Dawson Valley Free Range

Dawson Valley Free Range

Friday, August 28, 2015

August

First of all, please note that there's five weekends in August so we won't be at the markets in Yeppoon and Rockhampton until NEXT weekend - the 5/6 September. If you would like to put an order in, there is still time - I would like them before Sunday please. You might even like to get some pork osso bucco to try out this dish. I've baked the osso bucco on a bed of tomato and onion. I'll do up a recipe before next weekend and you will find it in the recipe section.



Kim and I will be away again next week, so I won't get a chance to make any bone broth, however I do hope to still get some lard done. I will also have soap available - what do people think of it? I've had some good reviews so far.

We've had a few opportunities lately to get away. Maitland, our youngest son has been home for a couple of months and will be until towards the end of October. So we are trying to take some time off while he is around.

There's been some storms around over the last week and while we've just been getting the tail ends, we've had 25mm so far. We are very happy with that, as the storms tend to start off following the same path, so we may get more yet. The weather has certainly changed and it's been quite warm lately. I suppose it is spring very shortly, so we can expect lots of growth starting to happen. We've had a pretty good year so far, good summer rains and a mild winter - I wonder what's in store for the next few months?

Wednesday, August 19, 2015

We are now back to two markets a month and it's been so good to see that we continually get new customers. Thank you to all our older customers who continually refer us to others. I think word of mouth is one of the most successful ways to spread the message and we do appreciate it greatly. This month is a 5 weekend month, so it will be three weeks until the next market - 5/6th September.

If you want to pre-order, please do so as soon as you can. We ran out of pork and most other meat too last weekend. I got caught short because I thought things might have been a little quieter as it had only been two weeks since the previous market. Looks like I'll have to send more pigs for next time as our meat is becoming very popular. Thanks to you guys!

Thank you too, to all our Gladstone customers that we saw on Saturday. And a few new ones too! We will be delivering again there on the third weekend of September. I had originally planned a Friday afternoon delivery, but then had to change it to Saturday afternoon. What do you guys think - would it be better on the Friday afternoon about 5-6pm or Saturday from 4-5pm?

I'm looking forward to a trip out west tomorrow. We are going out to Kim's brothers family at Aramac. Only a very short visit unfortunately, as we both love it out there!

Cheers for now,
Pork Osso Bucco cooked in beer with olives and garlic.



Wednesday, August 5, 2015

Paddock Walk

It's starting to get very dry here, mostly because of the frost we got a week or so ago. Where the grass is a bit taller, there is some green still in it so there is still some good feed around. In the pig paddocks there's probably less grass than the cattle country, but it's holding up okay. My milking cows are enjoying the fertility in the pig paddocks. We are resting some paddocks that I can easily put the cows in, so I have. Their milk production has increased, so that's something we want to do more of.

I went for a walk this afternoon around the pig paddocks to check on all the pigs. This is something we do each day, but I haven't done it for a while. Maitland has been doing it for the last few weeks, but he has gone today for a week off. It was a lovely walk - something I do enjoy doing, because it gives me a chance to say hello to some of the girls!  The older pigs seem to be pleased to see me and will come up grunting and looking for a scratch.

The temperature is quite lovely at the moment - cool at night and quite pleasant during the day. A little bit of winter might be coming back for a while, but it's not as cold as it was the other week.


This pig is one of Kim's pets, she's as ugly as all get out, but lovely and quiet. I couldn't get far enough away to take a photo of her and her babies, because she wanted a scratch.


This Tamworth has 5 piglets and she was just happy to lie there, but the babies wouldn't stay still......

A huge Box Tree.

Our latest litter born today. This is a first time mum. Those babies are so cute!

 And then when I got home Kim wanted a hand to pick the last of the oranges off the tree. I was very surprised that he trusted my tractor driving to lift him up! I was a little nervous!


Don't forget the markets are on next weekend. Orders close on Sunday night. We will not have a lot of pork cuts, as I'm focusing on making lots of bacon. We'll have beef, goat and lamb as well.