WTF News- September 24, 2010

Wild Turkey Farms News- Sept 24, 2010

Another great Know Your Farms Fall Farm Tour!!! Hats off to Christy & Wes Shi and all of their volunteers for another successful tour last weekend. A GREAT BIG THANK YOU to our friends Patti, Laura, Penny, and Judy as well as our family for helping make our part a success. We couldn't have done it without you all.

We will be at the China Grove Farmers Market at the Mill Friday from 4-6pm so come see us for all of your meat needs. Alan Goodman will have an apple cider making demo at the market this evening.

Davidson Farmer's Market (8am-noon). We're in the Town Hall parking lot working out of our big white trailer so come by and see us.

We'll be at the Salisbury Farmers Market tomorrow so come find us under the big green tent 7am-noon so come on out and load up.

We hope that you'll support some of the chefs & businesses that support us & other local farmers.
Black Mountain Farmers Market- Black Mountain
Chef Charles Catering - Charlotte/ DFM
Hippie Kitchen Bakery- Huntersville / DFM
Know Your Farms Buying Club- Davidson/Charlotte
Customshop Restaurant- Charlotte
Watts Grocery- Durham
Sage & Swift Catering- Durham
Four Friends Brewing- Charlotte


Thanks for your support, have a great weekend, and we'll see you at the market.

Lee, Domisty, Rosty, & Charlie
Wild Turkey Farms
China Grove, NC
704-202-9348


Website update- We are back up & going. Actually you should be redirected to our blog when you go to www.wildturkeyfarms.com If you are still having trouble accessing it please let us know.

Please feel free to forward our emails to anyone that may be interested and they can email us at wildturkey_farms@yahoo.com to join but before you forward out you may want to delete the "manage your subscription" tag at the bottom of this newsletter. If you forward this out, the receiver or anyone the receiver sends it to can remove you from our list and we cannot add you back on. You may not even get a message that you've quit.

WTF News- September 17, 2010

Wild Turkey Farms News- Sept 17, 2010

Busy is an understatement. We got a loaner/ test drive tractor from a dealer this week so we could finally get our hay made and everything has been wide open since. With the farm tour tomorrow afternoon we've had to finish up a variety of projects and do a few things just to pretty up the place. Today we'll be putting on the finishing touches and getting ready for the markets tomorrow. Looks like great weather over the weekend for the farm tour so I'm sure we'll have a great turnout & we'll be exhausted by Sunday afternoon. Have a great weekend & we'll see you at the markets.

Put some WTF in your kids lunch box. Try our new Bologna. Made from our premium Berkshire pork without all the nitrates & fillers like the store bought stuff. We've had a small batch made so give it a try & let us know what you think. It already carries an endorsement from Rosty & Charlie.


We will NOT be at the China Grove Market this week.
The China Grove Farmers Market at the Mill has been extended and will run through Friday October 15.

Davidson Farmer's Market (8am-11am). We will be leaving early this week so come see us before 11am.

We have some friends that will be standing in for Domisty at the Salisbury Farmers Market tomorrow so come find them under the big green tent 7am-noon so come on out and load up.


Volunteer Opportunities-


Don't forget to pick up your tickets for the Know Your Farms Annual Farm Tour Sept 18 & 19. This years tour features 27 farms all across the Piedmont. For details check out their website. http://knowyourfarms.com/j/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=99:annual-farm-tour-new

We hope that you'll support some of the chefs & businesses that support us & other local farmers.
Black Mountain Farmers Market- Black Mountain
Chef Charles Catering - Charlotte/ DFM
Hippie Kitchen Bakery- Huntersville / DFM
Know Your Farms Buying Club- Davidson/Charlotte
Customshop Restaurant- Charlotte
Flat Iron Restaurant- Davidson
Watts Grocery- Durham
Sage & Swift Catering- Durham
Four Friends Brewing- Charlotte


Thanks for your support, have a great weekend, and we'll see you at the market.

Lee, Domisty, Rosty, & Charlie
Wild Turkey Farms
China Grove, NC
704-202-9348


Website update- We are back up & going. Actually you should be redirected to our blog when you go to www.wildturkeyfarms.com If you are still having trouble accessing it please let us know.

Please feel free to forward our emails to anyone that may be interested and they can email us at wildturkey_farms@yahoo.com to join but before you forward out you may want to delete the "manage your subscription" tag at the bottom of this newsletter. If you forward this out, the receiver or anyone the receiver sends it to can remove you from our list and we cannot add you back on. You may not even get a message that you've quit.

Protein University

Back in August we participated in Protein University held at the Grove Park Inn in Asheville, NC. We were very excited about the experience but really did not know what to expect. We were participating as farmers and we're really just there to watch and learn. We donated one of our pigs and in return we stayed at the Grove Park Inn and got to meet chefs, butchers, writers and other farmers from across the United States.

Our Sunday afternoon began with meeting Brady Lowe, of Protein University along with some of the other farmers. He told us a little about Protein U and some of the other events he had worked with in the past year. That evening we met all the participants for the event. We also were served a delicious supper by the Grove Park Inn chefs. A lot of socializing and mingling went on and they also taped You Tubes clips.

On Monday morning we had breakfast at 9 am (I love these people- I'm usually up at 5:30am) and the chefs and butchers brainstormed about who was going to do what with each animal. They had a side of beef, 3 pigs, 4 lambs, 5 goats and 12 chickens- I hope I got those numbers correct.

We then got to go to one of kitchens and the fun began. It was amazing to watch these chefs and butchers working together and deciding what they wanted to do with the different animals. One of the main premises is whole animal utilization so when I say every part was utilized I mean very part was utilized!! It was amazing. We saw everything from techniques to sausage making to making bologna.

On Monday evening we enjoyed grilled pork and beef along with some of the GPI chefs specialities.....pickled vegetables, macaroni & cheese , bread pudding and more!

After supper we met on one of the terraces and haddiscussion time. I don't know what time they ended but it was after 1 AM before me and Lee headed to our room.

Sadly, we had to leave on Tuesday morning and get back to reality. We met so many people and hope that we are able to participate in something like this again!!

Thanks to the Grove Park Inn and especially the chefs and their staff.

Thanks to Brady & Anthony of Protein University for giving us the opportunity to participate.

Thanks to all the new friends that we met while we were there.

Please visit the Protein University website.

http://www.proteinuniversity.com/

PROTEIN U is an online resource and video library created by a network of chefs and butchers all interactively sharing their skills. Our goal is to support responsible farms and promote heritage species of livestock. By creating an online resource populated by peers, we hope to develop a visual family tree of butchery techniques from across the globe. By entering one of our contests or uploading a video on YouTube, you are directly supporting farmers and businesses.

Learning more about whole animal utilization is a step in the right direction to sustainable living and respect for the animal. Join the conversation and help us create this community, share your techniques and learn from a network of passionate people in today’s food scene. Explore the website regularly as the content will be frequently updated. Connecting to our Facebook and Twitter is a great way to keep the pulse on new videos, events and contests.

Pictures posted on Facebook

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=222563&id=93717365145

Wild Turkey Farms- September 10, 2010

Wild Turkey Farms News- Sept 10, 2010

HICKORY SMOKED BACON & HOT DOGS ARE BACK Just picked up a fresh batch of our hot dogs (both the fat & skinny ones) as well as our German brats.

Our "WTF" T Shirts are finally here!!! Come get yours while they last. Only $15 ea- XL, L, M, S available

Not much to report from the farm front this week. We've enjoyed the cool & dry weather, it's been perfect hay making weather, just too bad our big tractor has been in the shop for the last 2 weeks. Last weeks adventure to Protein University has inspired me to do some playing around this week. I dusted off my charcuterie recipe book and have been experimenting with a few items. This week I made my first Tasso Ham and finished it off by smoking it on the grill, delicious!!! Can't wait to make a big pot of greens with it in there. For several years I've tried unsuccessfully to make a good puffy pork rind but thanks to some tips from the chefs at Protein U I was able to make a whole bag of them perfectly. I did manage to save a small (and I mean small) bag for Domisty to try. I've also salted some jowls down to make smoked jowl bacon & thawed some fat to make lardo. For those of you that have not had the culinary ! pleasure of trying some lardo, don't let the unappealing name fool you. Lardo is thick fatback that has been cured with salt & herbs for 3 weeks and then washed, dried, and hung in a cool dark corner to age for another 4 weeks. Sounds like a lot of trouble for a little pig fat to put on a cracker but it's worth it, once cured it keeps forever. We like to slice it as thin as possible and drizzle olive oil over it, then sprinkle with coarse sea salt & cracked black pepper on a cracker or toasted slice of french baguette.

We did manage to spend some time in the garden on Monday while everyone was off of work & out of school. We got a few fall items planted such as collards, turnip, & mustard greens, spinach, beets, kale, and probably a few other things that are slipping my mind right now. When it comes to gardening I have a habit of just opening up the seed box & planting until I run out without much planning but that works ok for us. Sometimes the rows are get way longer than they need to be and sometimes they're a bit too short. What we don't grow we manage to get from our market friends like the Corrells. Domisty doesn't let anything go to waste as she has worked really hard the past several years getting good at canning and keeps us eating great food year round.


Put some WTF in your kids lunch box. Try our new Bologna. Made from our premium Berkshire pork without all the nitrates & fillers like the store bought stuff. We've had a small batch made so give it a try & let us know what you think. It already carries an endorsement from Rosty & Charlie.


We will NOT be at the China Grove Market this week. If you need anything just give us a call & come to the farm to pick it up.

The China Grove Farmers Market at the Mill has been extended and will run through Friday October 15.

Davidson Farmer's Market (8am-noon). We're in the Town Hall parking lot working out of our big white trailer just up hill of our friends at Correll Farms.

We'll be at the Salisbury Farmers Market tomorrow so come find us under the big green tent (once again just up hill from our friends at Correll Farms) 7am-noon so come on out and load up.


Volunteer Opportunities-


Don't forget to pick up your tickets for the Know Your Farms Annual Farm Tour Sept 18 & 19. This years tour features 27 farms all across the Piedmont. For details check out their website. http://knowyourfarms.com/j/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=99:annual-farm-tour-new

We hope that you'll support some of the chefs & businesses that support us & other local farmers.
Black Mountain Farmers Market- Black Mountain
Chef Charles Catering - Charlotte/ DFM
Hippie Kitchen Bakery- Huntersville / DFM
Know Your Farms Buying Club- Davidson/Charlotte
Customshop Restaurant- Charlotte
Flat Iron Restaurant- Davidson
Watts Grocery- Durham
Sage & Swift Catering- Durham
Four Friends Brewing- Charlotte


Thanks for your support, have a great weekend, and we'll see you at the market.

Lee, Domisty, Rosty, & Charlie
Wild Turkey Farms
China Grove, NC
704-202-9348


Website update- We are back up & going. Actually you should be redirected to our blog when you go to www.wildturkeyfarms.com If you are still having trouble accessing it please let us know.

Wild Turkey Farms News- September 3, 2010

Wild Turkey Farms News- Sept 3, 2010

HOTDOGS ARE BACK Just picked up a fresh batch of our hotdogs (both the fat & skinny ones) as well as our German brats.

All star Charcuterie weekend at the Grove Park Inn- This was definitely a weekend for the record books at Wild Turkey Farms. We participated in Protein University this week which was an event that brought the some of the best whole animal chefs and butchers from across the country to the historic Grove Park Inn in Asheville. Of course in the quest to source the finest in local animals they contacted us for one of our Berkshire pigs. In exchange for providing a pig we got to spend 3 days with the butchers and chefs as they coached the GPI chefs how to utilize everything but the squeal, moo, & baa from whole animals. We also got to network with other farmers from NC, Alabama, & Missouri which was a great learning experience. We loved getting to know all of the Chefs from the GPI and see the dedication and passion that they bring to their work but the best part was definitely eating 3 meals a day that they'd prepared- gourmet quality all the way!!!



Wild Turkey Farms Berkshire hog halves on either side of another pig at Protein U.

Check us out on Facebook & the blog for more pics over the weekend.

Labor Day Grilling Special- Enjoy grilling some delicious WTF meats with friends and family this weekend
Brats & Burger Pack $9 - Get 1 Pack of Famous American Brats & 1 Pack of our Grass Fed Beef Hamburgers or Ground Beef
Dogs & Burger Pack $11- Get 1 Pack of our All Natural Nitrate free hotdogs & 1 Pack of our Grass Fed Beef Hamburgers or Ground Beef



We'll have fresh chicken available at China Grove this evening and at Davidson & Salisbury Farmers Markets in the morning. Come early as quantities will be limited.


We will be at the China Grove Farmers Market at the Mill Friday from 4-7pm so come see us for all of your meat needs. Only 2 more China Grove markets to go so come stock up.

Davidson Farmer's Market (8am-noon). We're in the Town Hall parking lot working out of our big white trailer just up hill of our friends at Correll Farms.

We'll be at the Salisbury Farmers Market tomorrow so come find us under the big green tent (once again just up hill from our friends at Correll Farms) 7am-noon so come on out and load up.


Volunteer Opportunities- Ever want to get out & get a taste farm life for a day or just an afternoon. We have several projects that we need to extra hands to complete and would love to offer you the opportunity to come help. If you are interested just let me know & we'll add you to the list to contact. We going to plan some a couple volunteer days in Sept & October. Some of the projects include building a hoop shelter for the hogs, building fence, building chicken tractors, and whatever other projects pop up between now and then.

Don't forget to pick up your tickets for the Know Your Farms Annual Farm Tour Sept 18 & 19. This years tour features 27 farms all across the Piedmont. For details check out their website. http://knowyourfarms.com/j/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=99:annual-farm-tour-new

We hope that you'll support some of the chefs & businesses that support us & other local farmers.
Black Mountain Farmers Market- Black Mountain
Chef Charles Catering - Charlotte/ DFM
Hippie Kitchen Bakery- Huntersville / DFM
Know Your Farms Buying Club- Davidson/Charlotte
Customshop Restaurant- Charlotte
Watts Grocery- Durham
Sage & Swift Catering- Durham
Four Friends Brewing- Charlotte


Thanks for your support, have a great weekend, and we'll see you at the market.

Lee, Domisty, Rosty, & Charlie
Wild Turkey Farms
China Grove, NC