Friday Night Dinner, June 7th In our continuing effort to redefine the farm to table concept by placing the table right at the farm, we are happy to announce this Friday’s dinner.  In response to requests, we will offer a vegetarian option this week.  In case of rain, we do have about 75 covered seats both inside and outside.  The three course meal is $25 per person plus tax served anytime between 4-8pm.  As always, we will not require reservations but an email to info@wyebrookfarm.com to let us know you’re coming is greatly appreciated. Menu Tomato Gazpacho: cucumber, rhubarb, lime garnish Roast Beef: Grass fed beef roast, bacon + mustard potato salad, farm arugula, shaved radishes, horseradish cream -or- Vegetarian Option: Spaghetti with roasted eggplant, pickled cherry tomatoes, pesto and Parmesan breadcrumbs.  Strawberry Pie with fresh whipped cream 15O WYEBROOK ROAD, HONEY BROOK PA, 19344 TELEPHONE 61O·942·7481 EMAIL INFO@WYEBROOKFARM.COM

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Shuanghui International Holdings Ltd. purchased Smithfield Foods Inc. for the bargain price of $4.7 billion. Smithfield is the world’s largest pork producer and China is the world’s largest pork consumer so it seems like an ideal match, especially given China’s recent domestic pork production problems. You can read more about the purchase in any of these articles.

• China Makes Biggest US Play (WSJ)
• Smithfield Foods to be Bought by Chinese Firm Shuanghui International (Washington Post)
• Smithfield Foods Purchase Exposes Need for Broader Oversight (Washington Post)
• Chinese Smithfield Takeover Comes with Added Warnings for US Food Safety (The Guardian)
• Needing Pork, China is to Buy a US Supplier (NYT)
• Will Chinese Firm Bring Home The Bacon With Smithfield Deal? (NPR)

I have a personal interest in this story as Smithfield ham is my heritage. My grandparents raised and cured ham in Smithfield, VA long before Smithfield Foods became an international pork producing giant. One of these days I’ll do a post on the history of the Smithfield ham and how it went from a small town tradition to a household name detached from the town that birthed it. But that is for another day.

In other news, while pork exports may be about to explode, wheat exports are headed in the opposite direction. A farmer in Oregon found unauthorized genetically modified wheat in his fields and many countries that import wheat from the U.S. are putting the brakes on those imports. The EU, Japan, & South Korea are all considering regulations and restrictions on U.S. wheat imports until confidence is restored that any imports are GMO free.

Monsanto pioneered the wheat back in the late 90s and early 2000s, but it never made it to market because farmers were afraid that foreign consumers were reject it, a fear that is quickly becoming a reality. Monsanto had planted trial fields in Oregon during the testing phase, but the project never went further than those tests and they burned fields where the wheat was tested to destroy any remaining plants.

Recently a farmer founds wheat in a field where it didn’t belong and he tried to get rid of it by spraying Roundup. The wheat was unaffected so he sent it off for testing. The results came back positive that the wheat was genetically modified to withstand Roundup. That’s the problem with plants. They are alive. They breed and reproduce and once something is out there, it is hard to control. The USDA has an entire page dedicated to invasive species - plants that have been introduced to a non-native region, intentionally or not, and have taken over by reproductive force. Think kudzu in the south.

Whether you buy into the health risks posed by GM foods or not, a product that cannot be controlled is something that should give us all pause.

For more on the GM wheat issue, check out these articles:

• Asia curbs US imports of wheat after genetically modified sample found (The Guardian)
• Illegal Genetically Modified Wheat Found In Oregon Farm: Should We Be Worried? (Forbes)
• GMO Wheat Found In Oregon Field. How Did It Get There? (NPR)
• Monsanto shares fall as South Korea joins pause in wheat imports (Washington Post)
• U.S. seeks source of errant gene altered wheat as importers flee (Reuters)
• Discovery of Modified Wheat on U.S. Farm Watched Closely in Canada (WSJ)

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Wyebrook Farm Identity Film from Dave on Vimeo.

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Fun fact about pigs: they don’t sweat. That’s why they like to roll around in mud. This is called wallowing and it is their way of cooling off when it gets hot out.

Hog/swine: other words for pigs

Sow: a female pig

Gilt: a young sow

Boar: an uncastrated male pig

Piglet: a baby pig under eight weeks old

Shoat: a young pig that has just been weaned

Farrow: to give birth; a litter of piglets

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I took up running about a year ago when my best friend asked me to run a half marathon with her. I wasn’t crazy about the idea, but she is my best friend and that is what you do for each other. I started training and quickly fell in love with it. Most days I couldn’t wait to get home from work so I could get out and go for a run.

Since moving to the farm, I have struggled to log miles. For a while I couldn’t figure out what was wrong. Then it hit me. Farming has destroyed all my motivation.

I ran because my body craved physical activity. I spent 8+ hours a day at a desk staring at a computer screen. I was physically bored and my body wanted to be pushed and challenged. Running was the answer. Here at the farm I am active all day long. In fact, most days I look forward to sitting at the computer and blogging! That is my break. My body doesn’t itch to go for a run like it used to because it is being worked all day long.

Running was also my way of releasing stress. And there is plenty of stress to relieve when you live in NYC! I didn’t run with music. Just me and my thoughts and the sound of my feet hitting the pavement. It was cathartic. Farming is far from easy, but it isn’t stressful. At least not in the same way life in NYC was!

Also, I always ran after work. At the end of the farm day, I am disgusting. Not just sweaty, but dusty and gritty. The only thing I want to do is shower. The thought of having to change into running clothes is very off-putting and the idea of showering so I can go running seems counter-productive.

I found myself stuck in a rut. I wanted to run, but lacked motivation to get out and do it. I needed a race. So aforementioned best friend agreed to run the Hershey half with me in October. Twenty weeks from this coming Sunday. My training began today.

Which brings us to the title of this post. I decided the best option was to run in the morning. It has been so hot lately (85*+) and doesn’t cool down until well after dark. I don’t feel comfortable running these back roads alone at night. The mornings are still mild and the sun is up by 5:15 so that is when I started pounding pavement. It was early, but the scenery made it all worth it.

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Farmer’s Breakfast Coming up this Saturday, June 1st, we will offer our second Farmer’s Breakfast here at Wyebrook.  We will take all aspiring farmers on a egg collecting expedition to wherever the laying hens happen to be!  It may be on foot or in the hay wagon depending on the distance.  The newly qualified farmers will enjoy a hot breakfast of fresh eggs, sausage and bacon back at the cafe.  The cost is $15 for adults and $8 for kids and we will get started at 9:30am on Saturday, June 1st.  Again, no reservations are required but an email would be helpful for us to get a head count. Oh, and bring boots in case we go for a walk, our animals don’t always clean up after themselves. Friday Night Dinner May 31st Well, you really can try all you like to plan for all contingencies but then along comes last Friday night.  Thanks to everyone for being flexible as we were forced indoors with temps in the 40′s in late May!  Oh well, lets hope for better weather this week but the same great food.  As usual, feel free to come anytime from 4-8pm without reservations.  We really appreciate an email to info@wyebrookfarm.com to let us know you are coming though so that we can have enough food! Green Salad: Shaved zucchini, snow peas, asparagus, chives, green goddess dressing Pork “Crepinette”: Caul fat wrapped pork sausage, lentil and radish salad, caper mustard vinaigrette -or- Fried Chicken “Korean Style”:  Wing joint and leg, sesame pickled cucumber potato salad “Creamsicle”: Panna cotta, orange jelly, whipped cream Chef Dinner, Sunday June 23rd I am so excited for the return of Chef Andrew Wood of Russet for a southern Italian inspired al fresco dining experience here at Wyebrook Farm.  For those of you that missed his last Chef Dinner, Andrew always puts on a great show and has talent for explaining his food and how it is prepared.  He wants to cook as much of this meal as possible outside on the infernillo so feel free to come early to watch him cook al fresco.  If the weather is nice, we can sit outside but if it gets hot and muggy we will plan to dine in the stone barn as usual.  For the menu and more details please visit our website here. Farmers Breakfast, Friday Night Dinner & Chef Dinner – Wyebrook Farm 15O WYEBROOK ROAD, HONEY BROOK PA, 19344 TELEPHONE 61O·942·7481 EMAIL INFO@WYEBROOKFARM.COM

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It wasn’t all me. It was a joint effort really between Arden and myself. She was driving the Polaris, but I was navigating. The grass was so tall. Above my waist in places. We didn’t see the gully until it was too late. It was so muddy. We tried everything. Low gear. Four-wheel drive. But we just kept spinning tires.

After our best efforts to get unstuck failed, I called Rob to come pull us out. He first tried to rescue us with the four wheeler, but that didn’t work. We were really stuck. So he returned with the tractor. The big tractor. The one that pulls the hay wagon, a.k.a The Hulk. That did the trick. We were saved and I’ll be baking Rob some oatmeal butterscotch cookies. Those are his favorite.

Rob to the rescue!

Saved by the Deere

We spent the better part of the afternoon trying to catch and tag calves. Cow 116 had a female baby yesterday and Ryan asked me if I felt comfortable tagging it by myself. I said I did and set off with the two Robs to build a fence and tag what would be calf 344. Turns out calf 344 is a wild child. Young calves sleep a lot so you can usually just sneak up on them and get them tagged before they know what is happening. Not 344. She was up and alert and wanted nothing to do with us. We chased her around for a good bit before deciding to try again later.

That was yesterday morning. This morning we went up with the same plan. Find her sleeping and sneak up on her. Well, we found her sleeping, but when I was about 10 feet away she jumped up and bucked and ran. So much for that plan. The first time Ryan tasked me with tagging a calf on my own I failed miserably. He ended up having to chase her down on the four wheeler and lasso her to get her tagged. That made me feel better. It wasn’t all incompetence on my part. She really was wild!

This afternoon we headed over to the heifers to treat two calves for hoof rot. Hoof rot is almost exactly what it sounds like: a bacterial infection that rots the foot, though it actually attacks the area between the “toes,” not the hoof itself. It is very contagious and can lead to lameness if left untreated. The telltale sign is limping. We treated the calves yesterday so today they were pretty skittish. We finally caught and treated one, but the other wouldn’t let us get close enough to rope her so we will try again tomorrow. Hoof rot spreads through the soil so I am hoping that a few warm days will dry out the ground and prevent the infection from spreading to others.

For those who have been wondering about Sir Fluffkin, he is doing well, though is minions are almost as big as him these days. He’s still with his friends up in the broiler house. I am hoping to move him down with the layers when we get the 500 new ones. Chicken-dog will have so many distractions that she shouldn’t single him out. Sadly, he is becoming increasingly less domesticated. He won’t let me pick him up and hold him like he used to. It’s my fault for not spending more time with him every day, but that’s just the way it goes.

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Chef Dinner With Andrew Wood, Sunday June 23rd I am so excited for the return of Chef Andrew Wood of Russet for an Italian inspired al fresco dining experience here at Wyebrook Farm.  For those of you that missed his last Chef Dinner, Andrew always puts on a great show and has talent for explaining his food and how it is prepared.  He wants to cook as much of this meal as possible outside on the infernillo so feel free to come early to watch him cook al fresco.  If the weather is nice, we can sit outside but if it gets hot and muggy we will plan to dine in the stone barn as usual. Menu Summer Vegetable Stuzzichini with pastured eggs cooked in ash. Umbrian Style Flatbread with grilled chicken hearts, stuffed zuchini blossoms, peas and pickled ramps Tuscan Style Pork Ribs with maple mustard glaze, cannelini beans, and giardiniera Whole Roasted Lamb with finn potatoes, spring onions and salsa verde Framboise Sabayon with seasonal berries and sable Details Because this dinner is on a Sunday, we will start a little earlier at 6:30pm with a complimentary beer toast from our neighbors at Victory Brewing, but the dinner is BYOB, due to our dry township.  The five-course dinner will follow on the top floor of Wyebrook’s restored stone barn where guests will be seated together at 12 foot long reclaimed wood tables with panoramic views of the Wyebrook’s landscape in the distance.  The dinner is $100 per person, including tax and gratuity.  Seating is limited to 40 guests and reservations are required.  For those who would like to make a reservation should email us at info@wyebrookfarm.com.  Advance payment is required and it is non-refundable so that we can properly prepare for this amazing dinner. Chef Pennsylvania native Andrew Wood, 36, opened Russet, his first restaurant, in Philadelphia last winter.  Working alongside his wife, pastry chef Kristin Wood, Andrew serves new American cuisine with nods to northern Italian and southern French flavors and techniques.  Russet is set in a charming 1800s-era brick townhome, a suitable backdrop for the restaurant’s farm-to-table cuisine. Before opening Russet, Andrew cooked at Old City’s acclaimed Fork where he spearheaded the ambitious charcuterie program that was awarded Philadelphia magazine’s “Best of Philly” in 2010.  Andrew has also held positions in other top kitchens across the country, including the Napa Valley’s Terra, San Francisco’s Quince and Chicago’s TRU.  Working alongside some of America’s most gifted and well-respected chefs, he honed his abilities in animal butchery and hand-shaping pasta, as well as art of sourcing ingredients locally and cooking with the seasons, skills that influence the seasonal fare he prepares and serves at Russet. 15O WYEBROOK ROAD, HONEY BROOK PA, 19344 TELEPHONE 61O·942·7481 EMAIL INFO@WYEBROOKFARM.COM

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The crazy weather is really starting to affect us, even the animals. The cows don’t seem to mind it too much, probably because they are still shedding their winter coats and the cooler air is more tolerable, but the layers spend their days huddled under the house and the pigs in their huts. We are keeping a close eye on the piglets because they aren’t growing as fast as we’d like and several have been coughing. It’s likely just a cold from the cool, damp air, but we want t stay on top of it. When I first got here back in March, we lost a few piglets to pneumonia and we don’t want that again. It’s frustrating because this should be the perfect time of year for piglets!

Even so, I am thankful for the rain. When you are out moving cows, soaked to the skin and ankle deep in mud, it is easy to forget all the benefits of the rain, but it is a blessing. As a future reminder to myself, here are 10 things I am thankful for when it comes to rain:

1. It suppresses pollen
2. It cools things down
3. It keeps the grass growing
4. Setting up fencing is so much easier when the ground is soft after a shower
5. The smell after the rain
6. The sound of rain against my window as I fall asleep
7. Running in the rain keeps me cool and hides how sweaty I am
8. Free car wash
9. Rainy evenings provide the perfect excuse to curl up with a good book (or Arrested Development…)
10. Because no matter how old you are (or what you are), jumping in a puddle can put a smile on anyone’s face

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Having trouble viewing the email below? CLICK HERE. Friday Night Dinner – Farm to Table, May 31st Well, you really can try all you like to plan for all contingencies but then along comes last Friday night.  Thanks to everyone for being flexible as we were forced indoors with temps in the 40′s in late May!  Oh well, lets hope for better weather this week but the same great food.  As usual, feel free to come anytime from 4-8pm without reservations.  We really appreciate an email to info@wyebrookfarm.com to let us know you are coming though so that we can have enough food! Menu Green Salad: Shaved zucchini, snow peas, asparagus, chives, green goddess dressing Pork “Crepinette”: Caul fat wrapped pork sausage, lentil and radish salad, caper mustard vinaigrette -or- Fried Chicken “Korean Style”:  Wing joint and leg, sesame pickled cucumber potato salad  ”Creamsicle”: Panna cotta, orange jelly, whipped cream 15O WYEBROOK ROAD, HONEY BROOK PA, 19344 TELEPHONE 61O·942·7481 EMAIL INFO@WYEBROOKFARM.COM

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