Just a few Farmining Updates this week:

• Garlic planting and our technique,
• A root cellar full of goodies,
• Our youngest gilt is in heat - Ollie traits!

In the news we discuss Proposition 37 and GMO's:

• Opinions on Prop 37 and GMOs in general
• Labeling requirement?
• What is a GMO?
• For or against GMOs?
• Natural selection and pesticide use

Updates from around the farmstead:

• #farmerandy shares his Big Buck story of dispair,
• We put the veggie patch to bed with compost and the rototiller,
• Pigs moved to a new section of pasture,
• Pig pasture maintenance and seeding on the old pasture,
• From the pasture to the plate we talk about canning chicken in the pressure cooker,
• Final sales of year and the risk to cash flow

In the CoopCast community:

• We talk about cooking a heritage turkey (http://www.localharvest.org/features/heritage-turkey-recipes.jsp),
• A listener who didn't know he could raise his chickens on pasture,
• Some general listener feedback items from Facebook, iTunes and Stitcher.

In the news:

• We talk about a non-functioning pair of oxen in Vermont and what should happen with them:
• http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2012/10/21/163257176/despite-protest-college-plans-to-slaughter-serve-farms-beloved-oxen

Updates around the farm include:

• We were featured on Libsyn's Rockin New Podcasts! - http://imake.libsyn.com/rockin-new-libsyn-podcasts-chicken-thistle-farm-coopcast
• The growing season is officially over with a hard freeze last week,
• We finished turkeys by processing the last of the Midget White Turkeys,
• We got our municipal water bill from over the drought months (WOW),
• Winter preparations are ongoing including cleaning out the chicken coop and starting to put the vegetable garden to bed,
• Farm stand review for the year.

This week we are having 2 related farmers choice segments about commitment:

• From the farmers side, what levels of commitment are required to your livestock, land and customers?  We talk about this in relation to a listener email about his journey into becoming a farmer.
• From the consumer side, what and why are you committed to a farm or farmer? And how do your actions speak louder than your words when it comes to demonstrating that commitment?

(This episode was recorded on the eve of our 13th wedding anniversary, hence the commitment theme!)

This weeks farm updates:

• Special announcement is we are going to be a featured podcast on Libsyn's http://imake.libsyn.com/ blog of up-and-comers on October 15th!
• Pork pickup - happy customers and farmers - yummy pork too!
• Hermione and Katniss are getting along just smashingly
• Turkey vs Fox story (a win for the good guys)
• We eat good - soup - add greens - yum!

In the CoopCast Community:

• Business info posting on Facebook - http://www.uvm.edu/newfarmer/?Page=webinars%2Fwebinar_recordings.php&SM=webinars%2Fsub-menu.html#management
• Gift from listener - http://www.potterybymehg.com/
• A "postivie" review, maybe, says she can't go to sleep without our voices - hmmmmm!? 
• And National Lard Rendering Month, maybe?

In the News:

• Pig farmer eaten by his pigs
• Farm out of business http://www.sfgate.com/food/article/Fond-memories-of-Soul-Food-Farm-3923428.php

Even though it's early Autumn we have still been busy farming this week!

Updates from around the farm this week include:

• Taking the last of the pastured pigs to processor and deciding who was going to stay with us!
• We touch again on the difficulty of sending respected animals to the processor,
• Getting ready for pork pickup with customers as the meat comes back from the processor,
• Dealing with turkeys - everywhere.

We take a muddy stroll through the veggie patch:

• CSA is done but still harvesting,
• Late planting reviews and opinions: zucchini, beans, lettuce, bok choy,
• Dried bean update,
• Greenhouse plantings update.

In the CoopCast community:

• Jennifer asked about feeding candy to cows,
• Constance wanted an update on the poison ivy drops (Oral Ivy),
• Chad was wondering what we do to winterize farm (waterer, shelter bedding) right now: coop, winter paddock for pigs