The animals seem to feel the winter coming and some always find a way to sneak into the greenhouses to stock up on extra greens for the long winter.  Chickens will fly over their fences to eat the tender napa cabbage hearts.  Piglets will finagle their way out of the electric fence to steal spinach and just about anything.

Bees hover over the fall chrysanthemums  before their winter hibernation.  A slight gust of wind will rain down crisp golden leaves. Morning dew keeps the ground moist and farm glistening in the morning hours.

It is this backdrop, that we held our 2011 Sixth Annual Green Cow Harvest Festival.

After six years of luck with dry weather, we decided to play it safe and set a rain date.  Most Beijing farmers will tell you that it doesn’t rain much during this season.   And when it does, it is quick and light–almost like Seattle rain.  The forecast had predicted rain for the five days leading up to the fest.  But it never rained.  On the morning of the Fest, there was heavy fog but no rain.

So we charged full force ahead. But as we neared opening the gates, light rain felled.  It came, it went.  Then it came back.  It danced with our nerves and it chilled our feet.  But it never took away the spirit of the harvest celebration. I think that the photos captured that spirit.

It reminds us that nature is unpredictable. And makes us appreciate that farmers work in all types of weather conditions to grow our food.  It did make for a very different and wet festival.

And as a result, we decided it was only fair to hold another festival on the rain date. Thus on Oct. 30th we held the Seventh Green Cow Rain Date Harvest Fest.

And luckily there was no rain !

We made a slight dent in the pea field, and will invite members and friends to return this Saturday, June 11th, 8:30 to 10:30 am, to continue the pea harvest. The rest of the peas are dried and will make great seed for next spring and pea soup this winter.

We are also asking everyone to submit their favorite pea recipes to share with each other. So far everyone’s favorite way to eat them is to simply boil or steam them in their pods, sprinkle on some sea salt and eat them like an Edaname ! Tim promises to send us his Mashed Pea recipe !

Eating Fresh Peas!

For Our Members:

At the Pea Planting session, I received many requests from kids to feed the animals. But since the animals had been fed earlier that morning, we couldn’t feed them again. But then the idea was born that a Green Cow Animal Feeding session should be organized. This Sunday, April 17th, 8:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. we will be holding a Green Cow Animal Feeding session.

We will be feeding the cows, pigs, chickens, and worms and learning about what they like to eat. The session will begin promptly at 8:30 am.

After the feeding, we will also be demonstrating how to make Rosemary Sea Salt and learning about the many uses for spring herbs that you are receiving in your CSA boxes.

Next Sunday, April 24th, 8:30 a.m. to !0:30 a.m. we will be holding a Green Cow Weeds and Weeding session. We will harvest edible weeds and also weed the pea, potato, and peanut fields. Please bring gloves and a hat !

The farm is also calling for donations of dvds or cds to use in natural pests control. We tie them up to a scarecrow and have found it to be most effective in preventing birds from eating our planted seeds and sprouts.

In addition, please bring over any kitchen scraps for our new bamboo worm box. And if you’ve got any old grains or past the shelf-life but still edible foods you need to clear out, we can use it for the chickens. If you have any non-edible, but better for the compost piles than the landfills, please bring and feed to our compost piles. If you cannot make these sessions, but have items to contribute, please give it to our driver when he makes your weekly delivery. Please RSVP by signing up by Friday April 15th for the Sunday, April 17th session ; by Friday, April 22nd for the Sunday, April 24th session.

Honeybees ‘entomb’ hives to protect against pesticides, say scientists

Pea Planting: Sunday, March 17th, 8:30-11:30 am.

Complimentary coffee and bagels from 8:30 am to 9:30 am.    (directions and map are now on Greencowfarm.com)

This event is outdoors so please dress appropriately. Bring along pair of work gloves and a hat !  And be prepare to get your hands dirty !   We encourage you to also bring along your kitchen scraps to contribute to our compost making effort. (our kitchen composting site is right by the parking area)

RSVP: please email Lejen with the number of people attending by  March 18.

Upcoming vegetables:
Look for Chinese Brocolli and Pea Sprouts in your basket this week.  Strawberries will be in season in about 2-3 weeks.

Green Cow items are now available with your CSA delivery: place a standing order by email or call Denise (8046-4301). Please order 3 days in advance to allow us time to make your order.
fresh low-fat or whole-fat milk   (500g) 20 yuan
low-fat or whole-fat yoghurt   (200g) 20yuan ; 400g 35 yuan
cultured butter    (112g) 45yuan
fresh ground peanut butter    (220g) 45 yuan
sour cream or greek yoghurt   (250g) 45 yuan
free range eggs    (one dozen) 60 yuan
organic bagels: plain, wholewheat, or honey-sprouted wheat (frozen package of 3pcs) 40 yuan

All of our dairy products hormone-free, antibiotic-free, low-temp. pasteurized and  are not homogenized!   Please contact us if you would like to try our fresh raw milk.

Learn more about raw milk issues from around the world: http://hartkeisonline.com/food-politics/raw-milk-around-the-world/

我们的黑母猪生了5只小猪，现在农庄共有22只猪。

Ben:

Green cow farm: the farm is an organic and it does not use chemicals on its crops. So far most of the crops have been going to feed the animals they are organic and the farm is trying to go off entirely solar and wind power and other solutions to not leave a carbon foot print. They are growing cows, chickens and pigs. The farm is 6 hectors (quite a lot). They also have puppies that have to be with the baby pigs in order to not cause havoc upon the chickens. The farm is very sanitary and has cool compost bathrooms which don’t smell!!!! One of the pigs is called Rupert and he is the most friendly his diet (like the rest of the pigs) is some vegetables and fruits with water. He also once sat down and crushed a chicken egg!!! Due to the point that the chickens felt safer in there and laid their eggs there. They have Laoda there only current cow that can have babies. Then they have Henrietta chicken (there only hen at the moment who is protecting her babes).

It is fun and very educational and sanitary.

Gi Tae:

I went to Green Cow Farm yesterday, the air was very clear and there is many trees at the farm. I went to a small museum and saw noisy chicks. Two women used a loom to make some cloth and other woman spun the thread from cotton.  I saw a corn sheller to shell corn and peanuts. I saw a solar heater and cooker, they use no chemicals, so animals and plants are safe. I saw compost toilets and met Cuchon who was a pet pig, they eat fed good food, so they are healthy. There are 8 cows; over 15 pigs are in farm. The guide’s name is Lejen and Shan En. They make yogurt from Lao da’s milk.  The Corn maze was fun.

Yu Foong:

Today we went to the Green Cow Farm in Beijing on November 5th. The farm had a corn sheller that shelled the corn in a relatively short amount of time without using carbon energy. I saw a large spinning wheel spinning a lot of thread. The weather was a sunny day. The paths were not muddy. They grew trees, and plants. There was a milking cow called Lao Da. There were also younger cows that were about two years old. They were eating corn stalks. We had a tour guide, and she was very nice. We saw a pig that was very fat, called Rupert. We saw another pig that was much more aggressive than Rupert, her name was Ku’Shan. The pigs could eat everything. Once, Rupert got so fat that he could not even walk. He also crushed an egg once when he decided to sit down. They had electrical fences using solar energy to power it up. They also had a composed bathroom. The bathroom was very fascinating. The farm also had a greenhouse. When it was cold at night, they would use solar energy to heat up the greenhouse. There was also a corn stalk maze. The maze was not that complicated, once in awhile there would have two to go. There was a special peanut sheller and a special peanut crusher. None of their equipment used carbon energy. The farm was gigantic! The farm took up six hectometers, and we saw everything, and it was fun! There were many roosters and hens. There was a hen in training called Henrietta. We heard roosters crow a lot. Ku’Shan and Rupert were separated by an electric fence, because Ku’Shan was bullying Rupert. There was also two other pigs that were black. Their names were Wilber and Wilda. I really enjoyed the trip to the farm. I believe that if anyone else who goes to the farm will enjoy it too!

Do Won:

I learned lots of things and had fun on Green Cow Farm. They showed us the machine that helped people to spin and weave, and some old hand-cranked machines. Green Cow farm is an organic farm, using solar energy, not using chemicals. The animals there were free in the broad area with grass and trees, and they were healthy and happy at Green Cow Farm. There are 8 cows on Green Cow Farm, and Lao Da was the mother of the cows, and the milk cow. People in Green Cow Farm made yogurt out of the milk form Lao Da. We also saw chickens; they were living right next to the pigs, Rupert and Cuchon. There were some chickens even staying in their houses! Here goes the funny story: Once, Rupert loved chicken so much that she lied on it, but the chicken died. We also played in the corn maze. In the corn maze, I was surrounded by corn, and we had fun. I hope everybody reading my article visits Green Cow Farm.

Sang Mi:

Teda International School went to the Green Cow Farm. There are many cows, pigs, hens, and geese! Also corn! We can see how they spin the cotton into thread. The owner’s name is Le Jen and her husband is Shan En. Lad da is a cow, which gives milk. The farmers make yogurt with the milk. There is two black pigs called Wilda and Wilber and the animals are surrounded by a solar generated electric fence. Some of the hens were walking around. There is a corn maze that we can play in! We can drink mint water with real mint in it. There are many things to see!

Young Chae:

There were lots and lots of things to see at Green Cow Farm. At first, near the entrance, I saw a compost bathroom, the bathroom it is very organic. Then I saw some solar generators, and solar electric fence, using the solar energy from the generator.  We saw some hand-cranked tools such as peanut-sheller, millstone, cotton spinner and loom. There were also animals, lots of them to see. At last, we went into the corn maze. I recommend you to take a trip to Green Cow Farm if you enjoy nature and want to have very good experience out in the nature and if you want to see lots of organic things, hand-cranked tools, or animals.

“Our testing has found that, compared to official U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) nutrient data for commercial eggs, eggs from hens raised on pasture may contain:

• 1/3 less cholesterol
• 1/4 less saturated fat
• 2/3 more vitamin A
• 2 times more omega-3 fatty acids
• 3 times more vitamin E
• 7 times more beta carotene
”

Look at the specific numbers here (this links to a PDF file download; the link is safe, at least of today).

We are currently looking into getting our own eggs (which are not only free-range, but also are organic) tested for their nutritional content. If you have any comments or suggestions or questions, please leave a comment!