The outside bays of our barn have never been very strong and therefore a waste of good space. Getting thick, oak planking down has given us a lot more hay and machinery storage. As the new planks went in, the old, dry thin planks were pulled out and this winter we've heated the house with them.  It's been so mild that they actually lasted into February.  Admittedly this is not the cleanest form of heat, however, until our house is heated with solar panels or geothermal heat, it is probably one of our cleanest options.  At least we didn't have to haul it in.

Last weekend Roy and I spent several hours behind the garage cutting and stacking the planks to fit into our outdoor furnace.  The ewe flock is wintering in the pasture just behind the woodshed and at times I found myself mesmerized by the chewing motion of their mouths. During the afternoon the majority of the flock was laying on the ground, their jaws gentling grinding.  It is almost like watching waves wash up on shore. They seem so content when they are ruminating and the affect is calming. 

While most of the flock lay serenely chewing, the rest were gathered around the hay feeders eating hay and watching.  One ewe stood facing us, strands of hay hanging from her mouth, scratching her hind end on the corner of the feeder. I could of sworn she was daring me to comment, but I didn't.  Eating hay is an itchy business and if she needed to take care of her issues, I was fine with that. The flocks composed acceptance of the way things are had infiltrated the air around them and the more I watched them, the more I felt their calm stoicism settle into my being. 

In the interim the day's rain had ended, the air was warm, and the light, so steely and gray earlier, was an incredible, luminescent gold. Perhaps you saw this sunset. I went about my business making sure the sheep's water tank was full, turning off the woodstove fan, kicking an old soccer ball for Mac and Pip, and in between, standing still to enjoy the glowing world around me. When I suspected the water tank was full I turned towards the sheep pasture; the sheep were standing still facing west too. There is a group of young ram lambs in our  far west paddock and my first thought was they were watching each other, but the ram lambs were facing west as well.  I've seen sheep stand still, all facing the same direction in the rain, usually with their faces away from the direction the rain is coming, but I've never witnessed this sort of... reverence? appreciation of beauty? fascination? from the flock.  The dogs didn't seem to notice the glorious sky; they were too busy chasing each other, dashing about looking for something to do. So there I stood with the sheep, facing west, bathed in radiant tranquility and wondering about this flock of wooly, sober, skittish sheep standing still beside me. They were lovely company as the sun sank low and shimmering sky gave way to darkness. 

Local Food Fair

We work closely with Village Acres organic fruit and vegetable farm in Mifflintown, PA by selling our grassfed lamb, beef, and free-range pork to their CSA customers.  Not only is Village Acres a well-known and respected organic farm in Central Pennsylvania, it is also the home of Roy's parents and the farm he grew up on.  Roy L. and Hope Brubaker and their four children moved to the farm in 1982.  All four of the now-grown children put in long hours and creative energy to the ever-transforming farm.  In 2011, The FoodShed at Village Acres Farm was completed.  Julie is currently working as the FoodShed coordinator helping with the licensing application and scheduling events and rentals for this lovely, timber-frame, flexible-use facility that includes a commercial kitchen.

Roy's youngest sister Debra returned to the home farm in the spring of 2011 to take on management responsibilities with her father. Village Acres is a place for other young farmers to learn about running a diversified organic farm as well as managing a farm-share program (CSA).  We enjoy and are grateful for this close relationship to the Village Acres Community. 

Joshua Farm CSA 

 Joshua Farm is an urban farm that grows and sells organic vegetables while providing educational, service and vocational opportunities to at-risk youth.  Joshua Farm is located less than a mile from the Joshua House and Resource Center on land that is owned by the Harrisburg School District. Kirsten Reinford is the Joshua Farm manager and handles distribution of Blue Rooster Farm  products to our Harrisburg customers.  To become a member of Joshua Farm CSA email Kirsten at joshuafarm@pa.net . If you would like to pick up Blue Rooster Farm meat at this location, sign up for our Joshua Farm mailing list under the "contact us" menu.

Fulton Farm at Wilson College

Fulton Farm is an educational facility and a working produce farm.  Nestled within the 50 acre property of the Fulton Center for Sustainable Living, the farm’s seven acres of fields and gardens produce crops for the campus and the community.  Vegetables, fruits, flowers, and herbs are raised without chemical pesticides, herbicides, or fertilizers, and are third-party verified by Certified Naturally Grown.  Farm staff, students, and members of the community come together to plant, nurture, and eat the healthful food produced right on campus.  We make monthly deliveries to the Fulton Farm CSA at Wilson College in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania.  If you would like to join the Fulton Farm CSA email Christine Mayer at cmayer@wilson.edu  If you would like to pick up Blue Rooster Farm meat at this location, sign up for our Fulton Farm mailing list under the "contact us" menu. 

Wild For Salmon

Steve and Jenn Kurian spend each summer fishing off the coast of Alaska for wild sockeye salmon.   Their approach to fishing is simpatico with our approach to farming and we think their product is pretty amazing.  Check out their Wild for Salmon website.   We are very happy to have partnered with them to make their product available to our customers.  

Prestige Meats

Prestige Meats is a family owned and operated butcher shop in Three Springs, PA.   We've worked with them for nearly twelve years and have come to trust their excellent craftsmanship as well as their feedback on our meat. Recently they have opted to not extend their USDA inspection to the packing part of their operation, although they continue to have routine state inspections to ensure their business maintains a high standard for cleanliness and animal care.  Nils and Bob, the brothers who own the  Prestige Meats chose to focus their business on custom butchering  since that is the vast majority of their local business and this way they can keep their costs down.  We go to Prestige for our orders of wholes, halves, and quarter.  They offer a full range of fresh, cured, and value-added products.  They dry-age our beef in  climate-controlled coolers for ten days before it is cut to your specifications, vaccuum-packed, and frozen. The lambs are cut, vaccuum-packed, and frozen with-in 48 hours of slaughter.

Benners Beef

Benner's Beef is a family ownd and operated, USDA inspected butcher shop in Thompsontown, PA.  They have a retail butcher shoppe on the premises and so are required by law to have an inspector on hand for processing and packaging of meat.  Because of the added cost of a fulltime inspector, they charge more than custom butchers.  For now we use Benner's only for our retail cuts and continue to use Prestige Meats for our bulk, custom orders.  This allows us to keep our prices for bulk orders a little lower and we get to support two local businesses.  Benner's also dry-ages the beef for up to ten days, cuts to our specifications, and vaccuum packs our cuts. 

Octoraro Angus

Octoraro Angus is Sam and Sherrill Wylie's seedstock angus farm in Bedford County, and have been our mentors in the fine art of cattle breeding.  Read more about them on our angus cattle page

Monsour Sheep Farm

Monsour Sheep Farm is Jack and Kathy Monsour's place in Bedford County.  We purchased our initial North Country Cheviot commercial ewes from Jack, as well as our border collie Mac. (Read about these ventures on our sheep and border collie pages.)  On top of running a 900+ commercial sheep operation, Jack and Kathy provide lovely vacation homes in a pastoral farm setting.