May 2013 at Cosmo Farm

The Spring frenzy has begun. The garden is being planted, eggs are being produced by chickens and ducks. Meat chickens are being harvested. Greens are growing and there is a new critizen at Cosmo Farm.

Thor is a 14 week old Maremma which is an old breed of Livestock Guardian Dog that originated in Italy. The breed was developed there over hundreds of years by sheep herders to protect their flocks from wolves and other predators. It will be a while before Thor is ready to kill any wolves though, as he has a long puppy hood before him. In the mean time his instinct to guard is already kicking in.



And Cosmo is showing Thor the ropes.



The sheep go their spring haircut this year by a professional shearer named Jonathan Hearne. What would have taken me two days to do he did in one hour. It was pretty amazing to watch this man work. I am sure he was doing some Jujitsu moves on them. I wish I could have gotten a photo of him shearing but I was too busy wrangling sheep in and out of the barn. May I never have to shear another sheep.



I am also processing meat chickens this week. I have already done about 25 of them and have another 25 to go. These birds have been raised on pasture according to the practices as set forth by Joel Salatin, sustainable farm guru. I have had to make some modifications by adding tarps on top of the pens due to the amount of rain we get in Tranyslvania county but the system works well. Next batch may be a heritage chicken. I am selling these birds as fresh the day after processing or frozen after that. They are for sale at the Transylvania Farmers Market in Brevard on Saturday morning. Here is a photo of the chicken tractor in the pasture and one chicken that did not make it to the farmer's market.



The farmers market has been lots of fun, meeting new people, customers and vendors alike. There is music every week as well as breakfast and lots of top quality food.

Rainy weekend

I am taking the opportunity to update the blog today because it has been raining nonstop for 36 hours now and is forecast for another 36 and I am getting a little cabin fever crazy.

Yesterday I participated in my third Saturday at the Transylvania Farmers Market in Brevard. While the weather was cold and damp we had a decent turnout and I sold some mushrooms and eggs.



While it is still too early in the season to produce much of anything I have managed enough eggs, mixed greens and mushrooms to make a showing. I am looking forward to warmer (and drier) weather so I can get the rest of my garden planted.

Look for me this spring at the market in Brevard with Shiitake and Oyster mushrooms, pasture raised whole chickens, duck and chicken eggs and goodies from the garden and orchard.