Customer Party 2013 a complete success!!!

Anthony started the fire in the roaster just before 6 am.   The pig was finished cooking around 11:30am.  He shut in the fire and let the pig soak up the last of the smoke and heat while waiting on the party goers to arrive.

Anthony Hilliard roasting the hog!

 At 1pm there were still only about 15-20 people here so we decided to go ahead and pull the hog from the roaster and start setting up the food so we could eat as everything was ready at 1pm and we did want it getting cold.   I was happy to have Steven Jordan, my partner in the pig operation, here this year to help out as well.  He wasn't able to make it Saturday night to help slaughter the pig and get it in the roaster but he was here pretty early Sunday morning to get the chairs and tables and help set up.

From left to right;  Steven Jordan, Anthony's dad, Anthony Hilliard.

 It took them about 20 minutes to pull the hog from the roaster and pull all the meat.  I was a little worried that the pig wouldn't be big enough.  However, I was always seeing him next to the sows and the boar.  The sows are 500-600#'s and the boar is pushing 900#.  So anything looks small next to them.  Anthony estimated this hog to be about 200# live weight and probably 150# on the spit.  That gave us roughly 70# of awesome tasting pork for the party.  Just as we finished setting all the food out to eat people started pouring in.  It was awesome!

The start of the pulling process.

 I am missing quite a lot of picture at this point as I spent most of my time trying to spend time with everyone that came to the party or setting up for the party.  If anyone has pics please send them and I will post in another post!  I did manage to snap a few myself and I have a few from one customer already.

As I was waiting for everyone to get some food I got a couple of quick pics of everyone starting to eat.  My wife is in the first pic getting ice for someone.  She did an awesome job as always.  She cooked macaroni and cheese and coleslaw for sides as well as a fruit bowl and some other misc. items.  She also cooked the beef main dish which was two beef briskets and a beef roast.  There was roughly 14# of beef that she cooked and we ran out before everyone got some.  We will definitely be cooking more next year!

My awesome wife helping out and the party goers in the background.

 The next pic doesn't do justice to the number of kids that came this year.  The play area that my two children get to use all by them selves was packed this year.  Packed to the point that it was a great thing my wife installed a tire swing in the tree in the front yard.  My wife also got water balloons and a helium balloon kit for the kids.   So all the kids had their own helium balloon to play with and they also had a great time getting the organizer of this entire operations (me) wet with the water balloons. 

Dr. Zina Kaleinikova on the left and the kids in the background.

After everyone was full of awesome food we got the cake out.  This is always cool for anyone who hasn't seen it yet.  My wife has images of the cuts for the beef and pork screened onto the cake.  Makes it quite unique and educational at the same time!

The cake!

After everyone was done eating we all headed to the barn to check out the source of the yummy goodness.  When we got down there we found our Boar, Red Balls, taking a nap.  As everyone started pouring into the barn he immediately got up and walked out.  He didn't even stop when I offered him a snack.  He wanted to sleep and that was it, so he left for some shade in the pasture. 

Red Balls napping during the party.

 Most of these pics are from Keri Helgerman.  Keri and I were in All Ohio State Fair Youth Choir together way back in the day.  And now she is one of my customers.  She also turned out to be a pretty darn good photographer as well and got some pretty sweet pics.  I am sharing a few of them here. 

This is Kwanzan and the white steer beside her is one of the two calves born at last years party!

 The cows figured out how to access the pig barn to lick up any treats the pigs miss when I feed them.  So now the cows not only answer to my calls for them but also come quite quickly when I call the pigs as well.  Fifty is our oldest cow and actually turned 10 years old this year.  She is the matriarch of the herd and is always first to eat!  Here she is waiting to try and get a snack before the pigs do!   The farm we got her from fed grain to the cattle so she knows what is going on when I feed the pigs and will take any opportunity to get a bite she can.  Now to feed the pigs we have to shut the gate to keep the cows out while they eat. 

Fifty waiting on a snack!

Loading up to go for a ride.  I may need to get a bigger wagon next year!

 I love seeing pics taken during the hay rides.  All I ever get to see is from the tractor and I am usually watching for babies and where we are going and that everyone is safe.  I don't get to enjoy the ride.  I stopped after entering the pasture so everyone could see the new baby calves and the ones from last year to compare.  As we pulled away I told Steven, who was riding shotgun in the cab, that I figured the cows would follow us as we went.  I was correct and Mario was leading the way! 

One thing I never thought of with the hay wagon is that on this one you can look through the cracks between the floor boards at the ground below.  The kids figured this out as we were crossing the creek that our farm is named after.  

The kids looking at the water as we went through Conser Run!

I absolutely love this pic!  This is Chilli and her calf.  She was the first to have a baby this year.  

Chilli and her Angus x Charolais calf. 

Having fun on the farm!

Mario keeping an eye on everyone!

The cows coming up the barn as we all headed in the give the pigs a snack.

This is my son Alex.  He played quite hard yesterday.  Hard enough that he got up for about two hours this morning and went back to sleep and is still napping as I type this post up.  I am not sure what he is thinking in this pic but it is probably something ornery!

Alex enjoying the hay ride!

 I didn't get a pic of the kids petting Mario but Keri did get a pic of him snacking on the pigs food shortly after.  You can see the kids in the background.  Mario did really well and stayed calm even with all the people around!  He is a really good donkey!

Mario snacking on the pigs feed!

Candy Apple licking her lips after licking the dust out of the pig trough.

This is one of the two steers that are headed to the butcher in July. 

This years party was a blast.   We ended up with a turnout of around 60-65 people.  I always enjoy giving back to everyone who has helped us grow and sharing the knowledge of how and where their food comes from.  I also know there were a lot of people that came to learn that have not been our customer to date but hope they will buy from us in the future to allow us to continue to grow and share our knowledge learned and some great food.

Thank you everyone for another great year and lets stride forward to another one!

Kenny

It's party day!!!

The hog is in the roaster and my super awesome wife is cooking like a mad woman to keep everyone full!!   Please say thank you to her when you all show up today cause this could never happen without her!!

Finally some morels and the start of a new hay season!!

I have been searching the woods here on the farm for almost a month now and finally I found some morels yesterday.  I haven't been in the woods for about four or five days and went out yesterday in the rain to check.  I found only one around the tree that I have been finding them on for years now.  So on a whim I decided to check another spot that I have found them twice before but only a couple at most. 

This year I was thrilled to find almost a bag full.  They were all blonds and most were quite large, almost the size of a pop can.  I then proceeded to check all of my spots and only found one more small one.  I should have just stopped after I found these  instead of spending three more hours walking and driving the four wheeler in the rain and getting completely soaked with cold rain.  I guess that is why they call it hunting mushrooms, not finding mushrooms!

My first morels of 2013!

 Well, due to the hotter weather we have been having the hay is maturing quickly this year.  All of the orchard grass started setting heads this week and the heavy rains we had yesterday caused it all to start bolting today.  Now, from the day the orchard grass starts bolting (the seed head pushing up to bloom) the feed quality of the leaves of the plant start to diminish.  This is due to the grass putting it energy into producing seed instead of leaves.  The leaves on the plant will begin to mature and get stemmy and become less digestible to the cattle.

To keep the quality and production high for all subsequent cuttings you should cut the orchard grass as soon as it starts bolting.  This gives you a high quality, highly digestible for first cutting as well as all following cuttings.  Furthermore, by cutting it just as it starts to bolt the plant will go into a vegetative state where it will simply produce leaves and build its root system the rest of the year.  If you cut too soon it will simply bolt again and will not do well the rest of the season.  If you cut too late you will have a lesser quality first cutting and reduced yields on all following cuttings. 

Before mowing.

 It took me about 1.5 hours to mow all ten acres of hay I have here on the farm.  To the guys who have big farms and do thousands of acres of crops that is a long time to do 10 acres.  However, for someone like me who used to mow with a seven foot wide haybine that took me 5-6 hours to do the same field I think it is pretty darn good!

Some day I want to be big enough to have a front mount mower to go with the side mount one on the back.  By adding one to the front I could double the amount I can mow in an hour because it essentially works like a zero turn mower eliminating wasted time at the end each pass.   Plus I would be mowing twenty feet each pass instead of nine!

Kubota 9540 with cab and a Taarup 3 point hitch disc mower

I am hoping for a good year this year for the hay...just like every other year.  However, this year is quite important for us here on the farm.  This should be the year we turn the financial corner and start to generate income that covers expenses!  Unless you are born into a working farm that is paid for or have enough money to pay cash to start one up it takes a while to grow to a point where it goes from a hobby to a business.  This year I expect to pass that point and the hay is the start of it all!

Have a great weekend everyone.  Now off to bed to get some rest for a busy day tomorrow.

Kenny

Customer appreciation party

Hello everyone.  I have been unbelievably busy the last couple of weeks.  On top of things getting busy at my day job I have also been helping the neighbor with a new milking parlor installation as well as getting ready for our customer party here on the farm on the 26th of this month.

For anyone who wants to come or is already planning to come please RSVP me this week so I can be sure to cook enough food.  We will be roasting a hog and some beef brisket this year to go along with our hay rides to the pasture.  We also have plenty of space for the kids to play so we look forward to seeing the entire family!!

Now, off to bed to get some rest before another long day tomorrow. 

BTW, we had our first calf of the year this week as well!!!

Real time meat inventory!

I would like to let everyone know that my wonderful wife was finally able to set up an online inventory of what we have available for sale for meat.  Currently it only has the pork currently available.  I will add to this as we continue through out the year to include our beef as well as hay and other things we have for sale.  It lists the quantities available and prices for each thing.

If you will take a second to look to the right side of the screen, right under the blog archive you will notice a link for our real time inventory.  As I or my wife sell something we will update this listing and every time you click the link it will reference the current inventory so updates are immediate!



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Customers are welcome to come pick up smaller orders, just call ahead to see when we are around to meet you.  Large orders can be delivered but need to be scheduled and will be based on size of order to when we can deliver.  If there is a group of orders or one or two orders that total over $200 we can deliver direct.  If I know someone wants something and I will be in the area then a small order is not a problem.  It is just not cost effective to deliver small orders at today transportation costs without proper planning!  

I hope everyone likes the new inventory system and please please please give me some feedback on it.  Even if you are not a customer I need input so we can improve!!

Thank you and have a great weekend!

Kenny

The leaves are starting to pop!

Finally spring has arrived!!

Well, spring has finally arrived.  The fields and yard literally went from brown to green in 48 hours.  It is looking like I will need to mow the lawn this weekend for the first time this year!

 

Looking south west across farm

 The shot above was on 4-7-13.  The shot below was today.  The change happened much quicker though and had I not been working midnights I would have taken a pic on the 9th or 10th to show how quickly it changed!

Looking south west across the farm

 Since I am working midnights doing mulching at work I am going to bed as soon as I get home each morning and then get up at 3:30 to get my daughter off the bus.  Then I head out to check the animals.  As soon as I stepped outside I noticed that the cows had let themselves out into one of the pastures across the creek.  So I headed over with Daisy to check fences and see how they got in there. 

We had some serious flooding in the bottom this past Thursday/Friday due to the heavy rains that went through.  Because of that where the fence crosses the creek it had captured a lot of debris, including a tree stump, and was drug down into the water and completely shorted out.  So, after some wrestling with the weeds, stump, and wire I finally was able to get fence out of water and hot again.  Since the fence was shorted the cows just walked through the wire gate and went out to eat the new green grass.  Since they were already there I decided to let them stay.

The cows enjoying the new spring grass

 I got a chance to take a picture of Princess.  This is 50's daughter and sister to Precious.  She is looking great and they are all growing so well.  The only small ones are from my two first Angus cows.  They are quite small themselves and seem to always have small calves.  This is not a bad thing as they don't eat as much as the others and it gives me smaller steers for some of my customers who want a smaller half.

Princess, 50's daughter.

 Due to the really nice weather I have started cleaning up the remaining debris left over from clearing the woods out of the corner of the field two years ago.  We have been whittling away at the piles that were left and they finally got small enough that it was time to burn a bunch of the limbs and stumps to clean up to give me access to the last of the good firewood.

On the way back to the house my daughter wanted to drive the tractor.  So I put it in low gear and let her have the wheel!  She actually did very well and after some more practice should pick it up pretty quickly.  My goal is to have her able to run tractor for me in a couple more years so she can ted the hay for rake when I need help.   Plus every guy likes a girl that can handle a tractor and trucks!

Lisa driving the tractor for the first time!

I have a video of her driving but it doesn't seem to want to upload right now.  If I can get it on later I will post it.  For now I just have a couple of pictures.  The last one is after we parked.  She was so excited!  I remember my first time driving a tractor.  I was two or three years old.  I couldn't reach the pedals, just the steering wheel.  Dad was trying to pull fence posts but couldn't get any help so he put me on to steer.  He put the tractor in the lowest gear at idle and then after letting out the clutch he got off and walked behind with the chain hooked to the back.  Then, as we passed each post he would quickly wrap the chain around the post and let the tractor pull the post.  Then he would quickly unwrap the chain and drop the post and get ready for the next.  We pulled a entire old fence row out that way.

I am really excited this year for the farm.  We are finally turning the corner into some really nice growth and it has been a rough journey filled with a lot of hard work but it is finally starting to pay off.  I can't wait to see where this year takes us!

Have a great day everyone,

Kenny