With July 4th celebrations to be found throughout this week our family had much to celebrate. Racey returned home from Nepal, we watched fireworks from the fields of Essex Farm and then felt the booming of the fireworks in Keene Valley at Marcy Field. I hope these words find you in some form of quiet at the end of a holiday weekend.
For us July is the pulsing energy of summer. I took this picture this week of an area that reminded me of fireworks, bursting with color and the energy of July. Kids are out of school, the farm is in full swing and sometimes we find ourselves wishing the sun would go down earlier so we could get a little more sleep.☺︎ Racey and I have embraced the farmers market schedule and our Saturdays and Sundays are full adventures of market snacks, games under the table and the occasional thunderstorm to play in.
One thing I noticed this week is how different it is to sell at a farmers market than online. I love people, food, and the connection between the two. My continuing challenge is how to embody that love in a digital form:) A website is a powerful tool that many people can see and is a different craft than engaging with people in person.
Here’s an example: I love making sausage, especially from fresh and awesome ingredients. I love the creative process of figuring out how much of what spice, what is the flavor blend, and of course testing…yum. I’ve shared my excitement in our newsletter and I’ve sampled and talked about it at the farmers markets.
As I dug into the numbers I was pleased to see how much we have sold. Chicken Apple Sausage takes the lead, but Chicken Curry Sausage is a close second and Chicken Bacon Burger is the new arrival and is still gaining traction. I also noticed that most of these sales are at the farmers markets where we can talk to people about our new sausages.
So I thought I would try a new tactic: imagination.
Imagine you’re driving through the beautiful Adirondack mountains and you happen upon a weekend farmers market. The air is full of intriguing smells, fresh vegetables, flowers, and perhaps the scents of a local soap vendor. As you peruse the market and chat with local producers you begin to build the menu for dinner tonight. Maybe you’re cooking for a crowd, maybe just for you and a friend.
You walk up to a tent for a farm called Reber Rock Farm, what is Reber you wonder? There are two pairs of small bare feet sticking out from under the tablecloth covering the market table and there’s a faint smell of sausage. Behind the table stands what looks to be the dad of those small bare feet, with a checkered flat cap, short beard and a dress shirt that looks like it was inherited and well loved. He introduces himself as Nathan and invites you to try some of his new sausage. You can tell he’s excited to share it with you.
The sausage, Nathan explains, is made from their Pasture Raised Organic Chicken, and fresh, local, and, where possible organic ingredients. Local Honey Crisp apples from Northern Orchards, organic garlic from his garden; pointing to a vegetable vendor across the way he indicates where the organic sweet onions come from, and then he rattles off the other organic spices like cinnamon, nutmeg and sage.
Your tummy rumbles, wondering what’s for lunch and you take a sample. The sausage is still warm, the juices bounce in your mouth as you chew and take in the taste. Slight sweet…also savory, rich chicken flavor, mixed with notes of sage and nutmeg leaving you wanting another sample, but modesty holds you back. One of the hands from under the table sneaks up and grabs a sausage, not so modestly and you suspect it would be a favorite for the kids back home.
You decide right there, that chicken apple sausage will go well with the pasta and vegetable dinner you’ve planned so you get 2 packages and some chicken thighs to grill tomorrow. Yum.
Would you like to try any of the following?
Fun Farm Facts
After I took the photo I put at the top of this post I noticed something: there was a loud hum coming from all around me. It was deep and pervasive in a way that was confusing at first. As I looked closer I could see that the flowers were covered with countless pollinators. The song of thousands, probably tens of thousands of insects, accompanied my farm display of color.
Where did all these flowers come from?
This spot on the farm is near the hoop barn where the pigs had their winter nest. As you can imagine the area around the barn sees the most impact from the pigs and these beautiful wild mustard plants are the first to grow after the pigs move out to pasture. The honey bees, who have a few hives nearby, are thrilled to have all these flowers close by.
Reber Rock Farm Blog 