Foothill Frolic Farm on Gammon Creek's
Custom Beef Share Announcements
Time is ticking...only 13 days left to get your custom beef share order placed for May On Farm Pick up or Local Delivery.
Friday April 21st is our next up and coming harvest/processing date at Russell Meat Packing up in Castlewood, Va., a wonderful USDA inspected, family owned and operated processing facility.
We will be taking 3 live animals, "Hang Ten", "Blazing Barista", and "Two Fold Charm".
2 out of the 3 live animals have completely SOLD OUT.
Both "Hang Ten" L115S, and "Blazing Barista", G121S have presold and only some custom beef shares remain available from "Two Fold Charm", G27. She is a beautiful, well structured and proportioned beef animal, which will prove to have outstanding beef cuts to say the least.
Did you know that our family here at Foothill Frolic Farm always holds a small sampling of beef to prepare and consume of every processed beef animal to ensure our 100% Satisfaction Guarantee.
We have been so pleased with every Foothill Frolic Farm Beef Animal thus far, and so have our custom beef shareholders as most become returning shareholder customers.
Indeed our custom beef carries authentic 100% Grassfed Beef characteristics both in taste and health wise nutrition, which most definitely differs from that of conventional/grain fed beef, but from our views and tastes, our end beef product is absolutely 100% all for the better and that is the point, right!!
Plus, our beef shareholders can track the beef that ends up on their plates clearly and precisely, they personally get to be an involved local foods advocate because they have the opportunity to know their animal and their farmer.
With this being said, the First Spring Farm Tour Date is....
Sunday, April, 16th starting at 3 o clock
Please send Allie a quick text 423 483 7091
or e-mail allie@FoothillFrolicFarm.com
to let us know you are interested in attending.
Foothill Frolic Farm custom beef shares represent exactly what is stated on our labels...
Upmost care and respect for our herd and land from birth to beef.
Beef with environmental integrity and great authentic flavor that is good for you.
Producing LOCAL sustenance WITHOUT the USE OF synthetic pesticides, herbicides, routine antibiotics/medications, or GMO's.
Here below are the custom beef shares still remaining for the April 21st harvest & processing date/May On Farm Pick Up or Local Delivery.
Take the time and PreOrder NOW, so you can enjoy 100% grassfed, regenerative, rotationally grazed, delicious and nutritious custom beef in MAY!
PreOrder Now....Payment Due upon Pick Up or Delivery
Farm Life Happenings
on Foothill Frolic Farm on Gammon Creek
From the start of our calving season back on March 11th till now, April 7th, the Foothill Frolic Farm Main Herd has birthed 32 calves. They have sure been at it and we have been monitoring daily to make sure all the New Mammas and calves are doing well.
Just to showcase a handful, in the pictures above we have...
"Boss Cow" with her new bull calf, "Tip Top",
"Christmas Mamma" with her new bull calf, "Blue Ribbon",
"Twin Mamma" with her new heifer calf "Ring of Fire",
G9 with her new bull calf, "Contented Core",
"High Tail" Mamma with her new bull calf "Cap Garland",
"Brown Beauty" with her new bull calf "Black Gum Dawn",
"Black Beauty" with her new heifer calf "Skip to my Lou"
L4 with her new bull calf, "Dandy's Pick"
G15 Mamma, without her calf in the picture, "Moon Course", but please take a look at her beautiful milk sack and teats. Just to say, all of our Mamma's do not have perfect milk sacks and teats, but hers are indeed what ideal would be, so she wins the udder and teat blue ribbon!
The only complication has been with Mamma Cow, L11 and new heifer Mamma "Spring", G2019. It was not in their birthing or with their calves, but a confusion in "who's calf was who's ". They both delivered on the same day, March 30th, and when we arrived both Mamma's were following around the same calf. My my, I could not believe that this had happened, which was a new one for us, and it had to be with one of our prized saved heifers, "Spring". Goodness gracious, I have to say, no matter how hard we try to properly manage a herd, there is always the odds of at least one unusual, non expected natural scenario that presents itself each and every season! Though, in hindsight, these always are great reminders for me to understand that even in our best planned efforts in trying to work with nature, mutually and equally, in all it's wonder and innate capabilities, that this holistic acknowledged approach does not always create perfection or a flawless farming record.
L11 was the older experienced Mamma Cow and I would have thought she would have been more bossy in letting "Spring" know that the calf, "Tiptoe Lightly" was hers, but she was not and nor was the calf helping either, as it seemed to like the attention from both Mammas. Interestingly enough, Spring would talk to and lick the calf that was not hers while all at the same time her real calf, "Might of Molly" would be drinking milk from her sack. For Spring to have such a fondness for this other calf that was not hers, we all really wished we could have been present at the birthing of these four animals, as there had to be something within the time frame that perhaps helped create this confused association.
If we would not have had to cross a creek in the main herd's rotation, all might have panned out on it own all right. As always upon the main herd's first creek crossing, there are always some calves that choose not to cross, and "Might of Molly" was one of them. For the calves that do not cross, their Mamma's either keep working with them till they do cross, or for a while a handful of Mamma's will just go graze for hours and then come back to their calf so the calf can suck milk and get affection, and this is normal as eventually the calves will cross. But with Spring and L11, the calf that they both thought was theirs, "Tiptoe Lightly" was the one that crossed while "Might of Molly" stayed behind and "Spring" did not seem like she was going to go back to attend to the calf and the calf would only seek her out if she did not have a creek to cross. Therefore, in order to help the confusion and to hope for the best outcome for all four animals we decided to intervene and ended up separating out "Spring" and her calf, "Might of Molly" by walking them back to the barn paddock and lower barn hallway, so they could spend lots of one on one time together. Our hope was that "Spring" would eventually instinctively remember that "Might of Molly" was her calf. Thankfully she did, and here they are!....
Most excitingly both cattle herds have been rotationally grazing yummy green grass since April the 1st. We decided to go ahead and hit the green grass a grazing two weeks early. Generally we start around April 14th or so. The Main Herd started on the back hillside and the yearling/ calf herd all got hauled, not just one haul, but five hauls really, a few miles away to the Mill Paddock to start their rotations. To start with, we are grazing quick and light and then moving on. This equates to about a 3 day graze before the herds get moved to the next grazing section. Both Herds are large and wow do they ever know how to eat that lush green grass. Their cutting expertise is of high rank and they will leave a quadrant almost as perfectly cut as a lawnmower. I love the visual of looking down the divided paddock's fence row to see the differences in their current grazing area and the next quadrant to come. It is so nice to see the change of landscape from brown to brilliant green and of course the cattle are loving it too!
Since we do not use chemical fertilizers because we are regenerative farmers, we look towards our cattle's rear-end's for nutrients to be put back into the ground, which is why rotational grazing is a must for regenerative farming. Rock mineral applications, like TN Brown Rock Phospate and Calcium Carbonate Crushed Limestone, is another way to add long lasting elements to the ground in a regenerative way. Agricultural Crushed Rock Limestone is more of a common practice in East TN because we have plenty of limestone quarries, but large scale applications of TN Brown Rock Phosphate is quite uncommon because of the effort it takes to get the material to East TN on top of the extra effort it takes to apply it. We put out 16,000 lbs in our across the road field where we had been rotationally feeding hay to our yearling/calf herd all winter long. Our long term goal is to improve the mineral base of the soils in this field, so it can be the best 30 acres it can be.
In the garden, we got a strip row of certified organic potatoes planted, three varieties. See what fun can be had when planting potatoes. Eastenn Dutch used his handy dandy dump truck to transport and place in the ground every potato chit. I marked the spot and then Grampy brought in the rear by covering the chits with soil in one fluid swath. Our fall planted garlic is looking superb in its cozy hay mulched bed. Foothill Frolic Farm's number one priority is our cattle herds and custom beef shares, but we are planning to have a handful of produce items to add to our On-Line Farm SHOP and potatoes will be sure to be one of them. Our organically raised produce volume is currently very small scaled in order to prioritize the farm's larger scaled main custom beef share offering, but when produce does become available we will add it to the on line SHOP page.
I had my first dung beetle sighting for the spring and when I took a picture of it, I thought about how worked my hands looked. If it wasn't for the rings, not to proper or feminine are they?! Then the song "these boots are made for walkin" popped into my mind and thus I thought and hummed "these hands are made for workin".
Until Next time, Eat Well and Be Well, and keep on a passing these Foothill Frolic Farm Post along!
Allie
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