No market this week, but fresh chicken coming your way...

Good morning, all.  We will be taking a break from the Farmer's Market of the Ozarks this week to spend some much needed time on farm work and with our kiddos. 

We plan to be processing a few of our final batch of Cornish Cross either Saturday or next week.  (After this group of Cornish Cross, we will no longer be growing this breed.  For more info. on why see below.) 

We will chill cure the chicken for two and a half days to deepen the flavor, so if you are looking for fresh chicken for your table, give us a call and stop by the farm!

Hugelkultur anyone...

Thank you to our customers new and old who stopped by Saturday!  It is always great to see and serve you.

On pondering our family garden beds this year we are leaning toward hugelkultur beds.  This is an old technique that suits our property very well!

So, what does hugelkultur look like?  Beginning with large logs and trees and twigs (we have an abundance of these we will be clearing!)  at the base, next nitrogen rich material and finally top soil.  There are great advantages from this permaculture method, such as moisture retention, soil fertility and creating micro climates, to name a few!  It is ideal for southern Missouri!  Take a look at this sketch of a hugelkultur bed by FuoriBorgo. 

 
And this sketch...

For more reading, check out:
 Paul Wheaten (of Permies.com) article.
And this brief article from the Permaculture Research Institute of Australia
And a basic run through from Oregon Live here
Thanks to Sepp Holzer for all his work and encouragement in this and many other areas of permaculture. 

If anyone has experience with raising berry plants and bushes using hugelkultur along woodland edges (we're just looking at family sized beds), please let us know!

New chicks...

Our first try with this new broiler breed.  They look great.  They are busy eating, drinking & scratching already!  We love these fuzzy little guys and hope you will, too.

Pictoral farm update...

Soon to be capons out foraging.

The three amigos, Faith, Hope & Love, are getting bolder going out in the drive area.

Rhode Island Reds

Ummmm, what yummy things are down here!

Enjoying the diversity that spring brings.

The sweetest donkey ever! 

They love this little stump area.

An Araucana chick found some hay to scratch through.

The new moveable capon house for night protection.

Front of the capon house.  See all the perching area and the nice headroom in the center!  Our 9 year old can stand up in the middle. :)

What a great childhood.  Two of our dear ones enjoying the critters.

"Hurry... I've got to catch that bug!"

The children think the chicks are so wonderful...

and precious.

Enjoying the bounty of spring.

The capon chicks, bantams and ducks all share a patch.

Thoughts on breeds, ethics and health...

We often have weighty conversations on ethics and faith around our home.  The last several years these conversations have involved both the eating and raising of our food.  The past few weeks we have heavily revisited our thoughts on breeds as we move away from raising the Cornish Cross breed of chicken.  If you are unfamiliar with the common meat bird and it's problems, we encourage you to learn more.  Feel free to write or email for some resources about the Cornish Cross.  

The ethics of raising a breed like the cornish cross are a struggle for many pastured poultry farmers.  Basically, we want to grow chicken in a healthy way, but cannot afford to go so far as to grow a bird other than the industry standard.  It is a real struggle.  As Joel Salatin mentions in regard to rasing chickens, "You can be a nudist. You can be a Buddhist.  But you can't be a nudist Buddhist."  It is just too far and difficult a change to be able to support our families.  Our customers like the idea, but just cannot afford the price jump.

The ethics are not just on the consumer side.  We, too, as farmers cast a vote every time we buy chicks, if we buy chicks, we vote for what the hatcheries will continue to grow; even if it is a small vote.  When we buy the Cornish Cross, we vote.  When we buy "sexed" egg layer chicks and no rooster chicks, we make a vote for the destruction of those unwanted chicks.  These are common discussions in our home and have led to the decisions we are currently making on the farm.

As of late, we have been pondering the correlation between human health and eating breeds of animals, such as the cornish cross, who are bred for confinement settings. They often suffer from heart attacks, leg problems and generally are fairly sedentary-even in a pastured poultry setting- consuming mostly grains.  These chickens are bred specifically for accelerated growth- hatch to table in six to eight weeks- here we have fast food at the genetic level!

Personally, we have had wonderful results with a very few of the common health problems in our Cornish Cross, yet the very nature of the bird makes us wonder...  What health problems may arise from eating such a bird?  What happens when we eat chicken that are genetically predisposed to hypertension and heart disease.  If one had to hunt for his meat and saw in the woods a bird acting as the Cornish Cross, limping or sluggish, he would rightly consider this a sick animal and would not desire to ingest it.

Why are we willing eat such a bird?

A pastured Cornish Cross- the most common breed of meat chicken in the United States.  Notice the outgrowth of feathers and sedentary nature of the bird.

This chicken is the same age as the Cornish Cross above, note, she is active in posture and looks like a healthy bird!

By the way, the Cornish Cross is a hybrid breed and is rarely able to reproduce which is also an issue of sustainability and humane husbandry.

 Now, that we brought that up, are you ready to consider that seedless fruit you buy???  Well, I guess we can save that for another day. ;)

Capon House...

Hope to get some pictures on soon.  We are really pleased with the new capon house. Plenty of room for roosting and it moves easily to fresh grass. The capons are almost big enough to be out in the net. It just feels great to raise these birds! Thank the Lord for joyful labor.

Thank you...

We've concluded, as farmers on market day, we don't eat much at all on market day, but we sure do eat well on market night! We enjoyed the Bramer's beef, KatieMade bread, greens from Mockingbird Gardens, Urban Roots and Millsap Farms and Quickly Produce tomatoes.  Oh, what a great meal! Thanks to all who work so hard to grow our food. 

Thanks to all who stopped by the booth today.  It was great to see you all!  We hope you enjoyed your chicken and coffee.

Market time again...

We'll see you tomorrow at the Farmers Market of the Ozarks!  It looks like it will be a lovely day!  Come pick up a coffee and chat with us about our new line of Label Pure poultry.

To our customer's, chicken order for pick-up at Market is now closed.  Thank you for your orders!

Meet some of our farm favorites...

Boaz, our ever faithful LGD!  He has been a blessing.

Elizabeth,  one of our family layers.

Daddy's girl, from our original flock, ask about her story.

Mr. Gray, our layer flock rooster.

Here are our new additions, Naomi is in front.  She's getting big!

We've waited to name our banties until they showed their sex. It's official, we have a boy and a girl!  The girl is Ruth.

Ever vigilant, Mr. Gray.

Here is Hope, our cayuga ducking.

Watch out, Priscilla & Aquilla!  You'll get pecked.

Even though Naomi & the banties are the same age, she has really taken to mothering them.

Here's Ruth enjoying the fresh air.

The two little bantams like to cuddle up next to, or under, Naomi.

These piglets have a great ability to forage and love the new forest undergrowth.

These chicks are losing their "baby" look.  They will be so beautiful.

Meet Cheerful.  She is also our family layer.

Here is Pecky.  She and Daddy's girl are sisters.  Don't let her name deceive you, she's really quite nice.

Hunting for bugs.

Our newest additions... here is an Auraucana.  See how he's grown already!

Checking to feel his rib placement for caponizing in the future. 

Another growing Auraucana.   More pictures of the future capon chicks to come!

For your planning...

We are now out of whole chicken. We did find a few more half chicken and we have parts and pieces available. Please put in your order by Friday at 10 am if you would like to pick up at Farmers Market of the Ozarks. Thank you so much!

A lovely day at the farm...

We had a wonderful visit from family this past weekend and then a dear friend overnight last night.  Good fellowship sweetens the heart.  The day is really beautiful today and we have enjoyed the fresh air, warm breeze and good labor.  The girl's pet ducks and chickens are having great fun pecking and scratching away in the woods while the layers are enjoying a new perch station.  The pigs and Boaz are exploring everywhere and the meat birds and capons are really loving the warmer temperatures!  Here are some pictures from today.  Hope to get some more of the capons when our little guy wakes up. We'll put those on later in the week.

The three amigos... Faith, Hope & Love

Sale Update...

Thank you to our customers & friends of the farm!  We just wanted to give you a heads up for your order planning.  We are down to 3 whole chickens and 12 half chickens.  We do still have parts and pieces available.  We'll post when we are low, or run out of a specific part.

Remember to let us know if you will be coming out to the farm or stopping by the Springfield drop off point.

Thank you again, you all are great!  Hope this is a blessing to you all!