Category: News, etc.

No not Crystal, Miguel’s other baby. Our John Deere 5320 tractor that we use every day on the farm. The clutch was out of adjustment and simply didn’t have any more to give. I loaded the old girl up and took it to the shop to have someone with heavier equipment than us work on it.

In talking to David at the shop, he said we were there in the nick of time. We’d run 99.9% of the clutch out of this thing. Any more wear, and we’d need to machine the fly wheel.

Step one was to remove the loader. Then they did the old magician’s trick of sawing the lady in half.

When I got there Monday to check on progress, they were already putting the clutch back in which was a good sign. But then they pointed out a leaking wheel bearing, and some rust that had to be repaired. Those were bad signs. Also our loader valve needed to be overhauled and they weren’t aware of it (why I’d stopped to make sure.) So it looks like our little lady will be in the hospital at least all of this week. Hopefully I can pick her up soon since we use this thing every day.

I think I’ll swing back by today and see if they have it back in one piece yet. Nothing like a customer who stops by constantly to check on progress to keep progress moving along.

Saturday late in the day Lucy noticed that the cooler under our counter was warmer than it should be. That’s not unusual during the day as the door is open and closed often however when I checked it, I found that it wasn’t maintaining temperature as it should. We only keep water and eggs in this cooler because it’s already let us down once before. Eggs don’t NEED to be refrigerated but they keep fresher if they are. Of course, you can’t hurt water but it’s nice to have it cool and crisp.

However, when I cooked breakfast Sunday, I made sure to use eggs from the store to check them. I noted that our farm fresh eggs were not as fresh as they should be. We still ate (and are eating) them at our house, and they tasted fine BUT, they are not the fresh eggs we would sell to our customers.

So, if you bought some eggs this weekend, and you’re not happy with them, just pop in and let us know and we’ll give you replacement eggs and our apologies for your trouble. No need to bring the old eggs back. Make scrambled eggs for your dog.

As for our under counter cooler? As soon as we get time, we’ll pull it and get it back to the shop to figure out this problem. In the meantime, I have an appointment today to buy a new commercial fridge for the store. More capacity, more cooling, and less trouble, I hope.

The girls got up early and made chocolate chip cookies. They were at work on time (8am) and Spork was already up giving tours first thing this morning. They are doing great.

They cleaned the store, set out the cookies, goat cheese samples, and have everything ready to go.

However the reality of this moment was actually the below picture, not the picture above.

They are actually writing a story on the iPad to entertain themselves in between customers. The first picture’s instruction from me was, “Alright, pretend you’re working!” Go back and look at that first picture. Pretty good pretending, right? I’m so doomed when it’s a boyfriend they are pretending they aren’t dating. Sigh.

Stop by and get some cookies, milk, beef, pork, chicken, lamb, etc today so the kids aren’t pretending to work. If they spend more than about 10 minutes without a customer, they start playing. More than 20 minutes, and they start trying to kill each other.

Save a life! Buy some hamburger! We are here till 5pm.

One of our farmer friends, Adam’s Vineyards (we carry their wine in the store) was just recently featured on WRAL for being a century farm. This means they’ve been farming the same plot of land, in the same family, for over 100 years. Adams has been farming this land since the 1700s!

It’s not their first press, by far, but it’s great to see them get some recognition.

Click here to see the video.

This morning Lucy and I will be riding to Siler City to pick up our latest cow’s worth of meat. That means we’ll have shiny new beef for you, and all cuts in stock, by the time Lucy opens at 2pm on Friday. It also means we’ll still be well stocked this Saturday so if you’d prefer to get a fresh chocolate chip cookie with your beef, come Saturday 8-5 instead and indulge.

On the way home from Siler City, we’ll stop off at Celebrity Goat Dairy and pick up new cheese, and Mango gelato! A brand new flavor just for us. (Did I mention that SWMBO LOVES mango?) Well Brit said if I ordered enough, he’d make me some. SWMBO will be a happy girl, and you can be one too (unless you’re dude, then you’re on your own 🙂

We also restocked on pork Thursday, along with chicken and dairy so all in all we have goodies for you in the store. Lucy and the processor had some sort of high end meat cut conversation this last time. I didn’t follow it all but I know she was ordering new stuff. I opened one of the boxes and discovered what you see above. Boston Butt Steaks! If that’s not a pork ribeye, I don’t know what it is. I’m ready to slap it on a plate and try it out, but SWMBO already has the menu set for this week. Next week, we are trying these! If you want to beat me to the punch, we have plenty of them to try. Just let me a few!

The only thing missing in the store is we were shorted all of our heavy cream this week (they were out!) so I’m sorry if you are a coffee drinker! We will restock heavily next week on cream but EVERYTHING else is in stock, including pet milk so stop by today or tomorrow.

You have to remember, Spork has never attended school. He has been home schooled since day one. We were billeting in a public school where folks from the community were staying in the gym. We, however, were given a hallway of classrooms to ourselves. When we walked in, I expected to stop and explain to the nice folks at the front who were were to gain access. They just smiled and waved us on. I forgot we were in uniform, the perks of being part of the team. The male cadets all went in one room. The few female cadets all went into another room across the hall. Cots were procured from the red cross and snacks were readily available.

I did remark to Spork that this was school, finally. The fact that he played football, and slept with a bunch of his friends, made school look pretty good. But the idea of being locked into one of these desk/chair things didn’t seem to have any appeal to him. Plus I couldn’t get him to take a shower in the gym shower. No shower curtain, but exposed to the locker room? Ahh middle school, it brought back memories.

Spork, while roaming outside looking for a phantom playground the cadets had heard about did get stopped by the police marking this as his first official run-in with “the man.” Being in uniform and part of the team limited the amount grief they received to “almost nothing” but it was another milestone.

We awoke to another day, got everyone up and cleaned up the school. Then it was another meeting at the EOC where, small world, I ran into the son of one of my former employees. That was a real treat. He had joined the Air Force and was now a Guardsman medic. He had been activated for support as well.

Then we had a trip to the warehouse with the guard to get supplies and onto another POD to serve another community. Once again, the kids were exemplary and a credit to teenagers everywhere. Once we finished for the day, it was back to the EOC for debrief and dinner, where we learned we were suddenly done. Spork and I jumped into the truck and headed West for home trying to get there before dark. We’d heard stories all day of washed out roads, flooded bridges, etc. We didn’t want to drive in these conditions in the dark. But thankfully we made it with no issues right on time.

We arrived after dark but before bedtime and finally had a chance to sleep in our own beds. But not before Spork asked if he could cancel his awesome class I had scheduled for him this weekend, and his airsoft adventure for next week. Instead he wanted to go to Lumberton to be part of the next POD and assist wherever he could. It’s true, the more you give, the more you want to give. I’m trying to work it out to see if we can get away again. We’ll see.

At the POD we handed out pallets of water and food, all while sometimes not receiving water and food ourselves. When we did get some food, it was from the Salvation Army in a to go box. The food sustained, but it wasn’t mom’s cooking of a primo hog/cow from our own farm, hot off the stove and tasty. It was neat to see Spork experience what food can be like and get a comparison from what he knows as “normal” food and what the rest of the world thinks is normal. We did make sure he had his favorite food when he got home (Chinese pork ribs with rice, from our pigs of course!)

After working a few hours at the POD, then packing everything up and cleaning up, we headed back to the county emergency operations center (EOC). This is where all the powers that be converge to coordinate all response to the disaster. Troopers, Sheriffs, Fire and rescue, shelters, Red Cross, EMTs, hospitals, and CAP (plus many more) were there. Everyone works together to utilize their assets as best they can. The EOC is the heart of the response and is a busy place.

Once we left the EOC, we progressed to a local school that had been set up as a shelter. The cadets all grabbed a football and started playing a fun game of football. The senior members were all worn out but the cadets were still going strong and having a large time. Eventually we came in for a debrief where the major theme from the cadets present was that they enjoyed the day and had had fun. Fun?!

Folks, these kids had stood in the sun most of a day, humping cases of water and food as fast as they could go. They never received proper breaks, resting in between cars when it slowed down. When we tried to get them to take breaks, they refused and jumped back into the line to work if someone pulled up. Between cars, they talked to the deputy sheriffs and the guardsmen, soaking up knowledge. To everyone it was yes sir, yes ma’am. They were unfailingly polite and always attentive and helpful to the military, the police, and to the civilians.

Except for Spork, all were there without their parents. All of this is volunteer. No pay, no recognition. If you weep for our youth, you need to attend a CAP meeting and feel restored. I certainly did. These kids ROCK! But now it was time to bed down for the night. But that’s our next post.