What to Do?

Since we are facing something different this week we thought it might be a good idea to inform everyone as early as possible about Market closing this week. I don’t think any of us have ever faced anything quite like this storm, for that matter, the Wiregrass and the rest of the southeast US! On Friday the plan was to open as normal and operate as usual should Irma go east, and cancel should Irma go west . . . toward us.

Now that we know we will experience her fury Market at Dothan is NOT open for orders this week. We hate the inconvenience we know it will cause for many and hope to resume orders as usual on Sept. 16.

Stay safe. Do what the authorities advise, and we look forward to seeing you the following week.

THIS WEEK’S GROWER NOTES

We have the best Growers in the Wiregrass! Please learn more about them on our Grower Page

AVALON FARMS: It’s a beautiful day and we are working hard on the never ending list of farm chores, along with battening down the hatches in preparation for Irma.

Do what you can to prepare.
Use common sense.
People are what’s important.
Ultimately, it’s in God’s hands.
God loves you.
We think you’re ok too.
See you on the other side.

BAIN HOME GARDENS: Hello Market friends! We are so happy to be here. This week presented a reality check for our family. We were involved in a car accident. A driver ran the light and completely removed the front end of our van! It was scary. Besides the standard whiplash related injuries all passengers are ok. We were so thankful to have our lives as spoil. How appropriate! Things are just things. We can replace them. However we cannot replace lives! We must all remember this in the upcoming days. Please be safe in your travels and as you prepare your homes, farms, and gardens for the upcoming storm. We pray that everyone will come out safe. We will be doing our best to prepare our home garden for the storm. We will be applying some of the tips provided in the link below. Hopefully you will find it as useful as we did.

http://okaloosa.ifas.ufl.edu/lng/preparing-your-plants-for-a-storm/

Well wishes from our family to yours!

HAWKINS HOMESTEAD FARM: With all the natural disasters happening around the world today we want to take time to acknowledge those who have lost loved ones, homes, farms, animals, whatever was important to them. We pray for those families and also for those affected by the upcoming storms. As our lives continue on here, we feel it’s important to empathize with the struggles other have, pray that God helps them to endure, and be thankful for what we have. We have friends and family in the Florida area who are under mandatory evacuation, so this hits close to us. We choose to use our public voice, to raise awareness and to try to help others. We encourage everyone to do what they can. Please stay safe wherever you may be.

Back on our Homestead, we are trying something new. TWO of our chickens decided to go broody at the same time! They want to be mamas and so their laying stops and they sit on eggs day by day, keeping them warm, and waiting on them to hatch. This is why we are listing fewer eggs on the market as some of you may have noticed.

Since these girls won’t be laying anyway, we decided to mark some eggs from 8/26 for hatching! The girls have each been moved to their own brooding pens and now we just wait. With these two birds, we have had 3 go broody so far this year. One of them is only 7 months old! The first hen went before the rooster was active so we had to help her. She may have sat in there forever otherwise!

We have at least 7 different types of hens (probably more) but our roosters are mostly Copper Marans (except one). Below you will see a picture of our main one. His name is Mr. Rooster….yes we could’ve come up with something better but every single rooster we’ve named ended up in the RRC (rooster rehabilitation center) also known as the crockpot so he will just have a label.

It takes about 21 days for the chicks to hatch out so here’s hoping they’re all hens! We will keep you posted.

HORTONS FARM: Since we now know what to expect of the next few days Saturday and Sunday here are being spent in preparedness mode. The Mr. will take care of things like making sure the generator works, checking stuff on the roof, moving equipment, etc. I get the rest: 1. Make sure the animals have plenty of food and water and are secured (wait . . . we do that every day!!). 2. Fill water jugs. 3. Secure the bee hives. For those who have seen photos of my Leaning Tower of Beeza, it will lean no more after today. It would probably go over with the first gust of wind leaving hundreds of bees homeless, confused and angry. Small bees are no match for big winds, but that don’t mean they don’t have an opinion about it. 4. Check supply of paper plates and charcoal. 5. Get everything off the outside porches. 6. Do the laundry since we don’t know how long we could be without power. Of course we’ll meet with the Lord Sunday morning where I’m sure there will be special prayer for those in harms way. We’ll be praying for all of you too.

As a small public service announcement, check out Zello. It is an internet based app that allows your smart phone to work like a walkie talkie if cell towers go down. I was impressed with the quality of communication using it and our family has a plan in place to stay in touch the next few days.

RICHTER FARMS PORK: I will be out of town this week. FYI I am bringing in a hog Sept 27 hopefully having pork available mid Oct. If you have a cut you would like to purchase please let me know.  I am also going to have goat available, raised the same as all of our other livestock, non-gmo feed and on pasture! Egg production is down due to the girls molting, once they get their new feathers it will be a few months to get egg production up (they want to look their best you know!) . I have a few spring hatched hens that I expect to start laying soon so should have some eggs through the late fall early winter months. Hope everyone stays safe through Irma’s march across the South!

FOOTNOTES

We would love to hear from you! If you have a favorite recipe, want to write a product review, have an idea or request for an article or information, let us know! You can reply to this newsletter or write marketatdothan@gmail.com.

We thank you for your interest and support of our efforts to bring you the healthiest, the freshest and the most delicious locally-produced foods possible!