November 30, 2011

It sounds a bit cliche', but our November was full of turkeys. Everyone of them found a table for the holiday, though. Well, except for a few who may have escaped and joined the wild turkey flock roaming the countryside. We're not sure if the very white turkeys running with the wild ones belong to us or a neighbor. Kurt figures if they are tough enough to run with the big boys, he's not going to try and re-domesticate them. Honestly, I don't see them surviving much longer. White tends to stand out on a very dead, brown landscape. Almost like they are advertising a free turkey dinner to all the predators in the neighborhood.

I was surprised by the number of turkey inquiries I received less than 2 weeks before Thanksgiving. The earlier you reserve your turkey, the more likely you are to get one for Thanksgiving.

The longer we raise turkeys, the smarter we seem to get. You might say our turkey IQ that first year was somewhere around 60-65. Three years later, we've learned to keep the turkeys off the porch at night and how to scald them without displacing all the water in the scald tank. If I had to self-assess, I'd say our turkey IQ might be nearing 100. . . . there's still so much to figure out.

Watched the weather this morning and Comanche County is sill exceptional. Go us! Oh wait, the weather people meant we're still suffering from exceptional drought. Thankfully, we've received 2.5-3 inches since our customer appreciation dinner but it's still dry and it will take a few years for the grass to fully recover from the stress of this summer. The winter wheat and cool season grasses are growing slowly and it's nice to see a little green. I've made Kurt promise that he won't complain in a month or two if we end up with record snowfall.

We were overwhelmed by the response to our summer sausage - it flew off the shelves! It will be back in stock by the end of the year - just in time for college bowl games and your Super Bowl parties. These ship nicely if you're interested. Also perfect for football entertaining; our all beef brats and beer brats. For those who are a little braver, we also offer a hot link - Kurt tells me they're addictive. I wouldn't know. My first bite produced tears! Or. . . I have some beautiful slabs of ribs if you want to go all out in your entertaining.

A couple of months ago, I officially took over our website. My mom created our site several years ago and updated it as needed. We decided it was time for me to take over and she assured me that it wasn't much different than Microsoft Publisher, a program I always seem to struggle with. I've dinked a little with easy changes. While Mom was here over Thanksgiving, we sat down and went over how to move and add items. Guess what? It's all coordinate graphs - MATH, something I understand! I'm all over this now! If you get a chance in the next month, check the site out. We'll be changing some family pics as well as adding directions to the farm, etc.

I was humbled when after placing an order for gift certificates, a customer wrote "So tired of buying gifts that really, probably don't matter, but I KNOW this one will be much appreciated and used."

Besides gift certificates (for any amount), DFF has several other gift ideas that matter:

*Soap - I have Wake-Up Rosemary, Lavender and Honey Oatmeal in stock. So excited! Before Christmas, I should have Fresh Linen, Vanilla and Unscented in stock as well. Maybe if I get brave enough, I'll share a picture of me in my soap-making gear. It's not quite as scary as the picture I put up on Facebook of me bundled up to do turkeys!

*Samplers - We offer a Grilling Sampler, Country Comfort Sampler, Steak Sampler and the Best of the Farm. Check out our price page to see what all these include.

*Beef Quarters - Kurt and I had a few quarters processed and stored last month - a great family gift!

*Beef sticks and beef jerky are great stocking stuffers!

I'm about to make the people at Krehbiel's chuckle again. I'm going to make Kurt ask for the tallow off the beef he's taking up next week. I know you're thinking, "Andi, what will you do with that tallow?" I'm going to give container candles a shot, of course! I have no desire to go into full-time candle production and will leave scenting them to the professionals but I am curious to see what we can do with our animal byproducts.

Looking for that perfect holiday meal? We have a variety of steaks in stock; sirloin, t-bone, ribeyes, and my favorite, fillets. We also have several lovely pork tenderloins. Or, if you're feeding a larger crowd, we have chicken or beef bones for stock or stew meat - all perfect for great soups!

Kurt will be taking hogs to McPherson next week. Please let me know SOON if you'd like to reserve a half or whole hog. We have just a few left.

I will be through Wichita, Pratt and Greensburg on December 22nd and Dodge on the 12th and 20th if you'd like to place an order for the holidays.

Family updates:

We enjoyed Thanksgiving at home and it was nice to just take it easy after the busyness of turkey wrangling. My mom was able to come for a longer visit and the girls took turns competing for her attention. I can't count the number of times I heard, "Grandma, watch this!" Numerous rounds of Cray Eights and Slap Jack were played and Anna is turning into quite a competitor. However, I don't think she fully understands that the objective of Slap Jack is to get all the cards. When she would slap the jack, she would keep the jack and let her opponent take the rest of the cards in the pile. Oh, and she gets really mad if you happen to slap one of her jacks! Her sisters struggled with deciding if they wanted to enforce the rules with their 3-year-old sister or have fun. Fun usually won out - usually.

The other highlight of our vacation was a trip to the movies. First, it needs to be said we've NEVER been to the movies as a family outside of the county. This was a big, big deal. So, what, you might ask, was worthy of a trip? "The Muppets," of course! If you have any good memories of the Muppets as a child, GO SEE THIS ONE! We all laughed out loud. I must confess Anna covered her ears a few times and claimed I was laughing too loud. Good, clean, family fun. The only downer of the night was that Anna left Cow in the theater. The manager was amazing though. We couldn't go back and look for Cow because the next showing had already started. I did get a phone call after we got home and the manager let me know Cow had been found and would be placed in the mail on Monday morning. Anna's sisters were very empathetic and were generous enough to share their favorite stuffed animals with her while we awaited Cow's return. The celebration was grand when Cow showed up in a box Wednesday morning. Cow and Anna danced and danced.

Allison was great help at the Coldwater Bazaar and she'll get to go again next year. To be honest, I took Allison mostly for back-up - another body to man the table if I needed a bathroom break. She really stepped up though. She helped unload the car, set our table up, made sure displays stayed well-stocked and even made a few sales when I did have to take a break. So proud of her!

Poor Miss Natalie has been a sickie some this month. Actually, everyone in the house has had the stomach bug that's going around - except me!! Natalie was the only one to get sent home from school though. Poor kid was pretty green when I picked her up. She and Anna were both troopers the day even though they were both sick. It helped that we set up an infirmary in the living room - complete with mattresses and TV. Went they weren't getting sick, they thought they were really living the life! In fact, I think the matresses (and TV) stayed out there for 3 days!

Thankfully, Kurt didn't get hit (again) with the flu and the girls were better after Nat and Anna were sick. Otherwise, he wouldn't have been able to enjoy his early Christmas gift - a trip to Olathe to see his brothers and a Chiefs game. Unfortunately, it was one of the games the Chiefs forgot to show up at. Natalie spent a good part of the game scanning the crowd for her daddy. I assured her it was a good thing Dad didn't make an appearance on TV.

My November has been full of turkeys, soap and prayer although not necessarily in that order. My soap was such a hit at the Coldwater Bazaar that I've been scrambling to make more for Christmas orders and gifts - the soap takes 2-3 weeks to cure so I gotta get on that one! Turkeys - I got to help dress and package turkeys 4-5 days this month. The work doesn't stop there though. It's my job to arrange transportation, etc for all of them. And prayer - there's been regular family and personal prayers but we have also started a Moms in Touch group that I'm so excited about. Several moms and myself spend time each week praying for our kids, their teachers and the schools.

In the busyness of this holiday season, may you find the peace that only the Prince of Peace can offer,

Andi