Eggs, Wrestling, ORFV T-Shirts
Our egg laying hens are now producing more regularly. We’ve been collecting about 3 dozen a day. Two new baby calves arrived this week. Keeping the pigs fed and content. The pigs in the woods continue to prefer foraging from mother nature’s table, but we keep non-gmo feed available for them.
Lots of freezer work. Three days this week we spent multiple hours in and out of freezers filling herd shares and organizing inventory. Mays Meats delivered the beef and pork back to the farm from the cows and pigs we dropped off for slaughter in October. Six pallets of meat to sort through as we did our best to put it the freezers in a somewhat orderly fashion. Then one afternoon of filing November beef shares. Another afternoon of filling pork shares.
Although ORVF eggs are becoming more available heading into cooler months, the opposite is true for ORVF chicken parts. Despite having cut up more chickens this season that we ever had, we are already sold out of breasts, tenders, thighs, and drumsticks. We probably have over 1000 lbs of chickens parts in the freezer, but they are designated and being kept for those who signed up for chicken part shares. If you want ORVF chicken parts between now and next spring, getting whole chickens to cut up yourself is the way to go. We do have some leg/thigh quarters and wings left.
Also new to our inventory this week, and fortunately not requiring freezer space, are 3 new options of ORVF apparel. Several of you have been asking about t-shirts. Sorry it’s been slim pickings for a while, but now we are stocked back up with all sizes. Two new t-shirt options and also a long sleeve shirt option. These are really soft comfortable shirts that would make great Christmas presents if you’re like me and don’t know what to get people.
Amy has been staying on the go as usual. Teaching kids, cleaning cabins, filling orders, making broth, responding to emails, and keeping books. She and Hallie are taking off on a girl’s retreat for the weekend, so I’ll be filling in again at the Abingdon Farmers Market on Saturday.
Though not really farm related, a significant amount of my focus this week was designated towards getting the youth wrestling season fired back up. With it getting dark early going into the winter months, I need something to do when the sun goes down. Farming and raising a family doesn’t allow much time for hobbies. I suppose coaching youth wrestling is the closest thing to a hobby for me.
With wrestling on my mind, while farming I’ve been listening to “Extreme Balance” by Ben Askren, Joe de Sena, and David Sacks. Here’s a few quotes from the book that stood out to me:
“Winners focus on both the outcome and the process. This dual focus applies to both the preparation and competition phases. During our training, we need a reason to embrace the grind. To go through all the blood, sweat, and tears, most of us need a promised payoff, or at least a chance at it.”
“The paradox is that to benefit fully from the process, you need to tenaciously seek an outcome. You need to want something so badly that you’re willing to suffer for it. Without the destination, there’s no journey. Although the journey often becomes the most valuable part, most people don’t take the hard road just because they enjoy a bumpy trip.”
“The highly trained athlete appears to perform effortlessly. In reality, they trained for thousands of hours and did the hard work while you weren’t watching, to make things look so easy… It’s not just the hours. It’s what you do with those hours.”
“The first step is to acknowledge your imperfections. It’s critical to have a mindset in which you see yourself as flawed. If you have a fragile ego or are afraid to acknowledge your weaknesses, you’ll prevent yourself from improving on them.”
“Aim for more. Go big. Ask of yourself something that’s beyond your current abilities. The goal should be challenging, yet something you believe is possible, not a fantasy.”
“You need to believe you are capable of greatness. There’s a difference between voicing your dreams, believing in them, and acting on them with daily habits.”
“Dream big, and do the little things each day.”
Have a good week.
Will