Once a month, we purchase meat products from a small, local farm located in East Waterford, PA, called the Blue Rooster Farm. They raise and sell organic beef, pork and lamb, and recently, they partnered with a sustainable group in Alaska and have made available delicious wild-caught Alaskan sockeye salmon. Julie Hurst, one of the farmers, typically delivers to several dropoff points, but there was a change of plans this week, and Julie agreed to meet me right off our exit. So nice and convenient! I pulled into the parking lot of our meetup point, and I saw Julie waiting for me. She was holding a bottle and feeding something small. A little baby?

This little darling pig was the only survivor of a litter whose mother, well, wasn't really a mother at all. You can read more about little Ebony's story here. At only a few days old, she was already trying to run and snort, and she wiggled when I rubbed her back. So precious! I think I may have squealed in delight at her!

The same morning of our delivery, I received an email from Julie announcing that she had just returned from the woods and would we like any locally grown shitakes? Would we? Yes, please!!

We visited their farm last spring and saw the shitake growing experiment commence - they had just inoculated mushroom logs in the woods.

(Click here to read more from our visit in 2010.)

Now we had the chance to try them, and they were unbelievable - buttery, earthy and delicate. Mmmh!

Fungus among us! Aren't they beautiful?

It brings me great joy to be part of a community where local food and farming bring people together, providing sustenance that has been cultivated with love and care.

Happy Spring! ~TFM