Sequatchie Cove Farm

For the few of you that actually read my blog, I would like to give you a tour of Sequatchie Cove Farm from the guy's perspective.  If you want the Southern Belle’s perspective check out Jen’s version. 

Before we get into the tour, we invited friends family to accompany us.  Connie, my mother-in-law, Lauren a young lady who attends church with us and Alyssa her 2-1/2 year old little girl.  As Jen so eloquently put it I looked like a grandfather with Alyssa, hummmm well I do love her like she is mine.

Believe it or not this is where they grow shitake mushrooms, It has to be Oak or a similar hardwood.  They are stacked, drilled with holes stuffed with sawdust infested with the mold spores.  The log is soaked in water to boost the spores growth.  These were in a well shaded area.  I thought this was really interesting I had seen mushroom hunting (on TV) in the northwest, but never really though about farming them.



While my photographer only captured one there were about 6 beehives.  The bees are very useful in the production of their flowers (see the photo below) and Mr. Keener said the honey “wasn’t bad either”.

 

We have seriously considered honey bees.  We sometimes get fresh honey from my brother-in-law in Nashville however, he sells so much getting ample free sample jars is getting harder.
They had a large flock of chickens, of various breeds, which are purchased locally.  They get about 3 dozen eggs (mostly brown, a few white and some green/blue) a day but they have the same problem I do.  If you let chickens free range the will not always lay their eggs in nesting boxes.  I had chicken hiding her eggs in the end of a fallen tree, when I found them there were 17 eggs.  Because of this I get 12-15 if the coop is closed, when I let them free range I get 9-12.




Pictured above are many of their hens.  Below is Mr. Keener and I walking, he is carrying egg baskets.



Here is a quick peek at my eggs and basket.




Next we found the cattle.

 

A couple of young cows, These are Jersey/Devon crosses.  The Devon is an interesting breed, the cows (female) have horns as do the bulls (male).  Sorry, my photographer failed to capture this interesting fact. Jersey is known to be a milk cow, Devons are multipurpose (meat, milk, working).



While we were there it was milking time, while they do not milk by hand, they have to express some milk after cleaning the teat before attaching the vacuum.



Here is the milk in the vacuum chamber just below the cows udders before it goes into the tank.  Now if they do not sell milk where does it all go.  The creamery (cheese factory) of course.  Because it is a clean room, we could not go in but here is a photo.

 

He are the sheep, they are one of the meats they provide.  



If you have never had lamb, I strongly encourage you to try a recipe from Fiddle Dee Dee; Braised Lamb Shanks. 




This recipe can cause fights between siblings and could even lead to spousal abuse, if there are not enough pieces.  Jen and the kids almost ripped my are off one night because I wanted the last piece.
I really hope you enjoyed the farm tour and encourage you to check out Sequatchie Cove Farm online or in person.