Ducklings!

Here they are!  Our first 50 ducklings to make a new laying flock.  We chose the breed anaconda,  a rare heritage breed that is dual purpose,  eggs and meat. There are 2 more sets on their way to make a total of 150 to 200 birds.

They are so cute!  And very friendly.

Duck eggs in 6 to 8 months!

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New product- kombucha hair rinse?

Why would anyone put kombucha on their hair?  Well....  A better question might be,  why would any rational person put a solution of many chemicals and even nano particles on their gaur?  Ever read the back of a shampoo bottle or hair rinse bottle?  Better grab your chemical reference guide!  They are full of...  Well...  Stuff you can't pronounce easily!

We went through a period of cleaning these sort of hidden dangers out of our home and life several years ago. It is amazing how much we had accepted without even knowing it!  Anything with chemical names on the ingredients....  Gone..  It would have been impossible to detox otherwise! We were awash in chemicals!

But then...  What do you use to replace those chemical soups?  Slowly we relearned what people have known for centuries...  Herbs and natural substances.  Now we are bringing our own homemade products to you in convenient forms.

So hair rinse?  Yep.  We found the easiest effective shampoo replacement is pure baking soda followed by an acid based rinse.  We take a palm sized mound of baking soda,  wet it to a paste,  and massage it into hair.  Let set a few minutes and rinse thoroughly.  Then add some mild acid probiotic rinse,  massage thoroughly,  and rinse well.  Truly clean,  healthy,  manageable hair!  PH balanced and clean,  the probiotics even help keep it smelling fresh longer.

So why kombucha?  Apple cider vinegar works also,  but we prefer a blend of kombucha vinegar (no sugar left,  no flavors)  mixed with a strong herbal tea of rosemary and bay leaves.  It it light,  has a soft bright scent,  and the herbs further help to clean and balance the hair.

Try it.  You will be amazed and the effectiveness of simplicity.  Nature works...  If you give it a chance.

We have introduced hair rinse in the online store available now.  It is in small bottles for now.  If the product sells well we will get larger plastic bottles and be able to lower the price.

Clean up your life without chemicals with little sprouts pure lard soaps and kombucha hair rinse!

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Applewood Smoked Raw Goat Cheddar Cheese available now!

The first block of raw goat cheddar cheese is now available in the online store! Smoked quite heavily with washington apple wood. The end result is AMAZING to say the least! Tart raw goat cheddar, smokey and firm, Yum!

Hurry , there is a very limited supply of this amazing cheese!

New Cultured Products! Salsa, Marinade, Dressing

Exciting new products ... available immediately in the online store!

Cultured Salsa - Based on the nourishing traditions recipe from WAPF

This salsa is WONDERFUL! Fresh, bright flavor, tangy, medium hot. It is fully organic and even uses heirloom tomatoes ! Cultured for at least 5 days and absolutely delicious!

Kombucha Marinade - a probiotic live meat marinade, especially good for pork and chicken

Based on Kombucha Vinegar, a live probiotic much like apple cider vinegar. This marinade is especially great for pork and chicken and turkey.  It is ready to use and imparts not only tenderness but a bright slightly herby flavor in the meats.

Kombucha Vinaigrette - a live probiotic dressing

A probiotic for your salad! Based on Kombuhca  vinegar and olive oil with mild spices. Great for any type salad to add not only flavor but healthy probiotics.

 Cultured foods are SO important to a healthy diet.  In fact, think about it... a hundred years ago (before refrigeration) almost everything was fermented to store it. It's  the age old method of food preservation that increased the nutritional value of the food. We personally strive to bring as much variety in fermented foods as possible for our family, and now we are offering those same homemade products to you in convenient form.

Order yours today in the online store under "cultured foods"

Smoked Cheddar Cheese!

WOW, who knew you could make raw goat cheese even better? SMOKE!  We did our first cold smoke this morning and the results are nothing short of amazing!

We will package this and let it set for a few days to get the flavors blended in fully, then it will be available in the online store.

Dont Miss it! This cheese is incredible!

A load of produce for the pigs

Thanks to Easy Valley Farm,  we brought home a nice load of extra produce for the pigs.  The pigs loved it!  Sort of an all you can eat pig buffet!

Crabapples
Cabbage heads
Swiss chard
Potatoes
Cucumbers

All seconds,  but great for pig food,  and all organic of course!

Here we are trying out our "cucumber football throws"!  It's tough to get those cukes to spin!

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Posted via Blogaway

Posted via Blogaway

Introducing GAPS legal soup of the week subscriptions!

Its finally here! GAPS legal soups, in a convenient ready to eat packaging!

Here's how it works:

1) We start with meat stock made from our chicken, turkey, or lamb. We boil these to produce real homemade stock. Delicious natural, and healthy !

2) Then we add organically grown GAPS legal vegetables and boil to produce a nice cooked vegetable soup base.

3) Then we can this delicious vegetable soup into glass jars for shelf life.  It is ready to heat and serve!

but there's more!

4) We pre-cook a protein (pork, chicken, turkey, lamb, etc)  and then vacuum seal the proper amount into individual pouches and freeze! Each pouch is the perfect amount to add to one quart of soup for an instant heat and eat healthy fast food!

5) we will deliver to you both the soup base and the proteins, as a set, every two weeks, so you always have a fresh supply of a variety of soup bases and protein!

Whether you have special nutritional needs or just want a healthy quick meal, these soups are the answer! all organically grown, home cooked, completely soy free, preservative free, additive free. You simply cant find anything like this in the stores.

Need a healthy lunch to send with the kids to school? just warm up this soup in the morning, pack in a thermos, and send them off! GAPS legal lunches away from home!

We know.. we have been on the GAPS diet for over 2 years, and done "intro" twice.  There is a tremendous amount of work in making a steady stream of soup, required by this diet protocol.  Hours and hours in the kitchen constantly preparing the broths, soups, proteins, etc.  Now it comes in a jar ready to heat and eat!

Give it a try! you can order a subscription to save at least 10%, or order ala-cart to start.

New Subscriptions - save time & save money

We have just introduced a new set of subscriptions for delivery customers!

What is a subscription?

Subscriptions are, just like in a magazine subscription, a commitment to purchase a certain amount of certain products for a limited time. It is sort of like a "standing order" where you can sign on to the subscription and not have to go online every two weeks to place an order. your subscription items will just show up on delivery day.

Why do you want one?

• Subscriptions save you time. They are automatic so you dont have to go online and order individual products for every delivery. 
• Subscriptions save you money! items in subscriptions are always about 10% cheaper than the single order price. 
• Also, subscriptions are always filled form inventory first. If we run low, store orders are cancelled before subscriptions. 

Why do we prefer you have a subscription?

For the farm, it evens out our cash flow, and helps us to plan for your needs properly. It allows us to plan from season to season, and within a season more accurately.

How long do subscriptions last?

We request that you sty on a subscription for at least a season (3 months).  seasons are jan-march, april-june, july-sept, oct-dec.  We do understand that things happen in life and you might need to drop off sooner, please contact us if so. We want to be flexible as possible.

What about vacations?

Not a problem! You can go online at any time and enter "vacation holds" for time periods that you do not want deliveries. you will not be billed during these times.

Sounds GREAT, how do i sign up?

All you need to do is go to your account page online, and there is a button on the right hand side for "change subscriptions". Click that and you can go in to choose any of the new offerings.  you can also delete subscriptions if absolutely necessary. Please contact us if you need to stop a subscription.

What subscriptions are available now?

We are adding more all the time, but as of this blog post the following are available:

• Whole Chickens
• Chicken Broths and Stocks
• DIY Chicken Broths and Stocks
• Kombucha
• Cultured Veggies
• Cheese Lover pack

There are several more coming soon, please feel free to add these to your account now and take advantage of the 10% savings and ease of use!

Click here to go to your account: https://www.farmigo.com/account/littlesproutsfarm

No, this is for people food, not animals!

We hear this a lot, and it always fascinates me.  While spoken with good intentions, I believe that this represents the common life view that is part of the problem of agriculture, environment, and health in our country. Let me explain.

This time of year, with harvest abundant and many gardens and orchards producing more than the owner can consume, we comb the area looking for leftover produce, fruit, whatever we can find that is grown organically. Primarily we use these extra freebies as animal feed. Some people, actually many people, are insulted by this. They are very generous and kind in offering their extra produce, but if they discover the intention is to feed to animals, they are shocked... "No, this is for people food".

Lets think bout this for a second. What is a definition of a farm animal... but people food? That squash that was donated to our farm is turned into yummy and healthy bacon! Sure it means an extra step in between, but it is still going towards people food. Essentially all feed on a farm IS people food, just a stage removed. But there is a deeper issue here.

Our animals actually consume better food than many people. In fact, we can NOT feed restaurant food, nor grocery store leftovers, to our animals. It is simply not good enough. It is filled with inorganic produce, factory raised meats, chemicals of all sorts, additives, bad fats, flavor enhancers, etc.  It is simply not fit for animal consumption... not our animals at least. We have been offered all sorts of "people food" for our farm, sometimes in large quantities, for free! but, alas, we can not accept that generosity. The food is simply not good enough for our animals. If we fed that "stuff" to the animals, our end products would decrease dramatically in value. Our products would become no better than the cheap food that they consume.

Why? because "You are what you Eat"! If any living thing consumes bad artificial food (as that sold in 99% of local restaurants and grocery stores)  that living thing takes in the poisons and additives of the food. It becomes the food, and the quality of the food

So, in reality, what is "people food" ? it is substandard! It is the type of food that leads to disease and death.  To a life filled with doctors and medicines. To a life cut short by debilitating pain and suffering.  This is sadly true in MOST cases.

Animal food, farm animal food at least, should be as good or better than people food. If the animals were fed the cheapest foods, then the farm products are no better than, the cheapest foods! No, the way to do this is to preserve only the best feed for farm animals.... for that bacon... and thereby create true traditional healthy foods.

So yes, this is partly whats wrong with the world today. We as a society seem to think that we can feed garbage to pigs, and yet magically produce healthy bacon! How is that possible? What a silly notion!

Golden Sweet Sunset Adventures

One of our favorite activities we love to do as a family is pick fruit for our animals.  The children laugh, they play and we enjoy each others company.  And as if all that wasn't fun enough,  then,  we get to watch them enjoy the harvest!

Many people have been blessed with fruit trees on their property that fruit more then their family can utilize. When the fruit becomes ripe and falls,  it can become a bit of a chore for the owner to manage.  We are so thankful to pick any unused fruit and also to clean up fruit that has dropped. 

We were able to pick 4 (5 gallon) buckets of tiny yellow organic plums for our animals from this generous couple in central point.

If you know of any organic fruit or vegetables that would bless our farm, please let us know. It is extremely valuable to us,  and we are very thankful to provide the variety in our animals feed supply.

Happy picking!

Purple Barley Flour now available!

We are now offering stone ground heirloom purple barley FLOUR!

that's right! A hearty heirloom whole grain alternative to wheat. Use it in place of any whole wheat recipe, the difference is barley is lower in gluten and lower on the glycemic index than wheat.  We grind this ourselves on our own miniature stone wheel flour grinder in small batches for ultimate freshness.

We have made biscuits and flatbreads with this flour with amazing results. It has a hearty nutty flavor, more rustic and bold than any wheat flour.

Rest assured you are getting the ENTIRE whole grain with this flour. We drop the whole hullless kernels into the grinder and let it run... nothing removes, nothing changed.

Order some today!

Cheese lovers! Save money with new sampler pack subscription

Do you love cheese? Who doesnt!

We are now offering a subscription to a cheese sampler pack. With this subscription you will receive 2 different  5 ounce blocks of cheese every other week with your delivery. No need to go online and order, we will choose the flavors and blocks for you to provide you with the fun of variety!

One delivery might be plain and jalapeno, next time it might be cinnamon raisin and plain, and next time maybe two different types of plain.

The best news is, with this subscription you save 12% off the individual price of these cheese!

If you need help adding this subscription to your account, just let us know!

Kombucha is back in stock!

It has been a while, but the wait is over. We are now reintroducing Little Sprouts special KOMBUCHA, available immediately in the online store!

If you have tried kombucha before,  you will find that ours is quite unique. It is based on a special blend of black and green teas, plus sucanant and cane sugar. (all organic of course!) This bend gives our kombucha a very unique robust flavor that makes it stand alone against other recipes.  Also, our kombucha is STRONG! we dont water it down before bottling. It is full of flavor and bite, yet pleasing to the pallet. If you prefer a weaker, more refreshing  but less flavorful drink, just mix half and half with water and it will be like other kombuchas (plus last twice as long!)

If you have never tried kombucha, now is the time ! Kombucha is an age old drink full of both probiotics and natural acid and enzymes that are hard to find elsewhere. The health benefits of consuming this wonderful elixer are many and varied. Just do some searching online about kombucha and you will find a lot of information and testimonials about the benefits of this drink. We do recommend starting slow, consuming no more than a ounce or two per day. This allows your body to adjust easily to the strong probiotic content without what is known as a "healing crisis". 

While the kombucha inside is the same as we have always offered, we have made significant changes to the bottling and delivery. First, we now bottle in 2 ounce glass screw top beer style bottles. These are easy to carry, easy to open, and inexpensive to buy, so there is no return necessary! IF youd like to return them, we will always accept them back, but it is not expected. 

Second, we offer kombucha 3 ways:

• a four pack of a single flavor
• a four pack with a variety of flavors
• a subscription for a four pack every 2 weeks

The subscription saves you 10% on the price!

We encourage you to try the new flavors, new bottling, same old special kombucha. Let us know what your favorite flavors are!

A Boy and His Pig

Here is an update of the darling piglet that was on the brink of death just a few short weeks ago.

Hunter has taken on the role of Father for this sweet gal who he has named Flower.

Upon a visit to our farm the last short while and you would have possibly been greated by this little gem.  Preferring people over the pig herd she often ventures up to the house to visit with the family.  Hunter would be happy to share in the wonderful experience of caring for this little baby.

With a lot of tlc this piglet is thriving and loving her life.  We were so thankful that she came around.

Come on by and meet Flower!

Quick look at Drip system

Here is a shot of the new drip system in the front garden.  These are planned with the winter veggies (carrots,  rutabaga,  beets,  cabbage).  The lines are 12 inches apart . Each line lays in the track of the hosstools seeder rear wheel.

Each line is connected to a pro-loc connector which is glued into a 3/4 inch pvc T.  Having a 3/4 inch pvc line across the top and bottom holds the lines in place,  but also equalizes the pressure across all the lines better. The top line looks just the same.

The water is running now.  All that is left is to watch it for the first day or two and adjust the timer run time to apply enough water to sprout seeds without over wetting in between the closer rows.

Even ollie was glad this was done.  It's HOT out!

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Testimonial for pure lard soap

This week,  I did a test.  Last Sunday our family got hit with a pretty nasty sinus infection and sickness.  I was in bed from Sunday night till Tuesday.  Sometimes this is a little more time to think than is useful,  we come up with crazy ideas!

I decided to test if our pure lard soap truly was non drying on the skin.  Research says it should be,  but it's it?  So I started showering with soap two to three times a day,  purposefully lathering up sensitive areas such as my face and sore nose.

The weather was hot and dry.  Humidity must be around 2%! My nose had the extra irritation of constant tissues and touching.  Under normal circumstances,  I would have immediately suffered from dry skin,  especially around my sore nose and actually my eyelids. Common problem areas for me.

Results? Astounding!  Not only did I NOT notice any dry itchiness,  but it truly seems the soap actually helped moisturize my sore nose!  It got better instead of worse.

While not a conclusive scientific test....  I am satisfied that this soap is not like anything we have found in the store.  It leaves you feeling fresh and clean and moisturized! It seems to help skin heal!

Give our soap a try by ordering from the online store and please do share your experiences.

Making Seed plates for HossTools Seeder

The cabbage and Rutabaga seeds we wanted to plant just wouldnt work in the seeder. They seemed just a tad too big for the holes in the seed plate, and would plug the holes quickly. The next size up was too big, allowing many seed through and actually getting stuck from too many fitting in the hole. These seeders are designed to work with a single seed freely fitting intot he hole, but never more than one.  Close tolerances!

So, we took a blank seed plate and drilled holes. Starting at the smallest 1/16 bit, making 6 holes according to the template, then moving up to a larger and larger bit until the size got right. Ended up perfect at 3/32.

Very thankful for the dremel drill press! It make the job so much more accurate and quick. First time I have found a legitimate use for it where the tool was actually indispensable!

So the bottom line is, we made a seed plat that works perfect for both cabbage and rutabaga. Testing it shows a consistent drop of one seed per hole in the plate with never a blockage. And of course we "engraved" the identification on the pate for future reference! (that was the most fun part)

Low Maintenance Fall Garden based on HossTools seeder and plow.

We finally got the fall garden in the ground! Fourty  80 foot rows of  Rutabegas, Carrots, Cabbage, and Beets in the ground. We are hoping our new approach to garden management will reduce the time required to tend it, from start to finish. So far we have it planted in record time!

The system is based on 3 things:

only drip irrigation from seed to harvest
no raised beds
single rows, spaced 12 inches apart, i straight lines

This is one of those cases where the value of each aspect depends on the others being there (synergy?). Hre is our reasoning::

We need to do drip irrigation to water. a garden of this size is just too big to hand water. Sprinklers of all different types have been tried and none work perfectly, plus they require too much water, a precious commodity these days. Drip is the only answer that made sense to me.

But its tricky to germinate in the ground using drip. One "benefit" of drip is that the water goes DOWN, not OUT.  It makes a bell shape of moisture under the ground. On surface, where germinating seeds are, the moisture can be only a couple inches wide.  This limits weed growth, but makes it tough to germinate. So we needed very straight rows of single line of seeds. That way the drip line can lay right over the seeds and keep them wet to germinate. We have tested this and it works GREAT if the seeds are in line.

In order to put the seeds down in a straight single line, we use our HossTools Seeder. This year we worked the kinks out and it performed beautifully. Last year we had 3 problems: seeds too big for the standard holes, seeds different sizes, and seeds getting caught under the seed plates.  This year we got some blank seed plates and used a dremel on a drill press to make our own. It was amazing easy and made the seeding go very very well.  Planting the entire garden only took an hour or two! More to come on tis seeder in a later post, but right now it is the best thing since sliced bread!

We plan on "weeding" by using the Hoss Tools double wheel hand plow with oscillating hoe. There are actually 2 hoes attached to a spreader bar, with enough space in between to fit the sprouts between the hoes. These little jewels are perfect! rows only 12 inches, but single rows, allow us to push the plow right over the seedlings, the hoe cutting off anything within a half inch from the sprout. one pass over each row and the garden will be weeded. Thai can be repeated until the plants get too big to fit between the hoes.

The water system is the pressure compensating  drip tape from aquatrax with 8 inch low flow emitters. I love this tape! Small hills and valleys down long rows dont mean puddles of water... because the holes compensate automatically for the change in pressure and emit the same flow. I was able to cover a 80 foot by 50 foot area with lines every 1 foot, and drive this all from a single water hose for even water pattern. It runs at low pressure (under 20 psi) so that makes leaks less likely.

So the bottom line is.. we invested the time to build the headers for hte drip tape at set spacing from 3/4 inch PVC, used the drip connectors as a visul guid to make the right spacing, then used the hoss tool seeder row marker to mark the next row for every one planted.  Planting too one to two hours. Then we cur and installed the drip tape.

Turn this all on for short time multiple times per day... maybe 1 hour every 4 or 6, nd the seeds will sprout with minimal weeds. Then it easy to weed in place with just walking over it, and the water is always done automatically on timer. Its almost automatic!

So thats the plan... check back in a month to see how this works out :)

Online Store improvements

I finally had some time to improve the online store. with all the new products added, it was becoming a hodgepodge of stuff, difficult to get around and find things. Now it have more categories, arranged in a better manner, so you can more easily see what we have to offer.

IF you havent been in the online store lately, take a peak now, you might be surprised at what all is in there!

Here is the link to get into the store:  https://www.farmigo.com/store/littlesproutsfarm

Research question : when does moving water freeze?

I have been researching this question on the Internet and am amazed that there doesn't seem a straight answer!   At what temp does moving water freeze and why?
I'm not talking about water in a pipe  left running... More like..  If you put a bowl of water in the freezer with a mixer running..  Would it freeze and stop the mixer?  At what temp?

Anyone know?

First set of duck eggs in the incubator

The first 100 eggs for the new heritage breed egg laying duck are in the incubator!  Just a month of hatching,  6 months of growing,  and we will have duck eggs again!

More eggs are on their way,  so we will soon have 300 ducks incubating.  Half will of course be males. So we should end up with about 120 hens to lay eggs.

Patience....

Two more litters of piglets

The piglets just keep coming!  We just had 2 more small litters from first time mom's.  One was 5 and the other 6.  The 5 size litter had a very cute red and also an astonishing tan and red one.

We are very pleased with these large black / tamworth / red Wattle mixes.  They are doing their job nicely keeping a steady stream of piglets coming.  And the vast majority are born perfectly healthy with zero assistance. 

Two more soap batches

Today we made two more batches of soap.  Sooooooo much easier using an electric drink mixer instead of doing it by hand!

Resting in the molds tonight are :

Goat milk and lard soap with lavender 

Pure lard soap with tea tree oil

These two batches turned out perfect,  but will of course need to cure for a couple weeks before being sellable.

Ready soon!