Belvedere Farms

Farming for Flavor and Raising our Family on 47 Acres in NE Ohio

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You are here: Home / Family Night On The Farm 2022

Family Night On The Farm 2022

Once a month (or so) while the weather is fine(ish), we host a family-friendly work party. Bring your kids, your gloves, and a treat to share. Work as much (or as little) as you like. We’ll have several projects to work on so you can jump in wherever you like. Learn new skills, make new friends, get in a workout, and help us make the farm a delight.

My grandad always used to say: “Many hands make light work.” We’re counting on yours. (chuckle)

Your kids can join in the work alongside you or explore the farm to their heart’s content.

(*Please note: no formal babysitting is provided; you assume all risk and responsibility for your children).


Family Night On The Farm, March: Spring Cleanup

Thursday, March 31st 6-7:30pm

Bring boots, gloves & a treat to share. We’ll be doing several clean-up projects around the farm including picking sticks, trash clean-up along the roads, sweeping out the barn, and scooping manure.


Family Night On The Farm, April: Garden Prep

Thursday, April 28th 6-7:30pm

Bring boots, gloves, trowels & a treat to share. We’ll be focusing on the garden, cleaning up beds, adding wood chips to the paths, hauling armfuls of old weeds to the pigs, planting spring cover crop, spreading manure, and laying down thick layers of mulch to prevent weeds and retain moisture.


Family Night On The Farm, May: Garden Planting

Thursday, May 26th 6-7:30pm

Bring boots, gloves, a trowel if you’ve got one & a treat to share. We’ll be prepping beds and planting our year’s supply of tomato starts as well as squash, melons, beans, and a plethora of flowers including our favorite zinnias, cosmos, and sunflowers. Want to see first-hand what we grow (and how we plant it)? Want to know how we decide how much to plant to feed our family (with enough left over to feed the animals as well)? Come on out and join in the work/fun! Planting day is always a good time and so full of possibility!


Family Night On The Farm, June: Pea Harvest

Thursday, June 30th 6-7:30pm

Bring a bucket or a basket & a treat to share (and probably bug spray). Weather and harvest permitting, we’ll be spending a lovely early summer evening harvesting and shelling garden peas. We’ll have crews to pick, crews to shell, and crews to blanch and freeze for winter preserving. If you’ve wanted to learn how to harvest, shell, prep, and preserve fresh garden peas for frigid winter days, today’s the day to join in!


Family Night On The Farm, July: Bush Bean Harvest

Thursday, July 28th 6-7:30pm

Bring a bucket or a basket & a treat to share. Weather and harvest permitting, we’ll be spending a lovely early summer evening harvesting and preserving bush beans. We’ll have crews to harvest, another to snap and prep the beans, and another to blanch and freeze them in preparation for winter eating. Bush beans are some of the easiest plants to grow in your garden and bring a huge reward. We prefer our beans fresh or frozen (not canned) so you’ll learn step-by-step how to get them from the garden to your freezer (and onto your plate!).

belvederefarms

This time of year I worry about too much grass gro This time of year I worry about too much grass growing too fast before I can get the cows over to eat it down and make the most of it.
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As a grass farmer, it’s the very best kind of problem to have: grass tall enough to get lost in.
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Speaking of which: can you find the baby? Comment with a 👍 when you do!
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#grassfarmer #grassfedbeef #iamyourfarmer #farmraisedkids #intensiverotationalgrazing #grassfed #grassfedbutter #farmlife #homesteadlife #supportlocalfarmers
That milk pail foam tho 🤩🤩🤩. . Those firs That milk pail foam tho 🤩🤩🤩.
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Those first few weeks hand milking can be disheartening. Dribbles and squirts, milk running down your wrist, sticky fingers, and sore forearms. 
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Milking is a skill. No one is good at it right away. It takes practice. The more you practice, the better you get. The faster you get, the more sure and even your squirts.
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And then one day, there will be foam in the bucket and you’ll know you’ve arrived. Your squirts are fast and firm and sure and the sustained pressure of all that milk hitting the pail makes the most gloriously frothy foam.
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Keep at it friend. Whatever skill you’re working on now. Just because you’re not that great at it right now doesn’t mean it’s not worth doing or that you won’t get better.
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Keep working. Keep trying. Keep learning. The foam will come.
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#farmlife #milkmaid #modernmilkmaid #milkmaidlife #milkcowlife #handmilking #rawmilk #homesteadskills #traditionalskills
Transcript of a real-life conversation we had this Transcript of a real-life conversation we had this morning:

Me: Whaa? Why is there a frozen turkey on the counter?!

Seamus (4): Because I like turkey and chicken meat.

Me: So you went out to the barn…

S: …and got in the freezer. And brought in a turkey.

Me: Oh, love. We can’t cook a turkey until we have a stove [kitchen reno still on going 🤦‍♀️].

S: Well, then you can cut it up and cook it piece by piece in the microwave.

Me: Actually, that’s not going to work.

S: (looks outside) Well, it’s raining today but tomorrow when it’s not raining we can make a fire and cook it outside on the fire.
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Ever the problem solver, he was full of ideas. 🤣🤣
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I did finally convince him to put it back in the freezer and wait until we have a stove - with the caveat that we cook it for his birthday.
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#kidssaythedarndestthings
#farmkid #farmlife #homesteadmama #lifeonthefarm #farmraisedkids
We have two cows in milk right now: Sandy (old fai We have two cows in milk right now: Sandy (old faithful and best friend, there on the left) and Clara (new to our farm and momma to Ruby).
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How much work is two cows vs. one? I was so nervous about adding a second cow because the additional time/labor was an unknown, but when it comes right down to it, it’s about 20 mins more time milking. That’s it.
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Everything else is pretty well the same. It takes the same amount of time to bring them in to the milking shed. The same amount of time to move them to fresh grass. It still takes under an hour door to door to milk & do what needs done, and even less for evening milking.
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And since our oldest boy (14) helps milk the majority of the time, that extra 20 minutes doesn’t often figure in. Many hands (and even just one extra pair!) make light work.
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It does take a little more time to deal with the milk: more time straining, more time washing jars, more cream to skim, more butter to churn. But if more cream and butter are the cons, I’m here for it.
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What would you say is the biggest obstacle holding you back from getting a family cow?
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#familycow #milkcowlife #keepingafamilycow #milkcow #homesteadlife #rawmilk
Mud pie hearts. . Just because this day or month o Mud pie hearts.
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Just because this day or month or season or year is hard does not mean you are not heard or seen or loved. There is beauty all around, if we have eyes to see it, hearts open to feel it, and wild, barefoot, dirty, outdoor-loving farm kiddos to deliver it.
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#farmkids #wildandfree #mudpie #mudseason #springonthefarm #homesteadmama #farmmom
My cup - ahem. shirt - runneth over. Same same. . My cup - ahem. shirt - runneth over. Same same. 
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I gather eggs every morning and again every afternoon. Farm life is a constant reminder that there is #alwayssomethingtobethankfulfor 
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#farmfresheggs #farmeggs #rainboweggs #farmlifebestlife
Hello Friends! Jordan here, and it has been a hot Hello Friends! Jordan here, and it has been a hot minute. I went to Las Vegas last week to visit my brother and we made beef tongue tacos. I love using the whole animal and this was a fun process with a delicious outcome. You can check out the blog to get the recipe. Happy Cinco de Mayo!
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#wholeanimalbutchery #wholeanimalcooking #beeftonguetacos #tacosdelengua  #cincodemayo #grassfedbeef #homesteadkitchen
T-minus 3 days until our first frost and we’re s T-minus 3 days until our first frost and we’re spending these lovely fall afternoons gathering in the last of the garden.
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Today: dried beans (Christmas Lima and Cherokee Trail of Tears), Reagan’s sunflowers and luffa, the last of the tomatoes (gah! they just won’t quit!), and the rhubarb.
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Tomorrow: chopping, freezing, cooking, and canning.
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Months from now: bellies full of homegrown garden goodness.
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#homegrown #gardenlife #farmlife #preservingtheharvest #garden #fallgarden #ohiogarden #growyourown #sunflower #familygarden #kidsinthegarden #gardeningwithkids #happyfall #harvesttime #harvest #fallharvest
Hello, fall. 👋 You’re long overdue and oh so Hello, fall. 👋 You’re long overdue and oh so welcome.
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This morning was the first I stayed in a long sleeve shirt to milk and didn’t have sweat dripping down my face.
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It’s the first the temperature has dipped below 60* (even though the humidity is a resilient 100% what with the rain, mist, and fog).
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Technically, our first frost date should have been this week, but Ohio’s holding out and it doesn’t look like that’s gonna happen for another two weeks at least.
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In any case, it finally (finally!) feels like fall and oh am I ever so here for it. So much so that once the must-do chores are done (yogourt, butter, beans and laundry), I fully intend to curl up on the couch with a cuppa and read.
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#fallonthefarm #hellofall #fall #fallleaves #fallscene #farmlife #farm #ohiofarm #smallfarmcharm #simplehappycountrylife #homesteadmama #home #ilovefall #october
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