When the war on invasive plants is beyond your control it is time to contact....

 

Autumn Olive Farms has biological control agents on staff 27/7.

"The A-Team"

"Your battlefield is their banquet hall"

Fields of Grace....

We are thrilled that we were able to purchase the floor of goats at the Rockingham county fair again this year!  We ended up with 85 of them. 

They were running jumping and playing this morning.  It must have felt really good to get out in an open space and eat green forage after being in the barn all week showing off their handsome selves!  They are such nice animals from good stock. The 4-H and FFA kids did a great job raising them to showcase their potential.  

 The title of this blog post is appropriately named. If we had not gotten them they would not be running jumping and playing this morning. These children's hand raised goats would have been immediately snatched out of their cozy show pens and thrust into the harsh environment of large pens and trailers heading into the brutal and heartless Northeast industrial meat system. Unbelievably that was not the worst possible end result. One particular buyer in our area is actively buying 4H/FFA fair stock at high prices and they would be on their way to medical research programs focused on highly infectious diseases including leprosy research. More likely though is the medical program where these children's pet are partially blown up by the army in a controlled way in order to train medics how to stabilize severe trauma victims of IED and land mine injuries.  With other options available, how could anyone choose to use young children's pets in that way? 


With the very real threat of that being the outcome for the goats in this sale I am afraid we did have both a smart price and a also a "heart" price. Unfortunately for us the sale price was a lot closer to the heart price so we REALLY need to find at least one great forage job for them to earn some income to make it up. 


It is true that most of our stock will one day die to become a very healthy meat product for informed consumers.  Until that final moment though, all the Autumn Olive Farms goat's lives will be good days and filled with all the fascinating antics and details that make the goat uniquely what it is. 
  
In fact, although we have one of the finest meat products that a human can eat we would gladly forgo the meat side of our business if we could afford to keep all of them as full time foragers. That would require us to become Boer Bok snowbirds to Florida! Know anyone in need of our services from November to May in a fine Florida setting?

Jiggity, Jig, Jig....

Introducing the newest additions to Autumn Olive Farms... Two Ossabaw Island Sows.  

The girls have not arrived yet to our farm location as they are off with a Boar. Which means that this Thanksgiving instead of having kids we will be having piglets!  

Ossabaw Island Hogs are a unique breed of pig. They are listed on the American Livestock Breed Conservancy list as critically endangered.  

They were brought to Ossabaw Island in the 1500s off the coast of Georgia by Spanish explorers. Breeding pairs were left on the island to provide food for the explorers when they returned.

In my research I came across an interesting article on Gourmet.com.

The fat from an Ossabaw hog is found to be high in oleic acid which is the fat that is found in olives. The fat is so unsaturated that it is nearly liquid at room temperature. Could it be that this pork is actually good for you? 

We have learned a few things about the girls.  One is that they love to get massages! I know what you are thinking, no they don't stink. I was surprised to learn that pigs don't stink when raised properly.

They love to eat snacks... So when you come to visit, bring your scraps!

They like to forage in the forest...We are hoping for a good acorn crop this year! 

We will have to put Willow on "squirrel duty."  She will be thrilled with that job. 

They also like to root around in the mud, so wear your boots!  

We struck gold today...

Our son Luke helping with the harvest. 

Yukon Gold that is!  We harvested our first Yukon Gold potatoes today. 

They will be available for you to enjoy at The Local Chop and Grill House and The Joshua Wilton House in Harrisonburg.  

You will also be able to enjoy them at MAS Tapas in Charlottesville.  We will keep you posted on the other places to find them.   

We are very excited to be able to provide these fine restaurants with the bounty of our harvest!  

Bea's Spa Day...

Bea's "before" photo

This past Saturday was Bea's turn at the spa.  Bea is Mudflap's sister.  She came to us last fall and she has never had anything done to her fur. We had to wait until warm weather to give her a new look.  




She is mostly Komondor with some Great Pyrenees mixed in.  It is hard to tell from this picture, but Bea has what Clay calls "country dreadlocks."  This is what the Komodors fur is supposed to do.  The problem is that she is like a walking biohazard with those "stinking dreads."  It is quite an unpleasant experience to ride in the car with her.  

It was so surprised when I shaved her.  Under all of those nasty dreads was beautiful clean white fur!  It came off in mostly one big piece like a rug.  I could have just laid it in the chicken pen and the predators would have thought there was a dog lying in there.  Instead I tore it apart and put the dreads all around the pen. 

You will be quite surprised to see the look that Bea went for.  She wanted something different than Chloe.   Something that was "South African".....

Her "Lioness"

She was not cooperative for a photo.  She was more interested in playing.  You can still get the general idea. 

Chloe's Spa Day...

Chloe's before picture

Chloe says she is ready for a new look!  She is tired of all of that heavy fur weighing her down. 


We discussed it and decided what the best cut would be for her body type.  Then I got to work....

That is a lot of fur!

 
First she had a course cut and then a peppermint bath and massage and then her final touches.  She was then treated to a VIP golf cart ride back to her pasture. 

 She was so happy that she was "kicking up her paws!"

Chloe's glamor shot

As you can see she is very pleased with my work!  I think it is a good look for her.  She was going for a semi - poodle look with out the curls.

The fabulous C&O...

We celebrated Mother's Day with a fabulous meal at the C&O Restaurant.  We went for a late dinner Saturday night after moving animals all day.  What a wonderful treat it was to have family and friends share the rewards of our hard work! 

Popover with Kibbeh

Chef Eric surprised us with an appetizer that he made especially for our party.  It was a Popover with with Kibbeh.  It is usually made with local lamb and house made burrata and crispy leeks.  Instead of lamb he used our Boer Bok meat.  The burrata is a is a fresh Italian cheese, made from mozzarella and cream.  This dish was full of wonderful flavors that my taste buds had never experienced!    

Vindaloo

The entree we enjoyed was Vindaloo.  It is an Indian Curry dish using our Boer Bok meat.  I will have to confess that I am not one that likes curry, but I wanted to eat our Boer Bok goat meat.  Oh My, it was sooo delicious!!  What I did not know is that there are different kinds of curry.  Eric selected the perfect one to go with our Boer Bok!  The entree also included grilled romaine with a raita sauce.  Yes, I said grilled romaine. I had no idea that you could grill lettuce!  It was incredible as well! I am so thankful that Clay has planted romaine in our organic garden.  We are going to have fun with it.  I also tried another new flavor which was fried yucca.  It was a perfect complement to the Vindaloo!

January 31, 2010 Feeding hay by hand.

 As we sat there enjoying this fabulous meal I thought back to last winter when we were wading in waist deep snow to get to our animals and feed a 900lb hay bale by hand.  We did not have a tractor that winter.  I remember wondering if all of this hard work was worth it.  I will have to say as I sat there and enjoyed what Eric created out of our Boer Bok goat meat that YES it is worth it!!  We also loved seeing a couple at another table obviously enjoying the Vindaloo! 

After we finished our meal we snuck down to the kitchen to give Chef Eric a big hug!  We work well together!  
Thank you to the staff for such great service and making our evening special.  We appreciate it!