Hello Farm Family Whew! A lot has been happening over the past month and a half since we last chatted and there is so much to get caught up on. This update has a few surprises so let’s get right into it.
In House News, most of you know by now that we moved last year, but you may not know that the home we bought is a fixer-upper! You know those shows renovation shows on HGTV? The ones where everything turns out beautiful and terrific in just a short period of time? Well that’s definitely not happening here! There was a lot to be discovered once we got started and although we’ve come a long way, there is still so much to get done.
My parents have owned several properties throughout my life and my Dad has always been a General Contractor so you would think that I might be good at renovations, right? WRONG! I am a hard worker, and I have my strengths, but construction and renovations really don’t fall under my wheelhouse. I love learning though, so I’m not giving up.
I have always been super thankful for my Dad but, when I tell you how in awe of him and of his hard work I am, like it is so true! Even in his 70’s it has truly been amazing to watch him work and to experience both learning from him and watching him and Brandon work together.
Since our last Newsletter we have almost successfully finished sanding all of the ceilings in the entire house. Why are we doing that? Well, it’s because the previous owners were smokers and they didn’t think twice about smoking up the place. The good news about getting the ceilings done is that next comes the flooring which means that we can finally start putting the house back together and I am so ready for that!!!!
OK enough about renovations now onto Family News. You may have seen on Facebook that Brandon and I took our anniversary trip at the end of March. It was just a short trip to Biloxi, but it was extremely nice to not only get away but for us to be able to spend time together.
With all the chaos of everyday life coupled with the sadness of losing our son we NEEDED it! If you’ve never been to Biloxi before but would like to go, we know a good a couple of good food spots to try.
In Farm News the Spring season of Kith & Kin opened earlier this month and things are going well. We are very thankful to grow food and take care of our members, both old and new. With all of the weather changes, including the crazy rain, we know that is only through God’s blessings that we are able to be successful.
Spring will soon turn into Summer and we are excited to announce that we have just opened up a Summer Share for Kith & Kin CSA!!! This is a short four week season happening in June. Then we will gladly take the month of July off and begin planting again in August for the Fall.
Growing Now we currently have squash, eggplants, tomatoes, peppers, herbs and more. You know all things Summer! On a side note this is actually the first year that we haven’t been able to grow our own potatoes, and no one is more sad about that than I am.
Seems like everyone is attempting to grow their own food (which is not a bad thing) and we could not get the organic seed potatoes that we normally buy in time to plant them earlier this year. It’s not all bad though, because we have decided to run trials on growing Fall potatoes. So stay tuned.
We recently planted melons and cantaloupes and will continue to succession plant more Summer produce throughout the season. Of course we still have things like kale and radishes along with a brand new speciality green that we just introduced to our lineup. We announced it on social media, but if you missed it. It’s Endive!
We’re always looking to try something different. Plus we love learning about and growing new things so bitter greens was a no brainer for us once we realized no else is growing it in the Wiregrass. It’s something that we couldn’t be more excited about and you may be thinking why, WHY would you want to grow something that is bitter right? Well I’m glad you thought that.
One of our major goals is to eat mostly from our farm and greens from the chicory family like endive and radicchio (coming soon) are a great choice because they are high in vitamins and antioxidants. Talk about eating healthy! Yes please! Plus once you know how to cook them, they are really delicious! We’ve learned that finding the right ingredients, the right pairings, and the right cooking techniques goes a long way when it comes to eating farm to table meals.
In Chicken News, the meatbirds finally arrived. Their late arrival puts them ready just in time for grilling season. This throws the scheduling off a bit but, we are planning to keep them in stock throughout the Summer. The listing has been updated to reflect their expected harvest date.
Our new hens had a little bit of a setback between the weather and the new rooster that we added, but they have gotten back into the swing of things and arer pretty consistent with their egg laying now.
We have another set of layers that are about two months old who are expected to begin laying by the end of Summer. Additionally, we have some good friends that are hatching out a new set of birds for us as well so we are slowly build up our flock. It’s really thrilling to see it all come together!
On to the Pig News…It truly had to be a family affair getting the fencing in place, sectioning out paddocks, making sure they had fresh grass, lots of water, wallows, and plenty of shade as Pigs do not sweat and need to stay cool.
We have been hinting about having Hawkins Homestead Farm pork and the BIG NEWS is that we are announcing that our Pastured Pork is now available for you to reserve! They will be sold either by the whole or half hog.
This has been a long time in the making since we trialed pork back in 2020. We shared some of the meat with friends, customers, and family and the feedback we received was so much more than we ever expected! Some even asked if they could buy it then, but we knew at that time that we didn’t have the space that would allow us to raise more. So fast forward to now and our time has arrived!
As you can probably tell there is a lot going on to keep us busy between our spiritual routine, farm animals, produce, home renovations, work, being Grandparents, and just life in general. So we are thankful for it!
We will see what new developments happen in the coming weeks. Chat with you again soon. Until then……