Mud Season

January has drenched the farm with cold rain and heavy skies. When we think the ground is at peak saturation, it rains again and the earth has no choice but to receive it. Muck boot weather. We take to rolling hay bales into the pasture by hand so as not to rut up the ground with deep tractor tires. Three of us push the behemoth of a bale over the fence wire and down the hill.

The animals and humans all hope for frozen ground that we can easily walk over. The mud pulls at our legs and holds us in place, like it’s making a mold of our feet and in the spring we’ll find castings of our boots and hooves lying around the farm once the world dries up.

When the slop can no longer absorb more, water flows rapidly down the ruts, smoothing the ground and carrying soil with it. Erosion we’d like to avoid. Ephemeral streams pop up wherever a tractor once traveled and we cross our fingers for the water system grant to be awarded, after three years of trying. This water system will eliminate the need to haul water on the tractor year-round multiple days per week, keeping us from tearing up the ground in wet weather. But our fate is in the hands of the government and our competition is industrial farms vying for the same pot of conservation monies. We are small potatoes.

The cattle are bored this time of year, rubbing themselves on a t-post or reaching their necks delicately through the hot wire to munch on bales stored on the other side, even though they have plenty of hay in the field. They watch us as we rebuild fence, using the extra time we have in the winter when we’re not moving cows daily to fix gates and improve the barn. This group of black angus heifers and three red angus steers is particularly skittish. They busted out of the fence in November when we were on a walk, simply because they didn’t see us coming and startled. But now that they’re spending winter in the pasture nearest the house, they’re getting used to our presence and no longer run when we walk out to them. When we work in the field and ignore them, they follow us around. #138 is the most bold and by spring, I think she’ll let me scratch her face.

This weekend CJ bought a used, reach-in freezer in Dayton that we’ll clean up and use to store meat. Freezer space has been our bottleneck. We have had to deliver meat the same day when we pick it up from the butcher since we don’t have the capacity to hold it over. So this freezer will allow us to more easily coordinate deliveries and to repackage cuts into smaller bundles. See details below to order beef bundles this February!

As I write this, the steel-colored sky has begun to drop sleet. Jury’s out as to whether it will turn to rain or long-awaited snow. We hope this finds you warm and cozy this time of year.

Beef Bundles Coming Soon!

We are excited to be launching a new product in February - beef bundles! These smaller bundles of meat will fit into a normal kitchen freezer and provide a variety of cuts for your enjoyment. Here’s a sneak peak…

Beef Bundles - $125 each
13 lbs of nutrient-dense Red Angus beef

• 2 premium steaks (T-bones, ribeyes, or sirloin - 1 inch thick)
• 1 roast (2-3 lbs)
• 1 round steak OR pack of stew meat
• 20 burger patties (5 packs of 1/3 lb patties)
• 2 tubes of ground beef (1 lb each)

Pickup in Columbus and Athens on a designated weekend date TBD! Email us to be notified first when they’re available to order.

MoSo Jewelry

Molly’s Etsy page has been restocked after the holidays with 21 pairs of earrings! Check it out.

What I’m reading…

Pig Years | Book by Ellyn Gaydos | Pig Years catapults American nature writing into the 21st century, and has been hailed by Lydia Davis and Aimee Nezhukumatathil as "engrossing" and "a marvel." As a farmer in Upstate New York and Vermont, Ellyn Gaydos lives on the knife edge between loss and gain. Her debut memoir draws us into this precarious world, conjuring with stark simplicity the lifeblood of the farm: its livestock and stark full moons, the sharp cold days lives near to the land.