Time to Order Your Weekly Beautiful Bread

Sprouted wheat berry from Grano de Vida. 

A friendly Sunday reminder that all special bread orders need to be emailed to me - lylahledner@gmail.com no today and by 10:00 Monday morning. The farm bread wagon arrives around noon on Friday and your bread will be in a bag/basket with your name on it by 12:30.

If you're new to our farm blog and all it's updates - subscribing/following us will keep you up to date on all the farm news.

Also, if you're not sure of what breads you can order - here's the beautiful bread list with the current prices. In two weeks some breads will increase just a bit in cost to cover wheat prices increase.

Sweet Little Dairy Farm

Nancy in the foreground and Karri in the background. 

. . . well, sort of.  In the midst of summer heat, planning and longing for the cool days of fall (no, i'm not totally complaining) where we enjoy our lovely Batavian lettuces, Tuscan kale and beautiful colored chards - we're welcoming two new girls to what is slowly becoming a sweet little dairy farm.

I'm not totally sure what defines that, but i like the sound of it and if you happen to live close to us - or stop off at the Honor System Market, you'll actually hear the sound of it too. . . . meaning our two new darling girls . . . Nancy and Karri - are vocalizing (a lot) - while adjusting to their new farm, the other girls and to us.

What Happens on a Small Little Dairy Farm (and a big one)
Twice a day at 6:30 am (ish) and 5:30 pm (ish) we now bring 6 does - 4 being milked - into our milking parlor (aka sunroom) where for the next hour (yup.... 1 hour) we clean teats, do a strip test on the milk, hand milk that beautiful alkaline milk into stainless steel pails, teat spray those teats to close up the orifice, quickly process that milk, filter that milk twice, pour that milk into sterilized glass jars and then bring the temp down f.a.s.t. (by placing it in small glass jars in the freezer for about 35-40+ minutes), then refrigerate the milk, then wash all the equipment and sterilize it only to do it all again at the next time either 6:30 am or 5:30 pm.

What Do We Do With all That Milk?
Besides drinking the milk we use our milk to make artisanal confections from our sweet goats milk -  caramel (in a jar), fudge, but now we're on a mission to make the most amazing, creamy, buttery, salted caramel candy anyone has ever tasted in their whole life.

Gotta go...time to milk the girls.

Clearing Up Confusion - We're Closed - and We're Open

This photo has nothing at all to do with this blog post.
But, guess what where we went today and guess what Michael did?

I thought I'd try to clear up what's happening here at The Simple Farm.

WE'RE CLOSED: For the month of August (and maybe a little into September) we closed the regular Thursday morning market - it's just too hot, we need to plan and plant for the Fall season and it's a good time to do that now.

WE'RE OPEN: What we are doing is an Honor System Market - 7am - 7pm, 7 days a week.  Read here how it works.  Not only do we have our regular goat cheese, goat milk and gelato from Crow's Dairy, but we have caramel, eggs, honey, jams, sometimes apples and the past two days we had okra, eggplant, bunching onions, fresh snipped herbs (basil, thyme, rosemary), squash (golden acorn, butternut, spaghetti), melons, and a few extra loaves of bread.  If you want to special order bread - here's how you do it. Otherwise there will be a limited selection of Grano de Vida breads.

When you use this Honor System Market - simply weigh your own produce if it needs weighed. There is a hanging scale under the market patio. Write down what you are buying and how much everything costs. Put your name on the paper - then put paper and either cash or check (sorry there is no change available) into that Drop Box in the big black armoire. It's simple and not only do we love the system but it seems like a lot of you do too.

We're generally around doing something on the farm, so if you have a question, don't hesitate to give me a jingle (480-206-7821). We're glad to help out.

Thanks again for supporting your local farmers. We appreciate you!

Michael and Lylah Ledner

Weekend Food Feast - Eating in Season Butternut Squash, Acorn Squash, Eggplant . . .

 . . . along with peppers, sweet potatoes, okra, basil, a few loaves of Grano de Vida Bread and of course Crow's Dairy goat cheese will be filling the Honor System Market today and Saturday.

So you can "Eat the Season" we're complementing with Desert Roots organic produce today and Friday.  Kelly, the beautiful farmer at Desert Roots, is an organic grower and an incredibly lovely woman and I am thrilled to be able to provide some of her produce for our market.

Eating local, supporting your local farmers and eating in season is what it's about today.  Here I blogged about How to Shop the Market and then Plan Your Menu. 

Here's a couple of ideas for your Eating in Season weekend food feast
Roasted Eggplant and Feta Dip

Photo from David Lebovitz

Israeli Couscous with Butternut Squash and Preserved Lemons (David Lebovitz)

David Lebovitz photo

Baba Ganoush - with our eggplant and David Lebovitz recipe here.

Bread Deliver Day Correction...Friday Morning Eggplant, Cheese, Milk, Caramel

.... ok.. my goof. Bread orders are finalized Monday mornings and delivered to the farm Friday for a Friday pick up. NOT a Thursday pick up like I'd originally posted and have since corrected over here

....my goodness, is fall here yet?

Honor System Market
I am totally LOVING with capital letters LOVING the Honor System Market and I think those of you that are taking advantage of it do too.  Salted and the Vanilla Bean Caramel, Honey, Red Wine Jelly, goat cheese and goat milk are all being randomly picked up at the market.   I harvested a HUGE watermelon and that went pretty quick this morning.  Just gathered eggs were put out this morning and 3 dozen went immediately.  So, thanks for supporting us - as we prep beds, plan for the possibility of more beds and plant chard, kale, green beans, onions, carrots etc...which I know we're all longing for.



Friday Morning Basket
Our farm bread maker delivers her speciality breads to those who ordered on Monday. I ordered a few extras just in case those of you that missed the Monday morning order time wanted a loaf or two for the weekend.  There will also be a basket of eggplant and all these items will be set out that you can purchase Friday.

French Style Baguettes 

Farm eggplants

Bunching onions.

Basil

The Bread . . . of Life. . .

Cinnamon raisin bread. 

. . . ok, Carol's bread company - Grano de Vida isn't really....but her bread is pretty amazing and it's time to think about what you want to order for next weeks bread delivery.  I posted the breads available here.  Just email me back with your order. Delivery and pick up is on Fridays.

Very cute grandkid.

I know, I got a little crazy with grandkid pictures . . .   but sometimes, I just can't help myself!

How Little Farm Kids Work