Chicama Run Farm Blog

Well today gorgeous day windows and open!!

I love to bake…don’t like cooking …. but love to bake. The other day I had a craving for cinnamon buns. So I searched for a recipe to make some….. mixed a couple recipes I found together and whipped some up.

Served them for desert and Joe suggested I sell these. Ok, back in time…. no one EVER expects me to cook well…. I make a great fudge because my father loved it and I made it for him every Christmas…… but me cooking makes my whole family laugh. So when Joe actually remarks that something is good or good enough people would want to buy them it stops me for a few moments. He was so into this he keeps telling me to try different things and give him a list of ingredients and how many trays it makes…. he wants to run numbers. All because I had a craving for something fattening and sugary. Hey we all have our weaknesses.

Today – I played some more and made 5 trays (30 cinnamon buns)… whew… what fun and YUMMY!

So be on the lookout for some calorie free cinnamon buns… hopefully by the time the farm tour is here my kitchen will be certified and I’ll have them available. Maybe even bread too…..since I was asked by Crooked Run Orchard if I wanted to bring baked goods there. Who knows.

But if you had asked me a few years ago if I would BAKE or COOK stuff to actually SELL I would have laughed so hard I probably would have wet my pants… but now here I am seriously looking at what I can bake and if people would actually want it Funny how life works isn’t it?

I’ve had a couple people email me and ask about us so I thought I’d give you a little background.

First off, neither one of us were raised on an animal farm. Joe did live on 10 acres in Purcellville off 690, but it was a Christmas Tree farm and his dad had an incredible garden. I grew up in Farifax on 5 acres over by Burke Lake Park and people in our neighborhood had horses but that was about it. My parents did a little gardening, but not a lot and I personally never got into it.

We met when I was 17 and he was 26. Yeah I know – but it worked out. Funny thing was that it was the type of meeting that girls read about, you know the type ladies it’s in all the books where you meet the guy and you just know but I didn’t listen completely and that’s a whole other story maybe for another day – hey I was only 17 so that’s my excuse. We met over the computer on what was called a BBS system – so we were one of the 1st “internet” dating types.

Later we ran a computer store together for about 12 years and sold it about 4 years ago. We lived comfortably in Woodlea Manor in Leesburg, VA for 5 years but honestly it never felt right. We liked a lot of the people in the neighborhood but at the same time, we needed space. So we started looking.

I thought he was taking me to go and sign papers on the house people dream about on 3-5 acres in Round Hill but he pulled up at the end of the driveway we are now at looked at me and asked if I could live out here. No real neighbors which was fine and it was really quiet. I figured if I liked the house I could do it. The house needed work – but it was comfortable and I could actually see us living here. Amazing that you can walk into a place and just feel at home. Neither one of us wanted to leave.

I never expected what has happened here. I never dreamed of having 300+ chickens running around…..or 17 sheep…….. or pigs……. or even having 4 huge gardens! But with all the work (and I know right now Joe is doing most of it, but that will change) that still needs to be done and is being done, I wouldn’t change it for the world.

It’s so much fun after a winter of 24 eggs a day with 200 layers to watch the steady incline of production with the onset of the spring. Today I gathered 80 eggs from the hens. Still not perfect – but it’s on a daily basis so that is great…. bonus is that 6 1/2 dozen were sellable! So I will continue to feed them

Now we are on the search for an organic/natural feed for the chickens. I just got a great reply from a dealer and we will see where pricing gets us. Last time we checked into organic feed it was $17/bag which is a killer at 2x the price that the standard products go for. I have to look at some other places too.

Question I think of would people pay $4/dozen if we went organic? I might do a poll with that question to find out what the basic thoughts are before committing myself. Again with pricing it’s all in what we can afford and what the customers are willing to pay. Corn prices have shot up which in turn causes feed pricing to go through the roof. Amazing the things that cause pricing to change… Personally I never really thought about how expensive it can be!

I can feel it and I can smell it….

Yeah I know it’s odd – but it’s true. Joe already has seeds started in the basement – some unbelievable amount of tomato plants and peppers – but they are in the dirt! Herbs have already started to come up. It’s always fun to see the leaves coming up – I visit every day down there just to look.

With the snow melting the lambs are springing around…. yes they actually do that jumping thing – it’s fun to watch so if you don’t catch me at the house there is a good chance I’m out there watching them if the weather is nice. Turns out we have 15 lambs instead of the 14 we thought we had. Joe came in today and asked how many we had and I stated 14 – so we had to go out and count and sure enough – another ewe gave birth. I swore they were all done but once again I was wrong.

The chickens are selling quickly – so we are already looking at how we are doing the coming batches. Whew – who thought they would do that well in the first week! It was exciting to see everyone come up and want the chickens at the market.

Oh and exciting news – it’s not official in my hand yet – but it looks like we are in the Leesburg Summer Farmer’s Market!! This is a HUGE deal for us as it is a really busy market and it’s only our second year. Thinking about it changes the way we look at what we are doing. It’s expensive to run a farm – especially when you have people who like to have the right tools all the time (completely understandable in my opinion). This means that we might actually have the money next season or even later this season for fall for a green house! Fingers crossed – but not planning on it as of yet.

The kids are even excited – though they have to give up most of their Saturdays completely as we will start at Leesburg at 9am then end at South Riding at 5pm. At least at South Riding they run around, have kids to play with etc. It’s a more relaxed market for us.

Me? Well I see it as a job. Yes, my house is becoming a job. It’s interesting as I don’t mind it completely. At least it’s a job that I enjoy and hey – I don’t have a bad commute! I’m doing a lot of planning and marketing work right now trying to get ready for the up-coming season and it’s really nice to know it’s paying off. We already sold 1 1/4 of the 4 steers we have coming, we have interest in the pork (which won’t be until next season by the way since we are getting a breeding trio in April – more on that at a later date), the lambs are here, and the chicken and eggs are selling great! One of my jellies is in the mail to go to VA Tech to get analized for water activity so I can be on my way for my kitchen inspection so that this summer I will sell my home-made and grown salsa and spaghetti sauce – plus jellies but not a big deal on that.

Right now though seems like a good time to read a book and relax