Golden Acres Ranch

I've been accepted as one of thirty-two participants for this sheep industry leadership school in Columbus, Ohio at Ohio State University.  There have only been three others students from the State of Florida since it has been offered. 

The program objective is to provide a greater understanding of meat quality and marketing so that producers can increase the competitiveness of their lamb products and the profitability of their operations. Participants evaluate live animals, observe harvesting techniques, learn about carcass evaluation and grading, and take a hands-on role in the fabrication of the carcasses into wholesale and retail products.

The 2010 Howard Wyman Sheep Industry Leadership School will be an intensive four-day program combining Ohio State University’s popular Lamb 509 program with the site tours and one-on-one small groups format utilized by previous Leadership Schools.

The sheep and goat industry are important in Florida because the weather allows for year round breeding naturally.  In colder areas of the United States, hormones are used to induce females to breed to help overcome the seasonal limitations in the marketplace.  Both sheep and goat are becoming a staple in the diet of informed Americans.

We made a quick trip to Marysville, Ohio visiting friends, then to Lewiston, New York  visiting aunts.  We stopped at a Fainting Goat Ranch in Canada, Kentucky.  What fun that is to see these charming goats climbing up and down a mountain.  They are very friendly and came right down to check us out.  So now back and trying to get into the swing of things again.  The last of the mayhaws are floating in the pond.  We harvested over 600 pounds this year.  Now jelly making time and preparing for farmers markets again.

Wow!  What a great festival we had.  More than 300 people came throughout the day.  The vendors did well and folk music was provided by The Mayhaws.   People really enjoyed walking through the pasture to the Mayhaw Pond and watch them being gathered.  WCTV-6 came and put a blurb on the air after the 11:00 PM news.  The Tallahassee Democrat spent a lot of time here also.  We're watching for their write-up.  There will be photos on line as well.

Chuck is taking care of the ranch while we take a short trip.  

Wow, the crew is terrific!  We've put 20 bags of mayhaws in the freezer and it is not 6:00 PM yet.  They're still out there shaking trees.  Our new supper secret gathering method is working especially well. You have to come out Saturday, May 15, to see how it's done.

We used our new gathering method on Sunday afternoon and added 8 bags of berries to our freezer.  They need to be washed one last time then will be ready for the pot to make the juice that is used to make the jelly.  I'm finding that the 4 pound package of berries net 12 jars of the jelly.  I don't water it down or add store bought apple juice. 

Thankfully every tree is not ripening at the same time.  We are able to pick those with ripe berries, shake them into our containment booms, gather into buckets and then take them to the drying area.  There are a couple of high powered fans that dry the newly harvested berry and blow away most of the light debris.  We pick through for sticks and such then bag them.  I prefer to freeze them immediately to keep them fresh for cooking.  The berries can  breakdown quickly in the frig since they came out of water.

We'll have additional folks here to gather starting Tuesday.  I hope to have a full freezer by Saturday.

Fred and I spent most of Saturday gathering mayhaws.  A friend arrived about 3:00 PM and with his help we really increased our capture rate.  We circle a tree, David (big strong guy) shakes the limbs and  the berries come falling on our heads.  It sounds like rain on a tin roof when they hit the water.   I don't care how well we position buckets the berries never fall in them.  David said he remembers back in 2007 when one red berry actually fell in his bucket.  Anyway, after that tall tale, we skimmed the water and harvested the newly fallen crop.  They float beautifully fresh off the tree.

We now have 10 - 4 pound bags ready for sale only 90 more to go to reach my goal for this year.   I have been making test recipes of jelly with the berries collected just for me.    Monday, I'll head to the commisary kitchen to make batches for sale.  Christine, our oldest daughter, has designed a beautiful label for our jars.  She can do stuff like that in minutes while it takes me hours or even days.  Of course, she does this professionally and has the talent and right tools

Spring in North Florida Big Bend When I moved from Ohio to Florida years ago, many folks would comment about not being able to distinguish the seasons.  Well, I've learned there is a big difference in the four seasons just minus the snow, ice and long periods of freezing weather. 

This is spring and mayhaw harvest time.  As the name indicates the berry is ripening in May on the trees as we speak.  What a delight this is.  We put on old clothes and boots to protect our feet from the stumps, scratchy limbs and such at the bottom of the pond.  The boots also provide comfort that maybe the snake can't bit through.   Spring - snakes - oh dear!  Yes they are moving around now that the ground is above 70 degrees.  I think they are looking for a girlfriend/boyfriend also.  Of course, the pond has the usual number of spiders, miscellaneous unidentified bugs and at dusk the the mosquito.  But, the pond water is warm, the sun is shinning through the trees, the water is brackish and the frogs are croaking.  The baaing of the goats and lambs carries sweetly across the water.  The distant barking of a dog is somehow not annoying.  All city sounds are far away. This is just one gentle sign of spring in Florida.  

Other signs are the leaves that have just recently fallen to the ground.  You know, what is called fall up north happens in April and May in this part of the country.  Then there is the proverbial 'Fox in the Hen House'.   All stores for another time.  It time to head to the Mayhaw Pond.  

We're spending the day out there.  They are ripening quickly now.  We have extra help scheduled starting tomorrow.   If you have waders, enjoy the outdoors and aren't afraid of snakes, come join us. 

Pablo and I did a good shake on one tree yesterday afternoon.  Nice batch of berries dropped and we recovered about 10 pounds off this tree.  Many more unripe berries still on it.  174 more trees to go over the next 10 to 14 days.  I'm still making my test jelly recipes. 

We didn't see the snakes but we stayed away from that tree.  We'll go out again later this afternoon. 

Pablo and I went into the pond and gathered two gallons of mayhaws yesterday afternoon.  Our highlight of the day was seeing the two water snakes basking in the sun on one of the trees laying ingthe water.  No they were not Moccasin!  I did get bitten by ticks last week.  They are scarier than snakes.  

The trees are heavy with the berries but need a couple more warm days and some Florida sunshine. 

I have tested a couple of batches of Mayhaw Jelly with my secret recipe.  Golden Acres Ranch jelly will have all natural or organic products and made right here in Jefferson County at a local commisary kitchen.  How can something so sweet still be tart to the taste?  It is that wonderful berry. 

I'm making my test batch of Mayhaw Jelly this morning from yesterday's harvest.  We only collected about a gallon and a half.  My recipe says to use 1/4 unripe berries in the batch to increase the pectin in the jelly.  The blossom end, stem, skin and core all help increase the natural pectin, which makes the jelly gel.  The recipe does say to remove sticks and bugs so I did that. 

Well, it 70.1 degrees F this morning and it rained 2 1/2 inches yesterday.  The pond is really full now.  We put on our waders and bug spray and walked (stumbled around) the entire pond to see how close it is getting to full scale harvesting.  Looks like another day or two.  I'm going out about 3:00 PM to look around again.