CSA Shares for the 2009 season are sold out! Thanks and welcome to new members, and please stay tuned for more Shady Blue Acres news and events.

Farming with Conciousness and Community.

Farming with Conciousness and Community.

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From Asparagus to Zucchini

From Asparagus to Zucchini: A Guide to Cooking Farm-Fresh Seasonal Produce, 3rd Edition

MOSA (Midwest Organic Services Association)

 

REAP Food Group

Pastured Pork Now Available PDF Print E-mail

CERTIFIED ORGANIC—FREE RANGE PASTURED PORK

NOW AVAILABLE IN WHOLE, HALF, AND QUARTER

We are excited to announce and offer you an opportunity to save on your pork by ordering a whole, half, or quarter hog from our farm. The price of our pork is $4.50/lb for whole hogs, and $5.00/lb for half and quarter.

Hogs will average 180-240 lbs hanging weight. The Black Mulefoot Hogs are an awesome heritage breed with extremely flavorful meat, asked for by name by chefs and “foodies” and noted in the slow food arc of taste. The more interest we raise about this endangered livestock breed, the further we are able to guarantee its survival in years to come. Don’t just take our word for it, to learn more about Black Mulefoots: 

http://www.slowfoodusa.org/index.php/programs/ark_product_detail/mulefoot_hog/ 

http://www.grit.com/daily-commute/Mulefoot-Pork-Wins-Blind-Taste-Test.aspx 

http://www.albc-usa.org/cpl/mulefoot.html

We are now taking $250 non-refundable deposits per whole hog reserved, $150 for half and quarter hogs reserved. The price per pound we charge will include all the costs we have associated with the hogs.

We will contact you to discuss your cutting instructions for the butcher by November 2nd when we are scheduled to take hogs to the butcher. If you aren’t sure how you want them cut we will help walk you through that process, or we can make the cutting instructions for you if you prefer.

If you will be writing us a check to reserve your order, the balance due on your hog(s) will come due 10 days before we deliver to you. You can also pay via Paypal. If you prefer to pay via PayPal, please contact me with your order at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or call 608-647-8934.

You do not need a PayPal account in order to use this service and we are glad to offer this convenient payment option to make your deposit and pay your balance due once the order is ready to be delivered.

We deliver from Richland Center to Madison, WI and local surrounding area only at this time. We are currently looking into using a shipping service that delivers frozen foods out of state, but this will not likely be in place until summer of 2010.

We look forward to hearing from you soon and please feel free to contact me with any questions regarding this opportunity.

 

Young Black Mulefoots at Shady Blue Acres this summer, exploring their diversified woodland pasture.  They are a delight to see romping around in the woods, finding lots of good things to eat, and free to do what is innate to them to be.  If only we had hog web cams in order to see all the fun they have all day longJ
 
Seasonal Progressions and Reflections PDF Print E-mail
July 2, 2009 8:09pm

Many fabulous months and days have passed already this season.  We have been packing CSA boxes for weeks now and each delivery is more exciting with new produce items emerging as the season progresses.  Spring giving way to summer is delicious!  Everything is planted now, with a few succession plantings yet, but all major sowings have been accomplished.  Now our days are spent weeding and harvesting.  Enjoying fresh produce at the end of the day makes it all worth it!  

We are very satisfied with weather and other farming conditions that have made for a really great growing year for us, with roughly four acres in production and going strong.  We hire a neighbor for plowing and discing, but the two of us accomplish all other tasks by hand with a few simple tools.  A couple weeks ago we hired Katie, who now works part-time helping on the farm mainly weeding and harvesting.

This year Skye and I have transplanted and direct seeded the acreage, as well as tilling, brush cutting, laying drip line and setting up various irrigation scenarios, burying plastic or spreading straw mulch, cutting holes in plastic, trellising peas, cucumbers, and tomatoes, hand and hoe weeding, putting up additional fencing, taking our 1st two hogs to market, managing a variety of livestock breeds, milking a goat, collecting and washing eggs, composing e-newsletters, packing CSA boxes and delivering to five location every Thursday, vending at farmer's markets periodically, canning and preserving spring vegetables, landscaping and planting trees, ....and likely a handful of other projects I missed mentioning.

It has been an amazing year!  It feels so good to be working our land and notice that the overall soil health has improved tremendously.  Our commitment as organic farmers and responsible stewards to improve the soil has amounted to a noticeably better texture, tilth, and increased biodiversity of a natural ecosystem that is rewarding to have our hands in and interact with every day. Insect pressure is noticeably different and the types and density of weeds lessen and change.  Increased fertility is evident in both the quantity and quality of the produce.  

It is a very rewarding to experience the evolution and transformation of our land in these ways.  Every little thing we do to help our farm along the way through old school organic traditions and new age wave of thought bringing us back to the land, has helped insure the economic sustainability and food producing potential from our farm for local communities for the long run.  Now that is something I can kick my feet back at the end of the day and smile about.  It is a good life!
 
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