Geese, Guests and Goodness Gracious

FARM

Duck Duck Goose

June in Driveway Puddle

Mallory the Mallard

Did you know that a group of ducks is called a badelynge, bunch, brace, flock, paddling, raft or team? It is also called a dover of ducks.   I like the last best.  We have a dover of Muscovy ducks taking over the farm.   A brood hatched last year and it looks like there will be more if we don’t curtail their population explosion.  I found a clutch of eggs last week.  The sensible thing to do is to destroy the nest.  The softie in me can’t do it.  So in a few days, if my calculations are right, we will once again be overtaken with ducks.    The farm has one mallard duck named Mallory who has been hanging out with the goose June. June’s mate was hit by a snowplow last winter and it's been difficult finding a male goose.  Last week we bought a male goose.  June ignored him and he ran away.  She preferred the mallard to the male goose.  June has been fickle lately, preferring our livestock guardian dog Smith as company, so I bought another duck for the mallard. The duck Emmaline (who looks like an Indian Runner but smaller) won’t have anything to do with the mallard so she lives in the pasture with the Pekin ducks and the broiler chickens.  The Pekins are scheduled for slaughter this week which will leave Emma without duck pals.  Perhaps we should keep one Pekin as her companion?  I am spending too much time meddling in poultry partnerships.

June and Smith

Muscovy sitting on eggs

Clutch of Duck Eggs in Tree Hollow

Good Guests; Ghastly Guests

Our schedule is so hectic that we seldom get a chance to get off the farm and see the world.  We are fortunate because the bed and breakfast, farm stay and Fable bring the world to us.  We’ve had the pleasure of meeting people from varied backgrounds, cultures, religions. Most guests have been interesting, fun and a joy to host.  And then there is the occasional “guest from hell.” Sometimes a guest is irritable, demanding and unpleasant and even when we bend over backwards to please them, nothing makes them happy. Recently we had a new kind of guest from hell.  They didn’t want to have anything to do with the farm, left breakfast untouched and drove away without saying goodbye. In a follow up conversation, I was lambasted with complaints about the farm, room and food, in particular, they wanted bacon for breakfast and I served them sausage because we were out of bacon until the next pig is slaughtered.  He advised that I should have bought bacon from the supermarket in anticipation that a guest would want bacon and put it in the freezer.  When I explained that the food we serve is grown and raised on the farm and I was not going to serve factory animal crap to my guests, his response was that we should serve what the guests want not what we want.  I didn’t say, but I wanted to say, “You are the wrong type of guests for us.”  I am so used to guests and customers who really care about the food they eat and where it comes from that I forget that there is a huge population that doesn’t give a hoot about what they eat.  And as crazy as it seems, they don’t associate bacon with a pig.   So the guest from hell was a learning lesson for us.   We attract guests who are interested in the farm, care about their food and how it is raised and care about their health. How do we vet and discourage the guest who eats Ding Dongs and thinks bacon comes from Price Chopper?

Sometimes guests leave behind socks, sweaters or books but this is the best leave behind: a message written on the Farmhand Cabin chalkboard. 

Frank, Silvia and Max's Good Guest Message

 

Newcomer

This handsome boy will service the ewes this fall.  The breed we use for a ram is different every year.  We look for a ram that will produce good meat quality lambs and he fits all the criteria.  Looking forward to his offspring next year.

Roy the Ram

Tom wrote an article about farmers markets in The New Franklin Register this month. The subject is that farmers markets are good for the customers but not necessarily for farmers. 

Page 6 T he New Franklin Register Summer 2014

By Tom and Denise Warren

We have been selling

our grass-fed meats

and eggs for twenty years

at three regional farmers’

markets. During that time,

especially over the past

three years, there has been

an explosion of interest in

buying local foods, mostly

due to a new awareness of

the importance of knowing

how our food is raised, harvested

and sold.

Ten years ago, there

were three farmers’ markets

in our region: Cooperstown,

Pakatakan and

Oneonta. These centralized

markets attracted customers

from several surrounding

counties and provided

strong, consistent revenue

for the participating farmers.

Today, every town

and hamlet is determined

to host a farmers’ market.

In Delaware and Otsego

counties, there are currently

twenty-one. In fact,

the number of farmers’

markets in New York has

increased from 235 in 2000

to 521 as of August 2012,

according to the New York

State Department of Agriculture

and Markets.

The good news is that

there is growing interest in

local foods, and it is handy

for the customer to have

“round the bend” access to

farm fresh food.

But maybe not such

good news for the farmers.

The number of customers

in our region who seek

farm-fresh food at farmers’

markets is growing, but

slowly, and the number of

markets is outpacing the

customer base. The relatively

small number of dedicated

customers is now

divided between a larger

and growing number of

farmers’ markets.

New York City is home

to 148 farmers’ markets.

That’s about 56,000 people

for every market. In Delaware

and Otsego counties,

there are 5,200 people for

every farmers’ market.

While there is no direct

data to support this theory,

we believe that a greater

percentage of people in

New York City shop year

round at farmers’ markets

than do locally.

A great benefit of small

town farmers’ markets is

that a market creates a

community, a space for

people to gather and socialize.

It creates an opportunity

for added income

for small-scale or part-time

farmers. But can this scattering

of farmers’ markets

support the full time farmer,

and will these markets

survive as more participating

farmers realize that he/

she is not getting a reasonable

return on his/her investment

of time and money?

Small farmers’ markets

tend to host only a handful

of farmer-vendors, while

larger, centralized markets

can support twenty to thirty

vendors.

There is also an environmental

cost. If a farmer

travels twenty or thirty

miles to a market to sell just

$200 to $300 of product, it

becomes a carbon intensive

endeavor.

An informal survey

conducted at the farmers’

markets in which we participate

indicates that vendors

have to sell at twice

as many markets as they

did five years ago, just to

maintain the same level of

revenue. And vendors’ expenses

are high, including

transportation, labor, market

fees, market materials

and signage. All the while,

the farmers’ incomes are

shrinking.

So, while the growing

number of farmers’ markets

may be good for communities

and customers, it may

not be best for farmers.

 

FABLE

Fable has been full with Saturday night dinners, Sunday brunches and private dinners and breakfasts.  Thank you so much for filling our kitchen with your praise, laughter and good companionship. We are having fun seeing familiar faces and meeting new people.  

Strawberries

It's strawberry season and we can't get enough. We are making strawberry margarita jam, strawberry balsamic jam, strawberry scones, strawberry short cake.... At Fable's dinner last week, we made Sorrel Strawberry Sorbet. Amazing.

 

Sorrel-Strawberry Sorbet

Makes 1 quart.

For super-smooth sorbet, churn this recipe in an ice cream maker. For a treat just as refreshing but studded with icy crystals, simply stick the mixture in your freezer. Freeze this sorbet in ice pop forms instead for children.

Ingredients:

1 quart fresh (or frozen) strawberries, hulled

2/3 cup raw sugar

1/4 cup finely chopped sorrel

Instructions: 

In a mixing bowl, stir together the strawberries and sugar. Cover and set aside for an hour. Purée strawberries with their juices and the sorrel in a blender, then press the mixture through a sieve to remove seeds and large pieces of sorrel. Chill the mixture in the refrigerator for an hour. Freeze according to your ice cream maker’s instructions. Or pop the mixture into a shallow, freezer-safe pan and freeze it. Scrape with a fork to break up ice crystals every half-hour to an hour until it is fully frozen, about 4 to 6 hours

Looking forward to seeing you at the farmers markets, farm store, at Fable for dinner or brunch or enjoying your summer out and about the countryside.

Tom, Denise, Shane

The White Cedar Bee Tree