I feel fadutzt this week…how about you? The week began on Monday which was New Year’s Day. The business was closed and I spent the day doing projects at the farm. Tuesday morning I woke up fadutzt.
I didn’t grow up Amish, but I have lived in Lancaster County for most of my life. And I have had many opportunities to interact with the Pennsylvania Dutch culture. My mother’s parents could both speak Pennsylvania Dutch although she and her siblings never became fluent. My mother says that her parents would sometimes talk with each other in PA Dutch when the kids were around and they didn’t want them to know what they were saying.
Fadutzt can be used as a verb or an adjective and it simply means, out of order, scrambled, bewildered, or confused. That’s how I felt this week. Some of our routes were delivered ‘out of order’, and we restocked milk and other products ‘out of order’. My regular Thursday email isn’t going out until Friday.
Anyway, we hope to be back to ‘normal’ next week. Normal delivery days, normal order deadlines, etc.
First Home Delivery of 2024!
Party of Seven Update
I just wanted to give a brief update on our family, the Masts.
A few years ago we began exploring to possibility of purchasing the family farm where Karen (my wife) grew up. Her parents were still living and operating a commercial chicken operation. They were also exploring plans for their future and the future of the farm.
Fast forward to 2023. In the spring we sold our home in Terre Hill and relocated to the farm in Stevens, PA. We have several plans for this farm. This spring we plan to transition about 12 acres of crop land into pasture. We also HAD plans to begin raising pastured hens on the pasture in the spring and add these eggs to our Doorstep Dairy menu. Well, through a chain of unforeseen events, we acquired several hundred laying hens this fall. Our ladies are laying…and we are hoping to begin selling eggs sooner than this spring.
We do have a small farmstand where we can sell some of these delicious eggs, but we have found ourselves giving many away as we wait on the technical details required to allow us to offer these for home delivery. I would expect to have these on the menu in approximately 2-3 weeks. These will be pasture-raised hens as the season allows. For the winter, they are inside. They have a thick layer of hay to scratch til their heart’s content:)
Our self-serve Farmstand is open 24/7. Currently, we only have eggs available. Feel free to stop by anytime, or sit tight and we hope to have these eggs available for home delivery soon.
Farm Shares & Fruit Boxes
Order by noon on Friday for delivery the following week.
Next week’s predicted contents list for delivery between
Monday, January 8 - Friday, January 12
Fruit Box
- Crimson Topaz Apples
- Shehandoh Pears
- Blackberries
Regular Farm Share (Half Bushel Box)*
- Purple Top Turnips
- Green Cabbage
- Spaghetti Squash
- Garlic
- Scallions
- Daikon Radishes
- The Large Farm Share is not available for the Fall and Winter seasons. It will be back in the Spring.
*All Farm Shares are sourced from Goose Lane Farm in Sinking Spring, PA
NOTE: This is a predicted list…items may change or be substituted.