Taking a Bee Break

Every now and then I get a little free time and I try to update the blog. I also try to do other things non-goat or cheese related. Scott knew I was interested in learning bee-keeping and he used to work for a commercial place that had 1,000 hives. So he decided to get me a little side project to learn. A few weeks ago we drove down near Skowhegan and picked up 3 boxes of bees! We brought them up to the new farm in Maxfield where they have fields of flowers and trees to enjoy. We finally got them all transfered into their new hives yesterday. 

All three hives are pretty active and the bees seem happy in their new hives and have lots more room to spread out and store up honey. So far I haven't had the courage to do much when we were working with the bees. I stand by and use the smoker and mostly watch Scott. I'm getting more comfortable being around them, but I haven't been stung yet. I'm too careful and cautious right now. But it's really fun and very interesting to see the bees at work. They are really sweet honeybees. And the more I watch them up close, I think they are very cute little creatures. 

We've had something like 32 days of rain out of the last 40 days here in the Orono/Bangor area...and I think it's like this over most of Maine but I haven't had the chance to keep up much with local (or any) news. I know that it's mostly all that people talk about at farm markets. I've also been assured by several people that this is not typical Maine weather. How are the bees handling all this rain? Well we fed them with a gallon jar full of thick, syrupy sugar water because if they don't have the chance to fly, they still need to eat and they still need something to help them make up for all the lost honey in their hives. 

The bees didn't go through the jar as fast as we thought they would. It took them about a week to finish off the gallon of sugar water. We mixed up another jar yesterday and left it for them to enjoy. It looks like we won't have the chance to get any honey from our bees this year. They will need to store it all up for themselves to make it through the long winter here in Maine. So next year we are hoping to make some Honey Mead. And hopefully by then, I'll be much more comfortable and knowledgeable with the bees. 

To market to market to buy some fresh cheese!

Happy belated 4th of July! 

This week I thought I'd talk marketing now that market season is in full swing! As I mentioned in my last post, we sell all of our cheese at farmer's markets. It's so rewarding and a lot of fun to sell cheese face to face to our loyal cheese customers and to goat-cheese virgins alike. In the short 4 months that I've been here at  Olde Oak Farm, Scott has taught me a lot about marketing. Before I moved here I knew that marketing myself and salesmanship were two of my weakest points. But now I really look forward to markets. Not only does it allow me a little social time away from the farm, but every market also gives me a chance to practice and improve my selling skills. (Right now I'm working on the closing of the deal.) 

I think before I began working here I took a very laissez-faire point of view  towards marketing and selling cheese. I figured it would sell itself. Who wouldn't buy fresh, local, delicious cheese?? I've learned that LOTS of people won't. There are many reasons. One of the biggest reasons Scott has talked about this week is trust. When you go to a veggie vendor, you usually aren't worried about getting sick from the tomatoes or broccoli. Dairy farming is a little different in that way. Not only does the cheese need to taste good, but it needs to be from high quality milk and you need to convince the customer that they can trust you and your product. At the same time, you're giving them a tour of the cheeses on the table, encouraging them to try it, making small talk, doing a little mental math and paying attention to other customers walking by the table and trying to get their attention. 

Farmers markets are a 4 or 5 hour window for us to sell as much cheese and make as much money as possible so that we can continue to break even and afford to feed the goats and run the cheese plant...and even pay the apprentice. :) All the work we do every day, all day adds up to farmers markets. With that said, I'll give you a little inside view into the producer side of things at market that the consumers may or may not be aware of. 

The Olde Oak farm market rules: 

1. No sitting or leaning during market 

2. Say hello to everyone that walks by the stand, whether they are customers or not. 

3. Never say NO. If someone asks if we have something that we do not have. Instead of saying no, we say we'll have it next week or we try to redirect them to something similar. 

Each farm has its own persona and each person at that farm has their own character that they play while at market. These "characters" are really just an exaggerated extension of their true personalities. I'm the excited, new apprentice at the farm. I'm learning how to make all these delicious cheeses and I know you want to taste them all! The persona of Olde Oak Farm looks like a group of happy hippies making cheese and loving their goats. We name all the goat cheeses after the goats. And we make the flavors to match their personalities. "This is Opal. She's the sweetest goat in the herd. Never kicks me when I'm milking her. We made her cheese sweet. It's orange-ginger marmalade with sliced almonds on top." And so on. 

It's cool when you start watching other vendors at market. Where we have the no sitting, say hello to everyone rule, other vendors are much more laid back. The maple syrup guy just sits back on the tailgate of his truck and doesn't say anything to anyone who walks by until they come over and ask a question about maple syrup...then you can't get him to stop talking until suddenly you are taking home a jug of syrup and a little more appreciation for sugaring. 

Scott says that everyone is a customer when they walk by our stand...they just might not know it yet. Scott has a very big persona at market. He talks louder and laughs and knows everyone. Super friendly, "Best day of my life, how about you?" And he is great at gaining people's trust. Jen is a little more soft spoken. She pays close attention to people's kids and dogs. She's great at keeping an eye on the table and moving things around strategically to sell more. 

So next time you are out at a market(which should be this weekend!)consider a few things:

*What is the persona of your favorite farmer/vendor? 

*Why are you drawn in to some vendors/farmers more than others? 

Life Goes On

All of the cheese we make here at Olde Oak Farm gets sold at farmers markets in the area. Being a rather new (only 3 years old) business, we only sell at a few markets right now. We sell at Orono Market on Saturdays. This year we expanded to selling at the Brewer market also on Saturdays. These markets start up the first week of May. Two weeks ago we added on Bangor market which is an evening market on Thursdays in downtown Bangor. In two days we'll add on the Tuesday afternoon market in Orono. Four markets a week equals a lot of cheese and a lot of work making, preparing and packaging all that yummy cheese! So if I've been out of touch lately...this is more than likely the reason and it's about to get worse.  I'll try to keep y'all updated as much as possible though. I know you can't live without the next installment of Life on the Goat Farm! 

Unfortunately this week was also Nate's last week at the farm. Nate decided to take a turn on a new path and I hope he finds what he is looking for on his journey. Farming is a difficult lifestyle. Long exhausting days with little pay. People can burn out easily and it's not uncommon for people to leave. More notice and communication would have been appreciated, but we will not let the farm suffer. We just have to step it up for the goats and the cheese and for the community that believes in and supports us. With a clear understanding of just how much work I now have ahead of me as the only apprentice at the farm, I am excited to get to work and get us geared up for all these markets! But first I'm enjoying a nice, restful day off today. 

So what else is new here? Bees! We picked up three boxes of bees last Saturday!! Scott wanted to get me a side project--something else I'm interested in learning. He has past work experience as a bee keeper so we got honey bees! They are up at the new house and Scott has been keeping an eye on them. It's been raining almost everyday this week but some sunny day I'll try to get some photos of them. We are going to get them into the hives and find the queen in each one. If the hives do really well this summer we may get some honey in August. But we have to make sure they have enough to get them through the winter. So far I have not been stung. *cross your fingers*  :)

I thought I'd post some chicken photos. 

The chickens are sort of neglected here at the farm. They need a little spotlight. I really didn't like the chickens much at first. They don't seem like very intelligent birds. But they are very useful around the farm. They eat lots of bugs and pests out of the gardens. They make little dirt baths for themselves to keep the mites away. While I was finishing up milking earlier this week I looked over and there was a chicken sitting on Gem's back.

 I wish I had been able to grab a camera! It was so funny! Gem was so pleased with her chicken. The chicken was picking bugs out of her fur and at the same time walking around her back with it's talons and goats love a good scratching. What was more surprising was when Pretty (another goat) came up beside Gem and nuzzled the chicken with her face. The chicken hopped over on Pretty's back. A few minutes later Gem walked around the other side of Pretty and carefully stuck her face right into the chicken's feathers and coaxed the chicken back on to her back. Too cute! Goats sharing a chicken. The goats were so pleased with themselves. Gem's eyes were closed and she had the biggest smile on her face as the chicken walked around on her back. 

 

Well that's all from the farm this week folks!