Hey folks!! Did ya miss us? We’re checking in to update you fine farm followers on what’s been going on around here…and it sure has been a lot of goodness to share!!

- Let’s start with this little ray of sunshine that graced us with her presence last October:

- We lost our beloved Primrose in mid-December to an illness that came about and tested her limitations, as well as Ben’s while treating her. It truly was a sad event, as she had become a part of the family through her gift of fresh milk and sassy saunter around the yard. Carly was with her when she died, and she was treated to a family burial alongside her son, Dukes, at the opening of the woods behind the house. We sure do miss her, and look to her daughter, Beledene to carry on her legacy as one of our family milk cows, alongside Hope, Piedra & Buttercup.

- Colin returned from his cattle-ranching adventures out west in early Spring to settle back down on the farm to assist in the long-term goals of the farm in harvesting wild edibles and making those available to the family and consumer. One of our goals is to reconnect with our innate hunter-gatherer roots by learning about, harvesting, and having available the nutritional abundance that is around all of us everywhere. Our nephew Al has continued to learn the basics and details of fencing, general land management, wood splitting, saw-milling, etc., and will also join in the hunter gatherer elements of our adventures in hopes of filling the saloon shelves with delicious greens, berries, mushrooms, and anything else we can find along the way. We are hoping our niece Allison and myself, Hannah, will be joining in this thrilling component of the new farm happenings to share all that we have to offer.

- We kicked off our Community Movie Nights with the film Numen in February, and continued them til May. Each event started with a potluck dinner with lots of delicious, homemade food, then everyone settled into a documentary about important farm/community topics ranging from family to bees. All of the movies chosen were highly informative and entertaining, and I would highly recommend seeking them out on your own to watch at your convenience, and we would love to talk about them with you on your next visit to the saloon.

• Numen (healing power of plants)
• This Way of Life (a family’s connection to nature & each other)
• Queen of the Sun (a look at the global bee crisis with solutions)
• The Greenhorns (stories of the young farming community)

 

- Mountain Run Farm hosted a Weston A. Price Foundation: Bedford County Chapter pasture walk and potluck one Sunday afternoon. We had a good turn-out of folks from Lynchburg, Bedford, Roanoke, and places in between ready to walk the pastures and learn all about wild edibles along the way. We’re hoping they won’t look at a “weed” the same way! We then watched the mob move into a new pasture, and walked back to the saloon for a wonderful lunch prepared by those present. Noah even had his egg stand set up, and I do believe he made a few sales that afternoon. How could anyone resist?

 

- This past week, we supplied the “venue” for Land & Table: Potluck + Open Mic + Market event organized by Jason Fowler of Sustainable Traditions and Land & Table. This was the first of many of these types of events for our area, and were honored to be a part of it. We had a plethora of delicious, homemade food, along with a market setup of local greens, goat cheese, veggies, eggs, fine art, paper goods, garden art & beautiful walking sticks. Our mom’s Monday night bluegrass band played some tunes, along with some other local musicians. It was quite a purposeful gathering of community and we look forward to the next one…which I believe is in the beginning of June. I have provided Facebook links so that you can follow along with all of the happenings. Also, Jeff Sharpe of Sharpe Shooter Photography took some excellent photos of the event so you can see for yourself how much fun we had.

 

- Ben, Carly, Noah, Gilliam & Luna are moving out of their house and moving in with the cows this summer for several days at a time. They want to experiment with moving with the herd and observing how they use and nurture the land with each pasture rotation, because observation is key when dealing with animals and land. Their first attempt was last week where they set up camp on what we call “The Top of the World,” and were joined by Colin for a night and Hannah and some friends for another night. It truly was spectacular to wake up to a 360 degree view of the Blue Ridge and other local mountain strands.

 

Well, that was a just a few happenings going on around here, and I’m sure there is bunch more. We hope to not take such a long break between postings to keep everyone on the up and up with Mountain Run Farm. If you’d like to come and see us, our saloon farm store is open every Saturday from 10am-2pm, and we continue to stock a wide range of grass-only beef and pastured pork cuts. We are also going to be hosting monthly events for you to attend at the farm…stay tuned for more information on those here on our blog and our Facebook page.

We have heard it all: no more cows, no more meat to sell, not farming anymore – had to go get a “real” job…we even heard one go so far as to question whether Ben was still living. We DO still have cows, we DO have meat to sell, Ben is STILL farming, and I can promise you – HE IS VERY MUCH ALIVE!!

We do apologize if you have not heard from us lately or as much as you have in the past. We are not raising chickens this year to sell to our customers, so that may be why you haven’t heard from us. We never broke even, much less made a profit, and with 2 small children and hundreds of acres to maintain, we decided to focus our efforts elsewhere and really hone in on what we feel is important to us as a family. We hope that you understand this change, and continue to support us in our endeavors as a local food source for you and your family.

Our meat freezers continue to be stocked with all of the wonderfully packaged meats from Smith Valley Meats near West Virginia, as well as offering sides of both beef and pork as an economical and efficient option. Our store hours are every Saturday from 10am-2pm. Come on out, dig around, and see what delicious meals you can conjure up with what we have to offer. We just got in some Sweet Potato Liver Pate from the world-renowned German butcher from Weeping Radish in NC – it is packaged and sold fresh and I have to say it is absolutely delicious.

Some other tidbits that have been keeping us busy these days:

• Baby #3 is due in mid-October (although if you’ve seen Carly lately, she feels like it could be a bit earlier than that)
• Noah just celebrated his 6th birthday yesterday with a day of apple picking, dirt cake eating, pond swimming, and fishing
• Primrose is being kept company by her calf, Beledene (a girl!!!) and some new friends that moved in: Hope, Piedra, & Timothy
• Our nephew Al has been helping Ben out this summer, as well as learning about farming, nutrition, and ways of the land
• The Sedalia Country Store is hoping to carry Mountain Run Farm burgers sometime in the near future
• Ben is continues to “Mob Graze” the cattle – the fields have never been healthier, the cows are happy & peaceful, and fuel costs are cut tremendously

For the second year in a row, we will also be attending the Heritage Harvest Festival as part of the Backyard Revolution.

Backyard Revolution is a family-oriented celebration of our country’s cultural and agricultural heritage. We bridge from the past to the present by exploring the self-sufficient abilities, ingenuity, and practical wisdom of our forebears.

Founded by Adrienne Young-Ramsey, Backyard Revolution is a program of SurLie Foundation, which endeavors to bring the strengths of our indigenous and colonial ancestors to life by making their knowledge, lore, and credentials accessible to and respected by a broader, more diverse audience.

To learn more, get involved, read updates, see pictures, and join us in discussions about opportunities to connect with our natural world while nurturing self reliant communities, simply find us on the web, or on Facebook, we’d love to be friends! Please visit us at www.backyardrevolution.com.

Ben will be leading a talk at 1:30pm on Healing the Land through Natural Herd Management (i.e. Mob Grazing). He will explain how to rebuild topsoil, sequester carbon at lightning speed, while raising medicinal-grade meats and milk through the art of proper, harmonious cow herd management. Primrose will not be attending this year’s festival, but come on up and support local history – there are SO many great presenters, demonstrations, and vendors all of lawn of a grand historical monument right here in central Virginia. Look for us with the Backyard Revolution!

And now on to the most important news:

SEPTEMBER 10th – SEDALIA COUNTRY FAIR – SEDALIA CENTER (10am-4pm)

OCTOBER 1st – 14th ANNUAL DAY AT POINT OF HONOR – DOWNTOWN LYNCHBURG (10am-4pm)

So, there was a just a few things that have been going on, and I am SURE I left out a hundred other things. It’s never a dull moment around here.

It may feel like Spring at the moment, but the reality is folks, Winter is still here!  And we’re making it feel a little better to ya with our WINTER SAMPLER.  We’re offering this discount on a pre-selected bag of beef to keep everyone happy until our custom beef is fattened on the Spring grass.  Here are the options:  a 15% discount on a 40 pound bag with 20 ground beef, 1 chuck roast, 3 short ribs, 1 sirloin tip roast, 2 ribeyes, 2 chuck eye steaks, 2 shank, and 1 top round steak, about $200.  Option 2: a 10% discount on a 25 pound bag with 10 ground beef, 2 sirloin steaks, 2 NY strips, 1 rump roast, 1 skirt steak, 1 London Broil, 1 shank, and 1 top round steak, about $145.  Stay warm and remember, Spring is on the way – at least our hens are laying eggs again!

News Flash:  Ben just sold a side of beef to Gramercy Tavern in New York City through Eco-Friendly Foods in Moneta, Virginia.  Gramercy Tavern is known as one of the best restaurants in the country and we’re excited to have chefs of that calibur using our meat!  The feedback will be valuable.  Make your home kitchen a five star restaurant and order your side of beef and pork today!  We’re taking some in to the local butcher soon,  see our custom meats page.  Call us with any questions.

http://mountainrunfarm.com/custom-meats.htm

http://www.gramercytavern.com/

We are now open Thursday through Friday 10:00 am to noon and Saturdays 10:00 am to 2:00 pm at the Saloon Farm Store.  We set new hours for 2011 so we can devote undistracted time to raising our children and the animals.  We will be closed Sunday through Wednesday.  (We’ll also be offering local deliveries.  Stay tuned for more information and don’t forget your local retailers that carry our product.)

We just wanted to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! We hope it is filled with laughter, love, and of course, good food and cheer! Thank you to all who have continued to support us this year, and years past – your loyalty is very much appreciated and we are honored and grateful for all of you who have chosen us as your local meat producer.

If you find yourselves needing meat over the holidays, please give us a call (434-299-5193) and we can get you what you’re looking for…we are fully stocked with beef and pork, and even fresh, local eggs. We’d love to provide you and your family with homegrown items to complete any holiday feast.

Enjoy the remaining days of this year, and we’ll see you in 2011!!

In Peace, The Folks at Mountain Run Farm

You heard the boss. Come on out this Saturday to celebrate the new autumn season and see what’s going on around Mountain Run Farm. Our doors will open at 8am for what we like to call the Early Bird Chores, starting with a milking demonstration centered around our family milk cow, Primrose. And if you haven’t had the chance to lock eyes with this little number, you will want to. She is something to behold. And no, she’s not writing this…this time. About 8:30am, after explaining the milking process, Ben will go over Primrose with a head-to-toe explanation About a Cow (which what he is really doing is letting you know just how doable having a milk cow really is in order to supply your family with fresh, raw milk that is “legal”), and show you some pretty cool and interesting facts about her and the general milk cow.

From 9:30-12pm give or take, you have the option of joining Ben on a Pasture Walk. This will include an in-depth explanation/conversation /education about our Freedom Ranger meat chickens, Laying Hens, Hoop Coops, Processing Area, Thanksgiving Turkeys, Catfish, our Custom Feed, Honey Bees, Dukes (Primrose’s son), Yardbirds, Horses, Goats, Guinea Fowl, and on and on. There’s no telling what you’ll find around here sometimes. And the neat thing is, every single one of these animals has a purpose. Whether its drinking up excess warm milk or recycling chicken guts…there’s a purpose. Pretty cool, huh? Makes you want to come out and hear about it, doesn’t it!! And it doesn’t end there…following the Pasture Walk, Ben will take those interested out and about to the Mob Grazing, and give some background on the purpose of it and how it can help your farm achieve more sustainability. This is something new we are doing here on the farm this year, and despite the local rumor-mill of “Ben must be going crazy,” we are pretty excited about the fact that not one engine on a hay tractor was turned this season.

We will also have our 100% Grassfed Beef, and for this event we have put together “Autumn Beef Samplers” that include a roast, 4 sirloin steaks, and 2 stew beef at a 10% discount. Seems like a pretty good deal… Our Pastured Pork and Whole Chickens (frozen) will also be available, as well as sign-ups for our Thanksgiving Turkeys. We are out of some items, but we will be back in full stock in a couple of weeks.

Please don’t hesitate to email us at reachus@mountainrunfarm with questions, comments, anything. We are happy to talk with ya.

P.S. Prim may even be giving autographs…if she’s in the moooo’d of course.

P.S.S. Memorable Quote of the Day: In conversation, Noah was told by Ben the old wives tale of “an apple a day keeps the doctor away.” Noah’s response: What’s a doctor? Thought you all might like that….

Leaves are turning slowly, the air is getting cooler (at night only, it seems), and fall flavors are in the air!! We’ve been hearing about a lot of Harvest Festivals going on this Fall, and the one we are most excited about is the Heritage Harvest Festval at Monticello on September 11th. This event will be held on the West Lawn of Monticello near the Thomas Jefferson Visitor’s Center from 10am-4pm. Ben will be leading an “About a Cow” talk at 10:30am sharing how he and Carly are creating a self-sustaining farm that ensures Happy Animals, which produce Happy Products, which creates a Happy Family!

(Photo courtesy of Heritage Harvest Festival website)

The Heritage Festival celebrates one of Thomas Jefferson’s great passions – the garden. Mountain Run Farm will be joining many other vendors, educators, and demonstrators for a “celebration of gardening, sustainable agriculture and local food, held at Monticello, the mountaintop home of our third president.” Mountain Run Farm feels called to help educate and pass on the traditional wisdom that we are learning more and more about and practicing in our daily life here on the farm. There is a constant desire to look to Mother Earth for resources in food, shelter, and inspiration. We know she has it there for a reason, and we are going to use it to its full advantage!! It is events like this, and groups like Backyard Revolution that seek to provide education and knowledge about this traditional way of living, and we are proud to be involved and sought after to help promote and educate what we do on a daily basis on the farm.

So, check out the Heritage Harvest Festival website, buy your tickets, and make a day of it!! We visited Monticello for the first time last year in September, and it is such a beautiful time to visit and you can feel the history in the surroundings that is immaculately well-kept and true to its previous owner’s desires. Definitely worth the trip out, and especially with a festival going on, and even MORE special that we’ll be there!!

And…speaking of “harvests”…. What do you think about a $6 Rib-Eye? Sign up now for our Fall Custom Beef and Pork Harvest! And it’s perfect timing because the nutrients and meat quality are at their peak in the fall season of the year, especially coming off a summer of mob-grazing and knee-high grasses to eat. Our meats are your medicine. Join in the “Cowpool” at Mountain Run Farm where you can get 1/12 of beef that would fit perfectly in a freezer and your budget. We also have 1/4, 1/2, and whole custom beef, as well as 1/2 and whole custom hog available. We’re taking some soon, so sign on up!! Please email reachus@mountainrunfarm.com for more information or if you’d like to be on the list…

See you at Monticello! If not before on the farm….

…and Prim lived to tell about it…

“The adventure started last Wednesday when Ben, Carly, Noah, Gilliam, and Hannah loaded up their belongings, along with myself and even a few chickens, into the cattle trailer and we all headed to Floyd Fest. Every year they’ve talked about going, and then July rolls around and there’s NO way they could leave me and the farm and go. Well, this year they just decided to take me with ‘em. They sweet-talked me about it leading up to the day, so I was as prepared as I could be. So, two hours on the Crooked Road later, we arrive at our site in the Global Village as part of Backyard Revolution and Ben unloads me: Primrose. I drew attention immediately (why wouldn’t I?) – I mean it was like some people had never seen a cow before!! I made myself at home munching on grass and weeds…and even laid down in the shade before nightfall. Luckily, we had arrived in time to acclimate myself to the area and small doses of people before the general public was to arrive on Thursday/Friday, so they had time to set up and get situated before the real festivities began. They were still a little nervous about me during the night with people walking by and wanting to say hello, so Ben ended up sleeping beside me that first night. He’s so good to me….

Thursday started with an informal milking demonstration with an audience of around 5, a walk up the hill to stretch my legs, and a little cud chewing in the temporary fence. Because I was still being milked, and now milking twice a day because my calf, Dukes, was at home, they had a lot of milk (about 3-4 gallons a day)! So, they gave away some of my raw milk samples to anyone that asked for it in a cup, in their coffee, or even just a sample sip. They know that it is illegal to sell my milk in the state of Virginia, and they are very strict about that on the farm, but it was their understanding that giving it away was not against the law. So, that’s what we did. I actually don’t see the big deal, but a law is a law I guess. The milk was strained on site, put into clean jars, and kept on ice in a cooler. If someone asked for some, they didn’t hesitate to spread my gift.

My formal performance schedule didn’t start until Friday morning, so they had a little time to finish getting set up and prepared for the weekend. That sense of calm came to a halt at about 1 am with the first bass drop of DJ Excessive and Thunderdrums at the Global Village Stage right down the hill from us. I think it literally shot Hannah out of her tent because she immediately came out to check on me, and hung out with me until Ben came back from enjoying some music – his presence seems to immediately calm me. Thunderdrums continued and we all attempted to get some sleep, while Ben remained out with me sleeping on the hay-bales. I believe this was the night when we overheard 2 guys as they were walking by say, “Duuude! Is that a reeeaaal cow, or is that, like, a faaaake cow??” And so it began….

Ben came and got me for our first milking demonstration around 10am Friday morning, and folks started to gather a little before that to say hi to me, talk to Ben, get a milk sample, or just make sure they had a front row spot. They wanted to see what this whole milking business was all about. At least 1-2 people per group would tell us how they grew up on raw milk, had a milk cow as a child, or were currently a part of a cow share in their area. So, there was definitely some common bonds within the folks that came down for the demo. Ben was in the middle of milking and verbally going through each step of the process with an explanation, when Hannah heard over her shoulder, “Department of Health just pulled up.” Her first reaction was, “Nuh-uh,” but lo and behold, there sat the white truck and there stood the man with the silver clipboard asking to speak with who was “in charge.” Well, the man “in charge” had his head tucked under me in front of 50+ people pulling on my teats, so shetold him he would have to wait and was there something she could help him with. He replies, “Under no circumstances are you all allowed to pass out raw milk…it is against the law…unless it is pasteurized…shut it down…” Blah, blah, blah. He said that a festival go-er who worked for the North Carolina Dept. of Health saw what we were doing, called the Commissioner, who called the Virginia Dept. of Health, who then sent orders to this man to come tell us to shut it down…in the middle of a music festival. Then he asked for Ben’s name, and as he’s writing I heard someone in the crowd speak up to say, “What is this bullcrap!?” We all knew then that this couldn’t have been timed more perfectly – we had a public demonstration of a real cow milking, a public display of supplies needed to raise/milk a dairy cow like myself, resources on the table, and 50+ people who voluntarily took time out of their day to come down and show support, become educated on farm life and/or dairy cows, or maybe even recall a memory of their childhood that had been tucked away. The crowd was stirred and the energy was obvious. I even saw a couple of fists in the air when Ben finishing up the milking demonstration and being very honest about how his emotions had just been stirred. The man was very nice about it, said he was just following orders to come down there, but it was still a pretty serious matter and one that we are so thankful happened when it did so that these people could see how raw milk is treated in the “corporate world,” and the absurdity of it all. It is nature’s gift to mankind…tested to be one of the healthiest, most nutrient-dense foods of all time…and treated like it is poison. How in the heck do they think  that makes me feel? It’s what I do for a living!!

There are groups of government officials dressed in thousand-dollar suits sitting around tables in government buildings talking about the next farm they are going to bombard at 5am with FBI officials to shut down and ransack…all because they sell raw milk on a small scale to customers who seek to provide health to their families because they know the benefits. Ben is not one of these farmers, I provide raw milk for them to drink, they do not sell my milk, but none of us see any harm and understand that it is legal to “give away” to those wanting to try it. Why wouldn’t you want to try something so delicious?! I’ve even heard it referred to as similar to a Vanilla shake…melted a little of course. I sure hope some of those folks went back home and sought out some of my friends in a cow share in their area, so that they too could benefit from one of nature’s gifts.

Just sitting here in the Saloon enjoying the cool breeze (finally!!) from our little storm that rolled in…love the sound of rain on a metal roof…

So, we decided to beat the heat and postpone our August Field Day to OCTOBER 9th and kick it up a notch with local vendors and possibly a little live music. The schedule will run early in the morning with a milking demonstration, so if you missed it back in May, you’ll get another chance!! I’m sure Prim loved being the center of attention… I will be posting more information about the Field Day closer to the event, so check back for that -

In other news…

Yes, you read right!! We are joining forces with the Backyard Revolution and taking Primrose for milking demos throughout the weekend in the midst of like-minded people and great music. If you’re heading up to Floyd Fest 9 next week, we’ll be set up in the “Global Village” area, so come say hi!! We’re getting quite excited!! Prim is getting daily pep talks to get revved up for the big event – this will be her first time out of Sedalia since her arrival a few years ago. I’m even thinking about putting a bow in her hair…