News from Lewis Waite Farm

3 Corner Field Farm

3 Corner Field Farm supplies grass-fed lamb and mutton as well as sheep's' milk cheese and yogurt to the CSAs. They are one of the few farms in the country that milk sheep for use in the production of gourmet cheeses and yogurt. Their sheep are raised with care and respect on beautiful, organically managed pastures, and never given hormones or unnecessary antibiotics. They are raised the old-fashioned way: outdoors, on pasture, eating natural grass, clover, and alfalfa. The result is tastier and more wholesome food for you, a better life for the sheep, and a healthier environment for all of us.

The following websites are from the local newspaper, The Post-Star. The first is a marvelous video of Karen and the workings of the farm and the second is an interesting write-up of 3 Corner Field Farm. Enjoy!

Video: Down on the Sheep Farm

Article: A Rarer Breed of Cheese

Karen will be having a new batch of lamb for this order. We've got it listed on the website.

West River Creamery

West River Creamery, the home of the raw cow's milk cheeses is running short of the Middletown Tomme this month and they are waiting for their next batch to complete its aging process so this will not be available this month. They do have 3 new cheeses to try:

• A raw cow's milk Feta cheese to offer in approximately 1/2 lb blocks at $10 each.
• An ~ 8oz container of Marinated Feta with grape seed oil, garlic, sun dried tomato, fresh ground black pepper, oregano, thyme, and rosemary for $8.00
• A smooth, soft washed rind cheese with a bold and rich flavor called Three Mountain Cheese in an approximately 1/3lb wedge for $6.50 each. Try some!

Bardwell Farm

Consider Bardwell Farm is now offering goat kid that is milk-fed on mom for eight weeks, weaned and grass finished; a technique called "Italian Hothouse." The meat has less fat than skinned chicken and as much protein as beefsteak. The pieces are quartered pieces fore and hind style, individually cryovac wrapped and USDA processed. The quarters range from 2.5 to 4 pounds and are $14/lb.

Argyllshire Lamb August News Letter

I have been running so fast that if I trip I will run over myself! The grandchildren have disappeared doing their own individual things so it has been a marathon race. Apparently time is faster than my pace as the last time a newsletter was sent out was two months ago.

Two mountains of sheep compost were moved (and spread on the hay fields which will improve hay yields) a triple benefit event because last winter the piles kept the water from draining away and the sheep hydrant froze. This meant water for the animals had to be carried from the house. Exercise is good but this was no fun dragging 5 gallon pails of water thru the snow drifts. It is good not to see the piles of compost. The number is four!

A forest of trees was mowed down with our newly purchased John Deere brush hog and the 100 horse power tractor. Like an ever ready bunny on a 100 horse power lawn tractor with a double blade 8 foot mower deck we just kept going around the fields. It had been a few years since the fallow fields had been mowed and the scrub trees and weeds were a real threat of permanently taking the land out of production.

About 10 acres of that fallow ground was seeded to hay which will be cut in a few weeks.

Haying this year was finished in time that we expect to have a second crop. This is especially exciting because earlier cut hay has the most nutritional value and second is usually even better. This makes it much easier to get more and bigger lambs

An easier way to isolate the meat animal and ram from the flock has been built to avoid those unwanted troublesome cold weather births. This also allowed access to the automatic stock water and should eliminate the need to carry any water during the winter.

The sheep barn is in the process of being improved for better sheep control and comfort.

It appears that there will have some fall lambs. This and the above mentioned improvements are part of Argyllshire Lambs dedication to provide a steady supply of lamb to our loyal customers. We expect to have lamb for sale starting in early September

Time was taken last month from the marathon of farm chores to make the successful first commercial offering of our trademark protected Argyll Kid's Bobbi Dolls. Renovations are now under way to provide a display and processing area for the dolls and wool. Information is now being collected to get updates and the entire assortment of Bobbi Dolls and wood craft items on the Argyllshire web site.

The end of the race is not yet here. Summers usually are this hectic but this has been the most satisfying.. This year the focus has been on Argyllshire projects rather than work for others. There is no place I'd rather be! More lambs will help me achieve that goal

Live well. Laugh often. Love much.
-Barbara

At Lewis Waite Farm

We had a farm tour Sunday, July 29th, in conjunction with the Al Fresco dinner held each year in Salem to fundraise for the local Courthouse, a community center. We planed our strategy for the event and will have a short tour brochure for mailing with this reminder. 3 Corner Field Farm is also part of the tour.

We were picking fools today! We finally finished picking the currants we started before the preparation for our delivery on July 24th. The beautiful clusters of red berries were juicy and perfect! I made 12 jars of jelly (hope it jells!) and 4 jars with cranberries and plums and now I'm making currant cordial which last year we called Red Jewel. Yummy! We also picked blueberries under the protective netting that keeps the birds and chipmunks at bay. We froze a bundle and ate the rest with Karen's sheep's milk yogurt and maple syrup drizzle. Yummy again! On the way home at the end of the day I stopped to pick hickory nuts along our road for the pigs. They eat them whole just like they do with acorns and they can even crunch black walnuts open with their strong jaws. These nuts will add some variety to their diets of corn, soy meal, trace mineral and kelp and the grassy forage that is growing well in this cooler weather with frequent showers.

The cooler weather and showers are changing this week, I hear to hot, humid and thundershowers. This will stifle Alan's hay schedule a bit. We mowed 3 fields yesterday and tedded them which throws the hay into the air, spreads it out and fluffs it up to help it dry faster. He hopes to rake the fields today into windrows to fully dry and then bale all afternoon. By the time Alan, Colin and Herb have been driving the tractors all day, greasing them, changing the broken teeth and adding the new spools of baling twine, those boys get pretty dirty! Dust sticks to them all over! As they are driving around the fields the barn swallows have a wonderful time diving and swooping in random patterns catching the bugs that are flying in the air in the midst of all this activity. Whole swarms of swallows come out for the fun and snacks and they don't seem to fly into each other either.

Hope your summer is going well and the Washington Co Fair is the third week of August. Lots of great animals and cute baby ducks. Should be a lot of fun!!

Nancy and Alan