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… to the Horton and Crout families for purchasing humanely raised Cornish roasters from us. We’ve raised both laying flocks and meat chickens before, but this was our first time raising them for others. Things went according to plan, and we trust the families are well pleased to have purchased meat from a local farmer. These roasters were grown without hormones or antibiotics and were fed organic greens plus locally sourced feed.
So to the Hortons and Crout families, we say…
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Ah, the cyclic life! As one crop comes to fruition, another begins to grow. We’ve Cornish roasters ready to harvest out in the meat chicken facility (first video) and tilapia being born in the breeding facility (second video).
Visit our YouTube channel to see more Middleground Farm videos: http://www.youtube.com/user/MiddlegroundFarm
With our chicken and fish operations, our first priority is to humanely, sustainably and responsibly produce healthy food for our family. We are also happy to raise roasters for others (indeed, the birds featured here were raised for other families) and to sell a portion of our annual fish crop as ‘shares’. By law, we can only sell live animals, thus the customer must see to butchering.
To order either fish or chicken, visit our online store here.
We’re breeding tilapia fry for small home aquaponics enthusiasts! The video below was taken three days ago and shows one of our females rolling eggs. Some of that mouthful is already sold, but by the looks of things, she has at least 150 eggs over our current orders in there. So if you are in the market for some local tilapia babies, look no farther.
There is no minimum order, and since you will pick up your fish, there is no ridiculous air freight charge. Indeed, there is no delivery charge of any sort. (We will charge a daily fee for delayed pick ups, so make sure your system is ready, please, before you contact us. Thanks.)
These are pure blue tilapia that have been selectively bred for white coloration. We do not chemically alter our fish: you get a natural mix of males and females (so you could breed your own stock in the future…).
Big Momma chose Thanksgiving day to let a few swim up fry out of her mouth. Take a look:
Ginger Pear ButterThis pear butter can wake up your taste buds while offering these important health benefits. That oughta put a bounce in your step.
Ingredients: organic pears, water, Middleground Farm pure, raw buckwheat honey, pure cane sugar, ginger, pure lemon juice
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To shop our full selection, visit our online store .<br>
There was splashing. There was plenty of bullying and there was fighting. The big fish were terrorizing the timid eaters (and thus smaller fish). So we arranged to harvest a pair of medium shares (a total of 14 fish) two months early. And this is what we sent home with two happy shareholders this week: big and beautiful, fat and sassy totally plate worthy tilapia. The smallest fish weighed in at a pound and a third, while the largest (the one that’s 2 inches thick as shown below) weighed a pound and a half.
That’s a lot of aggressive eating! Here’s hoping the less aggressive fish remaining in the grow out tank get their eat on, because the late December harvest approaches!
Tasty, versatile, wild. And we’ve done all the work. Perfect!
It’s colorful, flavorful and nutritious! It is also earth-friendly.
The amaranth, baby lambsquarter and tender dandelion are foraged here on the organic farm; the yellow dock and stinging nettles are grown organically year-round in our greenhouse. We quick dry the greens without electricity in our passive solar greenhouse’s mezzanine, the design of which rushes 120F degree air past dehydrating racks. When dry, cleaned and mixed, we pack the greens in a sterilized, recycled glass jar. Stored in a cool dry place, this mix will keep indefinitely.
Get all the details here.
Caramel Crabapple Butter
Silky sweet-tart goodness! Spread generously on toast, drop a dollop on pancakes, or tuck a spoonful inside a buttermilk biscuit and enjoy the start of a smooth new relationship. You’d better buy two jars, you’re gonna love this!
Ingredients Unsprayed local crabapples, water, O brand organic brown sugar, Middleground Farm pure raw honey, lemon juice, Watkins caramel extract
$8 pint
To shop our full selection, visit our online store.
These are comparable to the Panera Bread whole grain, honey sweetened miche, except that ours are baguettes, use organic whole wheat and organic unbleached flour plus a splash of home ground organic yellow dock seed flour for texture and are sweetened with pure buckwheat honey from our hives. Oh, and ours use wild yeast from our own sourdough starter.
These came out of the oven at 7 PM 9/28 and will go into the freezer 9/30.
Farm sales only. Cash or Paypal. Use the contact form below if interested.
I have been busy this week! Besides networking with the head farmer at a nearby organic farm and also the chef at a nearby organic ranch (super exciting possibilities here!), plus the daily ‘stuff’ involved with tending a hundred fish, 50 chickens, 200,000 bees; raising myriad plant-based foods, and running this joint, here’s what’s been on my plate:
In the freezer:
2 one pound bags of fire roasted green chilis
1 round of Irish soda bread
From the canner:
2 1/2 pints fire roasted bells
18 1/2 pints lightly sweetened applesauce
5 quarts curried tomatoes
6 quarts hot jalapeno salsa
6 quarts medium chipotle salsa
(80 pounds of peaches, and 7 1/2 pints of salsa, plus various crabapple concoctions over and above what is for sale were put up previously)
In the pantry, brewing:
2 quarts of lemon balm tincture
1 quart yellow dock root vinegar
1 quart yarrow tincture
1 quart St John’s wort tincture
1/2 pint dandelion root vinegar
On the kitchen counter:
1 quart apple cider vinegar spiced with sage, rosemary and garlic
1 quart apple cider vinegar spiced with flowering basil
Out in the drying racks:
lemon balm, dandelion, French tarragon, goldenrod, red rose leaves
Out in the greenhouse:
seeded beans, radishes, beets, turnips, bok choy, chard, orach & scallions
In the hanging garden:
seeded marigolds and snap peas
It’s a good (and busy) life! Good thing we eat a high octane diet, or I’d have trouble keeping up with myself!
UPDATE: All 30 roasters in the December harvest are sold. Contact us (form below) if you wish to be notified of the next go-round (summer 2013).
The current crop of Cornish roasters are roughly a third of the way through grow-out, and, because we had orders for 20 additional birds, we are raising another crop immediately following this one.
30 roaster chicks are set to arrive August 30th, which puts harvest in early December.
The roasters in the video are spoken for, and twenty of December’s roasters are too. So, if you want those 10 remaining roasters, contact us soon, for these humanely raised, non-medicated locally sourced feed and organic greens fed birds seem to fly out of here.
