Pork shoulder roast in a sherry/soy glazed, homemade bread from emmer grains, and baby lettuce….got to go pick that now before the sun gets too hot!

Things to continue to chug along here.  We feel like our first week of USDA pork sales went well and many customers also bought some of Sol Farm’s organic veggies to go along with their pork or egg purchase.  I hope this trend continues so that we can support Sol Farms great efforts and so that we continue on with our vision of an all inclusive honor farm stand for our community.

I took a few pictures of Black Betty since she is going to be a Mama in about 2 weeks!  Not sure if this one picture does her “under carriage” justice.  But we’re watching her bag up as a sign of her upcoming  piglets.  Red Rosie will then have her piglets about two weeks later – mid June.  This is nice timing since we like having babies on the farm and all the lambs should be at their new homes by next weekend.

I’ve scheduled our next sheep shearing for June 2^nd and, as always, this is an open house for anyone who wants to watch.  Show starts at 10:00 AM!  Whatever fleece hand spinners don’t buy I’ll be sending to a mill in Michigan for processing up into yarn for our store.

And speaking of yarn… I stopped by to visit one of the fiber families who bought fleece this past Fall.  They were going to spin it up with their Angora rabbit fur.  Turns out Carrie has embarked on a full fledged cottage business that I think is quiet exciting.  She is buying and then having processed single breed wool for yarn.  It was really cool to feel and see these breed specific yarns in their natural, un-dyed state.  Of course I thought the Finnsheep/Angora blend was the BEST!!  Well, it really was a lovely soft color with a great feel and the Angora fur gave it a nice “halo”.  Here’s a link to Carrie’s budding business.  http://www.insoucianthair.com  She’ll be adding pictures as she goes along.

One of our new pork customers from last week had come all the way over from Bellevue to check out the farm.  He was a farm boy growing up so I was really pleased when he praised our pork, our friendly lambs (he was like, “who knew lambs could be this nice?”) and the farm in general.  He put out the concept of rallying some of his foodie friends on the Eastside for a Farm Buying Club.  They would sign up for ad hoc purchases of veggies and meat.  I think that we might explore that with them.  It could be a great way to meet new people and get them exposed to Great Food The Rolling Bay Farm Way!

Homer got banded this afternoon since he is going to a fiber family here on the island.  Banding is putting a VERY tight rubber band around the scrotum as a form of castration.  It cuts off the blood supply and the sack atrophies and falls off.  Like a baby’s umbilical cord.  He’ll be pretty uncomfortable for the next 24 hours until everything is numb.  When I last saw him he was not looking very happy!

Our big, awesome, feel good part of the weekend happened on Saturday with the official opening on the farm stand in all it’s glory.  We had a surprisingly large amount of customers buying the pork cuts and also Sol Farm’s organic veggies that we are stocking.  Everyone was so positive, so enthusiastic about the stand, the produce and meats, what we’re doing and how we’re doing it that it was almost overwhelming!

Kevin (Sol Farm owner) said he even heard people talking about Rolling Bay Farm at the Farmer’s Market and Cafe Nola **giggle**.

And who knew Mark had such creative talents?  Here’s our new sandwich board for the end of our road that he free-handed. 

Off to cook a Mother’s Day dinner for my Mom and family.  Pasta with Rolling Bay Farm Italian sausage, garlic, onions and Sol Farm’s arugula in a light tomato and stock reduction.  O.K…. I’m officially hungry now!

Our day will be a walk through the amazing Bloedel Reserve, a great dinner with food from our farm and dessert with  Grandma Nancy and a homemade lemon cake.

Hug your mother, tell them how much you appreciate them and give a nod to Mother Earth.

Also available fresh organic veggies from Sol Farm. Kevin will be bringing over spinach, arugala, three types of kale and some chard. If we’re all lucky he’ll provide the first of the season’s peas. Of course we still have eggs!

Handmade Soap Butter in lavender, sage lavender, bamboo, cucumber mango and a few other fragrances is also in stock. Lastly, check out the new Recipe Center. We’ll post take-away recipe cards in the farm stand to help you perfect your great meals using our wonderful farm fresh offerings. This month’s recipes: Have a Little Patience Makin’ Bacon, Totally Yummy Kale Crispy Chips and Bit ‘O England Mushy Peas

Where: 7988 NE Lovgreen Rd. W, Bainbridge Island

Directions: From 305 N (driving towards Poulsbo) take a left on to Lovgreen. Drive to the end of Lovgreen and look for the Rolling Bay Farm sign on your right. Turn right on to the long gravel road. Drive down until you see our gates — past the left hook in the road. In front of you you’ll see a barn with a horse mural on it. The farm stand is the small build right there. Come on in and enjoy!

Slaughtering this way does have a big limitation.  It means that it is NOT a USDA approved slaughter and the offsite butchering and wrapping does not occur at a USDA approved facility.  It means that we can only sell “live” animals by the whole or half animal.  There are numerous other little limitations.  For the most part, we can work with this.  And we’ve found many customers who are happy to buy their meat in bulk.

But, we have made the bold step (for us) to have some of our pork USDA approved for purchase in our farm stand.  This means that we can sell these hogs by the pound (just like at the grocery store).  This will allow us a lot more flexibility with this small portion of meat.  We can offer it to people who don’t want/can’t afford a whole hog.  We can offer it restaurants or non-profit venues.  A new world for us.

Most farmers when they need USDA slaughter, cut and wrap facilities have to haul their livestock HUNDREDS of stressful miles to those vile facilities we’ve all seen in various documentaries.  We are fortunate that our county has something called a Mobile Slaughter Unit.  Which is basically a stainless steel tractor trail that can go to various approved sites for onsite slaughter, inspection and chilling.

So, last week Mark loaded up 3 hogs into our trailer and drove them the 40 miles to where the Unit was set up at a small farm that had the USDA’s approved infrastructure.  Meaning, a concrete pad and livestock holding areas to safely unload and hold small groups of animals.  By all accounts things went just fine and we’ll be picking up our pork in a few days.

All this is well and good, but we want the Mobile Slaughter Unit to be able to operate even closer to home.  Bainbridge Island has instituted a “right to farm” mentality to make sure that the original agrarian roots of this community are not forgotten.  I feel fortunate to live in such a forward thinking area.  Mark and I are working with local farmers and non-profit groups to try and get an approved site here on the island for the Unit to come to about 4 times a year.

Better for the animals, better for the carbon foot print, better for the farmers!