This episode brings us back from a few weeks off and updates about the events we had around here on the farm that kept us from coopcasting last week.

We talk a little bit about farming and health care in proximity to the farm (given the recent events).  We also discuss our sick pig and the course of treatment we underwent to get her back to being a healthy girl again!

In the Farmers Choice segment we share a few simple gift ideas for the holidays that might make your shopping easier!

We are calling this the "We eat good episode" since we are talking about simple, fast and delicious farm recipes including:

Pressure cooker chicken

Frozen veggies in chili

Pre-made frozen cookie rounds

Easy ways to help you can / freeze more food.

In the Veggie Patch we climb on board the Rowboat of Goodness and discuss a few winter squash varieties and some of our favorite non-lettuce greens in the garden.

This weeks updates are around the pick up of the smoked pork (and we have customers coming as we are recording).  Farmer Andy shares a bit of a bow season update and we talk a little about the status of the hoop house.

We close with a review of the local fruit CSA we were enrolled in and all the goodness and a little of the stuff they could have improved.

This weeks updates include a hunting season short session.  We talk about bo season so far and the only arrow this season to miss its mark thus far.  We also talk about the pork that's back from the butcher and the impact of the seasonal reduction in eggs.

In Farmer Kelli's Choice, we take a trip down memory lane.  Visit our Facebookpage (login not needed) and scroll back through the pictures to our first post in 2010...  we walk through 2010 and 2011 remembering several of the highlights in photos!

This week's update is really an episode discussion around the end of the pork season for us - the moving of the pigs to the USDA processor.  We talk through what we did to get the pigs comfortable wit hthe trailer, how we use sorting borads to move the pigs on pasture into the trailer, our holding pen strategy, fencing and dropoff.

It's really a retelling of the stories and some of hte skills we used to get this little piggie to market! 

In this episode the Updates include Farmer Andy's pants free romp becasue of the warm weather, Hermione moving back to pasture with the piglets and preparations for taking the pigs for processing.

Then in the Veggie Patch we discuss an overview of our tomato varieties for 2014- what will stay on the rowboat of goodness and what gets tossed overboard!

Varieties discussed:

Juliet

BHN624 cherry

Sungold cherry

Piriform

Valencia

Pink Beauty

Cherokee Green

New Girl

Brandywine

Cherokee Purple

Defiant

Celebrity

Martha Washington

San Marzano

This week the CoopCast becomes a HoopCast! We spend the episode looking at photos of our greenhouse / hoophouse / high tunnel and talk through the design and the how nad the why.  We both share our thoughts and opinions on the evolution of our enclosed vegetable garden area and what we like about gardening inside a controlled structure.

If you are following along all the images can be found on our Flickr page in the album How We Do It : Hoophouse

Also an indepth discussion when we built it is on our farm blog as well.

This week our farm updates are simple as the season is slowing down to just the basics.  We talk about the plantings in the gardens in the greenhouse since frost is now in our area.  We are hoping to extend the season and keep harvesting vegetables and herbs for several more months.  There's also updates about pigs in pasture as well.

In the Ruminations discussion this week we talk about businesses and how so many let opportunity slip through their fingers.  We share the details of a cheese making class we took at a local winery and the missed opportunities that were everywhere.  There's lessons to be learned in bad expereinces and this one was rife with them.  Although - making your own cheese is cool!

We also talk about a business that asked us for input and HOPED we might mention them - FlexTrailers.  It's a cool concept on modular trailers.  It's a much better approach to a business than the first one (they asked us clearly for feedback and hoped we would mention them).  There are still some lessons to be learned here as well.

The final business we talk about is Adams Holsters - the makers of the BEST leather holsters you have ever seen - Adams Holsters - and one of the best gifts we have ever received from a coopcast listener!

Back from a break we talk aboutthe pigs in the pasture and how well they are growing, the late blight that got the tomatoes, the success we had with straw based potatoes and a whole lot more.

We also go over the 500th iTunes review and answer some listener feedback on topics ranging from keeping stock tanks fresh to predators to game cameras.

This weeks updates start with the pigs scheduled for butcher, their pasture and their rapid weight gains after worming.  We moved the chicken netting fencing for the layers and have been busy in the vegetable gardens and kitchen.  Farmer Kelli has been canning and freezing all sorts of fresh veggies as well as baked, roasted, blanched and parboiled treats!

The vegetable garden is producing and we are expecting be offer an end of summer share full of goodness - including a pasture raised chicken.

The Farm U is part of a series we are starting called How We Do It - where we take things that have had lots of questions from listeners and do our best to show with pictures and explanations how we do things around the farm.

This weeks episode is all about "Containment" - our fencing setup and why we made the decisions we did.

To follow along with the images we are discussing - visit our flicker page and the album How We Do It : Containment

Good ole Flickr link - https://www.flickr.com/photos/chickenthistlefarm/

We are off for 2 weeks over Labor Day - so enjoy your celebrations and be safe.