BLIZZARD 2X

It's hard to believe that a week has passed since mother nature hammered the mid Atlantic region with the first of two major snow storms. Record snow fall and gusty winds combined to make life difficult for humans and animals. We are very appreciative of our helpers... Andrew from the USNA who filled in while Bob was in California, Paul from nearby Chesterville who valiantly forged through the blizzard at 6 miles per hour in an open tractor to feed calves, Ethan from Massey who arrived on time every day except when the roads were closed, and Joe (Ethan's buddy) who got stuck near our farm in the middle of the second blizzard. It was quickly obvious that Joe wasn't going anywhere anytime soon so we gladly put him up in the spare room and fed him a hot bowl of chili. Fortunately for us Joe got snowed in at St. Brigid's Farm as he was an excellent helper during the height of the second storm.

Here are a few photos that tell the story...

Blizzard 2010 Feb 6th & 10th!

"It's really not too bad outside, just a little snow."

"Oh, this is getting pretty deep, I think I'll stay inside."

Joe Howard & Judy...thank you Joe for getting stuck near us!

Calf hutches in Blizzard #2

"Good morning, I'm hungry regardless of the weather."

Juliann, the new mother during the night of the blizzard.

Beautiful sunrise

Fence post nearly buried!

Drifting at the heifer barn makes for difficult feed delivery.

Calm morning between the storms

"My it is difficult to eat this way."

Watch the snow load!

This WAS a well bedded calf pen.

With some shoveling and straw it is now a nice place to bask in the sunshine.

Winter at St. Brigid's Farm 2010

The Perfect Steak

We celebrate St. Brigid’s Day every year. Her day is February 1 which is during one of the busiest weeks of the year here. Nine first calf heifers calved from January 24 –February 1 which means nine new calves to care for as well as nine new animals in the milking string. On top of that we had a small snow storm and bitter cold. Cold, wind and humidity are the perfect conditions to cause frost bite on the teats of our new moms so we pampered them for three days, carting feed and putting them in a bedded pack to stay warm.

Needless to say, we dined in and enjoyed local beer (legend has it that St. Brigid turned bathwater into beer), a lovely salad and our grass fed beef. I am not a huge steak fan and have never been very successful at cooking steak but after viewing a video on cooking the perfect steak by the Joshua Applestone, chef at Fleisher’s, a meat purveyor we met at New Amsterdam Market in New York City, I had to give it a try. And the steak was PERFECT!!

Check it out for yourself by clicking here. We left the steak in the oven for 7 minutes since the medium rare in the video looked a bit on the rare side for us.

We are discounting all of our steaks for Valentine’s Day. So make the perfect steak and enjoy a 15% discount!! You can pick up your steaks Saturday at the Radcliff Mill parking lot (home of Brooks Tavern) at 10 am or arrange for pick up at the farm.