Greetings all! Hard to believe another year is drawing to a close. Its been a busy year here at the farm. We had a great garden, the bison are still grazing and turkeys are ready for Thanksgiving. We have this years pigs going to the processor soon and we have one more bison harvest!
Yes! More bison! We are sending one to the processor on december 1st and should have meat back mid December , just in time for Christmas! If you have any hard to buy for people you might consider a healthful gift of bison...of course its always a great gift of health to yourself. If you would like to place an order please contact us by email at cherokeevalleybison@yahoo.com by phone or text at 740-403-3763 or you can message us on Facebook. We can accept checks or we can invoice you and you can pay by credit card. Due to the high demand we can only hold prepaid orders, we appreciate your business!
Have a Happy Thanksgiving !
Hallelujah! Spring has sprung! This past weekend was so wonderful, all that good vitamin D from the sun had us smiling all weekend :) We will just pretend that the next couple of days aren't going to happen, after this past winter SNOW is the dirtiest 4 letter word I know! Nonetheless, things are going great at the ranch.
We have 2 rooms of our house filled with vegetable plants and they are growing strong. Soon, we will move them to the greenhouse to await the last frost while soaking up plenty of sun. Phase 1 of the garden relocation is complete. The piggies plowed their hearts out and the soil is ready for tilling. Weather permitting that will be done this week. Hard to believe but it's time to plant cabbage and kale this week. Next week we have lots of early season goodies going in like peas, radishes and lettuce to name a few! MMM I can already taste fresh salad.
In the barnyard, Rosie is due to farrow (have baby pigs) in the next couple of weeks she has been growing wider and wider! We are also on the lookout for little red calves, baby bison season is right around the corner and we could get our first calf anytime. Turkeys are in the hen house and laying eggs, already planning your Thanksgiving dinners. Our future egg layers have been weeding the greenhouse for us and will be out on grass within the week, it will still be a few months before they are laying but they are getting big! Meat chicks will be on their way soon and on their way to delicious chicken dinners. YUMMY.
I cant hide the fact that spring is my favorite season, my eyes are overjoyed at the sight of all the green, my ears by the sound of birds chirping and peepers at the creek romancing their mates and the smell of flowers that have been hiding for months. Hoping you all are finding joy in the season of awakening, too!
We gotta be startin' somethin'...seeds that is! Last week marked the beginning of the gardening season for us. We planted some cabbage, peppers and thyme. Now we have a bunch of green sprouts peeking out at us. It warms my heart, even though the weather is still cold. Next week we will be starting the 5 varieties of tomatoes we are offering this year as well as celery and oregano. By April our living room will look like a jungle! It gets me to salivating thinking about all of the delicious vegetables we will be raising and providing to our CSA members.I personally cant wait for homemade tomato sauce with fresh herbs! It's not too late to join us for 2014! Send us an email or give us a call to find out how to get started! I've made myself hungry...gotta find a snack! Here's some photos of last years bounty:
Spring is coming! Even though we are sitting here watching it snow we know its coming. Our animals are telling us so. Every morning for the past week Sir Lancelot, our beautiful peacock, has been tuning up his signature call. It was pretty rough at first, like a singer warming his voice, but now he is singing his love song loud and clear! We have also seen him fanning his spectacular tail! What a welcome sight after all these cold months.
T
he turkeys are also starting to hang out like a bunch of shy teen agers, the boys are hanging in a group and the girls are hanging in their own group. They are scoping each other out! We have been frantically trying to get the new turkey barn finished before the urge strikes and they start mating and laying eggs anywhere and everywhere besides where we want them to. It's that wild turkey streak in them that sends them to the woods, weeds etc. to make their nest.
Miss Rosie Piggins, our sow, seems to be "in a piggy way". She has been taking it easy and getting lots of rest in her delicate condition. Although a 600 pound sow seems anything BUT delicate. We are anticipating little bacon bits mid-May. There's nothing cuter than baby pigs!
Spring can hurry along any time and we'd be just fine with that! Stay warm!
We've made the big time! Your favorite bison ranch was featured in Rural Heritage magazine in the Feb/March issue. What an honor! The magazine is sold at TSC and Farm and Fleet. It's also available from the publisher. Thanks to Karen Kirsch, the author, for writing such a great article about our farm.
Here is a link to the magazine article available to read online.
https://www.ruralheritage.com/reading_room/sample.htm
Winter is the time we long for to rest, regroup and plan all the ways we are going to work ourselves silly for the next growing season! We are looking at a whole new management shift for 2014. After visiting our "farm hero" Joel Salatin we had a lot more insight into ways to better manage our pastures and hay grounds. So far this winter we have read tons of books on grazing, poultry and gardening. We are well armed with knowledge! Now we have to impatiently wait for spring! Here's a photo to get us in the mood.
