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!
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