So Much To Be Thankful For

I think this has to be one of my new favorite pics. Not because I think the color is good or because it is centered or any of that technical garbage but because it just sums up how I feel about life right now.

Being a city girl and growing up in many different places I never would have dreamed of being around so many farm animals now in my life. It has been quite a learning curve for the farmer's wife but one that I have enjoyed learning and have embraced.

I knew I would always have boys. I love them and I love how rough and tough they are. But when I dreamed of being a mom of a little girl, I always dreamed of barbie dolls and dresses and tea parties. Never did I dream of rubber boots, play clothes and pigs for her. But you know what? She loves it!

So as I sit back in amazement of how my life has turned out I am happy to say that I have a whole lot more thinks to be thankful than I ever imagined. This farm has added so much to our lives and while it has been a struggle to keep going at times I would not have traded these experiences for anything.

Just a few of my things I am thankful for:

My kids have play clothes and know how to have a good time outside.

My kids have a good pair of boots for town, and a pair of rubber boots for outside play and work.

My kids know the importance of taking care of an animal and how to treat one with respect.

My kids know where their foods come from.

My oldest son has calluses on his hands because he loves to be outside helping with the farm.

My kids own at least one animal on the farm that they care for.

My kids have shown goats and turkeys this year and had a great time.

My kids are healthy and happy because they just get to be good ole country kids.

My list could go on and on but I think you get the point. So when you are feeling down and out just come for a visit. We will introduce you to some of the greatest kids on earth and some of the coolest farm animals around!

The Great Turkey Round Up

Wow, we can't believe that we will be rounding up the turkeys this weekend. It seems not too long ago we started adding them to the wooded pastures to only have them fly out and hang out in the yard. We have had turkeys on the trucks, turkeys on the clothes line, turkeys on the roof and even turkeys on the TV antenna. While the farmer's wife complains about them and their mess, she will miss their sounds on the roof the most. (If you listen closely it sounds like Santa's reindeer.)

Round Up will be taking place this Sunday and the farmer's wife has thought about selling tickets for people to come watch as it will surely prove to be very comical to watch. The farmer could use any extra help so if you are free and want to help please give him a call.

The turkeys will be taken to the processor on Monday. We have scheduled two pick up times: Novmeber 19th at Whipowill Hill Farm from 5:00 PM to 7:00 PM and then November 20th at the Asheboro Farmer's Market from 9:00 AM to 10:30 AM. These turkeys will be FRESH (not frozen). How many have ever had a turkey that has been that fresh?

The response to these turkeys has been wonderful. We have some big plans for next year and hope we can accommodate all the request we have had. We do apologize to those of you who were unable to place an order this year.

For Christmas Whipowill Hill Farm will be offering pheasants. There are only a few left and if you are interested in those please call us right away.

Central Park Annual Gathering

with Guest Speaker Joel Salatin

How exciting that Whipowill Hill Farm was asked to be part of the Central Park Annual Gathering here in Montgomery County. It was an amazing day full of great people trying to do wonderful things for local folks. It was very refreshing to be among people who appreciate what we do and respect how we do it. I think our favorite part was getting to eat lunch with Joel Salatin. He picked on Donny's country accent, but they hit it off. Donny was very impressed with Joel's callused hands, a true sign of a hard working man in Donny's opinion!

This has been one heck of a year for us. We are growing by leaps and bounds and are thankful for it. We feel so blessed and loved right now. Thank you!!!

Heavenly Hams

We love new piggies on the farm. You never know what colors or markings you are going to get out of a litter. Not to mention the boy to girl ratio. Our oldest son's pig had her litter out on pasture and we couldn't get close enough to tell the boys from the girls until just this past week. She even let me get close enough for a couple of pictures. She is a very good mom and has done a good job so far.

Not to far down the hill another one of the momma pigs gave birth and we have another one on her way in September. Fall on the farm is going to be just as busy as the spring was.

Peach Day at Asheboro's Farmers Market

Come see us this Saturday at Asheboro's Farmers Market. It is Peach Day and free samples of Peach Ice Cream will be given out from 9Am till 11AM (or until supplies last). Whipowill Hill Farm will have sample of their sausage and other vendors are planning to have some suprises in store. There is something there for everyone. Please come out and support your local farmers and their families. We look forward to seeing you there!

Pasture Raised Heritage Breed Turkeys for Thanksgiving and Christmas

We will be raising a limited number of Pastured Heritage Breed Turkeys for your 2010 Thanksgiving and/or Christmas feast. Our turkeys are being raised humanely, outdoors in our wooded pastures without the use of growth hormones or antibiotics. Like nature intended, they have access to their environment with fresh plants, seeds, bugs, etc.
We estimate the birds dressing out between 12 to 18 pounds and will be priced at $4.00 per pound. This price includes all processing costs. We are asking for a deposit of $20 per bird which will be deducted from your final cost. If you would like more information or have any questions, please feel free to call us at 910-576-4660.

Sunday Evening on the Farm

June 27th 4:00-8:00 PM
Ingold Farms
793 Ross Harris Rd, Asheboro

Visit with your friends from Ingold Farms and Whipowill Hill Farm. Come enjoy samples of beef and pork and bring along your coolers to take advantage of the specials on your favorite meats for your family. This leisure Sunday evening will be filled with activities and lots of "photo" opportunities. We promise a fun time for all; the young and young at heart will enjoy tours, animals, games and special activities.
Come prepared to have a good time, learn about what you eat; and take home information and good food.

Pasture Raised Poultry

Honest to goodness pasture raised poultry, raised here on the farm. Our last batch of Cornish Rock Chickens were so good we decided to grow some more. There has been some controversy lately about pasture raised versus chicken house birds and let us tell you that there was a whole different taste to these birds. Plus they were raised outside with access to grass and bugs just like it is supposed to be. They are not fed any added hormones or any antibiotics. Just good ole home grown chicken.

This new batch should be ready the first week in August and we ourselves can not wait. They make the best beer can chicken!! Our next project we are working on is pasture raised turkeys for Thanksgiving and Christmas so keep a look out for more info on that.

Introducing - Whipowill Hill Farms Poultry

Saturday at the Asheboro's Farmers Market Whipowill Hill Farm will introduce a line of their poultry products. Saturday's introduction will be of the Cornish Rocks. These Cornish Rock Chickens have been raised on a natural diet and have not had any hormones or antibiotics fed to them. The Cornish Rocks will provide a large amount of breast meat and will be sold as whole chickens.
We look forward to providing this opportunity to offer tasty and healthy eating for you and your family. Hope to see you there!

Pork Chop Samples

We will be offering pork chop samples at the Asheboro Farmer's market this Saturday morning. Enjoy your Holiday weekend with a one of a kind cook out item of pastured raised and naturally grown pork chops. Bone-in pork chops are packed 4 to a pack and are $4.50 a pound. We have boneless pork chops too and they are also packed 4 to a pack and are $6.00 a pound. For the best quality in taste, slow cooking is recommended. Hope to see you there!

Saturday Mornings for

Whipowill Hill Farm

Our new place to hang out on Saturday mornings is the Asheboro Farmers' Market on Church Street. We back into our little space and set up our table, plug in the freezer and we are set. The area is covered and even has fans that help circulate the air. It is a state of the art space.

We meet lots of different people and get to catch up with all of the other vendors set up there. Everyone is there to help the other person out and everyone is friendly. I love being able to get up and check out all the baked goods. Then I go back and check out all the vegetables and plants. Towards the end I finally make my way to Mr. Ingold and get our beef for the week. All this while giving Hugh with Uwharrie Heirlooms a hard time. It is such a great way to spend our Saturday morning!

Last week we had samples of our sausage and almost sold out. We are checking inventory and seeing if we can do samples of something else this week. We need to keep everyone guessing as to what we will have. Please come on by and see us this Saturday. We loved to show you around.

Asheboro Farmer's Market

Wake up early and come hang out with us at the Asheboro Farmer's Market tomorrow. This will be our first day set up in the Farmer's Market world so we could use all the support we can get. Going to Farmer's Markets are one of our most favorite things to do, so we hope selling at one is an enjoyable experience! Tomorrow is strawberry day so things should be hopping. Hugh with Uwharrie Heirlooms will be there with his plants as well. Start time is 7AM and things start slowing down by 1PM. Maybe we will be sold out by then.

Please help support your local farmers. Thanks!

New Sign

Check out our new sign. My grandpa made this for us. He made one for the building and one for us to place at the end of the road so people can start finding us now. We are really starting to look official around here.

Also- piggy went to market this week. We are excited to be offering some new products starting on Monday May 3rd. New next week are: country style ribs, boneless pork chops, and ground pork. All of these can be bought at our farm store or can be ordered through Anne at StarWorks Gardens. She is great to work with!!!

Turkey Poults are hatching and Donny has started calling the people on his waiting list. There are some Royal Palm, Narragnsett and Bronze turkey poults now available. Please give Donny a Call if interested, they go really fast.

Only 3 piglets left as well. We had a good sale rate on these and people have been very satisified with the ones they have.

Charlotte's Web?

Meet the runt of the group. She is so much smaller than her brothers and sisters. She has become quite the little pet for Ms. Aubrey who carries it around like a doll when she is allowed to. The mommy pig still takes good care of the lil' girl but she will never be as big as the others. It looks like Whipowill Hill Farm will have its own Wilbur (well in this case a Wilma.) Donny is so excited that we have an opportunity for another pet. Just what we need he says....

Most farms would have a livestock guardian dog or something in that line, but not us. We chose (or should I say they chose us) to have wonderful Basset Hounds that howl in the middle of the night at things. We have so enjoyed our girl Bassets, Cindy Lou and Lou Lou that we have decided to add one more. This is our new pup Charlie Brown. He is already spoiled rotten and we hope he grows up to be great friends with the ladies. I just recently purchased a new sign for the front porch that I think sums it up our house. "Dogs are like potato chips, you can't just have one!"

New Arrivals on the Farm. Our big momma sow welcomed over a dozen new little ones last week. She is a good momma and takes very good care of them. She is off limits to the kids as she can be a little over protective. She even gives Donny a hard time when he feeds her. There are also two more litters that are almost weened and their new owners will be coming soon to get them. If you think you would be interested in a new addition to your farm give us a call to come visit and pick one out.