Whole Hog, Egg, and Delivery Updates!

We have 5 pigs ready for makin' bacon!

 Email us to order a whole or a half pig today!

Why buy in bulk from your farmer?
*Saves you money!
*As farm fresh as you can get!
*Saves the rancher lots of time so that they have more "free time" to give the sheep manicures 

*Animals are processed on farm so they never know anything besides their lush mountain valley home 

Buying Whole Hog FAQ:

*What do I get when I buy a whole or half hog?
It varies a bit from pig to pig but you will get about 2 1/2 boxes of meat from a half hog (about 120 lbs). Double that for a whole hog.
 
1/2 Hog Cuts include:
-Shoulder Roasts
-Spare Ribs
-Baby Back Ribs
-Approximately 12 Rib and Loin Chops
-1 Tenderloin
-2 Smoked Hocks (or extra ground)
-2 Ham Roasts
-Bacon!
-Sausage

*Can I make my whole hog into bacon?
As much as we really really wish that was possible, only some of the pig will turn into bacon.

*How much space do I need? 
The boxes that the meat comes in are 20 inches long by 9 inches high by 14 inches deep. For example, a half hog fills up 3/4 of my 2'x4'x3'high chest freezer. 
-Or you could split the meat between multiple families & each choose your favorite cuts!

*More questions? 
Shoot us an email!


EGG UPDATE!

Due to a supply chain issue, we are having trouble getting egg cartons but we do have flats in abundance. A flat is basically an open ended egg carton that holds 2 1/2 dozen eggs.
Consider taking home a flat instead. 
Bonus- free delivery if you order a case of eggs (6 flats for a total of 15 dozen eggs)
* Does your neighborhood want to start an egg share and get freely delivered farm fresh eggs?

DELIVERY UPDATE!
Davis deliveries will now happen Fridays between 5-6pm

Our inventory is updated and you can order meat and eggs for home delivery (we will be charging $5/delivery) or pick up for free at market.

Ashland: Please order by Thursday @10am

Davis: Please order by Friday @10am

Mt. Shasta: Please order by Monday @10am

Shop the  FARMSTAND

We hope all is well with you and your families!
~Jenn and the Skyelark Team

Baa, baa, black sheep, have you any wool?

Baa, baa, black sheep

Have you any wool?

Yes, sir, yes, sir

Three bags full;

One for the master,

And one for the dame,

And one for the little boy

Who lives down the lane

It's difficult to ignore this rhyme while shearing sheep. It just automatically pops into the "repeat forever" folder in your brain. Shearing sheep was recently the project du jour at Skyelark Ranch. Two strong and fearless ladies sheared close to 40 sheep each in a day. And if you were to think this a light project, you'd be mistaken. It was an ultimate test of endurance and fortitude. In order to lighten a sheep's woolly load, you have to simultaneously cradle (they don't like to be cradled) a strong, greasy (lanolin is a real thing) 120lb sheep in your arms while wielding razor sharp rotating blades capable of cutting through wool. Oh, and you have to do this skillfully so that you don't ruin the wool. And as I'm watching these ladies artfully shear wool, I'm thinking about that baa baa rhyme and I'm thinking about social justice, and racial justice, and about how far we have come in this world and how far we still need to go. 

Did you know the original poem was:

Bah, Bah, a black Sheep,

Have you any wool?

Yes old mate I have

Three bags full,

Two for my master,

One for my dame,

None for the little boy

That cries in the lane.

(This according to Wikipedia’s Baa, Baa, Black Sheep page)

The little boy down the lane didn't get wool back in 1744! So, at some point between 1744 and 2020 we realized that maybe it's important to take care of the less fortunate among us. Others point to the fact that this poem can appear to be racist in referring to the black sheep and its master. So now we have taken the poem through its social justice phase, but what about racial justice? Oxfordshire has you covered apparently. 

Again according to Wikipedia, in 2006 private nurseries in Oxfordshire altered the song to "Baa baa rainbow sheep" and made those black sheep instead "happy, sad, hopping" and "pink." I'd imagine it goes:

Baa, baa, rainbow sheep

Have you any wool?

Why yes, why yes, 

Three bags full

One for the happy person

One for the sad 

One for the hopping person

Who feels really glad

And now I'm listening to my happy rainbow sheep rhyme in my head while watching two fearless women shear sheep; doing what could easily be determined to be men's work. We have come so far and, of course, still have a ways to go. But, in valuing these women's talents, we are giving them the opportunity to be compensated respectfully for a hard job done well. And maybe if we respect all the rainbow sheep of the world and their talents and unique gifts, we give them the opportunity to live well. I have so much hope for social justice, and racial justice, and the rainbow sheep of the world! 

On that note, while you are all probably familiar with our beloved Skyelarkian Lex the wonder farmer, we’d like to introduce you to the second of the spectacular sheep shearers, Stephany Wilkes! Stephany shears sheep, and is also  known to write great books. I am really enjoying reading her book, Raw Material: Working Wool in the West. Find her sheep shearing info, blog, book, and more at https://stephanywilkes.com/.

If you are interested in buying real deal Skyelark wool, (processed by another amazing local woman at the Valley Oak Wool and Fiber Mill) it can be found on the farmstand or at the farmers markets this week.

Whole Chickens are Back! 

I love the guide to roasting chickens from NY Times Cooking and don’t forget to use the post-dinner bits to make chicken broth. The Davis Farmers Market Cookbook has a great recipe!

Our inventory is updated and you can order meat and eggs for home delivery (we will be charging $5/delivery) or pick up for free at market.

Ashland: Please order by Thursday @10am

Davis: Please order by Friday @10am

Mt. Shasta: Please order by Monday @10am

~Jenn and the Skyelark team

Shop the  FARMSTAND

Welcome Our New Skyelark Team Members

We have egg-citing n’ewes! Two new team members have been added to the Skyelark roster. Or should we call it the Skyelark rooster to continue our punny farm theme? Well, with no further ad-ewe. Introducing:

Jenn Rogge

Jenn is joining team Skyelark to help with sales and marketing, and will be delivering meat & eggs in Davis. She fancies herself a real farmers’ marketer. Six years ago she ordered a half lamb from us to celebrate her 30th birthday and hasn’t stopped finding ways to entertain herself on the ranch since then. Her most entertaining venture was turning chicken poo into compost that she called “hens’ gold.” She can also make an entire flock of turkeys laugh (it’s not that hard to do). Jenn is also partly to blame for the goats of Skyelark. When not larking around the ranch, she can be found creating mini farms in school gardens, mountain biking, and trying really hard to be punny. She is also a mom to two rambunctious girls and a wife to an equally punny fireman. The whole family can be found larking around the ranch from time to time.

Leanna Kelly

Leanna is joining team Skyelark as the Davis Farmers’ Market Representative. Find her Saturdays in Davis with all the Skyelark goods you’ve come to know and love.

A little bit about Leanna:

Hi! My name is Leanna, but I usually go by Lee. I am originally from the New York City area and for the last 3 years I have been in Davis working on my PhD in Animal Biology. In undergrad at Cornell University I studied Animal Science and International Agricultural Development. I have some experience working with chickens, sheep, and dairy goats both in the US and overseas. I am excited to expand my experience and learn more about livestock while working with Skyelark Ranch at the Davis Farmer's Market. I look forward to meeting all of the regular and new customers and talking about what you do with our products! See you Saturday!

Help us welcome her to the flock!

If you’d like to give them something to do:

Our inventory is updated and you can order meat and eggs for home delivery (we will be charging $5/delivery) or pick up for free at market.

Ashland: Please order by Thursday @10am

Davis: Please order by Friday @10am

Shasta: Please order by Monday @10am

Shop the FARMSTAND

Our new team members can’t wait to meet ewe!

The “New Normal”?

Hi All,

We hope this finds you healthy and safe!

As the pandemic continues I have found myself settling in this week to the “new normal”. The first couple weeks had a buzzy, restless feeling of low level anxiety, that was quite frankly exhausting. As wholesale customers closed down, we scrambled to make sure our eggs and meats continued to reach our customers and that our business could stay operational. As we continue into April our systems seem to be falling into a rhythm, the house is still a disaster, but a rhythm all the same.

If you happen to be curious our ordering schedule is:

• Mt. Shasta Mondays - Pick up or delivery - place order before 10 am on Mondays

• Ashland, OR, Thursdays - Pick up or delivery - place order before 10 am on Thursdays

• Davis Saturdays - Pick up or delivery - place order before 10 am on Fridays

Spring weather has finally come to Siskiyou County which helps too. The leaves are just now starting to peak out green and the grass is starting to grow. We got the woolly lawnmowers out this weekend to graze around the house and the Easter bunny brought us our last baby lamb. Isla still has to feed her “pet” lamb, which will follow her everywhere. Mary’s little lamb was certainly a bottle baby.

I can’t say enough about how appreciative we are of all of you. Your continued support keeps us ranching and bringing healthy food to your family. People are being their best selves in a lot of ways. Communities are working together - our friends Hope and Shane at Fiery Ginger are offering our eggs as an add-on with their grab and go boxes, friends are coordinating deliveries and pick up locations, neighbors are coordinating orders for higher risk folks. People are working together to make sure the farms they love are supported and their neighbors and themselves have food security. This is a local food system at work. I am hopeful for the future when things can go back to “normal” but perhaps the new normal can keep some of the best things, especially the continued building of community.

All our very best,

Alexis, Gillies and Isla

Lambs on the Couch

….or should that be “couches on the lam”?

Either way it’s been a busy and somewhat surreal week. As daily life here on the farm goes on as usual - gathering eggs, feeding pigs, etc - we are also so very aware that life is anything but normal for the vast majority of you, and for people all over the world as COVID-19 induced lockdowns, and social distancing is taking effect on families, businesses and our global community. We listen to the news and hear from family and friends who are sheltering at home and can only imagine how much stress and uncertainty is being faced by so many. We can only hope that our efforts for “flattening the curve” pay off and we see the other side of this, having come through it knowing we all did our part. Although our lives as farmers are already, and deliberately, focused “at home”, we hope that you are finding ways to stay busy and productive in whatever way you can during this period of uncertainty.

As it is, this part of our farm year, is nothing short of crazy at the best of times. We are gearing up for summer and planning grazing rotations, planning fencing construction, coping with the seasonal increase in egg production, and are also knee-deep in lambing. So far, all lambs have arrived unassisted, and at a respectable time of day (of course, now we’ll get a complication at 3AM, in the snow). We have had one ewe mortality following birthing but the lamb is healthy and currently trying to win the affection of a surrogate Mom. We are about halfway through, and our lamb field is already a buzz with lamb races and over-protective ewes.

Keep yourselves, your neighbors and friends healthy,

Gillies, Alexis and Isla

A Happy St. Patrick's Day?

Hi all,

Firstly, this may be the slowest ever St Patrick’s Day for pubs the world over. COVID-19 seems to have shut everyone into their own homes. May I suggest putting on some Irish music (perhaps The Pogues, Planxty, The Dubliners, Kila, maybe even Van Morrison’s Greatest Hits), and have yourselves an Isolation Ceilidh. Don’t be fooled by the canny marketing which has us all feeling the need for green beer, or “The Black Stuff”, and please don’t put yourself at unnecessary risk just to get the “appropriate beer”. As with us Scots, the Irish are none too fussy about what particular alcoholic liquid is in their glass, only that it is kept full during such cultural celebrations. So I’m sure whatever you happen to have in your liquor cabinet or fridge will be just grand. Slainte!!

Talking of fridges. We will again be coming down to Yolo County this weekend and will be attending the Davis Farmer’s Market as planned (all being as it is as of the time of writing). To speed up your time at market and aid in the auld “social distancing”, we are again offering pre-orders via our Farmstand page. Delivery is also available with a minimum $50 order. If you are concerned, at high risk, or know someone who is, please let us know and we will work hard to ensure no-one who really could benefit from home delivery is left out. If you would like to pre-order for pickup or delivery, please do so by Midnight on Thursday March 19th.

Thanks, and I’ll end with a quote from Scots singer-songwriter Karine Polwart from her fantastic theater show “Wind Resistance”

Remember The Geese
We are each other’s wind resistance, a human skein.
And we’re not going to make it on our own. 

(from Wind Resistance by Karine Polwart)

Gillies, Alexis and Isla

Skyelark Home Delivery!! (of meat & eggs, not toilet paper).

Hi all,

Like you, we are listening, reading and watching the news almost constantly in an attempt to stay informed of current events related to the Coronavirus, COVID-19. We have been informed that, as of today (3/12/2020) the Davis Farmers Market will go ahead as scheduled for the foreseeable future. Here is part of the message we received from market management regarding their plans for the market:

“We plan to continue to operate our certified farmers’ markets regularly for the foreseeable future as the Yolo County Emergency Operations Center has authorized the markets as essential food outlets, equal to any of the supermarkets in Davis. We are pleased with this determination, especially now when people need access to healthy fruits and vegetables, and other wholesome foods.

 As concerns about the spread of COVID-19 (known as Coronavirus) grows, we are all working diligently to respond through modified operations, additional communications, and, as needed, contingency plans. 
Market Staff have developed a health and safety protocol for our markets including sanitizing equipment and frequently touched areas. We will have several hand washing stations located throughout the market and hand sanitizers at those stations.”

They have also provided market vendors with best-practice guidelines and protocols to minimize risk to ourselves and our patrons. With that in mind, we plan to attend market, as usual, until advised otherwise.

However, we also realize the very real concerns of our customers and have decided to offer a Home Delivery Service until such time as concerns about the spread of COVID-19 subside.

To enable this service we have added our items to our Online Store including individual cuts of pork, lamb, chicken and our pasture-raised eggs. We will be delivering to Davis and Sacramento customers on Saturday March 14th, 21st and into the future as needed. We will be delivering to our Ashland and Medford customers on Thursday , March 19th and on April 2nd. Our Mount Shasta and Siskiyou County customers should expect delivery on Mondays throughout the month of March. Ranch pick up is also available.

We are asking for a $50 minimum order to take advantage of our Free Delivery option. Please use our farmstand to place your order. If you don’t see the particular item you are looking for, feel free drop us an email at farmhouse@skyelarkranch.com.

Please share this email with friends and family who may be interested in our farm products. This epidemic has already started to have negative effects on our sales and therefore our business sustainability. We greatly appreciate your continued support to keep good food coming from our farm to your plate.

Thank you and stay healthy!

Gillies, Alexis and Isla

Marching Backwards into March with a Mid-week Meatloaf

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Walking backwards in wellies is harder than it looks!

It’s been quite a while since we got this here page up and running again with the promise of frequent blog “updates”. Those updates have so far been somewhat less than frequent, but I have finally figured out how to connect our website to our email (or is it the other way around?), which “should” enable me to get updates out without too much copy and paste and double sending action. So be warned. More information may soon your way come.

In other, perhaps more interesting news, our new Livestock Guardian Dog (LGD) puppy, Bree, is settling in well. She has spent her first few weeks here on the ranch in a pen close to the house with a few chickens, our lone duck, the rams, and our two goats - it’s kinda like a holding area for all things Skyelark, but she is getting used to the sounds, smells and general activity of the day-to-day activity on the ranch. It’s critical for her success as a guardian, that at this stage she is exposed to and bonds with whichever animals she is to spend her life protecting. And for us here at Skyelark, we have learned (the hard way I’m afraid) that all but the pigs need to be guarded at all times. So, with that in mind, she is doing pretty well at not teasing the goats too much, avoiding the rams, and learning that ducks are not chew toys. She has also met, and chewed the tails of all four of our other dogs, with no serious consequences and is has seemingly been accepted into our pack. In the next week or so, she will be joining Bean out with the ewes and laying hens. We will give her a “safe house” where she can go at night, but we’ll slowly let Bean train her in her duties as a guardian dog. We will, as always, try to keep you updated on her progress.

Mid-week Meatloaf Recipe

adapted from Ginger Pig Meat Book by Tim Wilson and Fran Warde

This is a great version of a regular mid-week meal for us here at Skyelark. We often substitute out various ingredients depending on what we have around, always with great results. In the original version, there’s chicken livers and ground chicken or turkey, here we omit those with the addition of ground lamb.

Serves 6.

Ingredients:

• 2 oz butter

• 2 onions, peeled & finely diced

• 1 clove garlic, crushed & peeled

• 3 1/2 fl oz red wine

• 1lb bacon

• 1lb ground pork

• 1lb ground lamb

• 2 eggs, beaten senseless

• 3 bay leaves, parsley, salt & pepper to taste

1. Melt the butter over low heat and saute the onions and garlic gently for about 4 minutes, then add the wine and simmer for another 2 minutes. Remove from the heat and allow to cool. Meanwhile, grease a 2lb 4oz loaf tin with oil and line with the bacon, allowing it to hang over the sides so you can wrap it over the top of the meat loaf later. Preheat the oven to 325F.

2. In a large bowl, mix the pork, lamb (or whatever meats you are using), eggs, bay, parsley and seasonings. Mix with your hands to get an even blend, then add the wine mixture. Fill the prepared tin with the meat, flatten the top and wrap the overhanging bacon over. Cover with kitchen foil, seal well and bake in the oven for 1 hour 15 minutes.

3. Remove the meat from the oven and allow to rest for 10 minutes. Turn out the meat loaf, slice and serve with lashings of ketchup.

A personal favourite thing for meatloaf leftovers is to make sandwiches wit bbq sauce - toasted or otherwise, it always gives lunch a bit of a boost in the day.

Enjoy

Website relaunch 2018!

Hi all!!

It's been quite a while since we last posted or wrote anything of note, other than keeping you all up to date on the social media side of life - which, by the way, is a great place to see what farmy shenanigans we're up to on an (almost) daily basis - click the links below to get teleported over to our Facebook or Instagram pages (once you're through reading this, of course).

It's also been a long time coming for us to revamp our website. So, here it is - two birds with one stone! Our new website (as you can no doubt see) is up and running, and it also includes this here blog page, which we will attempt to keep up to date with greater frequency than over the previous few years! Yes, years! We've been at this Lark since 2010, which is quite shocking when one thinks about it.

Anyway. Welcome, feel free to browse around, if you have that kind of time to spare and I will endevor to write a more in-depth update on our last few weeks' adventures in the next couple of days!

Gillies and Alexis