Uncured Bacon, Celery Salt & Labeling

Posted on Sunday, September 17th, 2017 @ 10:10 by Walter Jeffries


Make Your Own Homemade Bacon!

As I discussed back in July I’ve been doing a lot of bacon making this past year. In fact, 64 different test batches of bacon as I adjusted ingredients, aging time, cook times, cutting and more to produce the perfect bacon. After testing with friends and family, then store managers and a few chefs I introduced our new dry rub maple bacon to a small number of retail stores in July. It’s been a great success. But, the one thing that wasn’t working was the label.
Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 10 Comments

Getting a Handle on Pigs

Posted on Saturday, September 9th, 2017 @ 18:37 by Walter Jeffries


All New Pig Handle

If you’ve been following my blog for long, or even not so long, you know that I do a lot of work in the genetics of our pigs, maintaining multiple breeding lines, selecting for more teats, ribs, longer legs, bigger shoulders, good temperament and about three dozen other criteria. What you probably didn’t know about was my pigs with improved handling characteristics like the one shown above that comes with built in side handles which are very handy during sorting and moving pigs around the fields.
Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , | 13 Comments

Roasters Available

Posted on Sunday, August 13th, 2017 @ 16:04 by Walter Jeffries


Oven & Small Spit Roasters

I have two roasters at 39 lbs ($299) and 41 lbs ($311) available now. These are shippable at a cost of about $100 to $150 additional. Contact me at walterj@SugarMtnFarm.com to order. See the Roaster Page for details on other sizes up to 200 lbs can be ordered with a two week lead time.
Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged | 2 Comments

Official Letter From USDA

Posted on Friday, August 11th, 2017 @ 20:18 by Walter Jeffries


Envelope from Official USDA Plant Assignment Letter

Today I received the official letter from the USDA verifying for federal inspection at our on-farm butcher shop assigning us our Establishment Number and Frontline Supervisor.
Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged | 6 Comments

Call from the USDA

Posted on Wednesday, August 9th, 2017 @ 00:01 by Walter Jeffries

Monday afternoon I got a call and an email from the USDA verifying various items on our application for federal inspection at our on-farm butcher shop. A little while later the agent called back to inform me that we had preliminary approval and she would be sending out the official letter which would have our USDA Establishment number and the name of the supervisor for our area. The next step is a visit from the supervisor to review our food safety plan.[1, 2, 3]

One more step along the journey to USDA inspection!

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged | 1 Comment

Peanut Butter Arrival at New Loading Dock

Posted on Tuesday, August 8th, 2017 @ 16:45 by Walter Jeffries


New loading dock’s first use

This spring Ben and I built a new granite unloading dock for the farm. It allows a tractor trailer truck to backup to a stone slab wall out by the gate. Then I can easily unload pallets from the truck bed using the forks on our tractor. This makes a huge difference because when the forks are up high they have a reduced capacity. By raising the tractor up to the bed level of the trailer our tractor can lift over a ton.
Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged | 14 Comments

Missing Dog – Romula

Posted on Saturday, August 5th, 2017 @ 13:15 by Walter Jeffries


Missing Dog – Romula

Female
Black, White, Brown
No Collar ~45 lbs
Last seen in Orange

Reward for Return

Walter Jeffries
walterj@sugarmtnfarm.com
(802) 439-6462

Here is the poster if you would like to hang one: Romula Poster

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged | 14 Comments

USDA Inspection Application Submitted

Posted on Monday, July 24th, 2017 @ 19:20 by Walter Jeffries


USDA Application for Federal Grant† of Inspection Web Page

A few minutes ago I submitted the application for USDA inspection for our on-farm butcher shop. This is a milestone moment nine years in the making.

In the spring of 2008 the butcher we were working with at the time told us that he was going to retire. He offered to sell us his butcher shop. It was too far away to be manageable and frankly it was a disaster of a dinosaur left over from the last century before modern sanitation. We said no thank you. That moment was the beginning of our journey to on-farm butchering.
Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged | 5 Comments

Home Made Bacon In Stores!

Posted on Wednesday, July 19th, 2017 @ 19:24 by Walter Jeffries


Make Your Own Homemade Bacon!

For the past year I’ve been subjecting my family to the trials and tribulations of having to eat lots of bacon. Not quite tons but 64 different batches of bacon as I tested ingredients, cook times, cutting and more to produce the perfect bacon.
Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 4 Comments

North East KS Backers, Tours, Energy & Surveys

Posted on Monday, July 10th, 2017 @ 17:21 by Walter Jeffries

This June and July we’ve been fulfilling Kickstarter backer packages for people who live outside Vermont but are able to meet us either along our delivery route in Vermont or here at the farm. We contacted people in NH, ME, MA, RI, CT, NY and NJ for this round of fulfillment but if you are coming to Vermont and in another state feel free to email me at walterj@sugarmtnfarm.com and we can fulfill your package.
Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , | 2 Comments