Spirited Rose Farm

I met Jay and Michelle Lancaster at our farmers market a few weeks ago when I had both grandkids with me.

They have a farm just outside of town and invited us to come up and have a tour.

I saw Michelle again this week at the farmers market and decided that yesterday would be a good day to visit...and maybe learn a little about raising Jersey's, sheep and chicken.

Michelle is showing my grandkids, a few weeks ago, how to spin wool into yarn.

Jay took us down to the field where their champion Jersey's were laying around in clover.

There was grandma, mother, sister and youngster altogether in the field. They raise the cattle on a rich diet of grasses instead of grains because Michelle wants more cream in the milk as opposed to a higher liquid content. Michelle makes her own mozzarella and gouda cheeses, I hope to buy some soon.

This is the bull they use for breeding, but can only do one year before they get another bull, to stop inbreeding. Jay had a name for the bull and will slaughter him for beef in the fall. I asked if it was hard eating an animal that you've assigned a pet name too?

"Na, I grew up at the dinner table asking mom to pass a slice of Fred or Billy".

In the winter the cows have covered stalls to stay in, with the opportunity to walk outside if the sun is shining. When gets down to 10 degrees, Jay puts an extra layer of bedding straw down for his Jersey's. Each cow will eat approximately 800 pounds of alfalfa and grain every two weeks...that's a huge amount that has to be stored for the season. The sheep have a similar building for the winter.

The milking station is just outside the sliding door of their walk out basement. The cows know when they need to be milked and walk right up to the door. This portable milker stores 2 gallons at a time.

The milk is quickly put into a freezer for two hours to bring the temperature down and then poured into this machine. This hand operated cream separator works by centrifugal force to spin the cream into a jar...mostly for cheese making. Rather than using commercial cleaners or bleach to wash the equipment, Michelle makes her own apple cider vinegar to do the job. They know what they are doing, Jay has a B.S. in Animal Science and Michelle has a B.S. Environmental Management.

There were four freezers and refrigerators in the basement, all stuffed to the hilt.

Done with the cows and onto the sheep.

While the mother and father are dark, their offspring are mostly very light in color. The very first cutting of a lambs (youngsters)

wool is the best wool, much softer than an older one. 

All the chicken are free range and roam all over the farm. This one and one other in the coop, are the two laziest of the bunch. The chickens will come into the coop on their own each evening.

You won't find any roosters on this farm, Jay says they are very mean to the girls.

It wouldn't be a proper farm without its own orchard. Michelle cans the fruit and sells the excess at the farmers market in Colville.

I'd like to thank the Lancaster's for the generosity in showing Riley and I the farm.

I would also like to thank them for sending us home with a quart of raw milk and free range eggs for the mornings breakfast. At 68, I believe these products are a first for me.