Chicken BBQ This Sunday Sept 26th!

This weekend we kick off the Fall 2010 activities season, and we're excited to be offering a chicken BBQ this Sunday September 26th from 2pm to 4pm.  You can eat at one of our several picnic areas on the farm ($4/person Farm activities admission additional), or Take-outs are available.
Meals are $10 for adults and $7 for children.
The meal includes:
--A piece of our pastured poultry expertly seasoned and grilled to crispy, juicy perfection
--A sampling of our homegrown winter squash
--Corn on the cob
--Our homemade applesauce
--A cup of our fresh-squeezed pure apple cider

We're requesting that you reserve your meal by Saturday (Sept 25th) at noon.  Payment can be made at the time of pick-up.

We're looking forward to treating you to our healthy, sustainably-raised chicken, squash and more!
In celebration of finger-lickin', pasture-raised, nutrient dense GOOD food we remain,
Your Farmers @ Miller's Orchards

Apples and Cider and Doughnuts, Oh my!

We're just one day away, blogosphere friends, from the dawn of the Autumnal Equinox. Though my thin skin dreads the coming of cold days and colder nights, my taste buds are ecstatic over the season's delectable treats.  Ten days ago, Your Farmers at Miller's introduced the apple harvest to customers in the form of Mactintosh, Pippin, Cortland, Gala, Ginger Gold and Honey Crisp apples! I've had at least one apple a day--and the juice has run down my chin on more than one occasion.

And, of course, apples aren't only for eating whole.  On Saturday Lew made the season's first batch of apple cider! As many of you know, apple cider gets better (richer, more complex) as the season continues and as more varieties of apples are added to the mix.  But even the first batch offers the tongue a much more exciting drinking experience than a glass of apple juice will ever do!  Our first batch starts with a fresh, lightly sweet taste and finishes with a subtle tang.  Delicious!

With the first batch of cider comes the first batch of apple cider doughnuts!  Since the first crisp day of September, we've had customers asking for these sweet, sugary treats the moment they walk in the door of the Farm Market. And Sunday afternoon, we were finally able to respond with a hearty "They're Here!"  We'll be making the doughnuts every Saturday and Sunday through October 31st and most weekdays beginning Sept 27th.

In other news--there are pumpkins, gourds and winter squash galore.  Over the last few weeks Lew, Wally and I (and some friends-turned-farmhands) have been in the fields gathering the colorful bounty!  The pumpkins have taken on a deep orange color and are pleasingly round and full.  We've got some nice 30+-pounders in the mix, so stop by soon to get your jack-o-lantern pumpkin!  Also in are corn stalks, straw and Indian Corn.  And our late planting of vegetables have been providing dozens of crisp zucchini, yellow squash and the freshest, sweetest green beans this side of the Susquehanna!  (Come in soon for those green beans and zucchini, because Momma is taking as many as she can to make her famous Dilly Beans and Pickled Zucchini!!!  If you don't get the veggies fresh, at least you can buy Momma's pickled versions in the Farm Market!)

As you can see, the family is busy as a hive-full of overworked bees! But we're not too tired to invite you to come visit the farm for all your favorite Fall activities beginning this Saturday the 25th! We'll be having hayrides and Guided Farm Tours (your chance to ask Lew everything you ever wanted to know about swine husbandry and more!) and the cornfield maze (this year lovingly designed by Wally himself!) and a giant hay bale maze and slides and animals and more!

There's much more to share, but it's time to make the pierogies and pick the beans for Momma's kitchen adventures. Check back here for some more news in a few days...

In celebration of Fall's exhaustingly delicious bounty, we remain
Your Farmers @ Miller's Orchards

Ch-ch-ch-changes, It's gonna be a different Farm!

Things change, all the time.  The nature of life is about change.  From birth to somewhere in our twenties our bodies must grow our die.  After that our bodies slowly, incrementally break down.  No matter what stage of life, standing still is not an option!  And it's the same thing on the Farm.  The change can occur subtly (we somehow never seem to notice the grass actually growing until we notice it's really high!) and in sudden bursts (like the new baby calf that surprised us last week!).  Some change is deliberate (for example Your Farmers' decision to minimize our focus on Disney-land-style entertainment and unveil the "real Farm" to our Fall 2010 visitors) and other change happens regardless of our plans (like this Spring's late frost and its effects on our apple crop).  Philosophers and the like often talk about human character in terms of man's ability to absorb and respond to change.  We like to think that farms can be measured against a similar metric.  So let me fill you in on some of the changes we've got going on @ Miller's Orchards for Fall 2010 (in no particular order)...

• A quick note on our bovine population--we are indeed one cow richer as of last Friday! One of our cows--whose due date was predicted for mid-October--surprised us with a healthy calf! No pictures of the newborn yet, but they will follow...
• Our U-pick Apple Orchard was the victim of another late-spring frost for 2010, the second year in a row.  Though we're sad to report that this orchard will not be open to the public for apple-picking this Fall, we are offering a one-weekend-only opportunity to come join the Apple Harvest WITH Your Farmers!  On Oct 2nd and 3rd we are inviting our Farm visitors to join us in the orchard to pick the "cider-grade" apples (definition: tastes great, looks funny) with Wally and Walter Sr (Grandpa).  You'll have a chance not only to be a "real" Farmer but also to interact with the two guys on the farm who know the most about apples!  (That's a combined 145 years of apple experience!)  Now I know this is sounding like a Tom Sawyer con, but we really think you'll enjoy the harvest activity!  And if you really want to purchase some of the cider-grade apples you pick, you'll be welcome to (by weight) in the Farm Market.  I do recommend, however, that you save your money for the larger, nicer-looking "#1-grade" apples for sale in the Market.
• Perhaps you're sick of hearing it, but I'd like to emphasize one more time that if you visit the Farm in Fall 2010, you'll be seeing the "real" Farm a lot more clearly.  Because we've stripped away of few of the glitziest (and spookiest) distractions from the Fall line-up, you'll be checking out the actual Farm operations almost wherever you look! If you're at all interested in how food grows, you'll want to catch one of our Guided Farm Tours (offered twice each on Sat and Sun) beginning Sept 25th through Oct 31st.  Here's where you'll have a chance to spend 45+ minutes with the fascinating 6'2" tower of knowledge and eccentricity that we lovingly call Brother Lew!  He'll regale you with facts, figures and anecdotes about all the Farm operations, answer your questions, and MAYBE even showcase his award-winning cattle & pig-calling skills ALL while you bump along the Farm roads in one of our HayExpress LX haywagons...  What more could you want from a Fall afternoon?

That's all the ch-ch-ch-changes that are fit to print in one blog post.  More to come later this week.  In fact, it's time for Your Farmers to head to the field to pick some pumpkins!  On the next blog post: doughnuts, cider, chicken bbq, and more.  In a future blog post: all about honey!

In joyful acceptance of the beauty of change, I remain,
Delana (for Your Farmers @ Miller's Orchards)