Farm Journal
The New Leaf Market 5th Annual Farm Tour is upon us and we are doing some serious feathers fluffing around here to be ready for it !!!
The chickens are rehearsing, the ducks are running around, the geese are keeping everyone under controll and this year you add to all the commotion a flock of turkeys !!!
Farm life is an ongoing circus and we invite you to it !!!
We are open on Sunday the 21st from 10am to 4pm.
Aside from touring the farm with your farmer at 11am - 1pm - 3pm we have a tractor load of activities :
our Bistrot under the Oak will be open for lunch, featuring our farm products,
learn about our backyard beekeeping and help us raise funds to increase our bees population,
kids (young and old) will make seed bombs and miniature garden to take home,
check out our new garden worm composting installation,
get up close and personal with our turkeys and our geese,
meet our small herd of Gulf Coast Sheep
... and our shop with all our goodies will be open too ... (a good idea to bring a cooler).
All this is made possible because I have a great group of friends who come to help me ... To Them a huge thank you ...
Thank you to New Leaf Market in Tallahassee for inviting us and for their ongoing support to small local farms.
We hope you join us for a day of fun ...
A few tips :
wear closed comfortable shoes, we will clean up nice but it is still a working farm.
No pets, No smoking.
Restroom available.
Thank you for respecting our bio security zone.
Driving to the farm :
I-10 to exit #112 Bonifay, go north on SR 79 for 7.5 miles,
Pass a small bridge with kids play ground at the coner of SR 79 and Creek Road, turn left into Creek Road ...
3207 Creek Road
Phone : 850 547 5636
For a complete list of farms open that week end please visit :
http://www.newleafmarket.coop/events/farm_tour/
Please forward this email to your mailing list and help us spread the word about Real Food.
Thank you for supporting a better way to produce healthy and wholesome food.
Twin Oaks Farm
USDA Certified Organic
Bonifay FL 32425
www.twinoaksfarm.net
www.facebook.com/twinoaksfarm
From our Farm to your Table ....
We now offer Free Gift Wrapping
Visit our store :
http://www.twinoaksfarm.net/store/preserves-chutneys-and-more
$ 5 flat rate shipping
Twin Oaks Farm Preserves are the perfect choice.
Our preserves are for all occations, order from our e-commerce and have it shipped directly ...
You place your order online, you email us the occasion and we will add a nice card with your best wishes ....
All our preserves are produced right here at the farm the old fashioned way :
just fresh fruits, that we either grow or pick from small local growers, and
certified organic evaporated cane juice and all organic ingredients.
No pectin, No citric acid, No ascorbic acid or any other colorants/fillers or chemicals.
Free Gift Wrapping
We just added to our online store :
Fig Butter
Lemony Sage Mustard
We are at the Seaside Farmers Market
every Saturday from 9am to 1pm all year around.
Please Forward this email to your email list and help us spread the word about Real Food.
Thank you for supporting a better way to produce healthy and wholesome food.
Twin Oaks Farm
USDA Certified Organic
Bonifay FL 32425
www.facebook.com/twinoaksfarm
I had the good fortune to be nominated, by the Holmes county director Mr. Shep Eubanks, for this year Agricultural Innovator Recognition Program.
The University of Florida/IFAS Panhandle Agriculture Extension Team and Farm Credit of Northwest Florida collaborate annually to recognize innovative farmers and ranchers from 16 counties, from Jefferson west to Escambia Counties. County Agriculture Extension Agents nominate one honoree from each county. From this distinguished pool of farmers, an “Innovator of the Year” is selected to represent Northwest Florida.
The purpose of the award is to increase awareness of the diversity and innovation of today’s modern agriculture. By sharing the story of the highlighted farmers and ranchers with local and regional media, the general public will gain a new appreciation for the business of agriculture in their area.
The criteria for recognition are : Farmers and Ranchers who are innovative on their own operation, willing to work with Extension Agents and State Specialists to share their knowledge, and take an active leadership role beyond the farm gate.
The nominees are then judged by the following criteria: Creativity and innovation of the operation, Interaction and cooperation with Extension and Service to agriculture and their local community.
These photos were taken during the luncheon, in Jay Florida, where all the nominees were recognized ...
Each county had its table, all nicely decorated ...
They created a really nice brochure presenting each nominee ...
Each county extension had created a slide show presenting their nominees, here Mr. Shep Eubanks, Holmes County Extension Director ...
Mr. Eubanks presenting me with the Holmes County Agricultural Innovator 2012 ...
Yes ... looks nice ... feel nice ..:):)
Here is what Mr. Eubanks said during his presentations :"... is very conservation minded, setting an outstanding example of a diversified production system that encompasses both animal and plant agriculture. Her operation is unique in that nothing is wasted from the products that she is producing. All animals are completely utilized either as fresh meat, canned sauces, dog products and compost. Her operation is very low impact on the environment as nutrients are recycled and the impacts on groundwater are non-existent. ...".
It is interesting to mention that Mr. Eubanks was presenting the only certified organic farm in the group.
Thank you for the nomination and the award ... Both ment a lot to me...
New Leaf Market 5th Annual Farm Tour
Sunday October 21, 2012 from 10am to 4pm
Farm Tour at 11am, 1pm and 3pm
Please forward this email to your email list and help us spread the word about Real Food.
Thank you for supporting a better way to produce healthy and wholesome food.
Twin Oaks Farm
USDA Certified Organic
Bonifay FL 32425
www.twinoaksfarm.net
www.facebook.com/twinoaksfarm
Tonight I found a small patch of Chanterelles at the edge of the little wood behind the house ... I have been looking for them, our summer has been really wet and they are everywhere ...
10 minutes picking, most of the time spent fighting with the jungle ...
The cutest little snail was amoung them ...
Saute some onions (would have been better with shallots but I did not have any) then add the chanterelles, let it cook for a few minutes then add the parsley and a dash of white wine, salt/pepper to taste, ...
... a few more minutes of cooking ... et voila ...
I mixed them with a tomato, olive oil and a splash of balsamique ... Great impromptu salad from the wood .. Bon appetit ...
From our Farm to your Table ....
The Bountiful Fruits of Summer ...
We packed Summer Gift Bags with our Preserves ...
Visit our store :
http://www.twinoaksfarm.net/store/preserves-chutneys-and-more?page=1
$ 5 flat rate shipping
Includes gift wrapping as in the pictures
Twin Oaks Farm Preserves are the perfect choice.
Our preserves are for all occations, order from our e-commerce and have it shipped directly ... Looking for :
Hostess Gift
House Warming Gift
Get Well Gift
B'day Present
For-that-hard-to-please-that-has-everything
All our preserves are produced right here at the farm the old fashioned way : just fresh fruits, that we either grow or pick from small local growers, and certified organic evaporated cane juice and all organic ingredients.
No pectin, No citric acid, No ascorbic acid or any other colorants/fillers or chemicals.
Summer Fun :
One jar of our Blueberry Preserve, one jar of Strawberry Preserve
and one jar of Peach Preserves.
All about Fig :
One jar of our Fig Preserves, one jar of Fig Chutney
and one jar of Fig - Cranberry Chutney.
The Garden Party Bag :
One jar of our Caramelized Onion Compote, one jar of our Cranberry Mustard and one jar of our Fig Butter.
We are at the Seaside Farmers Market
every Saturday from 8 am to noon all year around.
Please Forward this email to your email list and help us spread the word about Real Food.
Thank you for supporting a better way to produce healthy and wholesome food.
Twin Oaks Farm
USDA Certified Organic
Bonifay FL 32425
www.twinoaksfarm.net
Summer at the farm brings an abundance of fruits and long hours spend in the kitchen ...
We start the season with Strawberries, ours are locally grown, in the dirt for good taste, and they are never fumigated, the result is a premium preserve ...
This year, for the first time, we offered Strawberry-Rhubarb Preserve, we only made a small batch of it not knowing if our customers would like it .. Well it was a huge success and we are already out of it !!! ... Next year we will make sure to order much more of this beautiful organic rhubarb ....
Then comes the Blueberries. They grow very well in this part of Florida and for a few weeks everything is in the shades of blues. Mixing different varieties is the secret of our wonderful preserve, some are sweeter than others, some have more natural pectin than others ... The right mix makes the right Blueberry Preserve.
Late June brought the first Figs. Our Fig Preserve is a hit and a favorite with cheese Lovers. Aside from selling fresh figs at the Farmers Market, where they are very popular, we also made chutneys and butter with figs, another way to eat those delicious fruits ...
Two weeks ago we got peaches, another delicious fruits. Just the smell and the color of ripe peaches is a feast for the senses ...
Ongoing throughout the summer our Tomato - Basil Sauce is made and Ratatouille and then our Eggplant Chutney etc ... making it a never ending arrival of fresh locally grown fruits and vegetables ... Cooking with them is a pleasure and we wish we could post online the smell in the kitchen certain days ...
Enjoy your summer ...
All our preserves are made right here at the farm.
We only use fresh fruits that we either grow or buy from small local growers. For sugar we use certified organic evaporated cane juice and we make a point to buy the one grown in Florida, it comes at a premium.
Today, in this country, 96% of the beet sugar is grown from GMO seeds. Introduced in 2008, the beets are Monsanto’s most recent Roundup Ready product, genetically engineered to withstand loads of the direct application of the herbicide glyphosate. They took over the sugar beet market within two years. By 2010, 95 percent of the sugar beets grown in the U.S. were Monsanto’s genetically modified variety.
This matters to us all because about 50 percent of white sugar sold in the U. S. is made from sugar beets. In other words, unless that bag of sugar you just bought is labeled “Certified Organic” or “100 percent cane sugar,” it almost certainly contains sugar made from GMO crops.
This has created a rush on alternatives and certified organic cane sugar is one of them. Today we have to buy our sugar months in advance and in much larger quantities as we never know how much and when it will be available, and the price almost doubled compared to 4 years ago when we first started.
No pectin, No citric acid, No ascorbic acid … I am often asked why ?? to give you just one example: 90% of the world production of citric acid comes from China, all raised from a petty dish. I have nothing against China, but I don’t want it involved in my food, just a personal choice !!
The No pectin also means a preserve packed with fruits and not watered down.
If we use spices they have to be certified organic, all spices mix are made right here.
For years I suffered from debilitating food allergies and I learned the hard way to stay away from any “mix” whatever. Food labeling law does not require the detail of the “mix” as long as the use is under a certain percentage of the serving size … in other word: you have no way to find out what is in it but be pretty sure it contains MSG or some version of hydrolyzed soy.
We also stay away from any “natural”, by now we all know it does not mean anything.
Aside from the fruits preserves, you can choose from our chicken in curry sauce or chicken in mushroom/cream sauce both are 100% organic which means all in the ingredients are certified organic. Our chicken broth: just chickens and sea salt. We also have a whole line of confits, chutneys and other compotes either sweet or not, spicy or not ... some are just seasonal like our Ratatouille, you can buy zucchinis all year around but if you want to use only local harvest then you have them just for a few months. The beauty of local and seasonal !!!
Little Preserve Trivia : Fig is our all time best seller !!!
We work hard to bring you the best preserves and your ongoing support made them a success …
Check out our new Preserves Album on Facebook :
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.106883413013.96940.104138533013&type=1
From our Farm to your Mother ....
... just in time for Mother's Day ...
We packed Gift Bags with goodies ...
Visit our store :
http://www.twinoaksfarm.net/store/preserves-chutneys-and-more?page=1
$ 5 flat rate shipping
Includes gift wrapping as in the pictures
Twin Oaks Farm Preserves are the perfect choice.
All our preserves are produced right here at the farm the old fashion way : just fresh fruits, that we either grow or pick from small local growers, and certified organic evaporated cane juice and all organic ingredients.
No pectin, No citric acid, No ascorbic acid or any other colorants/fillers or chemicals.
Breakfast Bag :
One jar of our Blueberry Preserve, one jar of Pear - Calamondine Preserve and one jar of 3 Agrumes.
Afternoon Tea Bag :
One jar of our Mandarine Preserves, one jar of Peach Preserve and one jar of Fig Preserve.
The Happy Hour Bag :
One jar of our Lemon Confit, one jar of our Caramelized Onions and one bag of Grey Sea Salt with Herbs de Provence.
Or you can pick and choose and we will be happy to gift wrapped it and ship it to your Mother !!!
Orders to be shipped for Mother's Day need to be received by Monday May 7, 2012
We are at the Seaside Farmers Market
every Saturday from 9am to 1pm all year around.
Please Forward this email to your email list and help us spread the word about Real Food.
Thank you for supporting a better way to produce healthy and wholesome food.
Twin Oaks Farm
USDA Certified Organic
Bonifay FL 32425
www.twinoaksfarm.net
Finally this week I got all the material I needed to split my beehives. I am doing better around my bees still I highly appreciate the help of my friend Dawn and we decided that bee handling was a two people job anyway !!! …
As we did for my friend’s hives a few weeks ago, the idea is to take 4 frames from the established hive and move them to a new one while replacing the old frames by 4 new ones in the established hive.
Both of my hives have now two super (the additional boxes you see above the brood box), we had set the first one like 5 or 6 weeks ago and the second one 2 weeks ago. The top box was still fairly empty of bees and honey but the one below is almost full, we could not resist and took a frame to harvest the honey. The box was so heavy we had to move it together !!
Once we had the two super set aside we started to work on getting the 4 frames at the center out and moved them into the new brood box. In one of the hive we were able to locate the queen, trust me it is quite an accomplishment for beginners. I try to take a pix but between the veil and the huge gloves to try to zoom in, the pix was off focus …
Once we were done with the frames, we put back the two super on the established hives and then drove the two new ones to my friends at Working Cow Dairy, they are also certified organic so no risk for my bees to splurge on GMO’s or pesticide. We got them in a really nice area, surrounded by organic fields, with a little forest on one side and a nice stream running through, plenty of wild flowers all around.
I will check on them in a week or so and will keep you posted on the progress …