Tag Archives: Local Food

Eggs At Last, Lord Almighty, Fresh Eggs At Last

Farm Fresh Eggs
And now THIS is happening y’all..

I know. It’s been a long and difficult wait for us too. GOOD NEWS: All spring we had to suffer with store bought, cage grown (ew) nasty eggs. But now our new girls at Mercy Hill Farm are finally laying!

Plymouth Barred Rock Laying Hens
Plymouth Barred Rock Laying Hens

The new girls are about 5 months old now and pumping out about two dozen delicious, golden-orange yolked eggs every day. They’re just getting started. Soon we will have 5 or 6 dozen a day. These Plymouth Barred Rocks (above) are curious and friendly, great foragers and love to fight over the tomato hornworms we pluck out of the garden!

Aracauna laying hens

The Aracauna’s are a little more cautious and aloof (the two on the right above are Aracaunas,) but they lay pretty blue and green shelled eggs. They also have a varied and unusual feathering around their faces (like the one below:)

Aracauna Laying Hen Face
Aracauna Laying Hen Face

 

 

It’s also harvest season at Mercy Hill Farm. So in addition to farm fresh eggs, you will find fresh, in season vegetables in our store as well.

 

Fresh Garden Vegetables
Fresh Garden Vegetables
Piper on the Patio
Piper on the Patio

Piper says come on by anytime. She’s really excited about the new patio out back; what we call the “Chillax-io.” Stop by and say hello and chillax a bit.

 

Summer Blossoms

Truly, summer is the most impressive time for taking pictures of the farm. These are snapshots of flowers blooming currently around the house:

Purple Coneflower
Purple Coneflower (Echinacea Purpurea)
Purple Cosmos (Cosmos Asteraceae)
Purple Cosmos (Cosmos Asteraceae)
Columbine (Aquilegia)
Columbine (Aquilegia)
Pink Cosmos (Asteraceae)
Pink Cosmos (Asteraceae)
Purple Monarda (Fistulosa)
Purple Monarda (Fistulosa) Also known as Bee Balm
Blanket Flower (Gaillardia Pulchella)
Blanket Flower (Gaillardia Pulchella)
Red Bee Balm (Monarda Didyma)
Red Bee Balm (Monarda Didyma)
More Cosmos
More Cosmos!

We love growing our own food, but we plant a lot of flowers and herbs as well. Flowers not only add to the charm of the farm, but they attract beneficial insects, and produce scents that confuse or even repel pests.

Chick Day 2012

Spring is just around the corner, and we’re excited to start another great farming season.
Chick Day
 
The baby chicks are camping out in the office until the blustery winds calm down a bit out there.
Piper Likes Chicks
Piper likes the chicks too.
Griffin and Chicks
The are amusing to watch. and they give whole new meaning to the word “twitter.”
Griffin on Shoulders

Chick Up Close
Two day old Plymouth Barred Rock Chick.

Hanging round on the feeder
Hanging round on the feeder..
Piper With Chicks on Her Mind
Piper With Chicks on Her Mind..

If all goes well, we will have eggs for sale again come August. Stay tuned!
Click here to see more pics of Chick day. Nice job Sara!

Sure Signs of Spring at Mercy Hill Farm

The month of March brings with it dustings of snow, like this one last Thursday, but they quickly melt away.

Meanwhile, the Daffodils are pushing up through the mulch,

Brocolli, Kale, Collards, Lettuce and Onions are sprouting indoors.

A thick layer of newspaper weighed down with fresh cut firewood will keep the growing beds free of weeds for another month until the soil temperature gets comfortable enough for our seedlings.

The girls even came out for a spring stroll, a scratch and some foraging.

and then tonight after dark – BONFIRE baby! Woohoo!

 

 

Food For Thought: How Eating Good Food Can Make You Feel Better

If you only listen to your heart, you will oft times end up pigging out on french fries with cheese sauce. (Am I right?) After a while, somebody else will be listening to your heart – your cardiologist. Next time you’re hungry, stop and listen to your head a minute. So yeah, a great big juicy steak grilled to perfection and smothered in butter might sound really good to your limbic region, but engage your frontal lobe and consider what it will do to your abdominal and posterior regions. Is that 10 minutes of pleasure worth all the work you will need to do over the next couple days/weeks get your diet back in balance again?

I ate a salad today for lunch. Fresh salad is loaded with vitamins, fiber, antioxidants and very little fat. It wasn’t my first choice, but when I took a moment to consider my future I remembered that I’d probably be much happier long term than if I just ate a big steak. (not that I eat steak anymore anyway but you get the idea.) After I ate I was delighted to experience that light, energetic aura that slow burning carbs give you, for many hours. It was Wow.

Eat well. Dream big. Live like you mean it!

Mercy Hill Farm

 

Coming Soon: MercyHill Farm Country Store

There’s still thirty inches of snow covering the growing beds here at the farm, but now that Christmas and New Year’s Eve have passed, we’re hankering for a fresh garden salad!

We’ve decided to raise piglets again this year. They are lots of fun, and great landscapers. Pigs are herd animals, so we’ll raise one for us, and a few others for friends. OINK!

Rustic obelisks will make it easier to grow climbing beans.

The girls have done a fine job keeping us in eggs this winter. People love our fresh eggs!

and in a few months, we will hire on some new gals to bolster our egg production.

Meanwhile, we’re working out the details with our friends: Lakes Region Eat Local to pool together the best local food in one place this summer, making it available to you in a convenient, fun, country atmosphere: Mercy Hill Farm Country Store in Wolfeboro, NH.

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Come on springtime!