Flat Branch Farm Newsletter - October 30, 2025 - Vol. 11
Hey there Reader!
November is right around the corner, and it sure feels like it!
I’m a living-breathing contradiction…I don’t like to be cold but yet this is my favorite time of year. Ha! And we are really leaning into the season…making soups and stews, loading the loft with straw and hay for the winter, and moving things around in the barn so everyone has a spot inside to get out of the weather.
Quick reminder: If you found this email in your junk, promo, or spam folder, just drag it over to your inbox tab, and that should prevent it from happening again.
Dairy Cows
We are getting organized to do some pregnancy checks on all of our dairy cows. The ones that are in milk right now, which is Rona and Blondie, we can just collect a milk sample either in the morning or evening and send it off to the lab. They will analyze the milk and see if there are elevated levels of PAGs (pregnancy associated glycoproteins) in the milk. If these proteins are present above a certain level, the lab tech determines that the cow is pregnant.
For cows that are not currently being milked, we have two options - we could send in a blood sample and the lab will run the same type of test or we could take them to the vet and have her do an exam to see if they are pregnant. We’re going the in-person route and taking 3 cows to the vet next week. It’s more work and costs more to take them in for a vet exam, but by doing this I not only find out right away and the vet can determine how far along they are and give us an expected due date.
So next week I will be sending off milk for Blondie and Rona and we will be taking Fiona, Saoirse, and June to the vet. And after those results are in, I will know for sure who is bred and when to expect calves in 2026! So stay tuned for an update on that…
Re-Quoting
SLOW progress is better than NO progress. Stay positive and don’t give up! - @PositiveLines
Product Spotlight
We have been cooking one whole chicken each week lately. Not to have a whole roasted chicken for supper one night a week, but also to have cooked chicken on-hand in the refrigerator for “catch what you can” meals when everyone is going different directions or kids come home from school absolutely starving. Cooked & shredded chicken is great for a quick bbq sandwich, quesadillas, chicken tacos, chicken salad sandwiches, chicken nachos, wrapped up in a tortilla shell instead of a sandwich, tex-mex chicken wrap, in a salad, or a mexican bowl with rice, corn, black beans, and salsa. You can also use the bones to make mineral-rich chicken stock to freeze for later!
Chicken | Flat Branch Farm
Recipe Share: Grandma Parks’ Taco Soup
We love this recipe and it is so quick to throw together on a weeknight. Sometimes I already have ground beef cooked and frozen in 1-2 pound bags, which makes it even quicker.
Ingredients:
- 2 lbs ground beef, cooked & drained*
- 1 can dark red kidney beans, drained & rinsed
- 1 can light red kidney beans, drained & rinsed
- 1 can whole-kernel sweet corn + juice
- 2 cans diced potatoes + juice
- 3 cans tomatoes with green chilies + juice
- 2 heaping tablespoons taco seasoning
* any meat or combination of beef, pork, venison, chicken, turkey will do; my favorite is 1 pound of beef and 1 pound of venison
Directions:
Combine all ingredients into a large stock pot or crockpot and cook until heated through. Suggested times for a crockpot: 4 hours on low / 2 hours on high or 10-15 minutes on low-medium for the stovetop. If cooked on the stove, turn off heat and let sit for at least 15 minutes to thicken up.
Serving suggestions:
- Top with shredded cheese, sour cream, and/or chunks of avocado
- Scoop with Fritos or taco chips
- Crunch up Fritos or taco chips and add to the bowl
It’s just as good if not better the next day!
Notes: If you’re using home canned vegetables I would substitute 1 can for 1 pint, except for the tomatoes with green chilies…those are smaller cans. You could also use 2 cans of plain diced or stewed tomatoes and 1 tiny can of green chilies if you don’t have the combo.
Useful Tips
I’ve shared these before, maybe not in the newsletter, but other places. And since I included a recipe that uses beef, I thought these would be worth mentioning again…
If you forgot to plan ahead and thaw out a pound or two of meat for supper, a really quick (and safe) way to get your protein unfrozen is to submerge it in cool or tepid water. You don’t want to use hot water, even though you’re probably thinking, “If I use hot water it will thaw even faster.” But resist the urge and just use cool or barely warm water.
If you have several pounds of thawed ground meat, cook it up, drain it, and separate it out into one-pound portions. I use sandwich-size bags because I can freeze them flat and it stores well and thaws quicker than a thick block. But you could also use reusable containers that you have at home. I also recommend letting it cool before putting it in the freezer to avoid a lot of ice crystals forming.
Just For Fun
Good Advice
When your intentions are pure, you don’t lose anyone; THEY lose YOU. - Unknown
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Talk soon,
Lori
P.S. You can go back and see all of our weekly newsletters here . I also have a handful of “freebies” available - a Raw Milk Cheat Sheet, Benefits of Yogurt download, and several collections of recipes. You can find those here!
