Hello, and welcome to July! I’m not quite sure what happened to June, but here we are, ready for an end to all this rain and some nice warm summer days. I hope you and yours are all healthy and able to enjoy all of the wonderful things that go along with summer here in the north!
On the Farm
All of this rain and the cooler temperatures have been great for making hay. I try to get as much hay as I can from our own pastures, because I know that we never spray with anything. At all. Ever. I could probably buy organic hay, but the word “organic” doesn’t always mean what we would like it to mean. Also, I like to know for sure. Our animals only eat hay in the winter so it needs to be exactly what I want and I don’t have any way to test hay and make sure. This means that I am very excited for how fast our pastures have been growing. The problem with how great the grass is growing is harvesting it. In order to harvest really nice, good quality, mold free hay, you need at least three rain free days in a row. Rain free days have been rare, but we were able to get enough hay off of just one harvest to keep our beef cattle and goats in hay all winter. This is a very good feeling for me. I still need a little more for our dairy cow and rabbits, but there is still plenty of time to make that happen.
If you were to tour our farm right now you would see a lot going on. The chickens, turkeys, pigs, goats, and cattle are all out on pasture and eating fresh grass. They are moved regularly so we don’t have to worry as much about parasites and everyone is very happy. Except the goats. Those guys always seem to be complaining about something. The garden is also mostly planted, and now it is just time to battle the weeds. This is a battle I seem to loose every year, and yet somehow still choose to keep fighting.
Bulk Food Orders
Our next bulk food order will be delivered on July 11th. Orders are due July 5th. I know that this is not a lot of time, unfortunately I just received the price list today. The next opportunity for a bulk food order is August 8th. I will have that price list out as soon as I get it, but make sure you are subscribed to the newsletter to get it as soon as possible! Some things that I would highly recommend for those who choose to order food in bulk:
The Alcam butter. It is from Wisconsin and from cows raised by responsible farmers. This brand was highly recommended by Don Slinger as he knew the owners.
Grain Miller’s oat products. They test every shipment of oats, organic and non organic, for glysophates (Round-up) and reject any that have even a trace amount.
Zerega pasta. This is just for the taste and texture. I don’t actually care for pasta at all, but this one could convert me. If your family is gluten free, try going to the website walnutcreek.com and searching “gf” for whatever reason is pulls up a lot more products than searching “gluten free”.
To order from Walnut Creek, you look through the price list in the pdf attached. If you are looking to see if they carry a certain item, you can just go to Walnutcreek.com but they don’t have prices listed there. It is just a little easier to browse for things there, plus you can see the ingredients and sometimes pictures of the items. Then send me a list of the items you want at northhaus@gmail.com . When you send me this list, be sure to include the item number, a short description, and the price. This way I can catch any mistakes. I promise you I have caught a couple this way on every order.
Your order is due Friday, July 5th at 7pm. Your order will arrive here on the farm on Thursday July 11th. It should be ready by 4:30. I will let you know if it arrives a lot earlier or if he gets held up and it is late. He was late last month due to all of the rain paired with road construction. Our address is 2482 170th Ave. Emerald, WI 54013. We are on the North side of the road and have two black mailboxes at the end of the driveway.
Whole and Half Hogs
We still have whole and half hogs to sell. These pigs are raised outside and rotated onto fresh pasture regularly where they eat lots of green stuff and dig in the dirt. This causes a great increase in things like mineral content and omega-3 in the meat. The animals are also very happy when raised this way, so you are not consuming all of the stress hormones that you might be from conventionally raised meat. The question has come up “how much meat can I expect from a whole or half hog?” The answer depends a bit on how you choose to have it butchered. If you choose to have a lot of ground products and fewer cuts, you will get a little less meat. Otherwise, our pigs tend to weigh between 250 and 300lbs at the time of butcher. You loose a little less than half that when it is slaughtered through things like the organs and blood. You will loose a little of what is left during the butchering process. This means you will have about 70-90lbs of meat from a half hog and obviously twice that from a whole. For most butchers, you have to specifically ask for the lard to be saved. I would highly recommend you do this as it is great for cooking and baking. Also, you can render lard in a crock pot which is almost fool proof.
The cost of one of our pigs is $300 for a half and $600 for a whole. You pay our own butchering fees. Your butchering options are Kessler’s in Glenwood City WI, or Sailer’s in Spring Valley WI. Please be aware that we only have a couple of pigs left for Kessler’s. Your pig will go into the butcher in late September, the butcher will then call you for cutting instructions and let you know when your meat will be ready.
Three Simple Switches
Lately at farmer’s markets, I have been talking to people about the simplest changes that people can make in their lives to make the biggest changes in their health. Now you may wonder why on earth you would want to take advice from a chubby lady who has in the past spent large amounts of time in the hospital. I will tell you this. I am chubby because I love good food. I love it very very much and I will enjoy it every chance I get. Also, I have gone from being a person with all kinds of health issues to one of the healthiest people my doctor sees. He literally can’t believe it. He had to call me when my most recent blood work came back. I’ll admit, I panicked for a moment when my doctor felt the need to call me right away when he saw my blood work, but he said “Your cholesterol is not only fantastic, but it is abnormally fantastic for this part of the world!”. Now keep in mind, I was very sick, tired, and depressed for years before this. Then, in 2019 I decided I had had enough and I was going to start taking back my health. Some of it was very hard, but this month I am going to share three changes that made a huge difference, two of which are so easy you literally won’t even notice.
The first of which is switching from pink salt or celtic salt to Evaporated Sea Water. Yes, I sell it. It made a big difference so why wouldn’t I? ESW is very high in minerals. They don’t wash them away like they do in other salts. They are also now finding traces of heavy metals in pink salt. Also, gunpowder is used to harvest it out of the mountains which is not good for the mountains, the wildlife on the mountains, or the person eating the salt. Celtic Salt is cleaned of some of it’s mineral content. Also, the Sea of Cortez (where the ESW is from) is just cleaner than anywhere else you are going to get salt.
The second switch is Aluminum Free Baking Powder. Aluminum is not good for your body. Especially your brain and I don’t know about you, but my brain is a part I really want to protect as I get older. This means that I am using aluminum free deodorant, I am trading aluminum foil for parchment paper in a lot of my cooking, and I am using aluminum free baking powder. If it does not specifically say that it is aluminum free, it is not.
The third change that I made, and this one was the hardest, was to switch all cane sugar and corn syrup for products like Sucanat, honey, and maple syrup. If you bake a lot, this one can seem a little tricky, but it’s really not. Sucanat can be used as a 1 to 1 replacement for sugar. It basically is sugar, just with all of the minerals left in. The only challenge is that it does have a darker flavor which gives a more caramel flavor in delicate baked goods. I really don’t notice the difference in anything else. If I am baking something more delicate, I use 3/4 cup of honey to replace a cup of sugar, and bake at 325 instead of 350.
I went through a crazy withdrawal time when I completely gave up white sugar, but I truly believe it has made the biggest difference out of the three. I can’t believe how much energy I have now and I rarely get even a little sick anymore. I just have to be very careful as sauces such as ketchup, and salad dressings contain a lot of hidden sugar. I can always tell right away now, though, because even a little sugar gives me a terrible headache!
Party
This is the last newsletter before our big customer appreciation pig roast on August 3rd. There will be an entire roast pig! There will be beef brisket! There will be all kinds of door prizes! There will be farm tours and an in store special of 10% off all in store purchases! The best part is that it is all free! The party starts at 4 and goes until 8. We really hope to see you here at 2482 170th ave. Emerald, WI 54013.
Have a great July and I hope all of your summer celebrations are happy and safe.
Kathy Jensen
Laughing Duck Farm 
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