We are a small, diversified family farm nestled in the hills of the Missouri Ozarks. We produce pas
Operating as usual
We've still got two beautiful, plump geese available for holiday feasting. Swing by Farmers Market of the Ozarks before 8:00 to nab one. If you don't, we'll have to eat them, which...okay, maybe don't swing by, on second thought. But if you do, I guess we'll sell you one.
If you're looking for a fantastic meal, I know some folks...
More ducks have arrived! This is when we really appreciate how talented our team is. Since we process and breakdown the ducks ourselves, we can make sure we use as much of the bird as possible. But that takes some true knife skills from our crew.
-The duck necks and bodies become duck demi-glace.
- The skin is rendered down for the fat.
- and the hearts and livers are reserved for patte and terrine
This takes patience and attention to detail, but our team is on it.
We are privileged--and, indeed, more than a little proud--to work with some amazingly talented local chefs, including Chef Calvin and the team at The Order. Do yourself a favor and stop in there soon!
Full circle.
This building is our brooder house, where all of our poultry spend the first few weeks of their lives, keeping warm and dry until they're ready to move out to pasture. (It also doubles as our seed-starting greenhouse, with chicks and ducklings at ground level and plants up on shelves.) By this point in the year we've passed the time for baby birds, so we removed the partitions and heat sources and put this year's geese in for their final three weeks of fattening. They've been running around the pastures since June, carefully tended to by the farm's resident adult geese, and now it's time for them to relax and veg out a bit before gracing some lucky tables this coming holiday season.
We still have a handful available, so if you're interested do let us know. We'll be at Farmers Market of the Ozarks this Saturday and next with a few ducks and Guinea fowl to sell and for anyone who's interested in reserving one of our last few pasture-raised geese.
For the past few years we've been raising ducks in batches of 60 birds each, as this level allows us to optimize daily chores without overburdening our workload at processing time. But this year, these ducks had different ideas. Though they were put out to pasture a week apart, separated by about 200 yards and a little 'finger' of the woodlot, the second (younger) batch decided to join ranks with the first batch. The flock instinct is strong, indeed. This makes daily chores easier, since now we're tending to just one batch, but there will be no shortage of annoyance once it comes time to separate them for butcher day.
At least they'll be tasty.
This is a clump of ironweed. In my opinion it is a considerable eyesore, and is far more prevalent in our pastures than I'd like, largely the result of a history of overgrazing by cattle.
But it has its saving graces. It is a native plant, and its flowers, though not what I'd call pretty, attract pollinators. Its seeds feed the local wild bird population, most notably in the fall and winter when other food sources are more scarce. Its roots go deep into the subsoil, and when the plant dies the minerals it has accumulated and brought into its leaves and stems fall to the surface, to be made available to shallower-rooted plants. (In this way, as is the case with many "weeds," it helps to alleviate the soil deficiencies that its very presence indicates.)
When stripped of its leaves, my 11 year old tells me, it also makes great arrows, to be shot from a bow made from a flexible small tree branch and a bit of baling twine.
But its most evident benefit in a drought year like this is that it makes an acceptable forage. Though the cattle mostly ignore it, the sheep find it perfectly acceptable. It's not their first choice when turned into a new paddock, but they will certainly turn to it long before they've exhausted the other food sources, pretty thoroughly nibbling off its leaves (leaving mostly-bare stalks, as seen in the photo above).
And so we learn to live with it, to eschew the park-like landscape that mowing this pasture would result in. But we also seek to bring it back into balance by bringing this field back into a state of higher fertility, by grazing it with cattle and sheep, and by, for the first time in 10 years, running poultry across it. Those ducks in the background will be destined for some amazing meals starting mid-October; but more about them another time.
Last spring we put in a large-ish bed of parsnips. By the time we got around to digging them last fall they were woody and not-so-palatable, so we just left them. When making plans for this year's garden, we decided to leave that bed as-is and let the parsnips, a biennel plant, flower and go to seed this year, largely for the purpose of attracting pollinators.
It's not as clear in the video as it is in real life, but I'd say the plan is working. This patch is swarming with multiple species of native bees, beetles, wasps, moths, butterflies, flies, and even honeybees! And as a bonus, we ought to get a bit of seed for planting next year.
Dust off those pie pans, it's gooseberry season! We'll have plenty of these beautiful, plump tart berries tomorrow at Farmers Market of the Ozarks.
That moment when you suspect the bottle lambs have been secretly studying geometry...
After years of refining our poultry breeding program, we've finally been able to produce the fabled Turducken. Stop by and see us tomorrow at Farmers Market of the Ozarks to preorder yours! Available November 31st.
This is our newly constructed "goose house," recently featured in Architectural Digest magazine. (You'll find it in the "What Not To Do" segment.) But sometimes function trumps beauty on the farm, and when you need to finish a project quickly with only materials currently on hand, you make it work. And the proof is in the pudding, as they say: peek inside and you'll find two geese sitting on nests, patiently willing their progeny into life. And the ultimate result? A whole gaggle of memorable Christmas dinners.
Sometimes there's a lamb in a box in the bathroom.
The fine folks who sold us our starter flock called today to say that they had a bottle lamb available. His mama had a rough birth and didn't seem to have enough milk for the little guy, so he would need to be grafted onto another ewe or raised on a bottle. We don't have a ewe at the moment that can take another lamb, but fortunately we have great milk from our small cow herd, and kiddos that have been looking forward to taking care of a bottle lamb. So for the moment he's being housed in the bathroom, and once he has become accustomed to drinking from a bottle instead of a teat he'll be ready to join the rest of the flock.
This year's first batch of guinea keets arrived today. It'll be four months until they're at harvest size, but good things are worth the wait.
Frosty spring mornings have a charm all their own. Here the garlic still in the shade of the barn looks huddled unto itself, while the garlic further west, reached by sunlight a bit earlier, is perky and sprightly and ready to grow!
This is what 3 weeks of duckling growth looks like, which is almost mind-boggling.
The Pekin duck was first imported into the United States from China in the 1870s, and even then it was renowned for its incredible growth rate. Add in a century and a half of breeding know-how, and the results are simply amazing. We source our ducklings from a hatchery that in turn sources their breeding stock from a reputable French company. (I hear the French know a thing or two about producing good food...) These birds grow quickly, but without the fragility often found in other fast-growing poultry like hybrid chickens and turkeys. They're hardy, reliable, and, let's face it, downright delicious.
You can find our ducks on the menu this spring at Harvest Restaurant and at The Order. Or come see us at Farmers Market of the Ozarks most Saturday mornings and pick one up for yourself!
This past Saturday our sheep got their annual haircut. It's really quite amazing to watch Katie at Right Choice Shearing deftly remove their wool with what looks to be roughly the same amount of effort it takes for me to undo a zipper. (Of course it's not that easy; she just makes it look that way.) Now we just wait for these rather rotund girls to start popping out lambs!
We will have some delicious pork available by the half hog soon, with two fat pigs going to the butcher March 7. The price is $5/lb on the hanging weight, all processing included. Expected price is $450-500 per half, yielding 70-80 lbs of packaged meat, lard, and stock bones.
Our pigs work for us as land clearers and home composters. In the picture below they were just beginning their job of clearing space for this year's pumpkin patch. (The photo was taken over the summer, clearly, so they're obviously more than a bit bigger by now.) Otherwise they take things like garden wastes, stale bread ends, and whey from our home dairy and turn them into farm fertility. They are also fed a non-GMO grain mix from a local mill in order to plump up nicely.
You can have your half cut up however you like, and we will deliver to the Springfield area at no cost.
Please let us know as soon as possible if you're interested!
This isn't exactly what we'd consider ideal calving weather, but a veteran mama like Marilyn can manage.
This is why we wear wool during the winter. Cold, snowy, windy, and not a care in the world.
This Thanksgiving, do the decent thing and spare a turkey.
Eat a duck instead.
We'll have an ample supply of beautiful plump ducks this Saturday, Nov 20th, at Farmers Market of the Ozarks to aid you in starting a new holiday tradition. Used to preparing a larger bird? We have no 20-pounders, but there's no rule that says you can't cook more than one. Here's to a delicious and festive turkey, er, duck day!
Duck demi-glace? Why, yes, I think I will.
Our corn patch got a haircut this past week. I went through with a pair of pruning shears and removed the tops above the developing ears. These tops were then dried and cured and will be stored in the hayloft to be used as winter fodder for the cows and sheep. This also allows the corn plants to put more photosynthetic energy into the developing ears, and allows more sunlight to reach (and ultimately ripen) the winter squash and pumpkins growing at ground level. Unfortunately this reduces the magic felt when walking through a sea of tall corn, but we think the trade-off is worth it.
Wanting to up your garlic game? Swing by Farmers Market of the Ozarks today and grab some! We've got six varieties available, plus bundles of what we like to call "Your Guess Is As Good As Mine" garlic.
See that little (wild) Mallard hen swimming out there? She's been hanging out with those (domestic) Muscovy drakes for the last week or so. I love the integration of wildness and domesticity that conscientious farming fosters.
A little garden love. In the middle foreground is a bed of Tithonia sunflowers, with summer squash below. To the left is a bed of (mulched) fall carrots, just starting to pop up, and to the right are pole beans on a trellis. San Marzano (sauce) and Principe Borghese (for drying) tomatoes in the background, each bed of which will soon also be home to fall broccoli and cabbage. In the back right is this year's corn/bean/squash/pumpkin/cantaloupe/watermelon/sweet potato patch. Some of those cornstalks are at least 12' tall!
Yes, it's summer. Yes, it's stinkin' hot. But our ducks are still delicious, so don't make the mistake of thinking they're cold-weather fare only. Don't want to turn on the oven and heat up the house? Then throw one on the smoker or grill, and thank me later.
We'll have plenty of beautiful, plump ducks at Farmers Market of the Ozarks this Saturday (and every Saturday for the foreseeable future). Stop by and pick one up. It's miserably hot, but at least you can still eat well!
Need a break from the same ol' chicken? We will have *fresh* guinea fowl at Farmers Market of the Ozarks this Saturday!
Need a break from cooking AND from the same ol' chicken? Then swing by (maybe make a reservation first...) Harvest Restaurant to see what wonders Chef Craig and team have made with these very same birds.
Our guineas roam wide and free across our farm (and, if I'm being honest, on to the neighbor's...), where they forage extensively and develop a musculature that gives them a depth of flavor unparalleled by other domestic poultry. They are then carefully processed on farm, where they are dry plucked and air chilled, resulting in a truly superior bird. You would have to travel far and wide to find another farm raising and processing guineas to such high standards--but thankfully we're just right over here!
Some things are great to share with those you love.
But not wild black raspberries. Eat those as fast as you can pick 'em and deny you found anything. (Be sure to wash the purple off your fingertips.)
I think we'll skip picking from this particular gooseberry bush this year. Good luck little birdies (but you're barking up the wrong tree)!
Get those pie crusts ready! We're bringing up the next generation of gooseberry pickers (can you spot all four?), and we'll have the season's first wild Ozarks gooseberries at Farmers Market of the Ozarks this Saturday.
"And now the past must come
To serve the future: dung
And straw from the barn floor
You carry to the fields,
Load after load until
The barns are clean, the cropland
All covered with manure."
- Wendell Berry, from the poem "The Farm"
This is last winter's accumulation of manure and bedding from the barn, put to use now as hills for planting corn. When the corn is about 6" tall, we will then seed winter squash and pole beans in the hills, taking advantage of the synergy involved in what multiple indigenous tribes referred to as the "Three Sisters."
This 1/8-acre field will also have a bed of sweet potatoes running down the middle of it, a row of hills each for pumpkins and melons (those are the rows whose hills don't all align with the others), plus a bed of sunflowers running alongside the southern edge and additional sunflowers seeded wherever the corn does not germinate.
This is unapologetically human-scale agriculture.
It's a bird-y time of year in the barn. We had a Muscovy duck hatch out 14 ducklings in the hayloft late last week, there are two chickens sitting on nests in one of the stall mangers, there's a pair of barn swallows getting ready to start laying in the mud-and-straw nest they built on a rafter, starlings in a hole in the wall, and this little fledging wren that offered up an adorable photo op.
Be still my heart. Pasture-raised duck breast, available fresh this Saturday at Farmers Market of the Ozarks. See you then!
Well, good morning to you, too!
Sassafras gets plenty of respect, but I don't know why nobody seems to celebrate the fact that it sprouts *popcorn* early every spring.
Getting ready to take these beauties to Harvest Restaurant. We've done our part, and now it's Chef Craig's turn to work his own brand of culinary magic on them.
Dinner out not in your weekend plans? No problem. We'll have more plump, fresh ducks this Saturday at Farmers Market of the Ozarks!
A fair question, indeed. Sign up for our CSA (link in comments) to correct your duck-eating deficiency!
https://www.salon.com/2021/03/20/for-the-love-of-all-that-is-delicious-why-dont-we-eat-duck-more-often-in-this-country/
Ariane Daguin, who founded the gourmet food purveyor D'Artagnan where duck is revered, teaches us how to cook it
After a week spent confined to their pasture shelter (so they can get used to their new home), this year's first batch of ducks can now be let out to roam for the day. This exercise makes them happier, healthier, and, in the end, tastier than mass-produced ducks, whose lives are no better than industrial meat chickens.
So buy pasture-raised! We will have *fresh* whole ducks available in only four weeks!
A heated mattress. Brilliant!
And there's a lamb in the house. Again.
5147 Pleasant Hill Rd
Seymour, MO
65746
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Last spring we put in a large-ish bed of parsnips. By the time we got around to digging them last fall they were woody and not-so-palatable, so we just left them. When making plans for this year's garden, we decided to leave that bed as-is and let the parsnips, a biennel plant, flower and go to seed this year, largely for the purpose of attracting pollinators. It's not as clear in the video as it is in real life, but I'd say the plan is working. This patch is swarming with multiple species of native bees, beetles, wasps, moths, butterflies, flies, and even honeybees! And as a bonus, we ought to get a bit of seed for planting next year.
This year's first batch of guinea keets arrived today. It'll be four months until they're at harvest size, but good things are worth the wait.
Duck demi-glace? Why, yes, I think I will.
A little morning tour of the barn. And a little outside the barn, too.
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