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Winter blues, reflection and projects, reminder to return your bottles, what's in stock now, new product, yogurt making
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Our farm sign along Route 10, follow the dead end dirt road to the end to find us

I'm a little late but Happy New Year!.........


What a winter we are having so far.  Extreme cold temperatures, lots of snow, lots of rain resulting in ice.  I'm not going to sugar coat it, those 20 days or so after the holidays of single digit daytime highs and negative digit nights were brutal.  I know what your thinking, and to answer your question, no, we do not have heat in the milking barn!  But we survived through it, like we always do and are so grateful that we have plenty of hay this year to keep everyone well fed, warm and dry.  The chickens fared the worst and completely stopped producing any eggs throughout the month of January but now are slowly starting to lay again.  Production always drops with them in the winter due to the colder temperatures and lack of daylight hours, however we had never experienced such a complete shut down.  Our winter housing for them had always been sufficient, pulling their chicken tractor houses under cover into our old coverall cow barn structure.  Although we never had experienced arctic temperatures like that for such a long stretch, we'll have to rethink and plan for better winter housing accommodations for next year. 

We always think going into winter that it is a slower season for us then the summer, and it is, however with the shorter days and crazy weather patterns we have been busy.  And of course we aren't much for sitting around anyways, so we keep ourselves busy with projects.  Some days when the temperatures are in the single digits, it takes all day just to do our regular farming tasks due to equipment not starting, frozen water and pipes, taking extra time to make sure all the animals are fed, have fresh, not frozen water and are bedded, clean and dry.  January is always a dreaded month because I have to prepare all the books for tax season- my least favorite thing to do all year!  But it's also a good time for Sam and I to sit down and look at our numbers and reflect on last year's production, successes and failures.  Every year we learn from our experiences, and every season we strive to be better farmers.  We certainly are our biggest critic's- when you work and live where you work, it's hard NOT to see all the things that need to be done or improved upon everyday, but we think we've come a long way.  Especially since we started this whole operation from scratch back in 2010- it takes time, money and a labor of love and most importantly, you, the customer that has been supporting us along the way, thank you!  Every purchase you make, either at a local store or at our farm shop, truly makes a difference on our farm and helps us to grow our herd and our business to become more sustainable and efficient. Furthermore by supporting a small farm like ours, your not contributing to a government subsidized, broken food system that is poisoning most of it's citizens everyday. 

One of Sam's winter projects has been installing curbing and free stalls in our new cow barn we built back in 2015.  We have been running it as a large bedded pack, however the new curbing and free stalls will give the cows designated bedded, comfortable spots to lie down and designated spots to drop their manure on.  The curbing will also make it easier for us to clean with the Bobcat machine scraper and the stalls will cut down on bedding costs and also labor.  Did you know that cow manure is mostly made up of water?  This makes it very heavy so picking up after 25 cows in the barn was a back breaking, labor intensive task.  So this new improvement will make life easier for us and more comfortable for the cows- a win win!  Cow comfort = happy cows = more milk produced!  We got a great deal on used stalls from a old dairy farm just over the river from us too - Sam had the task of uninstalling them from that barn, with the help from a retired dairy farmer and customer, Gene, and we're grateful for that. 

If you follow along on our facebook page, you probably read about our bottle shortage we experienced in late December.  Thank you to everyone that has made a effort to get those back to us and those of our regular customers that return them every week...keep them coming, we need them!  We received our bottle order from the manufacturer as well, so for now, we are okay.  It is a ongoing battle since we started almost 8 years ago - we try to not get into that situation, however from the time we order them to the time we get them can be up to 8 weeks afterwards due to production lead times, so it's hard to judge.  We had many suggestions from customers and believe me, we have thought of them all too.  Due to cash flow and storage issues, we cannot have more then 1 or 2 pallets on hand, and sometimes as our milk production rises, these situations occur.  Did you know that each glass bottle saves approximately 40 plastic bottles from going into a landfill?  That's our main reason for using glass in the first place and despite the cons, we plan to stick with glass going forward.  Remember, every bottle is worth $2 back to you, the customer, so please return them and don't recycle them, thank you.  They can be returned at any store that stocks our milk - you don't necessarily have to return them at the store you originally purchased them at.  They also can be returned directly to us at our farm shop or at the farmers market during the summer season. 

Well it's time for us to get in gear for sugaring season so we better get on it! But you know what that means - after sugaring season comes Spring! Yes I said it!  Yay!  But until then to get you through the next month or so of winter we have our freezers stocked with delicious meats to keep your bellies full and warm! I'm thinking meatloaf's, casseroles, quiches, stews, soups, chili, meatball's, lasagna, Shepard's pie, pot pie's, stir fry's, crock pot meat recipes, dutch oven recipes, let's get cooking!

We are currently running our 30lb. box special at the farm shop for the rest of the winter for those of you who would like to buy in bulk. 
Purchase 30lbs. of meat at one time, receive 10% OFF your total order.
You can mix and match cuts of beef, pork and whole chickens - your choice! Use this easy form for ordering  http://Bulk_Meat_Order_Form.xls

Now in stock......


For Beef;
I just picked up a new batch of beef on Friday!
Ground Beef
4, 4oz. pre made burger patties and 6, 3oz. burger patties
Beef Stewing Meat
Short Ribs
Boneless Ribeye Steaks
Tenderloin Steaks
Bottom Round Roasts (new requested item)
Liver, heart, tongue
Bones for bone broth

For Pork;
BACON is in!
Ground Pork
Breakfast Sausage ground
Sweet and Hot Italian Sausage ground
Hot Italian and Jalapeno Chipolte linked sausage
Loin Chops
Country Style Ribs
Regular racks of Ribs
Tenderloin
Half of shoulder roasts
Loin End Roasts
Smoked pork hocks
Bacon ends
Fatback
Liver

For Chicken;
Our whole roasting chickens are getting low in stock in the freezers so if you were interested in purchasing one or more, don't hesitate.  They make a great couple of meals and don't forget to boil down the carcass/bones for super healthy chicken stock.

Milk, eggs, maple syrup, local honey, soap, lotion, cards, books too!!

New product at our farm shop;  From Pamela's Pantry  a catering and personal chef venue in Winchester, pre made gourmet Mac & Cheese in take and bake containers.  She uses the finest ingredients and of course, our milk!  Easy, quick meal to take home and heat up.
Would you like to see more prepared meals that include our products at our farm shop? We would love to hear your likes and feedback, shoot us an email sarah@manninghillfarm.com

Are your hands suffering this winter from dry, cracked skin?  Our cow's milk lotion, handmade with the milk exclusively from our Dutch Belted cows, will do the trick.  Our friends at Holland Homestead Farm are extremely skilled in the soap and hand lotion business and handcraft it especially for us.  It's all I use and working outside in the winter climate, my skin needs a lot of it and it really works!  Oatmeal, almond and honey OR lavender scented, $6 a bottle. 

Have you tried making yogurt with our milk yet?  It's delicious and so simple to do, I make my own every week, so please ask if you have any questions about it.  Yogurt needs to be made from unhomogenized milk, which is why ours is a perfect match.  I use a freeze dried yogurt starter with guaranteed  live and active cultures in it, made by Yogourmet.  You can pick it up at any natural food store such as The Monadnock Food Co-op in Keene and we usually carry some for purchase at our farm shop as well. 
Instructions for homemade yogurt;
Ratio- 1 quart of milk makes 1 quart of yogurt

Heat a quart of milk in a saucepan over medium heat to 180 degrees, stirring frequently.  Cool to between 108 - 112 degrees.
Dissolve 5 g starter packet in a small amount of the cooled milk in a cup.  Pour back into the quart of cooled milk and mix well. 
If you want to add a flavor such as vanilla or maple syrup this is when you would do that as well.  (1/4 cup of maple syrup) or (1/4 cup of sugar or other sweetener, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract). 
Incubate 4 - 4 1/2 hours at least or up to 8 hours, undisturbed.  If you like tarter, tangier yogurt culture for up to 8 hours, milder yogurt is made by shortened culturing time.  Culturing time can occur in a yogurt machine, or a dehydrator if you have one, and some people have told me that a cooler with a hot water bottle  works well too.  You just have to make sure that the temperature should hold steady at 110 degrees or so.  Once the culturing time is complete, stick in the refrigerator to set.  Once set you'll see that our milk makes a beautiful yellow cream top, tart yogurt that's healthy and delicious, because you (with the help of our cows) made it! Great with locally made granola, frozen fruit or I even love to use a spoonful of our neighbors, Patti and Ralph at Cheshire Gardens, homemade organic fruit preserves, peach or raspberry is the best!

Manning Hill Farm has expanded into more social media and is now on Instagram! Follow along with us and stay in touch with the farm through many pictures to come!

Farm Shop Hours are:
Monday, Thursday, 9am-6pm,
Tuesday, Wednesday and Fridays, 2-6pm (recently changed)
Saturdays 9am-6pm , now open all day!
Closed on Sundays
These hours don't work? Call or email to set up a time that's convenient for you!


Thanks for reading and supporting our farm, we hope to see you soon!
Sarah and Sam,
Molly and Blue (the Great Dane welcoming duo)


 





 

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www.manninghillfarm.com, (603) 239 - 4397



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Manning Hill Farm 79 Old Manning Hill Road. Winchester, New Hampshire 03470

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Manning Hill Farm · 79 Old Manning Hill Road · Winchester, NH 03470 · USA

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