The B & T Farm Store is About to be Restocked With Its Own Black Angus Beef...mmmmm good!
The Farm Store freezer's will soon be full of all your favorite cuts of black Angus beef. For those of you who can taste the difference between Black Angus and, well, the other stuff, your taste buds will be delighted to learn we will continue selling our ground beef for only $5/pound.
"We are thrilled to be able to sell our ground beef for below market cost to our customers," said Owner, Jeff Gregson. "We do that as a small thank you to those on a budget who are still willing to support local farms like ours." Even more exciting, if you purchase 15 pounds or more, you'll take it home for only $4 per pound! If you're not sure how good a price that is, we encourage you to check with your local grocery store or other local providers! Be sure to compare apples to apples---ours is locally raised, black Angus! Whether your favorite cut is bone-in rib eye, Delmonico, filet, NY strip, chuck roast or any of our other cuts, it's going to be here soon and it won't last long! Bees & Trees Hosts Lake of the Woods Garden Club's October General Membership Meeting
The LOW Garden Club held their October General Meeting at Bees & Trees where honeybee beekeeper and LOW GC member, Teresa Gregson, gave an open-hive demonstration on the key issues facing honeybees today.
"When I first started beekeeping," said Gregson, "I thought I'd be mostly hands off--after all, honeybees have been around forever and they have gotten along just fine without human intervention!" But that was a foolish thought she continued. "After losing much of my apiary that first year, I learned that honeybees now have to live in a world whose ecosystem has been drastically altered by mankind. Now they need our help just to survive what we are doing to this planet!" Gregson stated the primary obstacles facing all pollinators are: climate change, pathogens (viruses), parasites, agricultural chemicals, and a decline in biodiversity. The pressures just one of these obstacles places on honeybees is significant enough, but today our pollinators must deal with every single one of these obstacles. "You don't have to look any further than our own Culpeper County," said Gregson. "Instead of planting a multitude of different crops like farmers did decades ago, farmers plant corn and soy beans--two plants that need no pollination. These two plants offer nothing for our pollinators. Additionally, you can tell which farms spray their crops because you won't see a weed in them and weeds are also a very important food for our pollinators." Gregson encouraged attendees to resist spraying weeds like clover and dandelion and to always try to plant native and pollinator-friendly plants in their gardens. "Native plants and weeds provide even more than just food for pollinators," said Gregson. "Monarch butterflies, for example, prefer to lay their eggs on the leaves of milkweed--a plant usually sprayed by farmers." |
Bees & Trees Farm Launches Its Event Space
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Jeff Gregson, co-owner of Bees & Trees Farm has learned there are steer and then there are steer.
Having raised and commercially sold black Angus steer to the public for nearly seven years, Gregson has learned a thing or two about what works and what doesn't when it comes to selling a healthy and tasty beef product.
It might surprise you to learn, there's more to it then just raising a herd of cows on a grassy field! Turns out it's also very much about genetics!
Don't let anyone tell you different, where a steer comes from--the quality of the stock from which it was bred--is as important to overall quality and taste as how it was raised!
"We know there's a difference--we've tasted the difference--and we want to give our customers the very best black Angus quality we can by only purchasing calves that have very strong genetics--that is certified black Angus," said Gregson.
The black Angus breed has long been recognized for its high genetic quality. And it is that high quality which has made Angus beef a top seller on the beef shelf in stores everywhere.
Good genetics coupled with being raised in a careful and responsible manner--on grass and finished with grain--will deliver a high quality beef cut with the proper fat content and proper amount of marbling.
"Those qualities give our beef the flavor and tenderness our customers have come to expect," said Gregson. "It's just hard to find that kind of balance in other breeds."
Bees & Trees Farm now procures their certified black Angus cattle from Audley Farms in Clarke County, VA, a farm well known in the cattle industry for the quality of its black Angus.
Audley Farms takes pride in raising black Angus cattle of the highest standards and genetics. Their beef follows a "slow food” production model.
Similar to Bees & Trees, their cattle roam freely on acres of open pasture, and are never given steroids, growth hormones, antibiotics, or grain from unnatural feed sources.
Having raised and commercially sold black Angus steer to the public for nearly seven years, Gregson has learned a thing or two about what works and what doesn't when it comes to selling a healthy and tasty beef product.
It might surprise you to learn, there's more to it then just raising a herd of cows on a grassy field! Turns out it's also very much about genetics!
Don't let anyone tell you different, where a steer comes from--the quality of the stock from which it was bred--is as important to overall quality and taste as how it was raised!
"We know there's a difference--we've tasted the difference--and we want to give our customers the very best black Angus quality we can by only purchasing calves that have very strong genetics--that is certified black Angus," said Gregson.
The black Angus breed has long been recognized for its high genetic quality. And it is that high quality which has made Angus beef a top seller on the beef shelf in stores everywhere.
Good genetics coupled with being raised in a careful and responsible manner--on grass and finished with grain--will deliver a high quality beef cut with the proper fat content and proper amount of marbling.
"Those qualities give our beef the flavor and tenderness our customers have come to expect," said Gregson. "It's just hard to find that kind of balance in other breeds."
Bees & Trees Farm now procures their certified black Angus cattle from Audley Farms in Clarke County, VA, a farm well known in the cattle industry for the quality of its black Angus.
Audley Farms takes pride in raising black Angus cattle of the highest standards and genetics. Their beef follows a "slow food” production model.
Similar to Bees & Trees, their cattle roam freely on acres of open pasture, and are never given steroids, growth hormones, antibiotics, or grain from unnatural feed sources.
Bees & Trees Ramps Up
"Sarah's Garden" and
Partners with Shamrock Acres
In 2018, we created Sarah’s Garden, a commercial, cut-flower garden we named for Teresa’s mother. Although Sarah passed the next year, she was able to enjoy the blossoms on many of the 90 peonies and hundreds of spring bulbs we had planted in her honor that year. Sarah loved flowers of any kind--particularly peonies--and had even been president of her garden club in Winchester, Va. Sarah's Garden remains a living reminder of someone who deeply touched our soul.
Our original vision for Sarah's Garden called for us to continue planting and expanding our operation each year for the next five--then the pandemic hit and on top of that, Teresa was ill for a couple of years and so we had to put the completion of Sarah’s Garden on hold.
Now, however, we are back in expansion mode! We are excited to announce that we have just partnered with local professional cut-flower gardener, Sandi Lance, of Shamrock Acres!
Sandi is a one-woman-flower-operator that gets ongoing support from her husband and two children! Sandi's been growing cut flowers since 2019--you may have seen her at the Remington and Warrenton Farmer's Markets. Sandi has also partnered with other local flower growers to provide Virginia grown blooms to an even larger community!
Like Bees & Trees, Shamrock Acres cares deeply about the environment and is careful not to use pesticides or herbicides that harm the environment or our kill our native pollinators. Partnering with Bees & Trees, Sandi will be adding more perennials and bulbs to her existing line up which includes dahlias, peonies, sea holly, daffodils, tulips and hydrangeas just to name a few.
So look for cut flowers in The Farm Store each weekend during the growing season as Sandi will be providing her farm-grown bouquets and arrangements for sale! And, as we start offering weddings on the farm, Sandi will be our provider for farm-fresh local flowers!
Our original vision for Sarah's Garden called for us to continue planting and expanding our operation each year for the next five--then the pandemic hit and on top of that, Teresa was ill for a couple of years and so we had to put the completion of Sarah’s Garden on hold.
Now, however, we are back in expansion mode! We are excited to announce that we have just partnered with local professional cut-flower gardener, Sandi Lance, of Shamrock Acres!
Sandi is a one-woman-flower-operator that gets ongoing support from her husband and two children! Sandi's been growing cut flowers since 2019--you may have seen her at the Remington and Warrenton Farmer's Markets. Sandi has also partnered with other local flower growers to provide Virginia grown blooms to an even larger community!
Like Bees & Trees, Shamrock Acres cares deeply about the environment and is careful not to use pesticides or herbicides that harm the environment or our kill our native pollinators. Partnering with Bees & Trees, Sandi will be adding more perennials and bulbs to her existing line up which includes dahlias, peonies, sea holly, daffodils, tulips and hydrangeas just to name a few.
So look for cut flowers in The Farm Store each weekend during the growing season as Sandi will be providing her farm-grown bouquets and arrangements for sale! And, as we start offering weddings on the farm, Sandi will be our provider for farm-fresh local flowers!