on Saturday night. It started out good. We went to feed. I'll spare all the details but the pigs got out and went into the pasture where the cows graze. After we finally get the pigs caught then one of the cows gets in with the pigs. We got them all sorted eventually but by this time we were hot, sweaty and muddy...no bowling for us! I ordered foot-long hot dogs from Gary's and we ate supper with our kids at 9 pm Saturday night. The life of a farmer!

Saturday night was a rough one for Charlie. He is having night terrors and generally not sleeping. So mommy and daddy are not sleeping either. After getting up at 6 AM with Charlie we slept until 9 AM. This never happens at our house.

Sunday was pretty painless. Lee worked on the shower. He is tiling our shower and then we are going to paint, replace the vanity and the sink. I'll definitely post pics when it is complete.

We ended the day by going out to eat with Lee's family.

And by the way, today is our 7th wedding anniversary. Happy Anniversary Lee! I love you!

Wild Turkey Farms Newsletter

Good afternoon all.

Many of you have contacted me about prices so here is our price list and our schedule for through the end of October.

We will be at the
Salisbury Farmers Market Saturday Sept 27, Oct 11, and Oct 25 from 8-noon
Davidson Farmers Market each Saturday through Oct 25 from 8- noon

We are working on our winter plans and hope to have a schedule by mid October.

As always you are welcome to pick products up from the farm so you can see exactly where your product is coming from and how it was produced.

Since we work off farm jobs, farm visits are by appointment only so that we can ensure a quality visit for you.

This Saturday's features are Fresh Whole Chickens, fresh eggs, and some delicious pork and beef. Also many of you wil be stocking up on peas and greens from other vendors so don't forget to stop by and get some smoked hocks, country ham pieces, or some fatback to add some wonderful flavor to those dishes.

Our Prices- as of 9/24/08

Whole Fresh chickens- $4/lb (avg 3.75-4lbs)
Fresh ungraded eggs- $3.50/dz

Meats- all prices are per lb

Berkshire Pork- Pasture raised w/o antibiotics or steroids
Fresh bone in Chops- $7.00
Smoked bone in Chops $7.50
Tenderloin- $12.00- sorry we're temporarily out
Hickory Smoked Bacon and Country ham- $8.50
Fresh shoulder steaks or ham steaks- $5.50
Smoked Ham Steaks- $6.00
Ribs- $5.50- sorry we're temporarilly out
Bratwurst - $5.50 sorry we're temporarilly out
Italian Sausage- $5.50
Maple Breakfast Links $5.50
Hot or Mild Breakfast Sausage- $4.75
Boston Butt Roast- $4.75
Smoked Shanks, hocks, or country ham pieces- $3.50
Fatback- Salted, Smoked, or Fresh- $2.00
Feet, Ears, or Tails- $1.50

Beef- All naturally lean grass finished beef- No antibiotics or added hormones

Steaks- Ribeyes and Fillets $16.00
Steaks- T-Bones and Sirloins $14.00
Roast- Chuck, Sirloin Tip, Brisket $6.00
Ground Beef, Cube Steak- $5.00
Short Ribs- $4.00
Liver $2.00
Dog Bones- $1.50-2.50/pack


Thanks & have a great week

Wild Turkey Farms
China Grove, NC

The Wild Turkey Way

We were very fortunate to have the Salisbury Post come out and do an article on the farm. Check it out.

http://www.salisburypost.com/Lifestyle/092108-Wild-Turkey-Farms

Pigs, Puke & Privet

As always we had another fun-filled week-end at the Menius household. I actually got to have Saturday off from the Farmer's Market but I did plenty don't worry. Rosty decided that he wanted to go to the Market with his daddy so it was just me & Charlie. The day started with laundry and dishes then we headed to the grocery store for triple coupons. Along the way we stopped at a Yard Sale, where else can you get a Bob the Builder umbrella for $1 and a Hi-Ho Cheerio game for $2. When we got back I started the thing I dread every season.... going through the boys clothes. I have saved every stitch of clothing that Rosty ever had so Charlie is the King of Hand-me-downs. I packed up the summer clothes and got the fall clothes.

When Lee & Rosty got back we ate lunch and then went to load pigs. We take our pigs to be processed in Pinetown, NC, which if you drove one more hour you would be in the Outer Banks. It's a long trip!!

One good thing about farmers is that they do tend to help each other out. Another pig farmer was taking a load to Pinetown and had room for a few more. We loaded up 4 of our own and then headed to Rimer Town to load up 3 more pigs. Those pigs were quite troublesome. They got loose when the guys finally got them corralled again they were very hateful but we got them loaded. We head to Hillsborough to drop off all of our pigs.

We took the boys with us and they napped the first part of the trip but the last hour was a little rough. We were gone about 5 hours. I wouldn't want to sit in a car seat and a booster seat for that long either.

We finally make it home!! I get out of the truck. I open Rosty's door. He starts talking to me and mid-sentence he pukes everywhere. This was the beginning of a rough night for Lee. Rosty wanted his daddy NOT ME! He told me that he didn't need me to go be with Charlie. I told him that he did need me but I would go lay down with Charlie.

Now let's fast forward to Sunday afternoon. Lee was napping, the kids were playing so I decided to trim those Privet bushes...which I absolutely despise!!!!!!! I got 4 of them done when Lee came outside and we decided lets just pull them out. We have been wanting to do this for sometime but today was the day. Lee hooked the log chain around the Privet and I drove the truck. I think there were 8 total and now they are all gone!!!

Go Diego Go!

If you know me at all you know I'm a planner....at least I have good intentions. Last year for Rosty's birthday we had a Halloween party (his birthday is October 30th). I bought a lot of things (on clearance) because I figured this would be a theme we could use for several years. As I prepared for Charlie's Curious George party Rosty told me that this year he wanted a Diego party. For those of you who aren't familiar with Diego he is Dora the Explorer's older cousin. He helps animals in the rain forest that are in danger. He has a faithful companion Baby Jaguar and a camera, Click, that helps locate the animals in danger & his Rescue Pack (backpack) which can turn into about anything. The Bobo Brothers are 2 troublesome spider monkeys that don't mean to cause trouble but are usually do.

If you are impressed with my Diego knowledge you would really be impressed with my Thomas the Tank Engine knowledge.

Yesterday started my preparing for Rosty's birthday party. I won't say that I go all out for their parties but I try to make it a fun event and I do put a lot of time into planning the food, cake, invitations, treat bags and games BUT I do it on a shoe-string budget.

First stop- Big Lots.

They have the birthday essentials like plates, napkins, table clothes, etc. I prefer to get solid colored plates and then get napkins that go with our theme. I got orange plates, yellow napkins and yellow plastic table clothes. A pack of 20 dinner sized plates was 90 cents.

Second stop- The Dollar Tree

I was looking for some items for the treat bags. Not much luck there.

I did find a pack of 51 yellow utensils (17 of each spoon, fork, knives) & a Happy Birthday banner that had jungle animals on it. And yes I did look through about 75 banners and this was the only jungle animal banner!!

I do have a website that I get a lot of the boys gifts and birthday supplies from it is allaboardtoys.com.

I haven't done it yet but I'll order some Diego beverage napkins, the cupcake picks, the treat bags and whatever else I think I might need and not be able to find around here.

I usually do the invitations myself so I always try to come up with something cute. I think I'm going to say something like:

The Bobo Brothers have stolen Rosty's birthday candle.

Please help Rosty find the candle

and join us for pizza & cupcakes.

It's still a work in progress but let me know if you have any ideas.

So this is the beginning of planning for Rosty's birthday. I'll keep updating my progress and the countdown for the party!

Judy Wicks Lecture

Last night I had the opportunity to go with Lee to a Sustainable Agriculture Lecture. It was entitled "Local Living Economies: Green, Fair & Fun." It was in Raleigh at the NC Museum of History and Judy Wicks was the speaker. I personally had never heard of Judy Wicks but she founded the White Dog Cafe (in Philadelphia) in 1983 & is also the co-founder of BALLE (Business Alliance for Local Living Econmies).

I guess what made the White Dog Cafe so special & unique when it was founded was that Ms. Wicks got all her produce and meats from local farms. She adheres to the principles of fair trade on products such as coffee. All of her employees earn a living wage, have health insurance, and a retirement fund. The Cafe gets 100% of its electricity from wind.

She told a little about starting the White Dog Cafe. It started out as a coffee & muffin shop on the first floor of her brownstone. Her family lived on the second floor. They used a charcoal grill enclosed in plastic to cook on outside and had a sink in the corner of the dining room. They had tables and chairs set up inside and lawn furniture outside. The bathroom was the family bathroom on the second floor of the house. The safe- where the nightly deposits were placed- was under her bed pillow. She stills lives at the same house but the Cafe has expanded to 4 buildings and a fifth is the Black Cat Gift Shop.

She has been recognized for numerous awards also.

Me & Lee were invited to attend the reception which was held before her lecture. The food was delicious. It was provided by local farmers and prepared by Irregardless Cafe. The spring rolls were my favorite! Burt's Bees was the presenting sponsor and all those who attended the reception received a nice bag full of samples of their products.

Me & Lee have become "one of those people." Since we had to drive back home to Salisbury we decided we need a cup of coffee. We had to find a Starbucks...... If there is one thing we like it is good coffee. Someone gave me a Starbucks giftcard. I had never been to a Starbucks until last week and I've already been twice this week.

Another busy week-end

Most people (including a lot of our friends) have no idea exactly what me and Lee do at the farm. It originally started out as a hobby but it is so much more than that now! I have been trying to keep everyone updated but sometimes I run out of time.... I thought I would give you the run-down from Friday and Saturday of this week. Me & Lee met at the farm at 3 o'clock (this means taking time off from our full-time jobs) because the Salisbury Post was coming out to do a story and take pictures. We are very interested in knowing the angle that Katie (Scarvey) is going to take with the story. She was there for over 2 hours and we talked about everything from where the farm name came from to pasture-raised animals to plucking chickens when I was 8-months pregnant. And yes, Lee did mention to her that he had a good wife!! After the interview and pictures were over we had to feed and water all the animals and water the plants in the greenhouse. Today was also chicken killing day. Lee actually had the whole day off and he and Robbie killed and processed 25 chickens to sale at the Markets on Saturday.

Once we were at home we had to clean eggs. We wash, dry and cart all the eggs which is normally about 350 give or take a few. Lee seems to break several in the process.

Since we had chickens we needed to pack them in the vacuum seal bags. And of course we did not have enough bags so Lee had to head out to the dreaded Wal-Mart at 10 o'clock at night. We were in bed by midnight. This is normal for a Market Eve though. Luckily, we didn't have any vegetables to wash and get together. Since it was late we decide to leave the freezer loading until Saturday morning.

The alarm goes off at 5:30 AM and neither of us wanted to get up and get going. I shower, get the coffee going and then we get to load our freezers. Me & Robbie go to the Davidson Market and Lee goes to the Salisbury Market. We load our freezers according to what we think we are going to sell. We take 2 small chest freezers to Davidson and Lee takes 1 large chest freezer to Salisbury. We divide the eggs and chickens between us. Lee used to load all the freezers and then I never knew what was in there so I now load my freezers. I like to be organized-beef in one and pork in the other. I write down exactly how many of each item and sort by boxes. We have to get our "Market boxes" complete with paper towels, hand sanitizer, table clothes, scales, bags, farm banners, price board & cash box. Lee usually does samples so he has a few extra things with him.

Robbie usually gets to the house about 7 o'clock and then we head off to our Markets. We are at the Market from 8:00 AM until noon. We usually meet back at our house and unload the freezers back into the garage. By the way, we have 4 large chest freezers and 2 small chest freezers to house all of our meat. We have a quick meeting what sold good, what didn't, any comments, any notable sells, etc.

After this we usually try to get the boys to take a nap because we are ready for one after our long morning. The we have to feed again that evening. Plus, I have to get some housework and laundry done at some point.

So now when I don't return a phone call or an email you know why!

One more pic

Domisty & Lee at the beach!

Oak Island Vacation

Here are a few of our beach pictures from vacation. We were at Oak Island, NC, during Labor Day week. We did have to leave one day early due to Tropical Storm Hanna but we still had a good trip. We got there on Saturday (8/30) late that evening. The boys were so excited we had to go out to the water even though it was dark.

On Sunday, I got to see my long-lost friend Foy. We had not seen each other since we were 13 years old and reconnected on Facebook. We had a great afternoon catching up with each other and we promised not to let 20 more years go by.

Our neighbors Andy & Megan made the third annual Oak Island trip with us again but they could only stay through Wednesday afternoon. The boys spent Sunday night and most of Monday with my parents so me and Megan went shopping in Southport on Monday. It was a fun girls day! The find of the day was at a Thrift Store- I got Rosty a Monopoly Junior game for $1. We played it at least once everyday while we were at the beach.

My parents came down to get the boys and visit with us on Sunday, Monday and again on Thursday.

Lee's parents, his brother and his sister and her family came down on Tuesday and stayed through Friday.

So as you can tell we had quite a busy week. The guys did get to go fishing and we had some delicious flounder on Thursday

night!

Rosty & Charlie looking at the waves

Rosty & Charlie

Rosty & Charlie

Rosty & Charlie playing in the sand

The sand pigs that Lee made

Lee & Charlie enjoying crab legs

Charlie....on our way home

Rosty....on our way home

Wild Turkey Farms News (week August 28)

Lee sends out a newsletter to our farm customers once or twice a month so I thought I would include it so everyone knows what is going on with us.

Good evening everyone. I just wanted to give you all a quick shot of what's happening and where this week.

This weekend is the National Slow Food meeting in San Francisco CA and in case you haven't heard, Wild Turkey Farms pork is on the menu!!! Chef Andrea Reusing, owner of The Lantern in Chapel Hill has prepared some of our pork and taken it with her to this national event. We are really excited & honored to have some of our pork featured at this event.

We have recently received our certification by the Animal Welfare Institute's Animal Welfare Approved program for our pork and beef- our poultry certification should be coming soon. This program certifies that we use production practices that meet their high standards for how our animals are raised and harvested. The AWA program requires outdoor access for all animals in the program and prohibits practices such as tail docking pigs and beak triming in chickens. We feel that this program helps certify our commitment to providing you with the highest quality meats around. We encourage you to veiw the AWA program guidelines at www.animalwelfareapproved.org


Thanks to all of you that come support us at the farmers markets, we have had a busy and successful summer. The demand for our local meats has grown exponentially in the past 4 months and we hope that it continues. We strive to provide you with the best quality, locally raised products that you can find and intend to continue providing for many years to come. I would like to thank you all for your patience with us as we have experienced a few growing pains this year as we have worked to steady our supply of products. We expect to expand our pork and beef this fall to provide a more steady supply for next year.

As most of you may know, Domisty and I both work fulltime jobs off the farm and the farming is our second job that we are really passionate about. This summer we have been able to grow due to my brother Robbie helping us on the farm and at the market and we couldn't have done it without the support from him the rest of our family which makes this a true family farm. We are truely blessed to have such support. Thanks Rob.

With Labor Day Weekend just over the horizon we hope that you will come see us to stock up for all of your grilling needs. This week we will have plenty of our delicious bratwurst and hamburger available. We also have a few new items like our smoked bone in pork chops and delicous Italian sausage.

Don't forget that we have plenty of items that can add the perfect flavor to those fresh green beans or peas from the market too.

Unfortunately we will not have chickens available this week. We should however have plenty of them available in 2 weeks. They still need a little more time to grow.

Also this week we will be leaving the markets at 11am due to an after lunch commitment so please come by & see us early.

This week -
Domisty & Robbie will be at The Davidson Farmers Market 8am-11am
Lee will be at The Salisbury Farmers Market from 8am- 11am


September Schedule
Sept 6- Davidson Mrket
Sept 13- Salisbury & Davidson- with Chickens!!!
Sept 20- Davidson
Sept- 27- Salisbury & Davidson


Thanks

Lee & Domisty Menius
Wild Turkey Farms
China Grove, NC