South Hill Farmers Market HUB

-- Our MISTY MORNING SUNRISE PRODUCE label: • Pastured eggs • Pastured poultry and turkeys • Honey • Pecans • Heirloom vegetables and herbs --

-- Our NAVA'S KITCHEN BAKED GOODS label: Challah bread • Pumpkin and Banana loaf • Gluten Free Muffins • Gluten Free Granola • Specialty baked goods • Soups and Stews --

-- Our CREATIVE NATURALS HEALTH & BEAUTY label: In 2007 we began producing high quality, all natural substitutes for store bought personal care products for our family. The following are part of our growing family of truly superior products: • VirusGuard • Lip balm • Deodorant • Hand creme • Soy candles • Essential oils --

-- We operate as an educational resource, holding classes (both indoor and outdoor) as well as conducting guided tours of our farm in order to spread the word about self sufficiency, sustainable and renewable farming, innovation and the farm-to-table lifestyle. --

-- We offer camping for people with tents or RVs on our farm so that people can form a relationship with a local farm, reconnect with their food source and learn about alternatives to traditional farming. --

-- We operate using renewable resources: solar power, rain water and recyclables in our buildings and for security from predators. We regularly rotate our livestock to new forage on fresh pastures to minimize grazing on waste. We strive to raise our animals in a stress free environment. Our livestock have no fear of humans. No antibiotics, hormones or GMO-feed.

The Thing About Glutens - Part 1

It seems that every supermarket, restaurant, farmers market and food co-op has a Gluten-Free selection these days. In this article, we'd like to answer some questions about the growing curiosity about some rather common health issues and attempt to lend some clarity to an issue which affects more people than you know.

Your body uses proteins to build up muscle, connective tissue, bone, blood, etc. However, for a growing number of people with Celiac Disease, gluten is the one protein which destroys their digestive tract like kryptonite destroys Superman. Gluten, found in wheat, rye and barley wreaks havoc on the lining of their small intestine.

Here's how: Gluten sends a signal to the white blood cells of the body that your small intestine is actually a deadly disease, and the white blood cells attack it. When your own immune system tries to destroy a major organ, it doesn't end happily.

The symptoms for those who have Celiac Disease are so widely varied, that medical experts believe that 90% of people who have Celiac may be unaware that they suffer from it, believing that they have other chronic conditions: Malnutrition, Osteoporosis, Arthritis, Infertility, and even Cancer may result from prolonged exposure to glutens.

To explore if the symptoms you are suffering may be related to Celiac Disease, visit https://celiac.org/celiac-disease/what-is-celiac-disease/

One of our teenage sons was always weak and sickly. He couldn't seem to gain weight, never enjoyed food, would get severe pain as soon as he started eating, and was always exhausted.

After his Celiac diagnosis, Gluten was removed from his diet and his condition radically improved. It took a few weeks from the time that he stopped eating Glutens for huge changes to become evident, but soon he was gaining weight and muscle mass, he felt great, could sleep through the night and became a new man.

How sensitive are Gluten sufferers? Today, if our son gets flour on his skin, if he breathes in any dust from baking, if he eats a single crumb of bread from a butter dish, serving spoon, knife, etc. he could be out of commission for up to five days from that one exposure.

Keeping a kitchen Gluten-Free is difficult, especially for a family of nine like ours. We prepare foods with a great awareness of what substances could harm our son. We keep two butter containers, make sure that when food is being passed, if it has come into contact with Gluten, we pass it down the opposite side of the table from where he is sitting.

A hyper awareness and concern for his safety has worked well for us. Some families try to completely eliminate Gluten from their homes, but we bake many things: some Gluten-Free and some with Gluten.

The key to successfully managing your kitchen when you have someone living in your home with a severe Gluten allergy is to thoroughly scour clean your utensils, counter and table tops, dishes and pans, eliminating any possible contamination which could cause your loved one harm. A good baker already cleans well between batches, a Gluten-Free baker must become a fanatic about it.

... continued in Part 2

The Thing About Glutens - Part 2

... continued from Part 1

Can bakers label their goods, "Gluten-Free" by simply not including glutens in their products? Technically, they can. Most people would think that's all that's needed.

However, more and more severe Celiac sufferers are finding that saying that there's no gluten on a label isn't enough.

They fear that bakers do not know how sensitive their allergy is and so Trust is the greatest thing that the consumer is buying. Trust for a product comes from knowing something about the kitchen which produced it.

When a product is labelled Gluten-Free by someone who either suffers from Celiac themselves or by a kitchen which regularly serves food to Celiac suffering children who they love, then they know that they may buy with confidence and eat without concern.

In our case, we at Misty Morning Sunrise Farm also keep a kosher kitchen, so we are already on "high alert" for things which would not be permitted.

Nava's Kitchen at our farm is pleased to produce several Gourmet Granolas, all of which are Gluten-Free which makes eating breakfast a pleasure. Not only do we use it as a cereal, but it can be sprinkled on top of ice cream or yogurt. You need to taste our granolas to realize how utterly yummy they are. Check out our Gourmet Granola listings.

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People "Flock" to see our Chicken - It's no Yolk !

Everywhere we set up our stand, people know us as, "the Chicken People". At Farmers Markets, managers measure attendance by whether "the Chicken" has been set up or not. Seen at times from more than two miles away, people drive over to see what the fuss is about.

TAKE AN ONLINE QUIZ: How Much Do You Know About Egg Carton Labels?

Much controversy surrounds the egg industry today, with people like Brad Pitt and Ryan Gosling beginning to sound the alert about the horrendous abuse of chickens on "Factory Farms". We say, "Hooray! It's about time!"

Do you know what terrible practices are being permitted using YOUR favorite label at the grocery store?

Take the following quiz and find out how much labeling laws confuse the consumer:

http://mistymorningsunrise.com/articles/eggquiz/

Frequently Asked Questions... and Answers

The following questions have been asked regarding our Challah Bread:

1) What on earth is it?

Challah Bread is a traditional braided loaf made by Jewish households, prepared for Shabbos (Sabbath), baked early on Fridays so that it will be ready for the "main event", the Friday evening meal consisting of several courses and a variety of dishes. After the bread is baked, it is brushed with an egg coating, producing a shiny finish which seals in moisture and freshness. Adding cinnamon, sugar and sometimes raisins, this bread will make your entire family exclaim with delight.

2) How do you pronounce "Challah"?

Somewhere between an "h" and a "k" sound is a guttural sound originating in the back of the throat. Some people spell it Khallah, but the most accepted spelling in English is with the "Ch". For those who try but can't quite pronounce it, saying it like "Hallah" is better than not trying.

3) Why do you often only find it in stores near the end of the week?

It is used to celebrate the Sabbath which commences on sundown each Friday.

4) How do you cram so much yumminess into a loaf of bread?

Nava is the creative force behind the "Nava's Kitchen" label. When asked how it can be so good, she answered, "because it's made with care and love."

5) Do you use aluminum pans or utensils?

No. We at Misty Morning Sunrise Farm are aware of the many dangers associated with aluminum in the body and we use only stainless steel pans and utensils.

Year Round (Winter Too) Pastured Egg Producer

Misty Morning Sunrise Farm is based in Church Road, Virginia in the heart of rural excellence.

We are a family-run Pastured Egg producer, with over 200 hens who have told us, in no uncertain terms, that they are the happiest hens in Virginia. You see, we "speak chicken" and we listen to our layers. We provide them with a variety of choices and watch which ones truly get them clucking.

It's amazing to see newly hatched chicks begin to behave just like the mature biddies, without a single lesson given!

These omnivores love to scratch, peck, and chase down anything that moves, crawls, wriggles, flies or slithers. They love to eat grass, flowers or any kind of green forage.

Given a choice between store bought all natural layer feed and running around hunting, they pick hunting every time. Our girls love to "eat out".

Given a choice between store bought all natural layer feed and our own blend that we put together, they choose our feed blend at a 2:1 ratio.

See? It's not hard to "learn chicken". However, that's not all we speak. We "speak goat and cow" too, and one more thing:

We have over eighty five thousand other mouths to feed on our farm: Our honey bees. They do most of their own feeding, so learning to "speak bee" isn't as urgent as "speaking chicken, or goat or cow".

We have seven children and seven grandchildren who are the backbone of our farming experience. They range in age from less than a year to 33 and all of them are of course, brilliant geniuses and the best looking creatures on our farm.

(That is an objective FACT, not some sort of biased opinion.)

We love to care for our animals. We strive to raise them in a worry-free atmosphere and their response to us seems to let us know that we've succeeded. If we stroll through their pasture, many animals walk alongside of us. If we pause to look at something, they stick their head in to see what we are examining.

Many of our animals use the same pasture, so they are very comfortable around each other. It's not uncommon to see cows laying in the shade with a couple of chickens trying to catch a nearby fly.

They forage together and the presence of large animals with small tends to keep hawks from considering that our hens might actually make a meal. We even have a farm cat who thinks that she's a human (and loves to ride on our shoulders to wherever we are walking) - she strolls by our birds without a glance, she is on the prowl for more important prey: moles, mice, squirrels and rabbits.

Our chickens don't see many things as a threat to their existence, but we do. It's our job to protect them and we take it seriously.

We keep a solar powered motion sensor light on both sides of their mobile coop, so that at night, both the front and back areas around the coop are flooded with light if any predator comes anywhere near the sensor. During the day, our poultry electric fencing discourages interlopers and allows us to direct our hens' foraging.

We are aware of the extra cost that it takes to farm using a Pastured System, but the alternative, "factory farming" (vertically integrated egg production) is not an option for us.

We view our animals as a great responsibility. We could not be so cruel as to confine an animal in darkness for its entire life without a thought for what make them such a unique and valuable species. Sure, our way costs more, but we sleep better at night.

We believe that we have been put here, not to exploit, but to protect... not to take, but to give. As stewards of all that has been put into our hands, we want to be found faithful to that task.

Thanks for reading!

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