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Sunday, February 26, 2012

Help save Germanton's historical church, St. Phillips!



Nothing too exciting happens in Germanton and hopefully it'll be staying that way. 

If you've not already heard about the possibility of St. Philips beng moved from Germanton to Carrboro, you'll want to read these....
Save the date for the Friends of St. Philips Meeting to be held on Sunday, Febrauary 26th at 2 pm at Germanton United Methodist Church.

The non-profit will be organized at this meeting and they will prepare for upcoming efforts to support the church. Yard signs will also be available to show your support for keeping St Philips in Germanton.

Saturday, February 25, 2012

Stained Glass Sun Catchers


Another new addition to our farm store are these farm themed stained glass sun catchers.  They are Made in King, NC by Frumpy's Chic - visit her on Facebook at Vagabond Art




Friday, February 24, 2012

Piedmont Environmental Alliance - PEA Green Guide

Home
Piedmont Environmental Alliance Launches the Green Guide

The Piedmont Environmental Alliance - PEA Green Guide is a program designed to offer individuals, families and businesses timely tips each month for reducing energy bills, making Earth-friendly purchasing decisions and finding innovative ways to recycle and reduce waste.

Throughout the year, simple ideas from the Green Guide will be posted monthly on PEA Facebook Page and Twitter feed to send the message that we all have the power to make a positive impact on the environment in which we live-one small step at a time. Further information about the program, including resources and links for additional cost and planet-saving ideas, will be available on the Green Guide page of PEA's Web site as well as on its new Blog.

The Piedmont Environmental Alliance's Green Guide is just one more way PEA is inspiring people to make choices that protect and restore the environment.

Thursday, February 23, 2012

Feed Bag Totes


Recycling at it's finest!

We made these totes from empty goat, chicken, cat, and dog feed bags. They are now available in the farm store.

Wednesday, February 22, 2012

Foothills Cheese



New to the store this month is Foothill's Premium Mountain Cheese!

Mountain Cheddar - Mild, Medium, Sharp, Extra Sharp

Mountain Jack Mild

Mountain Jalapeno Hot

AND MORE!!!

Monday, February 20, 2012

Get Your Goat On

FOOD & DRINK - FEBRUARY 4, 2012
Get Your Goat On
See for yourself why everybody's new favorite meat has two horns and a goatee
[GOAT] James Ransom for The Wall Street Journal, Food Styling by Karen Evans, Prop Styling by DSM
YEAR OF THE GOAT | Scott Conant's Moist-Roasted Capretto with Spike Mendelsohn's Date Sauce on the side.
After years of celebrating boutique meats such as Berkshire pork and heritage turkey, chefs have fallen hard for another protein. Goat has been embraced everywhere from sustainability-focused restaurants like Chez Panisse in Berkeley, Calif., and Blue Hill in New York to "Top Chef" winner Stephanie Izard's Chicago spot Girl and the Goat. The meat has become so popular among chefs that many now complain about not being able to source enough of it.
A mainstay in Jamaican, Mexican and Arab cuisine, goat can seem like the ultimate mystery meat for American home cooks. For all our love of goat cheese and our growing interest in goat yogurt and butter, we still think of goats as cute little horned creatures with stubborn personalities. It's just not part of our food culture.
Katy McLaughlin on Lunch Break has a home cook's guide to buying, prepping and cooking goat, the meat of the moment.
Anyone who loves red meat but has become bored with beef and lamb would be remiss not to give goat a try. It is healthy, hearty meat, with a third fewer calories than beef and half the saturated fat of chicken. It is also delicious, with a flavor often described as being close to veal and lamb. "It's like a cross between dark-meat turkey and pork," said Mark Scarbrough, co-author of the cookbook "Goat: Meat, Milk, Cheese," which came out last year. "It's more savory and has a richness and deep complexity."
Given its firm texture, goat is particularly wonderful when cooked in a moist-roasting style, where it softens and infuses the pan juices with its robust taste.
If the name of the meat is just too "Three Billy Goats Gruff" for you, call it "capretto" (Italian for "kid"), like chef Scott Conant does at his five Scarpetta restaurants, where he serves it whenever he can find a good supply of extra-tender, young goat.
Rancher Bill Niman, who started Niman Ranch, a boutique meat company with which he's no longer involved, said that goat is not only fantastic tasting, but a great environmental choice because goats thrive on pasture that cows don't like—"so it's complementary to cattle ranching."
Very young, very tender goat lends itself to pretty much any preparation that would suit beef or lamb. Steven Rojas at Chez Papa Resto in San Francisco makes a silken "pancetta" from goat meat. He serves it thinly sliced over arugula and hazelnuts. Girl and the Goat's menu features an array of goat preparations, among them mousse, belly, carpaccio, smoked goat and roast leg.
Very young, very tender goat lends itself to pretty much any preparation that would suit beef or lamb.
If you want to cook goat at home, the first challenge is sourcing the meat. Whole Foods carries young goat in the Atlanta, North Carolina, San Francisco Bay and Washington, D.C., areas and plans to expand to more regions by the end of the summer. If you're lucky, you'll find the meat at a local farm or farmers' market, or you'll locate a butcher who can special-order it for you. It can also be found online through some boutique meat sellers, though at a steep premium. Most big cities also stock goat meat in ethnic grocery stores, such as halal, Mexican, Indian and Greek markets.
Paul Canales began working with goat in 1999 while chef at Oakland's Oliveto. In the early years, he sometimes landed older and tougher animals, he said, though later he began getting excellent meat from small-scale local farms. Now that he is "a civilian," (Mr. Canales is currently setting up his own restaurant), he buys goat for his family from a halal market in Oakland. "They have amazing goat, and it's like $5 a pound," Mr. Canales said. He injects the leg with a red-wine-and-honey marinade and roasts it, makes medallions out of the leg and sautés them, and also moist-roasts goat shoulders.
Spike Mendelsohn, the chef behind Washington, D.C., restaurants Good Stuff Eatery and We, The Pizza, said he used to buy goat from Greek butcher shops in Queens, when he lived in New York. His Greek family has a long tradition of spit-roasting marinated goat leg. He likes to make stock from the bones.
There is, however, a complication with buying goat in ethnic grocery stores: You need to ask the right questions. Just over 40% of U.S. goats are raised specifically for their meat, according to the Department of Agriculture. Another 10% percent are dairy goats. The best-tasting breeds that are typically bred for meat are Boer, Spanish and Kiko, said Mr. Niman, the rancher. The remaining half of the country's goats, which are bred and raised for other purposes, including work as brush-clearers, can end up behind the butcher glass.
Goats bred for milk or their janitorial talents may be slaughtered when they're older, which yields meat that can be tough and gamey.
If you can't locate the platonic ideal of goat meat, you can "tame" stronger-flavored cuts with a long bath in wine, olive oil and aromatics, plus a little salt, Mr. Canales said. He'll leave a gamey piece of goat in this brew for about five days, allowing natural enzymatic action to tenderize the meat, while the marinade keeps bad bacteria at bay. The next step is to subject the meat to a long, slow cooking process.
The last important factor to cooking goat is maintaining the right mindset. "Instead of trying to hide it, you really want to celebrate the flavor," Ms. Izard said.

BUYING GOAT AT A GLANCE

To get the best meat, here are the questions to ask your butcher.
1. What breed of goat is this? You want to hear Boer, Spanish, Kiko, Savanna or a cross between them. Failing that, you want to hear that the animal was raised for meat.
2. How old was this animal? You want to buy goat that is no older than a year; some chefs use nine months as the cut-off. In Latin American markets, the term for young goat is "cabrito."
3. How much did this animal weigh? Less than 60 pounds is ideal.
4. What kind of animal was this? A kid, wether or doeling is good. A nanny or billy goat—also called a buck—means it could be tough and gamey.

Scott Conant's Moist-Roasted Capretto

Total Time: 2½ hours, plus one day marinating; Serves: 4-6
Ingredients
½ cup extra-virgin olive oil
8 whole garlic cloves
5 sprigs fresh rosemary
Pinch crushed red pepper flakes
1 baby goat leg and shoulder, about 5 pounds
Kosher salt, to taste Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
6-8 cups chicken broth
What To Do
1. Fill a large, sealable plastic bag with olive oil, 6 garlic cloves, 3 rosemary sprigs, red pepper flakes and goat. Press out all the air, seal, and refrigerate for 24 hours.
2. The next day, brush marinade off meat. Lightly season meat with salt and pepper.
3. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Heat a roasting pan to very hot, add vegetable oil and meat, browning well on each side. Toward the end of the browning process, add remaining rosemary sprigs and garlic cloves. Add stock and allow to warm for a few minutes over high heat.
4. Place pan in the oven and cook, uncovered, for about 2 hours, periodically turning meat and basting with the liquid. The liquid should reduce and caramelize on the skin of the goat.
5. Remove from oven. Cool slightly. Remove the bones and cartilage from the meat and discard. Cut the meat into bite-size pieces. Strain sauce over the meat and serve.
Variation for Young Goat
If you can't find baby goat, use the 4-pound leg of a goat a year or younger and make these adjustments.
-Increase the liquid to 12 cups.
-Decrease cooking temperature to 325 degrees.
-Cook for 2-2½ hours, until internal temperature is 155 to 160 degrees.
-While the meat rests, reduce the sauce by half.
Variation for Older Goat
If you can't find the tiniest baby goat, you can still make delicious dishes with the leg of a goat aged one year or younger. Start a few days in advance of making your recipe with this variation of a game marinade from Paul Canales, longtime chef at Oliveto in Oakland who is now working on opening his own restaurant. It allows enzymatic action to tenderize the meat.

Ingredients
1 onion, sliced
1 carrot, sliced
1 celery rib, sliced
2 garlic cloves, sliced
2 bay leaves
½ cup extra virgin olive oil
2 teaspoons Kosher salt
¼ cup water
1 teaspoon whole peppercorns
¼ cup Champagne vinegar
1 cup white wine
1 leg of goat, 4 to 5 pounds
What To Do
1. Place all of the ingredients except the vinegar, wine and goat into a small sauce pot and bring to a boil. Cook for 5 minutes, remove from heat, and add the vinegar and the wine. Allow marinade to cool completely.
2. When cool, pour marinade in a non-reactive dish and add the goat leg. Roll the leg in the marinade until well coated, cover with plastic wrap, and place in refrigerator. Marinade for at least 48 hours or up to five days.
3. Dry the leg well and proceed with your recipe.
Spike Mendelsohn's Date Sauce
Mr. Mendelsohn spent his childhood vacations in Greece, where his family roasted whole goats. The slightly gamey flavor of goat is beautifully offset by this date sauce, which is sweet, spicy and "full palate" enough to stand up to the meat, Mr. Mendelsohn says.
Ingredients
2 cups dates
2 teaspoons olive oil
¼ cup chopped fresh thyme
1 tablespoon butter
½ shallot, roughly chopped
½ garlic clove, sliced
¼ teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar, the older the better
1 cup red wine
½ cup goat or chicken stock
Salt and pepper, to taste
What To Do
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Toss 1 cup dates with oil and thyme and roast for 10 minutes.
2. Melt butter in a wide saucepan. Add shallots and garlic and sauté until soft. Add cinnamon and roasted dates and toss. Lower heat to medium and add balsamic vinegar, then add wine and stock and cook at medium heat for about 15 minutes, until liquid is reduced by half.
3. Remove from heat. Let cool to room temperature and then purée in a blender or food processor. Add salt and pepper, to taste.
4. Chop reserved dates and add to finished sauce.
Write to Katy McLaughlin at katy.mclaughlin@wsj.com

Friday, February 17, 2012

Handmade Gift Items

These handmade gift items are available in our farm store. Available in nigerian dwarf goat, nubian goat, cow, chicken, pig.




New items are continuously being added.

Farm Toys
Animal Puzzles
Children's Farm Books
Paint Your Own Piggy Banks
Wooden Dairy Play Sets
Handmade Silverplated Animal Themed Windchimes
Handmade Wooden Goat Magnets
Handmade Children's Farm Hair Bows
Handmade Farm Themed Clipboards
Handmade Animal Themed Glass Candle Holders
Handmade Animal Themed Round and Square Glass Jars
Handmade Miniature Barn
Goat Cookie Cutters
Handmade Goat Christmas Ornaments
Handmade Jar Bonnets
Handmade Goat Paperclip Bookmarks
Handmade Goat Sachets
Handmade Clay Animals
Handmade Goat Necklaces
Wooden Goats
Handmade Silverplated Animal Themed Bookmarks
Embroidered Goat Patches
Handmade Farm Themed Key Rings
Handmade Goat Finger Puppets
Handmade Animal Themed Cards
Handmade Goat's Milk Soap



Buffalo Creek Farm and Creamery, LLC
3241 Buffalo Creek Farm Road
Germanton, NC 27019
336.969.5698
Robin@BuffaloCreekFarmNC.com

Wednesday, February 15, 2012

School teaches women small-scale farming

Private farm schools are cropping up like cucumbers in August, it seems. Now we have one in North Carolina, one for women only. It sounds pretty cool. Here’s the press release, issued this month out of Chapel Hill:
NC Women of the Land Agricultural Network (NC WOLAN) is offering The Farm School for Women, a residential on-farm training program designed specifically for women who, through knowledge and experience, value their connection to and stewardship of the land, have a passion for sustainable agriculture and are committed to the values of small-scale farming.
The residential program is located on Genesis Farm, a twenty-acre market and educational farm located near Chapel Hill, NC. For about ten hours each week, students will engage in formal classes, on-farm workshops, and field trips. The students will also spend approximately 20 hours a week working on the farm, applying the concepts learned in classes: to growing the vegetables,caring for barnyard animals and learning practical, business and homesteading skills.
Applicants are evaluated and accepted by a review panel based on background, desire and commitment to the program. The program is scheduled to run March to October, 2012. Application forms and more information are available online at www.ncwolan.org. The School is a sponsored program of the Genesis Farm Educational Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to the mission to further agricultural and small farm life through education, awareness, support, outreach and service, especially to women and youth; and to respect nature in a safe and sustainable environment.

Friday, February 10, 2012

Links Worth Bookmarking


Great, easy to understand, reference site on goatkeeping, cheesemaking, etc. - Fias Co Farm
Information and "how-tos" on the care and keeping of dairy goats, with an emphasis on a natural and humane approach. Simple instruction on how to produce homemade cheese, yogurt and other dairy products. Natural/Alternative Care for Animals.

Another reference site for some goat reading - Goat-Link

Wednesday, February 8, 2012

Gift Items: Dinner Time Chimes

Dinner Time Chimes has created a special collection of windchimes and bookmarks especially for our farm store. Available in goat, rabbit, llama, donkey, and honey bees.

Buffalo Creek Farm and Creamery, LLC
3241 Buffalo Creek Farm Road
Germanton, NC 27019
336.969.5698
Robin@BuffaloCreekFarmNC.com





Tuesday, February 7, 2012

3rd Annual WARM HEARTS for WAGGING TAILS

3rd Annual WARM HEARTS for WAGGING TAILS

Fantasy Photography is just a couple minutes from the farm and does wonderful work. Even if your pet is not a dog, I'm sure if you asked they'd gladly take pictures of your pet too!
This event benefits East Stokes Outreach Ministry (ESOM) in Walnut Cove.




Fantasy Photography is a maternity and newborn photographer, baby, child, childrens photographer, family and pet portrait design studio serving Winston Salem and surrounding areas.

Monday, February 6, 2012

Saturday, February 4, 2012

Non-Profit Poultry Plant Opens in Marion

Non-Profit Poultry Plant Opens in Marion
Non-Profit Poultry Plant Opens in Marion
The Foothills Pilot Plant in western North Carolina (Photo: Jeff Tiberii)
Eric Hodge: A first-of-its-kind meat processing center has opened in Western North Carolina. The Foothills Pilot Plant is a non-profit operation designed to help small farmers and impact the local food movement. From Marion, Jeff Tiberii reports.
Jeff Tiberii: Foothills Pilot Plant sits behind a prison off of a gravel road, about 40 miles east of Asheville. It’s a non-descript building that could pass for a small warehouse. Inside workers process game – chickens, turkeys, rabbits and ducks. The site can handle 1-thousand birds per day. A little more than an hour away in North Wilkesboro Tyson Foods can process 160-thousand chickens per day. Needless to say this is a relatively small operation.

Smithson Mills: The purpose of this project is not for the project itself to generate vast sums of money; it’s to put more money in the pockets of the farmers.
Smithson Mills is a consultant in agricultural economic development. He helped create the Foothills Pilot Plant and now serves on its advisory board. McDowell County donated the land. The money to build the facility came from the Golden Leaf Foundation, the state’s Rural Economic Development Center and the Appalachian regional commission. For the roughly 35 game farmers in this region, the site offers a nearby processing plant and that means savings on gas and time. The plant can also provide the coveted USDA stamp of inspection – allowing meat to be sold to supermarkets and across state lines. Mills says having access to USDA approval also allows farmers to produce more than 1-thousand birds each year.
Mills: These small growers can grow as many as their market will demand. So we anticipate that some growers who may have grown a thousand birds per year in the last several years may be able to go to 5,000 birds this year, and then 10,000.
Almost all of the farmers in the region have free-range chickens. Processing these birds takes about one day. After they’re killed they go through a scalder, clucker, and the evisceration room. The meat is then cut and vacuum sealed before heading to a freezer room until pick-up. Handling this work are the employees from right next door.
Prisoner: I’m at Marion Minimum Security Unit, and I’ve got 21 months left, then it will be over.
Foothills Pilot Plant and the prisoner have asked that we do not use his name, per North Carolina Department of Corrections policy. He’s a father of one, serving time at the minimum security prison for drug trafficking. He works 30 to 40 hours a week, receiving minimum wage. Other inmates have jobs that pay less than a dollar a day.
Prisoner: It’s a win-win situation both ways, cause not only is it giving local farmers a chance to make revenue for their farms, but it’s a great chance for us inmates who are getting ready to go home and need some extra money to stand on, when we get out.
Currently, eight prisoners, an intern and a building manager work at the facility. An advisory board sets the prices charged to farmers. The competitive cost caught the attention of Amy Foster who co-owns a farm with her husband in Iron Station, northwest of Charlotte.
Amy Foster: We’re here for a tour today and I’m interested in seeing how their packaging is, because our customers are used to a certain standards and I’m anxious to see what they’re offering here.
Foster’s farm grew 25-hundred chickens last year. She sells many of the birds to a couple of restaurants in uptown Charlotte and several buying clubs. Driving to this plant instead of Siler City would save her thousands of dollars each year. Advisory Board member Smithson Mills says the site will help farmers grow their businesses and provide consumers with more cage-free local meat. His plan is for the plant to break even in the first three years.
Mills: In 10 or 15 years this facility could be too small to accommodate the demand. At that point there will be enough cash flow and markets developed that farmers if they want to could probably pull their resources and build a plant themselves.
For now, he is regularly meeting with farmers and spreading the word about the first non-profit meat processing plant in the country. Jeff Tiberii, NCPR, WUNC


More information

Thursday, February 2, 2012

Gift Items: Animal Themed Candle Holders

These handmade animal themed glass candle holders and glass jars
are available in our farm store. Available in nigerian dwarf goat, nubian goat, cow, chicken, pig.

Buffalo Creek Farm and Creamery, LLC
3241 Buffalo Creek Farm Road
Germanton, NC 27019
336.969.5698
Robin@BuffaloCreekFarmNC.com







 

Wednesday, February 1, 2012

Southern Farm Show - Raleigh

Southern Farm Show Wednesday February 1 - Friday February 3 2012
Every Day (Wednesday, Thursday and Friday) 9:00am-4pm
Over 300 exhibiting companies make the Southern Farm Show the largest agricultural exposition in the Carolinas and Virginia.

A tradition at the NC State Fairgrounds each February, the show hosts key industry events, and is known as the region’s annual meeting place for farmers and agricultural leaders. Free admission and parking make the show a can’t-miss for farmers, as well as allied professionals including landscapers and excavation contractors.

Visit their website for schedule of events!