Lorain County Fair

We are fast approaching the end of August which means.....it's Lorain County Fair time. It will be Aug 23-29 this year.


The LCF is considered one of the top county fairs in Ohio. Some may consider Labor Day the end of summer but I kind of think Fair is the end of summer....it can be a bittersweet time as I really like summer and don't want to see it go quite yet.


I have always like going to the fair and have fond memories it and John has liked it too....and it's a good thing because he's lived by it most of his life (he grew up next door to where we are now). Nathan has really like it too and was even on the Lorain Co Jr. Fair Board for a few years before graduating. Our farm in part (well the animal part anyway) started somewhat because of the fair (it was 4-H broiler projects) and our farm name stems from the fair, so fair time is a special event for us. We don't live over there like some others do that we know of, but we do go often.

We say our cattle (and chickens) are quite cultured as they get to experience many things that most (cattle that is) only dream of. How many cattle do you know that get to listen to live bagpipes (during the Ohio Scottish Games in June), get to watch fireworks (July 4th), listen to steam engines run and their whistles toot (LaGrange Steam Engine Club Show-Sept), watch hot air balloons sail over head (Wellington Balloon Festival-June) or hear the roar of the jet powered tractor pulls and smell fair food (LCF)? We even still have one of our original cows that took 2 trips over to the fair with Nathan for 4-H showing when she was a bit younger....which, by the way, one year she and her calf won Grand Champion in the cow/calf division.

For the most part, being by the fairgrounds hasn't been too bothersome. It is quiet most of the time. The only time it can get hairy is, of course, during fair time. The traffic on our road increases greatly (one of the entrances to the fair is just north of us off our road) and with large crowds gathering in one area, you never know what will happen. People aren't too smart sometimes.

When John was younger, he said that there was a horse running around the neighborhood and down the RR tracks after the fair--an escapee. We did see a peacock running around one time....it was after the circus had been there. A foreign fancy rooster showed up one morning too...I think someone dropped it off as a 'now unwanted fair project' and thought we'd give it a good home--thanks. And a few years ago, someone's 4-H market beef project got loose before fair started and out of the fairgrounds running all over our area and ended up jumping into our cattle pasture with our beef cattle.....guess he didn't want to be burger just yet....he never did make it back to the fair.

Quite a few years ago we found a 2 man tent in our woods in the Fall after fair--we think it was some kids who were going to tent at the fair but when they came back after setting it up, they couldn't find it anymore. But the one we still shake our heads at the most is: about 2 years ago when we got home from a camping trip the Monday fair started, we noticed from our kitchen window there was something white out back. Upon investigating, it was a big family-size tent set up by one of the fair traffic employees. I guess he didn't want to use the camping area that the fair provides and decided to use our free area instead. The kicker was that he had set it up in our cattle pasture....with cattle near by! The guy said that it was dark when he set up and in the morning noticed he was in a cattle pasture....and maybe not on fairgrounds property either. I don't know how you can not know this when he (they--we think he brought the whole family) would of had to go through cattle fencing to get there. They did moved out.

I guess we wait and see what happens this year--uneventful would be nice.

Well enough of our adventures with the fairgrounds...we hope you come out and have some good adventures of your own this coming week at our county fair. We think you will enjoy it. It looks like we will have really nice weather too.

If you'd like to know more info about the LCF schedule, costs, entertainment, location, etc, you can go to their website: http://www.loraincountyfair.com/

This year I see we are going to have a special 'guest' appearance from the Anheuser-Bush Clydesdales. I don't think I've ever known them to be at our fair before so this will be a treat. I did seem them in St Louis when my family went there one year for vacation when I was a lot younger. They are big! Check out the article about them here:
http://chronicle.northcoastnow.com/2010/08/13/anheuser-busch-clydesdales-coming-to-lorain-county-fair/


Lastly......
I found these cool aerial pics of the fairgrounds (at their website) that were taken during fair time. The cooler part is that you can see our farm in them too. This will give you a bird's eye view of everything close to us as some don't realize just how close to the fair we really are. When we say the fairgrounds is in our backyard...we mean it....literally.
You can click on any photo to make it larger.

A special thanks to Ken Bartlett for letting us use his aerial pics of the fairgrounds.


The back side (curved part, upper left) that's touching the trees is where our and the fair's property meet--sort of...it's in there somewhere in the trees. These woods is where our firewood and some of our maple syrup come from. Next to the trees to the right you will see a tree lined 'square' grassy area....that is our pasture.



A view from the other side. Our pasture is in the bottom right corner. The body of water you see is the Wellington Up-ground Reservoir.



A bigger pulled backed view.
The reservoir is a great place to fish....boaters allowed. It is 2.2 miles around it if you are interested in running, biking or walking around it. This is where the boys did some of their training for the 5-k that I mentioned earlier in another post.

See you at the Fair...and make sure you visit some farm animals while you're there!

Fresh Chicken Day 2010

About a week ago we had the farm's fresh chicken day(s) for 2010. These are our meat (broiler) chickens that are raised on pasture and without drugs.

I meant to, but I did not get out to see the chickens this year after going onto pasture or help with chore time at all....I think this is a first.

I thought I'd share with you what happened through some of this process.......



At first, (when I saw the picture) I thought we had a density stocking problem out there as things looked really crowded. After asking Nathan, he said that every day when he would go out to feed and move them, they would crowd to the front of the pen. The reason-- because they knew shortly that he would be moving the pen forward to new grass..... and they wanted to be ready for it. Sooo...this is basically crowding in the lunch line.



After the move..... and looking for goodies.

When chickens are aloud to live outdoors in the sunshine, move, jump and fly around like chickens are suppose to, they will have less fat, calories and cholesterol in them for you to consume. No 'couch potatoes' here!



This pic says it all! You can see the 'trail' that the pen leaves after its been moved to fresh grass. it's not trampled down grass either, it's cut short grass. They do a great job of mowing..... and fertilize while doing it. All this grass in the belly makes for a bird that is higher in omega-3s (60% of the fatty acids in grass are omega-3s), beta carotene and Vitamins A & E.

It's been estimated that only 40% of Americans consume an adequate supply of omega-3 fatty acids. Of the 60% that are low, 20% have blood levels so low it can't be detected. Switching to grass-fed/pastured raised animals is one way to restore this vital missing nutrient back into the diet.

On to chicken pick up day.......



Nathan chatting with Trish (from Oberlin). And Liz (Grafton), with little one in toe.




A table full of chickens (and some other farm items) ready for take home.



I think Doris (Oberlin) was just as excited about getting our last 50 cent tomato than she was about getting her chickens. Doris was also picking up things for Anne (Oberlin)....that was nice of her. Janet & Richard (Wellington) and Karen (Parma) wait patiently for their items.

I wanted to get more customer pics but with me getting the orders ready and ringing things up, I forgot about it most of the time until it was too late.

We would like to thank all those that supported us this year in our fresh chicken day 2010!

Raising chickens can be a lot of work but when you hear comments like:
"This is the way chicken use to (should) taste."
"They looked and tasted wonderful--nothing compares.",
it makes it worth the work to give the birds a happy, good life so you can have good, healthy food.

****

If you're just finding this and would of liked some fresh chicken, but you missed out this year, please contact us so you can be added to our spring mailing list for when ordering time begins again next year.

Wellington Cheese Festival 5K run

This post doesn't have to do with the farm directly but indirectly as it deals with farming, Wellington, and staying fit and healthy.

This past weekend (the 3rd weekend in July) Wellington had it annual Wellington Cheese Heritage Festival. You may be wondering what cheese has to do with Wellington. Well did you know that......

Wellington’s Cheese Heritage Festival celebrates our village’s history as the “Cheese Capital of America” back in the mid to late 1800s, when northern Ohio was prime dairy farm country and the railroad provided access to the larger world. At its peak, the Wellington’s cheese factories shipped over 6 million pounds of cheese around the world and during that time the town's population doubled to 2,210. Most of Wellington’s picturesque downtown and the grand Victorian homes on Main Street were built during its prosperous heyday when cheese-making was the major industry of southern Lorain County and many of the brick building were built to house the cheese. At one point in time, there were more than 40 factories converting milk into cheese in and near Wellington.

Wellington's most famous dairy cow was Molly Baun. Molly, a Holstein-Friesian cow, was purchased in Holland by Charles W. Horr, founder of Horr-Warner & Company, a leading manufacturer of cheese at the time. At three years old, Molly produced 17,000 pounds or 1,977 gallons of milk compared to the 3,000-5,000 pounds that other Wellington cows were producing. Everyone wanted a Molly Baun! She was the first purebred cattle in Ohio and was the start of the State’s breeding program. I think she was the first Holstein in the US and sadly this might of been the beginning of the mega-producing cows we see today.

It's kind of sad though, for as long as I can remember, there are now no cheese factories left in the area. How can you have sooo many then and have none now?!?! Not sure why as cheese is still a pretty popular item but it could be that when refrigeration came into being, there wasn't a need to preserve all the milk like they had to before then.

Some of the events that happen at the festival are:

-cheesecake bake-off with auction
-mac & cheese bake-off & an eating contest
-cornhole & Texas Hold 'Em tournaments
-parade
-Ohio wine tasting
-Colgate Country Showdown talent search
-live music/entertainment
-cheese and other booths
-5K/10K run

The boys decided a few months ago to start running to help get them into better shape....as they thought they were getting out of shape since they are now out of school and not playing sports like they use to. After starting, I mentioned to them that the cheese festival has a 5K so they decided to go for it and have been training since.

The race was Saturday morning at 8:30a. (I guess I won't be running in any 5K as that's way too early for me to be putting out that much effort--I was able to drag myself out of bed to see them run though.) They had check out times from last year and had been keeping track of their times while running so they thought they would do OK but today would be the first test. This was their first time ever doing any long race like this.


Both at the starting area (which was by the Middle School) getting ready. Nathan was stretching when I saw him but when I got close enough, he stopped.



'Lined up' and waiting for the say so to begin.



And their off






This picture was suppose to come later down the page...after the next 2 pictures.... but I realized later it was out of the line of events but by then it was too hard to fix...so I'm leaving it.
I took this while we (me & Jessica) waited for them to come into the stadium to finish.


Back to the race.... Here is Chad running by where Jessica was watching. You can see Nathan not too far behind.


Nathan finally gets closer. You can tell it's still at the beginning of the race as he's still got enough energy to smile for the pic.


Chad makes it onto the track first. He was one of the earlier ones to finish. I wanted to get a picture of him crossing the finish line but the camera was slow to cycle so I missed it. His time was 19.45. This was better than any time he had practiced.


Nathan makes it across a bit later. His time was better than he had practiced too. He didn't run beforehand as much as Chad (his lower legs can bother him some) but I also think Chad is a bit better built for longer distances.


Jessica (Nathan's personal cheerleader) with Nathan and Chad while they rest and wait to see if they get any of those prizes. Even though it was still early, it was starting to get hot and humid outside.

They didn't get any of those nice shiny things this time but did get a parting 'gift' of water and a cheese stick.....hay it's a cheese festival after all. They were both pleased with their times and are thinking of running again in the 5K in New London on Labor Day weekend. I'm glad they are out moving and keeping themselves fit and enjoying a sport together.

*****
While I was uptown for the race, I decided to stop into the square to check out the sights of the festival and see what was happening.


They had t-shirts for sale. I thought about getting one but yellow isn't a good color on me so I just took a picture.


This is a shot of one end of 'booth row'. I know it looks like no one is at this thing and at this time, no one was. It was early and some were still setting up. The start was in a few hours.


Some of the things kids can enjoy.

Some of the things adults can enjoy. I wouldn't recommend enjoying this too much though.


They only had the tent up for the Wine Tasting and nothing else so no picture of that and not much else was happening as of yet so I went home.

If you missed it this year, hopefully next year you'll be able visit Wellington during it's cheese festival.

Honey

Honey is one of the farm products that we offer in addition to the others we carry. It is a healthy natural food that has been around since the beginning of time.

Our honey is raw (not pasteurized like the stuff you get in the store), unprocessed (not like the the super fine filtering you get from the store stuff). The only filtering that is done, if it's needed, is to screen out all the junk that can come with the honey after extracting....like honeycomb peices, bee parts, etc. All the pollen is still intact---it's what some call 'really raw'.



I thought I would share some fun facts about honey......


HONEY HISTORY:
Honey (along with fruit) is one of the earliest forms of sweetness know to man.

In ancient Egypt, taxes were paid with it, while early Greece and Rome it symbolized fertility, love and beauty. To the ancients, honey was a source of health, a sign of purity and a symbol of strength and virility. In Greek mythology, it is said that cupid dipped his arrows in honey to fill the lovers heart with sweetness.

In the Bible, honey is mentioned 56 times in the King James version. For a time John the Baptist lived on a diet of just wild locust and honey. It was prophesied (in Isaiah 7) that by the time Jesus was old enough to eat curds and honey, that he would know enough to choose what is right and reject what is wrong.

In the time of the ancient Olympics, athletes were reported to eat special foods, such as honey and dried figs, to enhance their sports performance.

Democritus (430-370 BC), Greek philosopher and physician, chose a diet rich in honey and lived until he was 109 years old.

In the first century AD, Apicus, a wealthy Roman gourmet, wrote a series of books in which more than half the recipes included honey.


HONEY 101:
Honey never spoils. No need to refrigerate it. It can be stored indefinitely at room temperature in a dry cupboard. It was found in the tomb of King Tut and was still edible.

Due to the high level of fructose, honey is 25% sweeter than table sugar.

Honey comes from the nectar of the plants. It has different flavors and colors, depending on the location and kinds of the flowers the bees visit. The lightest colors of honey have the mildest flavors, while the darker colors have the fuller flavors and usually a the higher antioxidant content to them.

THE HONEYBEE:
The honeybees has 4 wings and the wings stroke 11,400 times per minute, thus making their distinctive buzz, and it flies at a rate of about 12 miles per hour.

Bees communicate with one another by 'dancing'.

80% of the pollination of the fruits, vegetable and seed crops in the US is accomplished by honeybees.

A Cornell University paper released in 2000 concluded that the direct value of the honeybee pollination to the US agriculture is $14.6 billion annually.


GATHERING THE GOODS:
The honeybee is not born knowing how to make honey, the younger bees are taught by the more experienced ones.

A bee visits between 50 to 100 flowers during one collection flight from the hive gathering nectar to make honey. There are other bees that collect just pollen.

In order to produce 1 pound of honey, 2 million flowers must be visited. A hive of bees must fly 55,000 miles to produce a pound of honey and one bee colony can produce 60 to 100 pounds of honey per year. Now that's a lot of flying--no wonder they need 4 wings!

It takes 35 pounds of honey to provide enough energy for a small colony of bees to survive the winter.

HONEY AND YOUR HEALTH
Research has found 165 ingredients in honey-- it has enzymes, minerals, amino acids, vitamins and antioxidants (the antioxidant call 'pinocembrin' is only found in honey) but is fat, cholesterol and sodium free, it has proline (amino acid) in high amounts, proline is the main component of collagen.

Honey was the most used medicine in ancient Egypt. Of the more than 900 medicines remedies, we know about for that time, more than 500 were honey based.

As recently as the WWI, honey was being mixed with cod liver oil to dress wounds on the battlefield. Modern science now acknowledges honey as a antimicrobial agent, which means it deters the growth of certain types of bacteria, yeasts and molds.

A Russian study of the inhabitants of the province of Georgia, where many live to 100 years old and a few to age 150, revealed that many of these centenarians were beekeepers who often ate raw, unprocessed honey.

Honey is nature's energy booster! It provides a concentrated energy source that helps prevent fatigue and can boost athletic performance. Honey supplies 2 stages of energy. The glucose in honey is absorbed by the body quickly and gives an immediate energy boost. The fructose is absorbed more slowly providing sustained energy. Recent studies have proven that athletes who took some honey before and after competing recovered more quickly than those who did not.

Suffer from seasonal allergies? Honey has pollen in it and by consuming the pollen, the body builds immunity, which in turns causes less allergies. The honey to use should be from a local source as it will have the pollen in it that's from your area.

As good as honey is, it is recommended that infants under the age of 1 not consume honey.


Enjoy some honey today....your body will thank you for it!

Buzzard Update II

It looks like this will be the last post about the buzzards.

We went out to check on the progress today and as we approached the tree, the momma didn't fly out as usual. We both looked at each other and thought that this is not a good sign. It meant she was either out gathering food or there was no egg and we were hoping it was the gathering food situation. I'm sad to report that there is no longer any eggs in the nest. This time, though, I did see broken shells from that last egg....they were still in the nest. There could be many reason why that egg broke but the 2 strongest possibilities are that another animal got to it (some really like finding eggs like this and eating them) or one of the parents broke it by accident or maybe it wasn't even fertile. There was a bird that made a nest in our chicken pen, as we are not using it yet, and those eggs are gone too (they did it last year but they were successful that time).

We were really hoping to get to see a live baby buzzard to watch and then share the progress with you. Hopefully some time soon we will be able to do that again.

Beef & Chicken Orders

If you are unaware, we are now in the process of taking orders for our 100% grass-fed freezer beef and our grass-kickin chicken. If you are interested in getting some this year, please get back to us soon as you'll need an order form...and you'll probably want pricing. Orders are filling up fast for the chicken. And there is a limit supply of beef this year. You can see a brief description of each under the "Our Products' posts here if you'd like to know more.

Buzzard Update I

We went out to check on our buzzard nest as it's been a while since we found them--- so far we have no babies.
On a sad note, we could only find 1 egg too. I looked around to see if I could find any signs of a broken shell but found nothing. I hope that doesn't means that something got the other one (vs. one of the parent's breaking it and cleaning up the nest so it wouldn't draw attention). Hopefully they'll hang on to that last egg until it hatches. Stay tuned for further posts.