Hot Dogs, Sweet Italian Sausage and Farm Tour

Hi,
Finally, we're having some lovely breezy summer days, temperatures in the 70s, normal humidity and enough occasional rain for the pastures to grow again.  A big relief, for us and the animals, after the hot dry July we had.

Hot Dogs!
Our all grassfed beef hot dogs are in stock again!  They are made from our beef at the Mountain Products Smokehouse near Poughkeepsie.  Tom and his crew do a great job seasoning and lightly smoking the hot dogs without added nitrites or nitrates.  Ellen will have them at the Saugerties Farmers Market, too, for sale in a package for you to take home, or cooked for you to eat right in hand at the market!  Want sauerkraut and mustard with that?

Sweet Italian Sausages
We almost ran out, but we've made a new batch of classic Sweet Italian Sausage just in time.  We can make sausages right here in our licensed kitchen. (We aren't licensed to do smoking, which is why we don't make our own hot dogs ... yet!)  Now that fabulous heirloom peppers are available from Stoneledge Farm (where we get our organic veggies for the cafe), we're putting a sausage and pepper sandwich on the menu this week.

Wild Mushrooms!
Bob Beyfuss brought oyster mushrooms last week ... let's see if he had any luck foraging this week.  He says the bit of rain has made the forests bloom!

Birds and the Bees, and Butterflies
Jane Hershey will be at her plant table with potted plants for sale both Saturday and Sunday.  She will have plants that especially attract bees, butterflies and birds.  Ask her about them ... and she'll be able to show you some of those plants growing in our garden as well.

Turkeys and possible poultry price increase!
Time to reserve your turkeys!  I've attached a form for you to return.  The turkeys are available fresh the weekend before Thanksgiving. Let us know what size you want (we'll try our best to reserve you a bird close to that) and give us a $10 deposit. 

The turkeys are now $4.95/pound.  And if you reserve by August 31, I will hold that price for you.

HOWEVER, feed prices and processing prices have just jumped. My feed bill for chicken and turkey feed jumped 17% in the past two weeks, and the cost of processing went up 25%.  I reluctantly need to increase the prices on chicken and turkey.  I'm waiting for the next feed bill to see if the price is going to continue to rise rapidly, and I will adjust accordingly.  (The feed price increase has been predicted because of the drought in the growing region of midwest ... and here it is already.)

If you reserve your turkey by August 31, I will hold the price at $4.95/lb for you. After September 1, it is likely to go up.  (Reserve now!)  Chicken prices are likely to go up at that point, too.  If you reserved chickens for this year either in the CSA subscription box or the monthly reservations, you will still get the old locked-in price, but unreserved chickens are likely to increase after Sept. 1.  (Buy now!)

Farm Tour
This Saturday, August 18, at 11am, you can tour the farm with one of our farm interns as your guide.  Next tour, Sunday, August 26.

The Bees Knees Cafe
Happily, the road detour did not stop anyone last weekend!  We were quite busy and folks enjoyed the scenic route. The road has been repaired and reopened. 

Red Russian Soup - almost a stew of beef, beets, cabbage, potatoes and carrots.  Always popular here and made famous in the New York Times article on us.  Tim Lippert, farmer/chef, says it's the best borscht in the Capitol Region.

Mole Poblano - our pastured raised chicken and peppers Mexican style in a spicy sauce over rice. Secret ingredient ... chocolate!

Sweet Italian Sausage and Peppers on a homemade ciabatta roll

Lamb Gyros - back by popular demand! Lamb patties in pita bread with tomatoes, cucumbers and a yogurt sauce.

Roasted Eggplant, Squash and Cheese Panini

Charcuterie and Cheese Platter

Oink and Moo Chili

Hot Dogs and Chili Dogs

Plum Tart and Homemade Honey Ice Cream

Goat Parade
Every day, the goats are brought from the secure overnight yard to an area of grass and brush for them to browse.  They learn the routine very quickly and look forward to the trip back and forth.  Here John simply opened the gate and the goats enthusiastically ran down the road to the other yard.  Love the ears flying on the little kid in the middle! 
 

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