Place your order for some farm fresh goodies!
Buy Eggs Here
Purchase Fresh Produce Here.
Buy your Kielbasa Here – Don’t know what to do for dinner? I slice the frozen kielbasa and sauté until it’s starting to brown, and serve it along with some salad and/or roasted potatoes.
Ready to plant that garden? Order your Seedlings Here
Farm Notes:
The chicks have arrived, after much anticipation. The hatchery ships them out on the day that they are hatched, giving them a day or two in transport. We give the post office a heads up that there will be a box of peeping chicks arriving, and upon the first alert, we’ll be out to pick them up. The kids (more so, Olivia) argue over who gets to hold the cacophonus box of birds, and then proceeds to take them out, one by one, and name them.
When they arrive at the farm, we pull them gently out of the perforated box and dip their beaks in the water trough, teaching them where to get a drink. Then they dart about like fluffy ping pong balls, peeping all the way. We count each one while we’re at it (76 peeps, FYI). We keep the heat lamps hanging low enough for the peeps to stay warm, but high enough to cast a heat “shadow” and a ring of cooler areas so they can mitigate their temperatures.
If the lamps go out (maybe due to inclement weather, or old bulbs…) the peeps will pile on each other to stay warm, suffocating the poor birds on the bottom in the efforts to stay warm. Quite sad. Fortunately, we can see the brooder (so nicely arranged and prepared by Dimitrius) from the house , and can see the red lamps on in there too. We check on them a couple of times a day, mostly just because we need to do a cuteness check… they’ve plenty of feed and water.
But… we did encounter an issue today. And this may be when (some people’s) bucolic dreams of being a farmer may wane.
Pasty Butt.
There were about 8 or so chicks with various stages of dried poop clogging their vent, matted onto their tiny little feathers. Olivia took the task of checking each chick’s butt, while I was designated at the poop-smith, there to remove crusty bits from chicken butts.
In the most gentle of fashions, I’d dampen their nether-regions with water to soften the poo, then (with gloved hands) remove the wad of chicken sh*t, dry their tuchus, and set them free to peep another day.
We’ve added apple cider vinegar to the water and will give them some yogurt in the morning to help with digestion.
In the meantime…. we’ll be looking at chicken butts for another 8 to 10 weeks, when there will be the pinnacle of butt checks during their “end of days”.
Evelyn has been hard at work listening to audiobooks while harvesting and making all things violet. Currently she has the most delicate violet sugar you’ll ever see! She and Gramma Kathy made her cousin a beautiful lemon cake, decorated with violet sugar! It’s great on cakes, scones, muffins and toast!
You can get your very own jar of Violet Sugar here. (all proceeds go to Evelyn)
Garden Share
Garden Share pickup is this week. If you are picking up at the farm – come on out Wednesday from 3 – 7, or meet us in the city at one of the city drop locations (see below). We’ll give you your first round of seedlings and all the seeds you’ll need for the rest of the season.
Mother’s Day Brunch
May 12th from 4 to 7 pm, we’re excited to host a Mother’s Day Brunch on the farm with Sprezzatura!
“Spend the afternoon and twilight hours of Mother’s Day at Blackberry Meadows Farm with a farm-to-table dinner provided by Sprezzatura. Enjoy a menu of wood fired foods, family-style serving, complimentary sparkling Prosecco, and dishes featuring humanely raised pork from the farm. The Don Aliquo Trio will be playing jazz throughout the evening. This event is rain or shine under a beautiful pavilion and is open to everyone, mothers or not.”
Menu:
We are still accepting CSA members too – there’s a limited number we can take on for the Northside and Squirrel Hill markets – and a few more that we can have out at the farm.
Important: Ordering Information
Farm pick up to Wednesdays 3 – 7pm. We’ll have your order packed and set outside on the marble counter. Park across from the house, at the top of the land. Cross the lawn and look for the bag with your name. Frozen items will be in a white cooler.
IMPORTANT: Please make sure you place a minimum order of $30 for delivery.
Across from Frick Park Market in Point Breeze, this Saturday at 12:00 – 12:15 pm
Across from the Mayfly Market (Arch St) in Northside, this Saturday at 1:00 – 1:15 pm
Outside of Local Provisions in Fox Chapel – at the Plaza on Freeport Rd, this Saturday at 1:45 – 2:00 pm
