Harmony Acres

Sunday, January 30, 2011

Good Info.

http://www.foodmatters.tv/_webapp/View%20Film%20Online

Monday, January 24, 2011

Well the 2011 season is off to a good start, at least for the mice! I realized that my seed trays for broccoli were feeding the mice quite well, but now we seem to have a handle on it! The mice in the hoop house did make me start to think of all the trials that farmers run into during the course of a season, such as pest, blight, drought, early/late frost, excess rain..... Our first season was really good, and we did learn a lot, and we had a lot of good feedback from our CSA members, as well as the repeat customers at the farmers markets searching for the "amazingly sweet" Zephyr squash, and the "Ok, I guess I'll try them.....WOW those are good, give me 2" pea shoots! Its fun to grow produce and raise chickens that people start to crave! Tonight we had cooked spinach, sauteed turnips, green onions (all fresh from the garden, not the freezer!), and 2 whole pastured raised chickens. It was amazing, and a treat, to have such good food, that we raised, in the middle of winter. We hope to do a lot more storage this year with potatoes, sweet potatoes, onions and herbs. Our 2011 calender is also showing us that we plan to process twice as many chickens; that's exciting! It's also exciting to see articles in our area about eating locally.(http://www.nc10percent.com/) Last year we heard some pretty scary statistics about how little we are spending locally (markets, home business's, small business's), thankfully we are turning the page on that issue, however it is a slow turn! Another big issue that farmers face is getting started in the spring, meaning the financial area. Seeds and material for the year are usually bought all at once, for some cost savings, early in the year, usually late winter, so that spring can run a lot smoother! Therefore, our 1st CSA deposit deadline is Feb. 1st so that we can financially get rolling! This deadline, however, is not an "in" or "out" meter, meaning there is still hope for you! Memberships are limited, so we do encourage signing up early, but we also understand that some of you may need to work out a different payment schedule, or even a "work day trade". If this is your case, please email us so that we can get you involved in supporting local food! We really appreciate all of your support as we tackle this year, and "Thank You" to those of you who have pre-paid for this year's Real Food CSA. If you would like to share this with a friend or need more information, we will be at Talia's this Tuesday (25th) from 11-1:30pm with a farm slide show, freshly picked spinach, and a basket of eggs (and an amazingly good cup of coffee!).

Sunday, January 9, 2011

Farm Update

Well this has been a very interesting winter so far! For those of you that have not heard, I, Dale, have been layed up in bed for most of it, about 45 days now. Well, the last 8 days I have been up, and about 5 days total here and there for the rest of the time. Yuck! Anyhow, I have had every test, and have seen every specialist, and I am glad to announce that I am completely, 100% healthy! So why have I been in bed with all these symtems that doctors suppected were a result of MS,stroke,lymes disease, tumor, parkinsons, etc.? Well as it turns out, it is actually all related to an accident I had about a month prior to being layed up. Apparently during a sport activity, my head was knocked back quite drastically, and it set my "atlas" (where the brain meets the spine) off about 3 degrees. Well that is the short of it, and all of you that were involved in praying and helping us out during this time, THANK YOU! I was finally referred to a chiropractor here in town that specializes in this area, and I am getting better fast! Now, time for the 2011 CSA. We have made a few changes, and have already placed some brochures around town. If any of you have any questions, please email, or call. You may also try to print this out and fill it out, then mail it to us.

2011 CSA Membership Registration

Name_________________________
Address_______________________
Email_________________________
Phone_________________________

2011 CSA Membership Options

Please Check Desired Option:

___ 1. All Inclusive CSA - $798
(Veggie CSA + 11 broilers, 23 dozen eggs, 23 bars of handmade natural soap, Chickens delivered bi-weekly)
Deposit of $298 due Feb 1st, with 2 more installments of $250, paid on March 1st & April 1st.
___ 2. Meat, Egg & Veggie CSA - $683
( All Inclusive without soap)
Deposit of $283 due Feb 1st, with 2 more installments of $200, paid March 1st & April 1st.
___ 3. Veggie CSA - $460
Deposit of $160 due Feb. 1st, with 2 more
installments of $150 paid on March 1st & April 1st
___ 4. Half Veggie CSA - $250
(Delivered bi-weekly)

CSA add-ons

___ 23 dozen eggs - $80 (if added to 1 or 2, you would recieve 2 dz./wk.)
___ 12 broilers - $156 (if added to 1, you
would receive 1 each week for a total of 23)
___ Thanksgiving Turkey Deposit - $10
($10 non-refundable deposit will reserve a 14-20 lb. turkey, remaining balance due upon delivery)
_____________________________________

$_____ Total

Please Check Day and Location:
___Tuesday pick-up in Wilkesboro 5 p.m..
___Tuesday pick-up at farm 1-3 p.m.
___Wednesday pick-up in Wilkesboro 10:30 am
___ Friday pick-up at farm 4-8 p.m.
___ Saturday pick-up at Watauga County Farmers Market 7am-12noon

Please make checks payable to:
Harmony Acres

Please mail completed form to :
914 Harrold Mt Rd, Hays, NC 28635

Friday, November 12, 2010

Hippy days, and soap...

It appears that a few of our children have taken on the "hippy" gene, and are doing well with it! We have often been told that due to our choices of names and other random facts, that we are definitely "hippy-ish". I take this as a compliment. Because we were not around during the height of that era, we have the privilege of not taken on the "baggage" that some might associate with it! We tend to describe a hippy, (every time our kids ask, "what's a hippy?") as someone that tends to go against the mainstream and make a stand for what they believe in, and maybe a few quirky things thrown in there as well!

Anyhow, Journey plays the part well, as does Treasure. Fischer and Cedar are just having fun with big sis's.

Currently, we are in the process of building a soap building, finally! It will be nice to have that part of our lives contained elsewhere, so we can have our home back! The soap business is growing fast, so this is a huge blessing. There are a few more products that we have added, such as liquid soap, and beeswax candles! So far, all of our "beta" sights have had good feedback.

Here is our newest "message taker", if you are having trouble

leaving a message,

just keep trying, she is only one...

Wednesday, October 13, 2010

Keaton on Stilts...

Not so good...

He's ok...

Keaton mastering the steps on stilts... from Dale Emmons on Vimeo.

Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Stilts...

So we are taking a few days in between fetivals to just play, and this is what came to mind...

"Hey, why am I always the first one to try this stuff?" he said...

Something was just not working out...

There we go...I was the first to make it up the steps without falling...

He's much better though...

Now they are all doing it, its a blast! Now to try the 16 footers...

Monday, October 11, 2010

Farm Update

Good morning! We just finished up an excellent festival weekend! Cory had the privilege of a Bluegrass filled day in Todd at the New River Festival, and I had the much more honored experience of my 4th year at the Sugar Mountain Oktoberfest jam-packed with 13 hours of Oompah music! The oom-pah sound is usually made by the tuba alternating between the root (tonic) of the chord and the 5th (dominant) — this sound is said to be the oom. The pah is played on the off-beats by higher-pitched instruments such as the clarinet, accordion or trombone. Oompah is often associated with Volkstümliche Musik, a form of popular German music. It is often associated with polka. In triple time genres such as the waltz it is oom-pah-pah. The musical Oliver! contains a song named Oom-Pah-Pah, which is named after the oom-pah. I highly recommend both of these festivals to be put on you calender for 2011! The oompah music is starting to grow on me, I think. The farm is a little quite right now, which is nice. We are mainaining our fall crops, which should be ready for harvesting very soon! A little rain is in the forecast for this week which is greatly needed! This upcoming weekend we will be in Banner Elk again for the Wooly Worm festival! It is the largest of the festivals that we do, and offers a lot of fun things for everyone, so go and find yourself a fast wooly worm and enter in the races for your chance to win $1000 on Saturday, and $500 on Sunday! The kids love it! We received a few feedback emails from this year's CSA members, thank you, but we would appreciate a few more! Also, not to put it in stone, but we would like to get an idea of who might be interested in next years CSA. We plan on adding a couple of weeks at the beginning, and maybe change up a few things. We enjoyed the year and loved being able to supply good food to the community! Have a good week! I will let you know when the lettuce/brocolli/cabbage/spinach and other items are ready!

Dale

Glory's usual face...

Unless she has this one...

Sky and Glory are good buddies...

Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Beach Trip

We had a great time at the beach last week! Everything was perfect, 80 degree days, 60 degree nights, clear and sunny with a breeze. The house was perfect, right on the water and there was even a full moon for night walks! This is a great beach to visit, and we plan to return next year, or sooner if we can!