JEM Farm CSA Discount Open Until March 31

CSA Fair March 31, Knoxville

Because of the upcoming CSA fair in Knoxville, we've again opened up our 10% discount off the CSA Price through March 31.  YEA>>>>YA-HOOOOOO

Use Code JEMCSA at checkout when ORDERING

For a very lengthy explanation of our CSA with charts, graphs and stick figures scroll down to the bottom of this blog OR you can click HERE for the much condensed version that you can read on the potty........or your favorite reading spot.......mine's on the potty...........

John & Elizabeth

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Farms To Families Virtual Farmers Market

Local Farms To Families....click me : )

Delivering your farm market favorites closer to home.

We've been working on this for a while now and its open for business. Farms To Families is a virtual farmers market for those who cannot make your local farmers market but still want to participate in the all natural goodness of your local community.

What is it again...?

This is your source for a wide variety of products normally found in your local farmer market, instead you can order the same things through Farms To Families and have them delivered to centralized drop off point close to your location. There are NO membership fees, NO crowds, NO parking problems and you get the same stuff that you would have from the farmers market.

Farms To Families accepts, credit cards, EBT/SNAP and COD......whats not to like about this?

When you click on Ordering you can see the delivery locations, as well, you can contact JEM Farm for alternative delivery locations in the Kingsport/Rogersville/Johnson City locations AND if that wont work you can contact Farms To Families to make specific delivery arrangements that suit your schedule.

So, now there's no excuse for you to get the product you need from your favorite family run farm......like ummmm JEM Farm.

Whats the link again?  Local Farms To Families

See you there and thanks.

John & Elizabeth

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Howdy everyone hope this letter finds you all well and not too tired of this crazy weather, As I write this its 70 degrees and expecting thunder storms. Tomorrow it may snow.....great that's just great!

Anyway as you have probably noticed we've added a CSA section to our blog spot and its pretty awesome, go check it out......Now!!!!!      I'll wait.

Ok, you're back, if your in need of a printed copy to pass around your office, at the gym, while your getting a colonoscopy etc. here it is. Feel free to print away and we can't wait for You to sign up.

Thanks.


John & Elizabeth

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Fall farm news, 2016

John & Elizabeth

I preface this by saying the more things change, the more they stay the same!  It is farm life, baby!  And there is nothing like struggling to keep the pigs in, working hard on the fences, and waking up to the front yard full of pigs!  We now have about 65/70 pigs, all sizes, two boars, lots of sows, many pregnant, and about 15/18 little ones.  It is pretty crazy!  We have a number is sows that have Yorkshire and Hampshire in their back ground, and we have a very diligent red wattle boar.  We also have a sweet Hereford boar, but usually the red wattle has been there first.  Recently, we have added a big bunch of large blacks to the herd.  They are very friendly and a little longer legged than many of our pigs.

So, in this proliferation of pigs, you have an opportunity: we have, and will continue to have, lots of pigs to sell.  We have spent the last several years discouraging the sale of pigs from the farm in the interest of maintaining our stock for breeding.  Now we are well placed to be able to supply our restaurants, our retail customers, our farmers market and sales from the farm.  Whether you are looking for sausage for breakfast, a ham for Christmas, piglets to raise or a pig for your luau we have the selection you are looking for!

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Brining a chicken or a turkey (for flavor and moisture)

John & Elizabeth

From the California Culinary Academy cookbook, BBQ, Grilling and Smoking, 1988
1 gallon of water
2 cups of kosher salt
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup of molasses
2 Tablespoons of black pepper
2/3 cup of crushed fennel
1 Tablespoon of crushed sage
Zest of one tangerine or orange
Zest of one lemon

Make enough of the brine to cover your bird, and pack the bird into a cooler large enough to allow the bird to move a bit.  Weight the bird so that it stays below the level of the brine. Cover the bird with several frozen icees.  A chicken may be brined in 24 hours, but it will be a couple of days for a turkey, based on weight.  You may experiment with the seasonings as well.  Drain the bird well and season and bake as usual.  Enjoy :)

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Well its been a very busy spring but we promised to update this blog before things get completely out of hand so here goes.

The big news is that JEM Farm has a full time Grower (yippie). Her name is Kara and if its green its her responsibility. She's doing a great job whipping our fields and hoop houses into shape. No doubt you've seen her with Elizabeth at the market but if you haven't please make a point of stopping buy to say hello.

Let see.... JEM farm is swimming in pigs so far this year. We were able to buy a lots of Red Waddle pigs early in the spring and they're gaining weight nicely. We also have several Large Black pigs that we just acquired, they're small and we never have raised them before so time will tell. Its a little impossible to keep our large Red Waddle boar behind any sort of fence these days. He really likes to fight with our big ole Hereford boar and they've been tearing each other to shreds so time will tell if we go back down to 1 in tact boar.......

We recently acquired 2 ponies from a neighbor, apparently he thought we didn't have enough to do......we know little about horses but the girl horse was pregnant and the boy is just pretty. We had no idea how pregnant she was until she had a baby on Mothers Day. They're healthy and happy and somehow we're chiseling time out of each day to spend a few minutes with them.

This year we are raising and breeding rabbits for meat. We are starting slowly and only have a few for sale at a time but with good breeding schedule we should have a full freezer in no time.

Our meat chickens are growing nicely. We've been approved to process these birds on the farm which means we can do a few birds at a time mostly to order and sell them fresh (not frozen) at the market.

I could ramble on but I know your as busy as we are. I promise to be more diligent with our news and keep everyone informed as to whats happening out here.

John & Elizabeth

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CSA Down Payment (2 Payments - Full Share)

 

John & Elizabeth

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CSA Downpayment (1 payment - Full Share)  

 

John & Elizabeth

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JEM Farm Grower Needed           

JEM Farm needs a Grower for the 2016 growing system. This is a full time 6 day a week position either “live in” or commuter applicants are accepted. 

The candidate for this position must be well rounded with mechanical, horticultural, customer service, agricultural and driving skills. Heavy lifting is sometimes required; candidate will be wet and dirty most of the time. Bugs, insects and small animal pests will be the a daily occurrence. Appropriate clothing and footwear is required.  Workdays start early and end late, 6 days/week. 

Compensation: Weekly pay commensurate with experience 

This is a GREAT opportunity for the budding farmer. We have a LOT of information to pass along for the right person.

John & Elizabeth

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New Season, 2016

John & Elizabeth

       It is wonderful that we have all made it to 2016!  And believe it or not, we are just about to start a new Farmers Market season with the beginning of Nourish Knoxville's indoor Winter Market this coming weekend.  We will be there, and hopefully it will not be too rainy!
       We move into the new year with pigs, chickens, goats, and even a couple of sheep!  We have also embarked on a new venture with rabbits, although we are still learning how to grow and breed them.  The chickens we have here now, are layers and we will be adding to our flocks (and singing them lullaby's to get that lay up!).  We have been working on the budgets for the broiler chickens, and it is discouraging to know that they have to be relatively expensive, but that the return to us in terms of buying more feed, and paying our electric bill, is very small.  We want to raise turkeys for our favorite customers for Thanksgiving and Christmas as well.

        We have decided to hire a plant person to help us with our growing season.  We have had such a hard time these last couple of years keeping up with the seed starting, planting and harvesting and rotating, we feel it makes sense to hire a person to live here, and keep up with all of our plant business.  The posting will be available in a separate blog post, and we would appreciate it if you would spread the word among the people who might be interested.  We feel this is the only effective way to keep plants going in our hoop house.
           You know we always have something going on here at the farm, so please talk to one of us and plan your trip to our sweet little town!  As the weather gets a bit better we would welcome your visit, and put you to work.  Thanks as always for all of your support, and hope your holiday season was filled with good food, friends and family, and some time to relax.  May 2016 bring more of the same, for all of us.  See you soon!


         

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This month has been the month of babies.  We have had four of the five litters of piglets, successfully, and are waiting for the last litter to arrive.  Two of the sows decided to farrow (the special pig term for birthing) out in the woods, one in our neighbor's front yard...  We had to escort that pig home with her six babies, but the mama in the woods is on property we manage, and she is happily raising her young ones out doors.  We have provided her with a tarp for the storms we have been having lately.
  The storms and the warmer weather have made for lots of grass growing, and we have been reluctant to mow because of the wet. We are planning to move some of the grazing animals around to take care of the grass growth.

   We have been welcoming visitors to our home and farm, and we are looking forward to having a long term visitor from Spain.  Raul will be here on about the first of May and is looking forward to learning about our part of the world.  We have enjoyed spending time with our friends from Nashville, and a local friend is coming over the mountain from Sneedville to help us with some household chores.  If you want to spend some time getting muddy and learning more about animals or plants, let us know and we will work with you to get you some experience.

     Two weeks ago, we worked hard with the folks from the Porter Road Butcher shop to create bratwurst, sweet Italian sausage and all natural hot dogs.  These wonderful products, made from our own pigs, are made without any fillers, additives and in natural casings.  There is wonderful flavor and great texture.  These are products you can be proud to serve at home, and that you can feel good about serving to your children. For more information about them, and for the chance to get some, please plan to attend the ETSU Farmer s' Market on Thursday, the 23rd, this week.  Come out to the Saw Works brewery on Saturday the 25th at 3:30PM and actually taste our wonderful bratwurst with some of the great Saw Works beer!
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John & Elizabeth

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Morning Everyone.

We had a great weekend and had a great day at the Winter Farmers Market in Knoxville on Saturday. The weather was fantastic and since everyone had cabin fever we saw a lot of our friends. I just love Saturdays!

Well, JEM Farm is Super excited to announce that we are selling through Overstock.com. They've developed an online farmers market and we jumped on-board. They are a fantastic company to work with and are committed to supplying farm fresh LOCAL food to its customers. They have actually sent their employees to training sessions to help them understand the pliet of the farmer and what it takes to get these products from the farm to the consumer.

This is VERY COOL and I want to give a shout to our Customer Care Representative "Faviola" from Overstock. She is fantastic to work with and a joy to talk to over the phone. (she's in Utah) so we've never met......YET!

This is perfect for those individuals who simply can't or don't want to visit their farmers markets but still want Farm Fresh Product.

Overstock.com

We offer deliveries from Bristol TN to Oak Ridge and all points in between.
John & Elizabeth

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John & Elizabeth

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Howdy!

We dug ourselves out of the snow last night and made it down to Knoxville this morning to drop off 2 pigs at Three Rivers Market and also picked up the first cuts from our pig at Willy's Butcher Shop.

Robert and the gang are going to be busy, they've got about 400 lbs of meat to cut tomorrow and not a moment too soon as they were OUT of sausage today!

Willy sure delivered on our piggie as the cuts we picked up today look FANTASTIC! We have pork sirloin chops, rib chops, uncured pork belly, boned rolled and tied boston butt, my mouth is watering so i'll quit. Be sure to stop by our online shop and get some while it lasts and remember all our Pork is NON GMO and Pasture Raised.

John & Elizabeth

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Last weekend we delivered another Hog to Robert at the Three Rivers Market in Knoxville. He runs a great meat room for that store and his display case is always attractive. Speaking of attractive, i've always Loved his Facebook Page photo so, I stole it. But don't tell him, we'll keep that a secret!

Enjoy and be sure to stop by Three Rivers Market, ask for the Meat Manager and take home some of his homemade Chorizo or other delectable sausages made in the store.

John & Elizabeth

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Knoxville Farmers Market 02/07 and BIG News

Hello folks we will be at the Knoxville Winter Market Saturday 02/07, from 10-2. We will have your favorite sausages, pork chops, and whole Chickens. (You can find cooking suggestions on our Recipe Page.

For more information on our products check out JEM Farm product page.

In addition of our brand new Blog, we've also have set up a JEM Farm Newsletter (sign up on the right side of this page or click on this link) and an Online shop.



Hope to see you there.


John & Elizabeth

How to cook our Pork Chops or Ham Steaks

This is what my mother (with limited cooking skills) fed the family and it was always a treat. 

Serve with apple sauce and Sauerkraut

Mama’s Pork Chops (and Ham Steak) Recipe: 

Ingredients:

•        2 - JEM Farm Pork Chops or 1 - Large Ham Steak 
•       1 Large Onion
•     3 Tbs Olive Oil
•     Salt and Pepper to taste

 Steps

1.       Preheat skillet with oil, slice and saute onion until they begin to caramelize.

2.       Add thawed Chops or (ham steaks) on top of caramelized onions, reduce heat and cover.

3.       Cook approximately 20 minutes turning meat and onions half way.

4.       Season to taste with salt and pepper and serve when onions are fully caramelized and meat is golden brown.

How to use our Mild Italian Sausage

Mild Italian Sausage, suggestions for uses  (not a real recipe):

This bulk Italian sausage is seasoned mildly with fennel.  We often eat it over pasta or rice, with or without tomatoes, sauteed with sliced peppers and onions.  Our family likes garlic and sometimes we add crushed red pepper.

Served warm with a crusty loaf of bread and a crisp salad you have a quick and satisfying dinner.  A pound of sausage prepared this way will serve four hearty appetites.

Also:

• Cook, cool and crumble to top your favorite pizza
• Add, one to one, with grass fed ground beef, to your favorite spaghetti sauce recipe
• Add to your favorite meatball recipe
• Use it in stuffed peppers or in stuffed mushroom caps.

Check out more recipes on our recipes dedicated page.