Growing up on my family's farm in Pennsylvania, I never would have pictured the life I live at Willow Haven farm. As a kid I spent summers in our large family garden we called, “The Truck Patch”. I helped mom every summer, picking beans, weeding, and cutting fruit and vegetables for the hundreds of jars of canned and frozen produce we put up. Now I spend less time out in the field and more time in the kitchen doing the same preserving for my own farm family. Farmer Reuben values my many hours doing much of the behind the scenes marketing, writing emails to cultivate customers and capturing the farm story each week. I'm always learning along the way in my quest to improve the farm experience for each of our current and future farm members in our 500+ member, year-round customized farm box delivery program. Reading our stories will connect you with your food in a way you never experienced before. Someday soon you will want to fit local food into your life and we'll be here to help you.
You are standing right where the cow's "butts" are! + Stove gets the wrong part
Hi Reader,
The coal stove is pumping out the heat on this blustery day.
Simeon drove on Tuesday to get new fire bricks and guess what?!
On the shelf there was the new part we needed for the stove! So he bought it, brought in home, and put it in the stove.
Why didn't Thomas, the store guy that Reuben was calling for weeks, just sell us the one in stock?! We could have had the stove fixed weeks ago.
Luckily, we didn't get a fire started in the stove the very same day because the answer was "Not so simple!"
It wasn't the right part! but the salesman at the store didn't have all the information.
The grate that Simeon bought is made of steel, which won't hold up to the high heat of a constant coal fire. The one the store's shop is making for us has to be made of cast iron.
OH! We are returning the steel grate and waiting for them to ship the cast iron one. Thankfully, they've finished manufacturing it. I hope it fits and works!
In the meantime, we did reinstall the old broken one so that now with the new fire bricks we have a fire started and the house is finally warming up.
Ah!! It's so nice to sit at the table with the warm stove at your back to drink coffee in the morning.
Homeschool group gets a tour
These kids asked great questions.
"How do you water the plants?" "What is that little building?" "How many loaves of bread can you make at a time?" "What are those cows doing?"
Farmer enjoyed showing the farm to these interested kids who not only interacted with what they could see and touch, but also listened and thought about what they were learning. Curiosity is such a great tool to learning and a farm has plenty to fuel it.
They ate broccoli they picked from the field. Climbed on the tractor.
They even stood where the cows get milked. Farmer Reuben told them, "You are standing right where the cow's "butts" are!"
Since YOU haven't been to the cow barn, I'll tell you what they saw. They walked out of the milk equipment sanitation room into the "milking parlor" which is just the area in the cow barn where the cows stand to get milked. Three cows walk up the ramp onto the 3 foot concrete platform to be milked at a time. In this picture they would face away with their backsides toward the rail that you see the kids standing near. This puts the cow's udders at the perfect height so the guys don't have to bend over so much to attach the vacuum pumps for the five minutes or so that it takes to get all the milk. (The white tube is the vacuum line that powers the milkers.) Imagine 5 gallons of milk in five minutes. You can't do that by hand!
Farmer Reuben guides farm members around the farm on scheduled farm tours the first Saturday of each month beginning in May. That's just one of the perks which farm members enjoy as they experience the whole season of eating local veggies and farm food.
You can start your farm membership many ways:
- Winter Market Boxes: this is a new subscription for farm food every other week from December to May. Your customizable box will include your favorite farm foods from eggs, dairy and bread to local organic pasta, coffee, tortillas and, of course, vegetables. Unlimited skips and swaps make this a great subscription for any family to get more groceries from local farmers, according to your schedule. Transition more of your grocery budget to support our local food system. See the winter market box options here.
- 2022 Summer Market Boxes and Farm Share Subscriptions are on sale now. Our farm members have claimed 270 of them already!
Online Farm Stand is will be OPEN SOON until 10 pm Monday for your orders of vegetables, breads, cheeses, eggs, duck, chicken and more. The ducks we had instead of turkey this year were delicious. Order here.
Give the gift of local food to someone in need. During our Early Bird membership drive Farmer Reuben will match all donations of Charity Shares so that we can continue to provide local farm food to local families in difficult circumstances. Give here
Pork Samplers and Bulk Pork Boxes are coming soon. Our eight farm raised piggies "went to market" this week and we'll have over a thousand pounds of pork for sale at the end of the month. Get on our Bulk Pork List HERE if you'd like farm raised pork stocking your freezer this winter.
Local gifts are a good idea for Holiday giving and are just a click away when your order candles, room spray, lotion bars, soaps, hot sauce, soup mixes, maple syrup and more from online Farm Stand. Free lip balm with your order of any candle or free apples with a quart of maple syrup are our current specials. Order here.
Cheese and meat boxes from Haven Farmstead Table are available even though we had to pull the plug on the charcuterie boards. Steve is still offering home delivery and 10% off. Order at havenfarmstead.com/shop and select "Willow Haven CSA" as the delivery option. (Nudge: Currently this is the only way to taste our cured, whole-muscle Lonza and Saucisson Sec salami which are in limited supply!) 10% OFF!: As our most loyal customers, we want you to enjoy and share our handcrafted cheese and charcuterie boxes all Holiday season long. Use the code WILLOW at checkout for 10% off your order. Use the code as often as you want through the end of 2021.
We'll keep farming for you!
Reuben and Tessa DeMaster
Willow Haven Farm
Directions to the farm
P.S. See the winter market box options here.
Are you new? More info about our farm:
FARM STORY VIDEOS: The Willow Haven Farm YouTube channel has fun, informative, and educational videos of our farm life and what organic farming looks like here. Check out it out here >>> VIDEOS!
SUMMER SHARES: Get the six question guide Is a Farm Share CSA Right for You Guide to find out if our Farm Share CSA will fit into your life and your goals. YES! SEND ME THE GUIDE.
CHEESE: Want to purchase amazing grass-fed artisan cheese from our sister business, Haven Farmstead? The grass-fed dairy cows at Willow Haven Farm are co-owned by farmer Reuben and cheesemaker, Steve. Living on pasture and milked once a day, they produce excellent milk for the best old-world style cheeses. If you've traveled to Europe, you'll be pleasantly surprised to find the same excellent flavors here in PA. Shop the Cheese Store.
Thinking of unsubscribing? current CSA members need to stay connected to our emails but you can limit them to just vital information about your membership by clicking here.
Tessa DeMaster
Growing up on my family's farm in Pennsylvania, I never would have pictured the life I live at Willow Haven farm. As a kid I spent summers in our large family garden we called, “The Truck Patch”. I helped mom every summer, picking beans, weeding, and cutting fruit and vegetables for the hundreds of jars of canned and frozen produce we put up. Now I spend less time out in the field and more time in the kitchen doing the same preserving for my own farm family. Farmer Reuben values my many hours doing much of the behind the scenes marketing, writing emails to cultivate customers and capturing the farm story each week. I'm always learning along the way in my quest to improve the farm experience for each of our current and future farm members in our 500+ member, year-round customized farm box delivery program. Reading our stories will connect you with your food in a way you never experienced before. Someday soon you will want to fit local food into your life and we'll be here to help you.
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