Hi Folks,

  Lots of things to tell you about.  Here’s high spots with links to more info and photos below…

·         This week’s Farm News… Diddles! (and Chicken Tragedy happier ending)
The highlights were the arrival of 3 little “diddles”!  (that’s yadkinese for baby chicks…), and the start up the Summer Food Guild...  See the REST of the story below -  and Photos Here

·         The Winery and Big Woods Restaurant’s soft opening - open house, farm tour, and supper went very well…  It was hoppin’ busy both with the event and with the preparations for the tour (nothing like an open house to make you do some serious house and yard cleaning!)  We hope that everyone who attended had as much fun as we did!   I had so many folks email to say that they would have liked to have joined us but had vacation plans - so we will plan another Farm Tour and Supper event this Fall  (either before - or just after the grape harvest - not sure just yet…)

·         Krankies Thursday evening Farmer’s Market - LOCATION CHANGE

A new produce store is opening at the Kankies Reynolda Rd. location where we’ve been setting up and selling vegetables on Thursday evenings - so we’ll have to find a new location .  I’ll let you know where that will be and when we’ll be starting up as soon as I know!

·         GRAND OPENING CELEBRATION THIS SATURDAY! (July 11^th)
Join us at the Sanders Ridge Vineyard & Winery on 3200 Round Hill Road, Boonville, NC 27011.  336 677-1700. There will be live entertainment and a Farm Picnic will be served all day from noon to 6pm.  Dine inside or out - your choice!.  (We’ll be serving a Farm Table style - $15 per person. RSVPs encouraged).  The ribbon cutting ceremony will be at 2 PM.

·         Sanders Ridge Vineyard will be featured on WXII News today - Friday July 10^th
Brian Slocum with WXII Television came out this morning (at 5AM!!) and interviewed Neil about the opening of the winery and what impact the economy has had on the local vineyards.  Neil did an outstanding job and Brian’s crew took some awesome photos of the vineyard and winery.  It will be aired again at noon and 6 pm today.  Weeee!

Hope to see you this weekend - if you can make it out!

cindy   

This week’s Farm News… (Diddles!) I was fixing to feed the chickens Tuesday morning when I heard peeps!  One of the 2 Buff Orpingtons who had been “sitting on eggs for about 3 weeks) was all fluffed up and sporting a bright little gleam in her eyes - and I knew hers was the box to look in.  (When hens go broody - which means sitting on eggs, they get this frumpy cross looking meditative stare.  If they had eyebrows - it would be a frown for sure.  I am guessing that’s where the term “broody” comes from?!)  Anyhow, she was looking all smiley (hard to do without lips!) and also had that fluffed up - “don’t you dare go poking around this nest cause I’ll bite your hand off” look and accompanying warning clucks - and there was no doubt that she was the one with the peeping diddles hiding up under her.  I was delighted, thrilled, and in panic mode - all at the same time - as it was of course - the WORST possible time to make the discovery (it ALWAYS happens!) … It was about 900 degrees in the shade that morning and I had already had my shower (had even put on make-up) and was in my “good” clothes and shoes and needed to be at the winery to open the tasting room up in less than an hour.   I had to drop everything and get the little brooding pen ready to move Mom and chicks into.  They would not be safe in the “egg mobile”.    24 hours or so after chicks hatch, they will need to venture out of their nest box for food and water.  The nest boxes in the egg mobile are way too high for the little diddles to get in and out of - plus the other (less maternal hens - and its always the Rhode Island Reds!) can’t be trusted to be nice with baby chicks.  (I’ve seen them play tug of war with diddles before - so I don’t ever turn diddles loose with the other chickens until they have gotten big and smart enough to RUN and HIDE!)  We got the pen moved over into the shade, and I hunted down a clean Tupperware container and some clean straw to put in it to be their new nest.  I also had to hunt up a chick waterer and food bowls which are specially designed containers so the diddles can’t “play” (and poop) in their food and water,  and THEN I had to go and get the chicks and the hen - as well as the rest of the un-hatched eggs she was still sitting on and put them inside. That was the real fun part - as the egg mobile is a very happenin’ place in the early part of the day.  All of the hens lay in the morning and so everyone it seemed including a rooster was inside.  I had to maneuver around and through a lot of wing flapping and perch jostling as the hens fussed at my intrusion as well as their normal fights over the “choice” nesting boxes.  (Its like living in a house where 24 people live and there’s only ONE bathroom.  When you got to go - you got to GO!  And you wouldn’t believe how LOUD their “Its MY turn in the nest box” - and their “I’ve just laid an egg” proclamation songs are until they are sung right in your ear!) There is a lot of commotion in there on a normal day - without me crouched and contorted trying to reach in between perches and hens to try and snag new chicks out from under a VERY protective Mommy hen.  The decibel level was definitely raised a few notches.   I sported a big glove and fished out the chicks one by one - carrying them out of the Chicken yard and over to their waiting pen one by one.  The Mommy hen was really chewing me out and beside herself by the time I had emptied her nest and came back for her.  But she knew the drill - and allowed me to carry her out of the box and into the pen - all the while calling out to her babies and they back to her.  As soon as I got her in the pen - the three waiting diddles did a dive bomb into her fluffy breast feathers - completely disappearing into the warmth and protection of her massive body.  (Buffs are a very large heritage breed of chicken.  They are my favorite of all the breeds I have had over the years.  They are calm, very sweet natured - and make GREAT moms.  They are terrific for free-range because they are good foragers and because of their huge size - predators like hawks (so far anyway - I’m knocking on wood as I say this) - don’t mess with them.  The four of them have been very happy and doing very well.  Sadly none of the other 6 eggs she was sitting on hatched out since Mom was up and running around tending to her babes.  After a couple of days I had to remove them.  This is usually the case plus it happens 2-3 times a year too - that the broody hens just get bored and give up sitting just before the 21 day incubation period. I really hate that because I knew that there were chicks in those eggs pipping and ready to hatch…  An incubator sure would be a great thing to have on hand.  I would really like to experiment with cross breeding favorite breeds and to increase our flock size a little at a time - without having to go through a commercial hatchery to purchase chicks 25+ at a time… But alas -  a good incubator (with humidity control and an automatic egg turner feature) is sort of pricey.  (Donations are welcome!  We could pay back donors with fresh eggs!).

Other activity on the Farm this week included replanting  - and reinstalling (what seemed like MILES of) irrigation!.  I will take responsibility for yesterday’s rain.  (If I hadn’t the whole morning putting the irrigation system back into place in the Big Big garden, then it surely would NOT have rained!)  

We made second and third plantings of cucumbers & squash, (the rains pretty much drowned the first 2 plantings which shortened their productivity) as well as summer lettuces,  more edamame (a fat little ground hog got the first planting.  I should have known better than to plant those tasty soybeans in a spot out of ear and nose “sight” of the farm doggies) - and some more melons. 

I have been doing some serious fretting over the tomatoes and peppers.  The rains took a toll on several of the varieties (causing them to turn yellow and stop producing fruit) - so we’ve been top dressing with fish meal and cutting things back.  I’m still seeing a lot more “yellow” out there than I would like to but several varieties have begun to grow new leaves and set fruit at the top of the plants (they look like tomato “trees” now!) and I am optimistic that most of the plants will recover enough to produce at least one more batch of toms before they call it quits… 

Our little patch of corn is producing one of the best batches of sweet bi-colored corn we’ve ever grown.  The timing of the planting and the rains served these plants well.  (wish I had planted 3 times more then - but went ahead this time and planted another 8 rows for a hopeful second harvest.)  The green beans and tomatoes really came in strong this week and so the Food Guild member’s first delivery included a BIG helping of each of those this week! Note: Got rained out at the Thursday Krankies market, so I’ll have a lot of tomatoes here at the winery or off the farm to sell this weekend.

Chicken Tragedy - (a Happier Ending…)  This morning (Friday) a neighbor about 4 miles away came to the farm to tell us that it was HIS 2 dogs who strayed from home and killed our 6 hens a couple of weeks ago - and that he wanted to apologize and to pay for the damage.  He was so sorry and concerned over our loss - despite the fact that he’d had to pay a hefty sum of money to bail his two big gal lutes out of jail!  We settled up for $5 per chicken and everyone is satisfied. 

Also - I got a call from another neighbor who wants to GIVE us 6 of her Barred Rock pullets (12 weeks old) and all I have to do is go and get ‘em!  THIS is what I LOVE about living here!  It is the best place on earth - I do believe!

cindy

Cindy Conti
Sanders Ridge Vineyard and Winery
The Big Woods Restaurant, and
Sanders Ridge Organic Farm
Certification ID #0827G by QCS of Gainesville, FL
www.sandersridge.com
3200 Sanders Ridge Lane
Boonville, NC 27011

336 677-1700