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Saturdays Through September 28th | 8 am to Noon
Beargrass Christian Church, 4100 Shelbyville Road
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Farm in the Spotlight
Dutch Creek Farm
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Dutch Creek Farm of Pleasureville, Ky, owned and farmed by Doug, Susan, Chelsey, and Jared Schlosnagle is our Spotlight Farm this week.
Dutch Creek Farm is an environmentally conscious, diversified livestock farm producing Jared’s Grass-fed Beef, Chelsey’s Eggs, pastured chicken, duck eggs and pastured turkeys. They began their journey in 1981 and are committed to environmentally sound & sustainable farming practices and to the humane treatment of their animals. Through proper pasture management, the Schlosnagles believe the grasses and greens create a healthier food item for your enjoyment and well being.
Doug and Susan Schlosnagle both grew up on small family farms raising primarily beef cattle, and met while studying agriculture at the University of Kentucky. Upon graduation in 1980, the couple decided to purchase their first farm in 1981 and began raising burley tobacco, beef cattle, and hogs. Through many years of trial and error, and with the addition of their two children Chelsey and Jared, they decided to purchase the kids a few laying hens. Little did they know, that those few hens would grow into a larger flock and the children would develop this hobby into a small business centered around pastured egg production. Chelsey’s Country Eggs was created in 1997, and the kids were selling to just a few friends and family members. Realizing the demand for the local, pastured eggs, the family began traveling around Louisville, sampling their product at local grocery stores and restaurants, and soon began selling to area groceries such as Paul's Fruit Markets, Rainbow Blossoms, Valu Market, and Whole Foods.
Today, the two kids have also graduated college and began pursuing their careers full-time. Chelsey manages the egg business, and has recently purchased her own farm and manages her herd of cattle, turkeys and ducks. She has decided to begin raising the chickens for the egg business, and will be raising a combination of green and brown egg laying chickens yearly.
Jared is pursuing a career in firefighting, and focuses on raising quality pastured broilers. He raises our meat chickens from day old chicks in a warm brooder barn and takes them out to pasture when they have grown their first feathers. The meat chickens are raised in a floorless hoop houses built on skids. They are moved daily to a new area in the field to allow them to forage through fresh grasses and legumes. The chickens know when it’s about time to move to a fresh spot and run to snatch the first bugs and graze tender sprouts of clover and grass. He feeds them a 100% Non GMO feed ration and never uses antibiotics.
Doug and Susan combine their energy and talents to consult for the egg business, and do an excellent job with continuing to build the quality of the registered Angus herd. It is their dream to be able to offer people a high quality grass finished beef product, and also offer farmers the right genetics so that they can make a viable living from grass finished beef production. Selective breeding for small Angus cattle, with the genetics to convert forage to marbled and tender beef is the ultimate goal.
Chelsey’s Eggs
Currently for the hens, they use two small barns that give the hens access to pastures that are secured by predator proof fencing, and our pasture area greatly exceeds the requirement for the label "pastured" provided by the USDA. This arrangement makes the forages easily accessible to the hens while still keeping them cozy in the wintertime. We use no till seeding methods to create the best forages possible, consisting of turnips, radishes, clovers, and various grasses. They are supplemented with a 100% non-GMO feed ration. In addition to the St. Matthews Farmers Market, you can find Chelsey’s Eggs at Whole Foods, Paul’s Fruit Markets, Rainbow Blossom, Choi’s Asian Market, Seeds and Greens in New Albany, Lucky’s Market, and Garden Gate Fruit Market.
Jared’s Beef
Jared’s Beef comes from their herd of Animal Welfare Approved, Registered Angus cattle. They select the herd to be genetically equipped to thrive on native Kentucky grasses. They have about one hundred head of Angus cattle, selected for the purpose of producing small framed steers that will finish well on only forage, and are physically able to live a comfortable, low stress life. They select animals that shed their hair coat in the summer, show a resistance to common ailments, and are docile and calm in the field. The less stress cattle experience, the better the quality of the beef and the happier the animal. They rotate the steers through the same pastures that the chickens occupy, and the hens enjoy the company of the cattle. The cattle are fed zero grain and are hormone and antibiotic free. They are Animal Welfare Approved by the organization A Greener World, and Certified Grassfed by The American Grassfed Association, both certifications earned and maintained through yearly audits.
Holiday Turkeys
The turkeys are kept in a 30’x50’ hoop house and are moved to a fresh area of the field every few days. They enjoy access to a 15 acre field sown heavily with native perennial and annual pasture mixes, to give them a variety of greens to peck from. Chelsea remarked, "We have also found that a turkey will devour a pumpkin, and so we supplement their diet with pumpkins. During the fall, the turkeys adventure all over the farm, including all the way up to our front porch." They are processed and ready to purchase just in time for the holidays.
Duck Eggs (Straight from the Quack Shack)
The ducks amaze the family every day. Chelsea says, "From the moment they open the doors in the morning the ducks rush through the door out to the pasture below the barn. They scurry across the driveway to the pasture adjacent to a small patch of woods, browsing through the grasses looking for insects, and greens that catch their eye. Ducks are amazing foragers, and it shows through the bright, vivid orange color of the yolk. Duck eggs are higher in protein, and calories, and omega 3 fatty acids, but also an alkaline food that is perfect in aiding those people battling cancer, and anyone intent on giving their immune system a boost."
Pastured Chicken
The pastured chicken is raised in moveable hoophouses that Jared moves daily to new pasture. The day old chicks arrive at the local post office and once they have feathered out, they are moved to a lush field of clover. They love the clover, and when moved the chickens rush forward to the new patch of pasture, eagerly snatching the fresh sprigs of green. Chelsea adds, "We process some of the broilers ourselves at the Kentucky State Mobile Processing Unit, and use a local processor in Liberty, Kentucky for the remainder. All of the chicken you purchase from our booth is fresh, never in our freezer for more than a couple weeks before it makes the trip to the market."
The Schlosnagles strive to enhance the experience of their animals by managing their fields in a way that provides the ideal environment for their cattle, laying hens, broilers, turkeys and ducks. Visit them today at the market!
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What's at the Market this week?
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Berries are in season and so are green beans, peaches, tomatoes, heirlooms, and greens. Apples, blackberries, beets, broccoli, cabbage, cantaloupe, carrots, celery, cherries, eggplant, peppers, potatoes, rhubarb, summer squash, sweet corn, and squash. Paul Tokosh of Hillview Orchard has wonderful popcorn for $1.25/lb. and some great looking dried apples. All variety of pork, beef, and chicken are for sale and eggs. Barbeque will be plentiful and served with homemade sauces by Kentucky Smoked BBQ. Our musical guest is Joel Curtis. Our alternate vendors are Kentucky Made and More, Maya Connection, Blueberries of Daviess County, Hot Off the Lathe, and Nuts About Cha.
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Featured Recipe
Blueberry Key Lime Pie
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Our featured recipe this week is Blueberry Key Lime Pie. We just couldn't resist sneaking in one more blueberry recipe before the end of the season. Thanks to Blueberries of Daviess County for making the drive to Louisville and providing this recipe.
Ingredients:
1/3 cup fresh lime juice
2 egg yolks
1 can condensed milk
1 graham cracker crust
1/2 cup fresh blueberries
To make:
Combine the juice, yolks, and milk. Stir until smooth. Pour into pie crust. Scatter blueberries on top of pie. Poke blueberries down in batter. Bake 350 degrees for 12-15 minutes. Let cool. Refrigerate.
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Tomatoes, Tomatoes, Tomatoes!
Hambley Farms
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When half your income comes from good tasting tomatoes and tomato plant sales, you cannot let the weather, disease, 100 degree temperatures or distribution get in the way. With the high temperatures, Hambley Farms has over 8000 tomato plants producing red tomatoes, pink tomatoes, white tomatoes, black tomatoes, purple tomatoes, ugly tomatoes, pretty tomatoes, small tomatoes, big tomatoes, grape tomatoes, golf ball tomatoes, monster tomatoes and tomatoes of all sizes. At some markets we have number two tomatoes along with our number one tomatoes. If you want a hard ball, tasteless, dry tomato for 99 cents a pound you need to go to the grocery stores. You cannot play baseball with our tomatoes. If you want the best tasting tomatoes then we are your farm.
To get these tomatos to markets, our fields from the air look like three hundred foot white strips on the ground as we cover each row with white rema fabric to protect them from the sun and slow down their ripening in the extreme heat. As good as peaches are this year, we sell five times as many tomatoes as peaches and you can only do that when you have a loyal customer base who love tomatoes as much as we do. At our Tuesday market, after clearing a continuous line of twenty customers sixty minutes after we opened, a customer I had not seen before told me her story. She told me that she was at the grocery store and the selection of tomatoes was limited, she complained out loud and a customer close by heard her. The stranger told her that today was Tuesday and she should not buy the tomatoes in the store but go to our market four miles away and buy good tasting tomatoes. That is customer loyalty.
To get good tasting tomatoes we select only good tasting varieties. We do not grow commercial varieties that are bred for firmness, shelf life and disease resistance. This is the mistake many farmers make when growing tomatoes and why all tomatoes are not created equal when it comes to taste and texture. By Charles Hambley
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Throughout the summer, we offer a variety of special events to enhance your market going experience including the Tomato Tasting on Saturday, August 3 featuring tastes of many of the best flavors from our farmers including heirloom varieties and hybrids. See the photos from last year here. Such a fun morning each year!
September 7 is Beekeeping Day with Honey Tasting. Join us!
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Meet the team from Kentucky Smoked BBQ. Next week we'll learn more about them! Sandwiches and pounds of their delicious pork, and sometimes brisket are served with homemade Bourbon Sriracha sauce. The breakfast sandwich is topped with Pops Pepper Patch Blackberry Bourbon Chutney.
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