In the Kitchen continued

Branch Farm Eggs make everything taste better!

We are at it again; baking up a storm in the Branch kitchen this weekend. Add pumpkin muffins, chewy chocolate cookies, zucchini muffins, and french breakfast puffs to the list.

Playing hide and seek

Over the past few days Farmer D has taught little Miss E to play hide and seek outside in the trees. I have to admit I was not happy about this at first thinking that she may choose to hide from me whenever we were not actually playing the game. But after seeing how cute and excited she gets about it I let the fun continue. We are doing some Fall cleaning around the barn this week; (yes I know it's called Spring Cleaning but we are running a bit behind) and when we ventured behind the barn yesterday. This is what we found.

Twenty one egg were pushed in the back corner of the barn in a straw made nest. I guess the chickens have been watching Little Miss E and decided to do some hiding of their own.

Broccoli Bouquet

Thinking back this would have been a much cheaper option for my bridal party to walk down the aisle with. :)
This week we pulled and cook our first head of broccoli harvested here at Branch Farm. This was an exciting event for little miss E since she likes to consume pounds of this stuff per week. Farmer D and I are so proud to be able to feed her some of our very own broccoli. With the increasing number of vegetables coming up this week we will soon have the Fall CSA information up and ready to view. Some of you have been patiently waiting for us to release all the information and we thank you for that... we just wanted to be sure the garden would provide some "Branch" worthy baskets for sale.

In the kitchen...

It happens often that we become over run with eggs and vegetables from the farm. I am quite thankful for it but when I can no longer see the counter tops in the kitchen I know it's time to do some cooking,

Little miss E put in her order for some "choc-cake". Above is  a yummy sour cream cake about to be iced with cream cheese. This helped use some eggs we had sitting out.

Welcomed with my love are our green beans. These are one of my favorites from the garden. With a little snapping these guys are ready to go.

All Natural Pasture Raised Ossabaw Island Pigs

Do you want to be confident in the origin and quality of your food? You can, we are currently selling a total of 8 Ossabaw Island pigs. There are 4 adult males for sale that are all healthy grass fed and great foragers. The adults are priced at $300 each. We also have four male piglets born May 2012 that are ready for a new home. They are $175 each. The Ossabaw Island pig is easy to keep and doesn't require any additional feed if given good pasture to graze on. All of these pigs have been raised on our pastures, grass fed, no chemical, and no antibiotics. You can purchase any of these as breeding stock or we can arrange for delivery to a processor to fill your freezer full of fresh naturally grown pastured pork! This is some of the best pork around, you won't be disappointed.

Please email katiebranch@att.net with any questions or call 706-769-2756 to schedule a time to see them in person.

Stringless Please.

Yup, those are some pretty nice green beans you see! Farmer D brought in this bag as a surprise the other day. We were not expecting these blue lake stringless green beans to come in for another week or so. But to his surprise and mine they are here early. I was so excited to see them that I immediately stopped what I was doing to cook them. These beans I am so pleased to say are stringless meaning all you need to do is wash them, snap them, and cook them. Oh how wonderful that is after years yes years of stringing beans for hours only to eat them and find more stings. Thankfully Farmer D was so kind to plant a new variety this year for us to enjoy! My fingers and my mouth are forever grateful.

Smiles

No explaining needed.... ice cream cone in hand!

After some yummy tea!

With chocolate on her cheeks!

Can't help but share these smiles

UFO on Branch Farm..

After entering the gate at the farm on Friday this is what quickly appeared over the hill as I was heading toward the chickens.

Can anyone tell me what they think this may be? 

Coop take over

Little Miss E and I ventured to the barn before lunch to hang out with all the animals and this is what we saw as we pulled up. The sheep had taken over one of the chicken coops and made their very own shade area with it. It was quite a sight to see. We were not expecting sheep to be hanging out inside a chicken coop.
 The sheep and cow had been moved into the chickens area last week to help mowed down some of the tall grass and weeds. It seems as though they don't have enough day time shade. Or at least that is what I think they are telling us in the attempted take over of a chicken coop.

Dapper Dan has meet his match...

One of our Dominique roosters has finally meet his match. That match just so happens to be Farmer D. After a short weekend getaway we discovered that this here rooster had beau-ed up at our niece and attempted to jump on her while they were helping tend to the animals. This comes after many attempts to spur Little Miss E and myself. This rooster is super protective of his flock and doesn't like intruders of any kind.... even those who feed him it seems. We understand that he is doing his job but with two other rooster around who mind their own business is quite easy to see who the trouble maker is. I have been begging Farmer D to give him the ax but he has been reluctant till tonight that is....
This afternoon Farmer D and miss E and I were all at the farm making our rounds. Dapper Dan was as usual making lots of noise crowing and such. This used to be music to Farmer D's ears but be was very annoyed tonight by it and quickly tried to quiet him. After many attempts by Farmer D to scare Dapper Dan away he finally fought back. It was quite funny to see Farmer D with miss E in hand running after Dapper Dan trying to kick him and yelling at him all at the same time.
Not shortly after Farmer D pulled a knife from his truck and when for Dapper Dan. All it took was one attempt to challenge Farmer D and he had had enough. I have endured weeks of attempted attacks and got only a "well you gotta watch them Rooster you know".
Dapper Dan was probably the prettiest rooster in our bunch but by far the meanest so he's gotta go!

In transition...

With our Summer CSA coming to a close and the beginning Fall season right around the corner we are in a transition with the garden. We currently have tomatoes, bell peppers, and okra in large supply, as well as egg plant. Unfortunately, we don't have enough variety coming in for baskets each week but if you are interested in any of the items listed above please let me know. katiebranch@att.net, Once our fall crops start producing we will open up the CSA groups again and I will be sure to let everyone know how to be apart of that.

We've got Eggs

Don't forget; we've got Eggs! Place your order by calling me or emailing me. I can deliver to you most any day of the week. Our chickens are free range pastured raised. This makes for a delicious deep golden rich egg. If you haven't had home grown eggs before you are really missing out. Contact me if you want to try some. Our eggs are $4.00 a dozen. Eggs are hand picked each day by little miss E

With the extra supply on hand we are currently offering them at half price. This special will end on Wednesday so be sure to place your order today!

Meet our "Doggie"

Little Miss E took it upon herself to introduce our new "doggie" as she calls it to the farm. Here are some pics below of her showing him where to go.... or is he showing her where to go, LOL?

Our newest addition is an anatolian shepard. He is quite the dog. At 5 months old this guy is already large and incharge. He was bred to live and protect farm animals. And that is what he loves to do. Beware, he looks cute but he means business. If anything comes inside his fence where "his animals" are it won't get out alive. Toby knows what his job is and loves doing it. We are very happy to have him to protect our animals.

No laughing matter

This sheep was trying to get to our chickens food the other day and go her head stuff inside the top cone of it. We couldn't resist taking a picture and stopping our chores to laugh. It was quite a sight. We get many a good laughs from these farm animals. I'm sure this sheep was not laughing at the moment she discovered she was stuck inside a cone and unable to get herself out.

Proud of me :)

This past week well this past month I should say Farmer D has been extra busy. He always has things to do but it just seems that his list is getting bigger and bigger. So in an effort to help out I took it upon myself to make some of the CSA baskets this past week. Once I has completed them I have to say that I was quite proud of myself. I think this vegetable basket looks beautiful!