Garden season over, winter’s coming
As our 2012 garden season has come to a close, it’s now time to concentrate on getting ready for winter. Around here, winter can arrive in a heartbeat.
The hay is all in place, over $7000 for the the 7 blocks this year. At that price, we bit the bullet and invested in a professional hay tarp. We had the hay all put into one place this year, since we have the tractor to move bales. We’re also installing gates at each access road.
So far, we’ve pretty much dismantled the gardens, except for some parsnips, beets, turnips, cauliflower and cabbage. We had a hard freeze on the 5th, and that pretty much took care of the garden.
We’re adding a “storage container” to our little farm. That will allow us to properly store our garden and farm tools someplace other than in “Mom’s garage”. That has meant clearing a large area of loose sand and tumbleweed, and moving stuff (including an old truck) so the big truck has enough room to make the correct turns, and back into the spot for the container.
The horses are all gone. We put down the one gal that had eye cancer, and then gave the other two to our neighbor’s grandson. He’s great with horses. The day he came to load them, it only took about an hour to get them into the trailer. Not bad, considering Dusty (the gelding) had only been trailered once (and he didn’t have pleasant memories, having been gelded, vaccinated, and hooves trimmed), and Dakota had never been in a horse trailer.
This past weekend, we put the ram in with the ewes, and the buck in with the nanny goats. In about 5 months, we should have lambs and kids popping out all over the place.
A month or so ago, we took our “old cow” to the butcher. She was 4 years old (had 8 teeth), and didn’t breed last year. After the younger heifer presented us with a beautiful heifer calf, the old gal was “excess inventory”. She’s in the freezer now, and the steaks and burger are absolutely awesome. Except for her poor confirmation, her meat would grade out at prime or better. We got 452# of meat, nearly a freezer full.
We also hatched 11 chicks in September and they (along with their mothers) have moved to the “grow-out pen”. Soon we’ll put their mothers back into the big coop, leaving the youngsters to grow. First one that crows is a Sunday dinner. Any others that crow will seal their fate, too.
Over the winter, watch for “farm tales”, stories about the Four Country Gals living their dreams. They’ll be here on the blog, so will still be doing more “re-arranging”.
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Categories: Certified Organic Garden, Do it yourself time, Horses, Sheep, Uncategorized Tags: beef, certified organic garden, eggs, farm, goats, home-raised meat, lambs
Four Country Gals Produce and Custom Meat
Four Country Gals of Beryl, UT now provides Certified Organic Produce and “Home-Raised” Custom Pork, Lamb, and Goats. Our produce is available each summer at the Cedar City Downtown Farmer’s Market on Wednesday evenings. Our meat program provides you excellent quality pork, lamb and goat at most reasonable prices. Mom’s Hen House still provides fresh brown eggs… and you know the punchline. “We do all the work, and she gets all the money!”
After six years, it was time to reorganize this entire site. You can still find out how we came to be the “Four Country Gals”, and enjoy the stories of learning how to be farmers and country gals.
Even better, you can now keep up with the current events on our little paradise in the desert. You’ll find several new “pages” and “sub-pages”, as we’ve now organized this site more by activities than by date.
See the two “mailing list” sign ups to the right? The top one is the one you want to get on if you’d like us to custom raise a hog, lamb, or goat for you. You can order hogs now, and then in the spring, we’ll have lambs and goats available. Yes, we need your phone number so we can let you know when the animals are available.
The second list gets you a preview of what we’ll have at the Farmer’s Market, and also lets you know about special events at our farm.
You’ll find “Our Story”. That tells all about how we came to be the Four Country Gals, and how we ended up in Utah.
“Life in Beryl” tells about our first five months in SW Utah, as we struggle to come to grips with just what we’ve begun.
You’ll also find current Market information, and the all-important details on how to order your own pork, lamb, or goat.
In time, you’ll see topics about each kind of farm animal, as well as the greenhouse, the dogs, and “Mom’s Hen House”.
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Categories: Tags: Cedar City, certified organic garden, custom meat, eggs, farm, Farmer's Market, goats, hogs, hogs for sale, home-raised meat, lambs, organic vegetables, produce
Lamb
Custom Raised Lamb
We raise 100% Alfalfa-fed lamb for your dinner table and freezer.
Your lamb is born on our farm, from our flock of Polypay/Suffolk sheep, and raised with it’s mother until naturally weaned. It gets all the milk it wants and a steady diet of alfalfa. It has shelter with the rest of the flock, and plenty of individual attention.
Get your lamb today for $200.
You must be on our “call list” so we can notify you when your lamb is born. We sell all our lambs as “first come, first serve”. Get on our list by calling (435) 868-3024 or see us at the Cedar City Farmers’ Markets.
Our lambs are generally born in May and sold out shortly after birth.
When your lamb is ready to go to market, we will notify you and then deliver your hog to Custom Meat Shop.
You should get about 35 pounds of meat for your freezer.
You get either racks or chops, as well as leg roasts, shoulder steaks, shanks, and ground lamb.
You must pay them for the processing. That cost is $73.
Here’s their actual charges.
Slaughter: $35
Cut and wrap: $38 per carcass
That means you will have spent $200 for your lamb,and $73 for processing, cutting and wrapping. You’ll be putting about 35 pounds of meat into your freezer. That is the equivalent per pound price average of $7.25 per pound.
We require a $100 deposit within 7 days of ordering your lamb with the remaining $100 in 60 days.
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Categories: Tags: custom meat, home-raised meat, lambs
Home-Raised Custom Meat Program
Ever longed for high quality meat without all the growth hormones, sub-therapeutic antibiotics (just help faster gain), and feed from who knows where?
Four Country Gals satisfies your needs with our “Home-Raised” Custom Meat Program.
Let us raise your pork, lamb, or goat for your dinner table and freezer. Get on our “Custom Meat Program Mailing List” and receive updates about animal availability.
Our animals are raised with tender loving care in generous-sized corrals (keeps the coyotes away). The lambs and goats are birthed on our farm, from our own flocks. The pigs are purchased from a neighbor.
All our animals are fed natural diets of alfalfa, a little corn, maybe some vegetables and fruits. The offspring are allowed to suckle as long as they want. We’ve built custom shelters for each species, so they are protected from harsh weather conditions.
We never use antibiotics, or any kind of hormone, or GMO grain.
You can count on our animals to provide you many very tasty and enjoyable meals.
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Categories: Tags: custom meat, goats, hogs, home-raised meat, lambs
