The farmer who is too attached to his animals will lose his farm. But it's far worse for the farmer who, detached from his animals, loses his soul. – Martin Van Popta

Big Is Not Better

Spring is here! Although it looks like we still have more snow and cold weather for a few more days. We do need the moisture.

The layer chicks have arrived and are doing well in the renovated hatchery. Last year we had serious turkey poult losses in that building, and Martin couldn't understand why. After discussing how to raise turkeys with the farmer from whom he bought two dairy cows, he realized that the floor was too cold. Over the winter, the guys put in a thick layer of insulation to keep the birds at a consistent temperature. It seems to be working because the little layer chicks are thriving quite nicely.

Jeannie finally had a few minutes to start her seeds. Now, we eagerly watch for the green sprouts to pop out of the soil.

And that's not all that's popping out. Kittens are happening everywhere, too. I'm not sure we are eagerly waiting for them, as it seems we have 200 cats already. But, we don't have any mice.

The story for lambing this year has been the good, the bad, and the horrendously ugly.

The good news is that lambing is finished for the year, which was quicker than expected. Martin wanted to sell some ewes, but there were no buyers until he finally resigned himself to keeping the ones he had wanted to sell. That day he got a call from a local farmer asking about them and if we had more for sale. So, in one quick move, seven ewes were not lambing at Harvest Haven.

Most of the ewes had very little trouble lambing and the lambs were strong and healthy. That's the good.

Then there was the bad. One of the ewes was inadvertently bred by her father. Not a good idea. She had three weird weak lambs. Only one of them survived.

Another ewe was having some issues with giving birth. When Martin helped her, she had two big lambs and two that had died inside her about a month ago judging by their size. That's an unpleasant situation to deal with because you can't see what is happening in the birthing process. It's not like there's a transparent view into the insides of a sheep.

The horrendously ugly was one of the worst situations Martin and the guys have had to deal with. A ewe was trying to give birth and upon inspection, she had a humongous lamb. It was almost 30 pounds, the weight of 3 normal-sized lambs.

The lamb was way too big to pass through the birth canal, but Martin tried to help it anyway. After about an hour or so, it died and there was nothing more to be done. And because it was so huge, there was nothing to be done for the ewe, either. She had to be put down. So sad!

It's not easy being a farmer and having to deal with these kinds of situations. But, there's always both good and bad. While the guys were struggling with this ewe, another one had a set of healthy triplets on her own.

In everything we need to give thanks. It's like the verse in the Bible, Habakkuk 3:17 & 18: "Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labor of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls: Yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will joy in the God of my salvation."

Beef short ribs can be an overlooked cut of meat, but shouldn't be. They are delicious!

They are the absolute best cut of beef for slow cooking! Ribs are the most tender and succulent fall-apart beef you will ever have. Because they are beautifully marbled with fat, they are more succulent and juicier than other slow-cooking cuts of beef.

And we have a sale on them. So stock up.

The regular price is $11.99 per pound.

For 10 pounds it is $9.99 per pound. Save $2.00/lb or $20.00.

A box of 20 pounds is $8.99 per pound. Save $3.00/lb or $60.00.

Share with family and friends and get a box of 40 pounds for $7.99 per pound. Save $4.00/lb or $160.00.

BioItalia makes a wide variety of excellent products including a selection of superb pastas.

Bioitalia pasta is made from the best organic durum wheat from the regions of southern Italy. Its known origin is guaranteed by a system that follows the product from the field to the table.

Replicating a handmade process according to Neapolitan pasta makers' methods. The drying is slow and the bronze extruding machines give it a rough and porous surface perfect for the sauce to stick on. The real good taste of traditional pasta.

BioItalia's bronze-cut pasta, your favorite sauce, and good company are a winning trio!

Large Shells – Great for stuffing with ricotta cheese, cottage cheese, mozzarella, Parmesan cheese, spinach, and/or ground beef, chicken, or turkey. Top with a marinara sauce and enjoy!

Fettuccine – Means "little ribbons." Popular in Roman and Tuscan cuisine, it is a flat, thick pasta, slightly wider and thicker than tagliatelle. Often eaten with beef or chicken ragu. And of course, there's Fettuccine Alfredo, a delicious dish of pasta topped with an emulsion of butter, grated Parmesan cheese, garlic, and heavy cream.

Tagliatelle – A traditional type of pasta from the Emilia-Romagna and Marche regions of Italy. Individual pieces of tagliatelle are long, flat ribbons that are similar in shape to fettuccine, but slightly narrower. Serve with a creamy mushroom sauce or your favorite tomato sauce.

Caserecce – A typical shape of pasta from Southern Italy, Caserecce are short twists of pasta that appear rolled up on themselves. It pairs well with cream, cheese, meat, Napolitano, seafood, pesto, and vegetables.

We've been learning how important warmth is for healing and all-around good health. One of the easiest ways to add extra heat to the body is the HTE FIR pad. It is soft, flexible, and conforms to any part of the body. And easy to use!
The FIR (far-infrared) pad generates high temperatures rapidly through heating with high-tech high-density galvanothermy carbon wire. The key ingredient to the FIR pad is its utilization of Far Infrared technology which has been scientifically proven to expand capillaries, assisting in increased blood flow and circulation. This heat promotes increased circulation, activates cells, and relaxes sore muscles.

I had a painful back spasm that I knew would keep me awake all night. I wrapped the FIR pad over the area, turned the heat to maximum, and within minutes the muscles relaxed and I fell asleep.

Our friend, Ronnie shares his experience with the FIR pad.

The FIR pad is an easily overlooked effective health device. Frankly, I'd been aware of them for quite a while before ever using one.

Winter rolled around and though I never much liked dry, warm air from the furnace, I also didn't like being too cold either. I began to use the FIR pad underneath my top sheet to provide some warmth before falling asleep. There's a built-in thermostat and timer so it turns off when you want it to. I found that providing some heat to my upper body allowed me to keep the air temperature in the room lower but gave me the warmth that helped me fall asleep faster and more comfortably.

Sometimes I'll wake up in the middle of the night and stay up longer than I'd like before going back to sleep. I turn the timer on the FIR pad for 10-15 minutes and most often I'll be back to sleep before it ever turns off.

Aside from general comfort and warmth, it's also very effective for soreness the night after a workout or any strenuous work. Warmth provides dilation of capillaries close to the skin (and deeper), which increases circulation and provides faster healing and recovery.

You can even wrap it around a location like your leg or abdomen and sit down with it plugged in while in an office chair. I never realized how beneficial warmth is, especially when under the weather or chilled.

I always thought of a heating pad as something that only warms up a localized area of the body, but it finally dawned on me while using it that heating an area of your body (particularly around the core) to say, 122°F (50°C), along with constant blood circulation, will circulate that warmed blood around the body, equalizing chilled areas like the feet or hands.

The body knows how to regulate our temperatures and it appreciates any help you can give it when needed. Winter is a great time to use the FIR pad to avoid overly hot dry air in your house – and save on heating bills.

Unlike a basic heating pad, the FIR pad has a very durable carbon heating layer, a soft washable cover, and a quality soft-touch digital controller. The heat is distributed evenly and comes up to temperature very quickly.

Harvest Haven Pastured Beef Short Ribs – The absolute best cut of beef for slow cooking! Ribs are the most tender and succulent fall-apart beef you will ever have. Because they are beautifully marbled with fat, they are more succulent and juicier than other slow-cooking cuts of beef.

Bioitalia Organic Tagliatelle Pasta, 375 g – A traditional type of pasta from the Emilia-Romagna and Marche regions of Italy. Individual pieces of tagliatelle are long, flat ribbons that are similar in shape to fettuccine, but slightly narrower. Serve with a creamy mushroom sauce or your favorite tomato sauce.

Organic Asparagus – Nothing says "Spring" like fresh crisp asparagus. As a child, I wondered why I liked asparagus because I thought it tasted like grass. But I didn't care. It tasted so good.

Harvest Haven Pastured Beef Bresaola – You'll find this specialty meat in the deli section of our freezer. Made from the top round of our pasture-raised beef, the paper-thin slices are very lean and tender, with a deep ruby red shading.

This lean, cured meat is especially good when drizzled with extra-virgin olive oil and fresh lemon. Serve sliced bresaola as part of an antipasto platter with Italian cheeses, olives, and nuts. It pairs wonderfully with a fresh arugula salad and salty cheese like Parmesan. Or make a no-cook meal of bresaola, Harvest Haven bread, and salad.

Organic Lemons – We received large lemons this week. Perfect for pie. Fresh and aromatic, use lemons to enhance the flavor of your favorite dishes.

Wholly Wholesome Organic Pie Shells, 2 pack – A tender flakey pie crust is not so easy for some cooks to make, so these ready-made crusts are nice to have on hand. Quick, easy, tender, and tasty.

Please note, all ingredients in our recipes are organic.

Farmers and Death

Life on the farm isn't always about sweet sheep and cute kittens. We do have those but there is a reality at the other end of the spectrum, where things are rough and you experience blood, sweat, and tears, as happened recently when we lost a ewe and a lamb.

The following is a sad experience Martin and Jeannie had in July 2017. Some readers may find this story disturbing, but it's the reality of life down on the farm. This is Martin's account.

I've got a more serious tale to tell today. It started when a customer said to me, "I could never be a farmer because I love animals and I could never kill them." She wasn't opposed to eating animals. She just "loved animals too much to kill them herself." She told me that she figured farmers got used to killing animals.

Don't misunderstand, this customer was being very polite and didn't mean any offense, and none was taken, but her expression affected me and the impact of that effect was coincidentally magnified that very evening.

It was about 9:45 PM and getting dark. I heard barking as I headed to the house for bedtime tea but thought nothing of it. As I collapsed on my sofa, I saw my sheep running frantically. Now I knew what was happening. I bolted out the door, grabbing the first weapon I saw which happened to be a corn broom.

Folks often abandon their unwanted dogs in the country because they "love animals too much to kill them." Stray dogs roam the countryside and will ravage livestock, be it cattle, sheep, or poultry, just for the pleasure of the kill.
I got to the scene of the crime in time to see a large black dog that had one of my lambs by the neck. I was face to face with a wild and hungry stray dog who was out for the kill. Beating the predator off with my broom, it fled with a stinging memory.

Meanwhile, Jeannie was busy rounding up the scattered sheep to make sure the flock was okay when she found a wounded lamb lying on its side at the far end of the pasture. It was alive, lying there, and not bleeding too heavily. I thought it might be okay but it wasn't able to move.

By this time, my neighbor, who heard the commotion, hurried over to see if everything was okay. He helped me carefully carry the victim out of the pasture to the main barn so I could examine it more closely under light.

Searching through its thick wool, I found the wound; it was a small puncture straight to the spinal cord. I knew this was the end for this lamb. Even though it didn't seem to be in too much pain, it was paralyzed on one whole side of the body. There was only one thing left to do and I did it.

You can try and figure out the cost of raising food and getting it to the table, but who pays for tragedies? Who considers that the farmer is in the constant business of both saving and taking life?

Farmers are bound to the light and dark realities. We taste them every day. Sometimes it's sweet and sometimes it's bitter, but we don't grow numb. Responsible farmers don't "just get used to it." We grow callouses but we don't grow calloused. Unfactored into the price you pay for the food we provide is the incalculable cost of dealing with death for you, the consumer.

One can only raise nourished and nourishing animals properly if they love them and take care of their needs. But the end comes eventually, and sometimes prematurely as in this tragic circumstance. The same farmer who loved his animals enough to provide for them must take their lives and give them to you. In the end, it's our lives we're giving you.

Think about it.