June on the Farm

Farmers Market Reflections

It’s been just over a month that we have been selling at our local Athens Farmers Market! This market is over 50 years old and has an amazing array of vendors offering their homegrown produce, sustainably raised meats, delicious baked goods, and artisanal crafts.

We have thoroughly enjoyed talking with people about our farming practices, discussing what cut of meat they might most enjoy, or hearing how customers have cooked our products from week to week. When we were selling only bulk shares of meat, we might sell a half beef to someone and only get to interact with them once per year when we deliver their order. The farmers market provides the opportunity to hang out with our customers more regularly. It’s incredibly rewarding to get to know the individuals who are being nourished by our pastured pork and grass-fed beef.

Another element to being at market weekly is seeing the other vendors and local farmers on a regular basis. Many of these vendors we already knew, but didn’t have the opportunity to see very often. After all, many times farming can be isolating or keep you on the farm day in and day out. But the market is a routine time when we get to catch up with the great folks at Attican Farms or Sugar Butte Farms or Creekside Farm or Blaney Family Farm, to name just a few!

Silvopasture Training on our Farm

We had the privilege of hosting 40 great minds and passionate land stewards who spent three days together learning about silvopasture — the integration of livestock, forages, and trees. We got to dive into just how to implement silvopasture by exploring planting trees into pasture, converting woodlots, best tree protection methods, and species selection.

This top agricultural climate solution has so much potential to benefit not only our shared resources but also farm health and viability. Shoutout to Mt. Folly Farm for dreaming this up and funding this, Trees for Graziers for sharing their expertise and drawing out the wisdom of the group, and Rural Action for putting it on. Folks came in from across Ohio, Indiana, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Kentucky and Pennsylvania for this wonderful event.

On top of it, we got to plant 10 mulberry trees into our silvopasture! The pigs are going to love those mulberries when they start falling.

Summer Solstice Show on June 29th

We welcome you to our third annual Summer Solstice Show to celebrate the summer season in community. We invite you to bring a lawn chair and listen to local bands who will perform from our front porch! We'll have food to share and invite you to bring sides and drinks, if you'd like. This is a free event, but donations will be encouraged to support the artists!

• Where: 5373 Enlow Rd is between Athens and Albany, off of 50 (the opposite side of 50 from the livestock sale) but before you get to Baker Rd. We're at the top of a hill that's easy to drive past!
• When: Saturday, June 29th. Doors open at 5pm.
• Parking: Parking available in our neighbor's field just right of the driveway after you drive in.
• What to bring: Lawn chairs, sides/snacks to share if you want, drinks, cash or venmo for donations. No pets please.
• Weather: This is a weather permitting event. Should rain occur, we'll move the event to the following day, Sunday, June 30th.

Who will be performing?

• Sowash Family Band: Music has been a core part of our family for generations. For this show, sisters Molly and Bryn, parents Susan and Bradley and uncle Jon come together to play some of our favorite folk and blues tunes from Bonnie Raitt, Brandi Carlile, James Taylor, as well as some jazz standards and a couple originals.
  
• Moxahala: Moxahala plays a lot of Grateful Dead, Bob Dylan, Little Feat, Willie Nelson, John Prine and more. A scaled down band with big sound. Bob Collins lead guitar, Steve Heidtmann bass, Randy Shoup acoustic rythym, Kevin Morgan vocals, blues harp. Steve Heidtmann was a musical assistant to Jay Leno’s band his entire tenure on the Tonight Show before Jay retired and Steve moved back to Ohio. Kevin and Bob were original members of “Moxahala" back in the day and Kevin, Bob and Steve formed “Godchild” that were present on the Athens Scene and surrounding area.