The Farm News June 24, 2009

We are so proud of our winemaker Sara Wooten for crafting such wonderful wines and also of Neil Shore (owner & vintner), who grew such terrific fruit!

Over 3,000 wines (from 10 countries) were entered in one of the nation’s largest wine

competitions, the Indiana State Fair Indy International Wine Competition, June 26-28, 2009.

For additional information about the competition event go to http://www.in.gov/iwc/)

Sanders Ridge Vineyard & Winery is located at 3200 Round Hill Road in Boonville, NC 336 677-1700
Our winery tasting room is open to the public 7 days a week from noon until 6pm.
Go to www.sandersridge.com, or email info@sandersridge.com for more information.

Farm and Vineyard Open House, and A Farm Supper
Sunday June 28^th Noon to 5:30 pm. Supper’s at 6pm. (Reserved Seating)

We will be providing free tours of the Farm (at 1501 Nebo Road, Boonville, NC 27011) and wine tastings at the Winery (at 3200 Round Hill Road, Boonville, NC 27011) from noon until 5:30pm.

At 6pm we’ll sit down for a big Farm style Supper served at The Big Woods Restaurant. We will provide meat and salad dishes as well as water, tea, coffee and dessert. (Guests are encouraged to bring a dish to showcase a favorite recipe to share with other guests.)

$10 per person for 2009 Food Guild Members. Includes a free wine tasting (sample all 7 of our wines and keep your SR engraved glass.) $15 per person for non Food Guild members and $5 for wine tastings (sample all 7 wines and you get to keep your glass too!)

Call or email for Supper reservations 336 677-1700, cindy@sandersridge.com

Winery GRAND OPENING Celebration and Ribbon Cutting
Saturday July 11^th from noon to 7pm at Sanders Ridge Vineyard & Winery, 3200 Round Hill Road, Boonville, NC 27011. 336 677-1700

We’ll have a ribbon cutting ceremony at 2 PM and a specially priced Farm Picnic will be served from 5 pm until 7pm (dine inside or out - your choice!).

The buffet style meal is $15 per person. (RSVPs encouraged)

The Big Woods Restaurant Menu
Our menu will change frequently to feature in-season produce from our own organic gardens as well as meats and cheeses from local area farms and producers. Click here to view a current Supper menu.

WEEDS! Weather (and a veggie forecast for this summer and fall)

The Gardens have actually had 5 full days of sun in a row with no “precipitation”. (Plenty of perspiration - though…) I have been holding my breath that the close to ripening tomatoes would not all spontaneously combust in the very hot days following the heavy rainy spell. But so far - so (pretty) good. We picked the more ripe ones - and stored them in the shade as they would most certainly split in the sunshine and become smushy before we could get them to the members and the market.

For the most part, the gardens are fairing better than I expected them to (considering that the growing conditions of late have been more ideal for growing rice than field crops…) Weeds have caused the most destruction, totally consuming newly transplanted or direct seeded crops. On Friday, Carmen drove up at 7am with 6 additional friends to join she, Isabele, and Mari in a weed pulling party. It was not a job or day for the “unconditioned”. By 11:00, 1 of the new gals gave up and left, and at 1:30 3 more cried uncle. I only worked until 9:30 (spraying a fish emulsion and organic fungicide mixture on as many of the the tomato plants that I could get to before it got too hot to spray.) When I came back from the winery that evening, I couldn’t believe the amount of work that they had accomplished that hot day. All of the Okra, tomatoes and peppers were once again visible where tall nut and other grasses, amaranth, and pigweed had stood 2 to 4 feet tall earlier that day. Those three ladies are truly remarkable. This farm would not BE - were it not for them…

On the down side, I will have to replant carrots, cucumbers, some of the squash varieties, edamame, and corn. A couple of the tomato varieties will not make it through the summer due to the stress of all the rain, but we have 7 remaining types -over 500 plants - so I am hoping it won't negatively impact supplies.

On the up side, I don’t know if it was the excessive rains, the seed variety, or the fish meal we used for the nutrient base - but we are going to have biggest crop of spaghetti squash I have ever had. (Folks I’m talking in the neighborhood of tons - so start researching those recipes - cause they are definitely comin’!)

Cow Escapades…

About half past midnight last Wednesday night we woke to a knock at the back door. (That’s NEVER going to be a good thing…) It was our neighbor Danny Carter, calmly saying “your cows are in my garden” (THAT'S also never going to be a good thing to hear - especially when the cows in question are Texas long horns…) It has happened before - in fact it is because of their roaming “jones” that the three cows (then heifers) came to BE here at the farm in the first place. It was about two years ago - and Neil got a call early one Saturday morning that three of his brother Keith’s longhorns were strolling up highway 67 and since Keith was out of town, “could HE please go and get 'em before someone drove off into the ditch and gets killed!” Neil and other family members were in hot pursuit down by the highway - when I spied the three of them coming up at a leisurely amble - around Danny’s fence and into our Big Garden on the west side of the farm… Thankfully, they had apparently gotten bored with roaming and were ready to get back into a pasture - as they were easily coaxed into going into ours to hang out with two familiar horses Keith had put to pasture there. We agreed to keep them there until Keith got back into town to fetch them - at which time, (I learned later) that he would be taking them to the be “beefed”. Having grown very fond of them during their stay, I begged Neil to let me keep them and that’s how they ended up being here ($600 dollars later).

Long horns, Neil says, are just deer with big horns. They prefer twigs and leaves and vines over grasses. He told me when we first took them in to live with us, that we would need to start right away “training them to the bucket” (which means going out and calling them in from the pasture a few times a week with a bucket in your hand - and then rewarding them with some “chop” which is a sweet grain mix that is like cow candy - because they will literally walk through fire - or over you to get to some.) That way, he said, when they do get out again (IF was never a question) - it is much easier to get them to follow you back into a gate or trailer.

We did it - and it is a good thing. Long horns really like to roam and browse. Its their nature. The one we call “M” is the worst for it too. She truly does think that the bushes are greener on the other side of the fence and even though she has about 18 acres of pasture to browse - she is ALWAYS nibbling the branches and vines outside the fence. Just 2 weeks ago, Megan called us at 6 am to tell us that one of the cows had her head stuck in the fence and was getting pretty swishy (angry) about it too. Neil and I went right over. I knew it was going to be M and sure enough - there she was, head down with her long horns all tangled in the barbed wire were she had been browsing wild roses next to the highway side of the pasture. She was getting pretty peeved (humiliated I think) that she couldn’t free herself.) Her calf was standing close by - bawling up a storm (he was peeved that she wasn’t free to attend to his breakfast) He and the other cows stayed close by until Neil got her unstuck. She (ungratefully) ambled off in a little huff as if to say ‘what took you so long” and “why you should have fixed that bad place in the fence in the first place”. Neil and I left scratched and bleeding from the barbs and brambles. M didn’t have a scratch on her.

I guess it is obvious that I’m not particularly as fond of M as I am of the other two cows - Kate and Lily. Neil says I need to understand that in a herd - there is always going to be an M in the mix. There has to be a leader for the health and safety of the herd. Well I suppose so - but does she have to be SO “#itchy”… She is fat and slick and is a bit bigger than Kate and Lilly, (all of them are 1000+pounds) so she’s always (literally) pushing the other two around. She does exactly what she wants to when and where she wants to. She “comes in” first (goes in heat), calved first, eats first - you get the picture…

So back to Wednesday morning at 12:30 AM. - Actually I should rewind about 8 hours earlier to 9pm Tuesday night… Neil had just sat in his recliner in the living room to watch some TV while I was fixing us a bite. Right as he had sat down he saw a cow walking past the window beside the TV and heading for the road (the house is 50 yards from the nearest pasture fence). I heard him get back up quickly saying - “well that’s definitely not good” and then louder so I’d hear him from the kitchen “Cows 'er out”. It was M. We went out and got her back in pretty easily with some chicken feed from the bucket nearby and went to hunt down where she had gotten out. She had managed to push the fence down low enough to walk over it and so Neil temporarily fixed that spot and made plans to patch it better in the morning.

So when we got the knock on the door later that night - we were not especially surprised. We figured it wouldn’t be an issue to get her back in again - but as I headed out to hunt up the chicken feed bucket again I realized that it wasn’t going to be as easy this time as I found the entire thing kicked over and pushed all the way down to pasture line. M had evidently gotten out to help herself to some more and had eaten every drop of it. With a full belly - she wasn’t going to be so easy to catch - PLUS this time she had wandered a pretty good distance - and from the sounds of Danny and Neil’s shouts and calls coming through the dark from way over in Danny’s yard - M wasn’t alone. I could see Lilly and the calves still inside the pasture - but no Kate - so I knew that Kate had followed her out this time. That was probably our saving grace - as Kate probably DIDN’T have a full belly (M would have done all of the feed eating) and so she would follow Neil’s voice in the dark for the promise of some. M would naturally want to stay “In charge” and would stay with Kate. I stayed over at the pasture gate in the dark waiting and listening to Neil calling them with his cow call (I have to record that for you one of the these days. It is the biggest sound and the cows seem to just LOVE it. As I stood in the dark with the gate opened I could hear it all. Danny shouting “git on now” - hoofs on the road getting closer as they followed Neil’s voice, - and from the fence behind Danny’s house the three calves and Lily bawling and snorting and following the sounds from their side of the fence in anticipation of their return. Lily had naturally stayed with the three little ones - she is the meekest (though not the smallest) of the three cows. When she finally spied me at the gate she and the calves came running. I couldn’t see them at first - but I know they were in a trot and heading in this direction as I could hear them crashing through grasses and shrubs, limbs and fallen logs. They are all three white as snow so I was able to eventually see them coming toward me like ghosts. I had the gate open and it is hard to move quickly as it drags the ground. It needed to be open wide when M and Kate came crashing through looking for the bucket so all I could do was stand in the opening to keep Lilly in and listen for the queue to get out of the way! I could hear M and Kate calling and hoofing it toward the gate. It was an awesome place to be. I wasn’t afraid (the girls are as gentle as a long horn can be) but I was a little concerned that all three would be expecting there to be feed in the bucket I was holding - and in the dark - those big horns would be harder to see (and dodge!). I usually just dump out some feed in a trail and then get out of the way of the horns as they go into their feeding frenzy. Only this time - it occurred to me that I didn’t have any grain to throw down as a diversion - so as M and Kate and Lily all three merged inside the open gate toward me and the bucket, I pretended I was scattering grain and thank to the darkness - they bought it long enough for me to slip between the gate and Neil as he closed it shut.

We spent the next hour carrying metal fence posts and barbed wire and walking the fence all the way down to other side of the pasture through weeds and grasses that were “stradle high” (which is belt buckle high on Neil, shoulder high on me!) It was quite an adventure in the pitch dark. We never could find out exactly where they got out from. At quarter to 2am we gave up, hoping that they had had enough roaming for one day and wouldn’t attempt it again until after daylight when Neil could get a better look at the fence. They did stay put the remainder of the morning and Neil spent the better part of the next day stringing extra strands of barbed wire - and pulling it tight as a tick with the tractor. They haven’t escaped since - but they will no doubt try again. Most cattlemen will sell off an animal that gets into the habit of getting out of the fence as they will continue to do it - and are a bad influence on the rest of the herd. It is possible that if M doesn’t change her ways- she may have to leave the farm. Though they are not likely to charge or stomp anyone, a Texas Longhorn strolling down a main highway could cause serious injury.

Chicken Tradgedy(s)
Sunday night, we got back to the farm after being at the winery all day and discovered 6 of our hens dead in the yard close to their portable electric fence. All three had their necks broken but not eaten - so we knew it was a dog that killed them. It was obvious from where each dead hen lay (as they were all within 20-30 feet of each other and right next to the fence) that they were caught off their guard. These 6 were the farm "escape artists" and were typically outside of the fence during the daytime (Amelia was the first to learn that she could fly over - and the others picked up on her discovery and followed.) In the past, we would periodically catch them all and trim the feathers on one wing to make it difficult for them to get the height they needed to clear the fence. We had not trimmed any of them since last year, letting them instead out of their lot each afternoon when we were going to be at the farm. Since I've been going to the winery every day - I had not been letting them out - so these 6 had been simply flying back and forth as they pleased. We have two dogs of our own here at the farm, Even, who is my dog - is an old red tri-colored Aussie and Shy, which is Neil's dog, is a BIG black wooly Aussie/chow mix. They both are "buds" with the hens - even to the point of letting them eat and drink out of their bowls.

About the same time we found the hens - up wondered this great big black lab/rottweiler mix. He was a young dog - friendly and goofy. I was still in such shock over finding the hens and angrily yelled some choice obscenities his way causing him to immediately tuck his tail and run. Neil quickly reminded me that it might be a better strategy to try and catch him so we could figure out who he might belong to and let them know he'd killed six hens - plus keep him from going after some more. We know most all the dogs in our neck of the woods and beyond - and had never seen this one anywhere before today. He tried to coax the big dog back with some bones that we had brought home from the winery for Even and Shy - but he wouldn't let him get close enough to put a leash on him. He did have a collar - but no tags... Even and I went out to the garden to do our daily walk-about and I took the leash with me just in case... The dog followed us around at a safe distance. I was talking to Even and rubbing her ears and he wanted some attention too. The more I ignored him, the closer he got. Finally he was standing on my foot leaning into me and wagging his tail. While I patted his head I was easily able to click the leash to his collar. He behaved exceptionally well and we walked all around the farm while I tried to figure out what to DO with him. (I had the silly idea that I would just tie him up to something until the morning when we could call the animal control folks to come pick him up. But he was obviously too big and strong.) Every spot I considered had too many things he might potentially chew, crush, or pull down. Finally, I gave up. Neil was out watching Keith's visiting bull clown around with the new calves so I walked the big dog over to him and asked what he thought we should do. We decided that the hens would be safe enough for the night locked up in their "egg mobile" - and that if the dog was still hanging around in the morning we'd call the pound. We were really surprised that the dog had stayed here after killing the chickens and figured he'd be gone by tomorrow most likely. We went inside and left him out there with our dogs. Later - when we fed our dogs on the front porch as usual the big dog was no where in sight. But, just before bed, I went to lock the back door and there he lay - sprawled out on the back stoop sound asleep. He was gone when I got up - and when Carmen and Isabele came to work, I told them to let me know if they saw him. I few minutes later Carmen came to tell me that the big dog - and another dog - a big white one - were out in the garden with them. I went out to see and there was a huge whitish husky mix with the black dog. It was obvious that they were pals as they were sparring and playing with each other and hanging out like they didn't have a care in the world.

I called the animal control guys and they said they would have to set a trap for them and come back to get them in a couple of days. That sounded like a whole lot of trouble to me so I told them that I if they would just come right over, I would have them both in the greenhouse for them to retrieve. The dogs happily followed me into the greenhouse and I gave them some dog food just to keep them calm. After they ate and played a while, they both got real antsy about being hemmed up inside with me so I found an old scrub brush with a long handle and took turns rubbing their backs and behind their ears with it as we waited. Eventually we all got tied and they lay down in a heap together at my feet with their heads laying on each other's tails. It was still early morning and nice and cool in there. I hadn't slept well at all the night before (having had chicken massacre dreams all night) and I hadn't had my second cup of coffee either. I found myself dozing along with them as we waited. An hour later the animal contri=ol feloow drove up and I walked the dogs right up to his truck. When the officer opened the cage they both jumped right up and in - without hesitation. He said it was obvious to him that they were “somebody's dogs” - and had not been strays for long - anyhow.... Neil speculated that they had probably run a deer and had lost track of where they'd come from. It is more likely however, that they were abandoned - it happens ALL the time out here (that's how Shy came to be Neil's). I hope that is not the case, and although I am not at all happy about the loss of my wonderful hens I do hope that their owner catches up with them before they are destroyed. Having had a black lab myself once (who had an insatiable appetite for the ducks at Country Park in Greensboro) I know that the "big galoot" was just being a “Lab” - acting on instinct and not malicious when he pounced and killed my hens. I’m going to miss those girls (and their 6 eggs a day). There won’t be many eggs shares available for the summer session now. New hens that are laying age are too expensive so I’ll need to go with baby chicks to replenish the flock - and it will be 6 months or longer before they will begin to lay.

Sadly, we also lost “Pea Pod” this week too. It has happened before - that a chick can be healthy enough at birth - but then fail to thrive despite our doting, taking him out to play daily to sratch in the dirt and run around outside of the brooding box.

Both incidents leave me sad and missing them. But, it’s the way it is. All of them lived content lives while they were here, and I so enjoyed caring for and observing them - getting to know each of their individual personalities. I do believe I am a bit tougher about handling these kinds of things compared to when I first came to live out here. I think experience does that for you. It’s a good thing

That's all for now! See you Sunday for the farm tour!

cindy