Picking Your Holiday Ham

Weekly update 4/24/2022

According to the calendar, it is supposed to be spring and time to get ready to plant our organic crops this year. We seem to be getting multiple seasons every week. We had 70 degrees on Saturday which was awesome but then finished the day with rain, hail, wind and dropping temps. Looks like next week is a little drier but still cold. We have had our first group of 1200 baby chicks in the barn now for a week and they are growing well. It takes some extra work keeping them warm, dry, and fed several times a day. We plan to move them onto pasture in about 3 more weeks so we are praying that the weather will change and keep us on track. We are still waiting for our hoop barns to be rebuilt after the tornados and high winds that came through the farm on December 12th and took the covers off 3 out of 4 of our hoop buildings. It was great to see the parts show up last week, but now we wait for the company that rebuilds them. The project is too big for us. It will be great to get the barns full of piggies again and finally get back on track. Farming continues to be put on hold until the weather breaks and the fields dry out. We were fortunate on Easter morning that the ground was frozen, and we were able to spread fertilizer. This will really give us a advantage when the weather finally breaks. All the land that we own, and rent will be 100% certified organic this year and we are very excited about that. We keep trying to improve with minimum tillage and the use of cover crops and continue with the regenerative farming practices to stop or minimize erosion when the 100-year rains come every summer. Sometimes the sheer volume of rain and weather makes even the best effort seem sub-par. I hope that more farmers continue to adopt these practices to reduce erosion. It is sad to see the black topsoil laying and the end of the field in a ditch. Please continue to support your local farms by either buying your food and other items local or simply showing that you care about the way they are taking care of the land. Kind words go a long way these days. I hope everyone has a great week Eric

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Spring is coming soon

Hello from Hidden Stream Farm. It seems like spring is trying to make an entrance. At this point we finally have robins in the yard. Going by the old rule of thumb… “Three Snows on a Robins Back” before spring can finally arrive. I know that we have had one for sure and another probably as you are reading this email. The Doves are cooing as I write this and all signs point to spring. Our biggest sign of spring and summer is the first group of baby chicks. They will arrive on Thursday April 14th. This is always a great time of new life as we get busy with caring for 1000 baby chicks. We have local poultry processing again this year and will hopefully be able to offer fresh chicken again to our weekly customers. Soon we will be able to move the egg layers out to pasture and the cattle will be back to rotational grazing. As the farm wakes up from its winter rest we also start thinking about the garden and the farm. We are proud that this year all our crops will be 100% certified organic. We really like knowing that we don’t use any chemicals and work towards building healthy soils and improve the ecosystem around us with regenerative farming practices. Now that it warms up we can also find time to take walks and enjoy the changes. Visit our website and look at the snack section. There are great treats to take with you and share. Thank you for your continued support Eric and Lisa and Kids.

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