Official Tomato Farmers!

This week marks the first sale of our organic heirloom tomatoes! We had such a great response from the market that we are oversold for the week. We have been taste-testing the different varieties at dinner and are having a hard time deciding between "ooh, that's a really good" and "mmm, that's a really good" tomato! Both varieties, Arkansas Traveler and Cherokee Purple, are exceptional in flavor, with the Travelers being more traditional in appearance. The Cherokee Purple, while having the distinct color of a bruise, surprises your tastebuds with the full vibrant taste of natural summer goodness. We may be somewhat biased, but these are the same tomatoes your grandparents probably told you about, and for good reason--they are just plain good! We hope the weather continues to be "tomato-friendly" and we have many more weeks of production ahead of us. Be sure to visit the Conway Locally Grown Market starting this Sunday to place your order for our tasty tomatoes and other Turtle Rock Farms products.

Starting Over From Scratch

Today the chickens to replace the ones that the "mystery murderer" ate arrived at the post office. We hope we have secured the brooder better this go-round. The lone survivor chicken looked like a giant compared to these day-old chicks. It was amazing to see the difference in size just one week makes. Now, hopefully, we are in the chicken business!

Small Farm Diversification

Last week at the market we tried selling some of the gladiolas from my front herb garden and were very successful. We sold out! I only wish I had planted more. Our aunt in Bigelow has a very profitable cut flower business, which we will definitely be exploring as an option for next season. This week we are going to be offering our fresh-milled organic wheat, spelt, and oat flours at the market. We have long been enjoying the health benefits of milling our own grains and are excited to share this knowledge with our customers through Conway Locally Grown. We should begin harvesting our tomatoes later this week and hope to expand our offerings to the Little Rock area via the ASN Food Club. Turtle Rock Farms is ripe with potential!

DISASTER

Nothing gets the heart pumping first thing in the morning like your children in a panic. Two of the kids were yelling, out of breath, and talking over one another. I put on my calm fatherly hat and said, "What was that?" "Something killed all the chickens!", they manage to say in unison. Oh boy. Sure enough, death has come quickly. Something dug under the chicken brooder and killed 30 baby chickens. To this point, we have not had problems with predators on the property. Hence, we became lax and lost our sense of vigilance. We suspect our cat as the culprit since the hole seemed too small for opossum or raccoon. Plus he has a history of killing as he did grab one of last year's chickens and taste-tested a wing. Incidentally, the amount of flies was staggering, sounding like the luzula horns at the world cup, just a constant buzzing in my ears. We have one bright spot in this whole tale - one made it out alive. I guess she ducked out through the hole when the killing started. The kids found her stumbling around by the compost in a state of shock. So immediately the kids are nursing her back to health and she looks pretty good despite what she went through. While it is not a happy day here at Turtle Rock Farms, God will provide. We will make the brooder a little more secure and we will move on. Lessons learned on the farm can sometimes be harsh ones, but we are glad for the experience.

The First Batch of Meat Chicks Arrive!

Today I made the trek down to the post office to pick up 50 broiler chicks. I love the looks I get from the postmaster when she hands me my peeping package! Once home we introduce them to water, food and their new home for the next 4 weeks. Think meaty thoughts little ones!

Business Cards

We just received our new business cards for the farm. I guess that makes us official now! We also have matching labels for our egg cartons on the way. We used VistaPrint and were very happy with the products and service we received.

Chicken Graduation

Today our "teenage" laying chickens graduated to the big yard with the other adult hens. No graduation is complete without plenty of pomp and circumstance, so we made this event quite memorable for them. We trimmed their wing to make sure they wouldn't fly over the fence and gave them each a new ankle bracelet to make them distinguishable from our other more mature Cinnamon Queens. Since they weren't very familiar with their new home, we had to hand-tuck them into their bed in the coop tonight after dark. We thought giving them a little time of adjustment would help them settle in better. We hope they integrate well into the rest of the flock this week before we move them out onto the pasture next week. Two more months and we will have 52 laying hens--eggcelent!

Our Little Entrepreneur

Avery's mint garden has been really successful and this week she decided to try to sell some of her various types at the locally grown market in Conway. She has included suggested uses and recipes with each bunch of mint purchased. We are so proud of her entrepreneurial spirit and hard work! Check out her market ads by clicking here and search under herbs. We are hoping she sells out at next week's market.

Tip-toeing through the tomatoes!

The tomato plants have really taken a liking to our place. I spent the afternoon yesterday tying up branches to trellises, cages and our Florida weave system. I also pruned the bottom leaves back to keep everything off the ground to lessen the chance of bugs and disease. The Travelers and purple Cherokees all have blossoms and/or fruit, but our Brandywines still look like they are struggling after their rough start. The soaker hose and hay mulch method seems to be keeping everything else moist and happy. We should be getting our packaging, labels and flats next week and then it is off to market! We'll keep you posted.

Birds, Birds, and More Birds!

The plan has been set in motion! Today we placed our order at the hatchery for our pastured poultry.We will have 50 broilers shipped June 21st, 40 turkeys shipped July 19th, and 100 broilers July 28th. The chickens will be brooded at our house for 4 weeks, then moved out to the pasture pens to enjoy growing big and meaty. Be thinking about your favorite chicken recipes and how much better they will taste with fresh pastured poultry. And it is never too early to start planning this year's Thanksgiving dinner complete with a Turtle Rock Farms all-natural turkey. Now to build a couple new brooders and put the finishing touches on the pasture pens.

UCA Students Help Get Our Poultry Projects Up and Running

This week we had several UCA students visit the mountain to learn "hands-on" about sustainable farming. Ed Martsolf of Petit Jean Farm arranged for the students to come out to our pasture and help install electric fencing and build our broiler pens and hen-mobile. They were able to get two broiler hoop houses nearly completed and our mobile hen house (a re-purposed horse trailer) completely secure and ready for the nest boxes to be installed. We hosted an ice cream social at our place and treated the weary workers to ice cream made from raw milk, our country fresh eggs, and our daughter Avery's organic chocolate mint leaves. We hope these young men and women have gained an appreciation for the simple life and have enjoyed seeing the fruits of their labors.