Shades of Green Farm

When Farming Feels Like Family

Sue’s flat-out sick and I’m trying to keep it at bay… cough, headache, fever, congestion… you know, that type of viral thing that makes it hard to stay up and work. However, Sue’s at work for a few hours because there’s work she simply must get done today. I just transferred frozen chicken from one freezer to another and collected eggs from our home gyrrls (what we affectionately call the hens that we keep just for ourselves—more on them later), and did this because it simply had to be done today… as did the feeding of our broilers and pullets and ducklings, as did letting them out this morning into their bright and chilly day. You know, I thought raising a child was the most ‘full time’ job I’d ever have… but, no… once she was old enough, if I really didn’t feel up to getting up and fixing breakfast, cereal would do and Jess could climb into bed with me or amuse herself in her room. Farming, on the other hand, is actually full time~ every day you have to do it, no matter how old the animals are or how rotten you feel.

Also similar to parenting is the surprising pride I feel that our ‘special’ gal, Gail, has become a hen. Yes, three months after her hatch sister, Violet, began laying her daily egg (100% of the time, I might add), Gail remained an undeveloped pullet. I was thinking that given the fact that she is legally blind (she can only see some shadows), her beak and head are somewhat twisted and we were concerned her innards might be as well… with all these concerns, it was just fine that Gail not mature. Then one day I bent to pet her and she “assumed the position”… a squatty, wings out to the side, ready for love look that I had no idea about with our first hens. In fact, when Beth, our first pullet to lay, first squatted down like that, I was quick to pick her up and reassure her I meant her no harm, of course not! Then I saw her do it for Mr. McNugget and saw his response to it and… oh! Sure enough, shortly after that she began laying. And now our little Gail (named after Sue’s favorite eye doctor of all time) has in fact matured and is now laying an egg every day. She’s not only okay, when our friend Rachel visited the other day, she immediately commented on her “Why look at that Gail! She looks fabulous!” or something like that… in any event, Rachel noticed Gail’s gyrrly glow.

So I have motherly pride in Gail’s becoming a young hen, and motherly fatigue from taking care of the poultry even when I don’t feel at all well. Now, how to I feel about our cattle? I think it’s a bit early to tell. You know, we have cows of our own on the farm now~ to be more exact, two pregnant cows and their steer calves. It was different when the cattle belonged to someone else.. much more emotional distance, even though Sue and I were thrilled when they calved and worried when it took a long time and much bawling to complete delivery.  Our cows will deliver in April, most likely, and we’re hoping for heifers, which are what gyrrl cattle are before they have their first baby and become cows. Boy calves are bulls and they stay that way unless they’re ‘un-boyed’ and then they’re steer… I think you catch my drift. If we get two heifers, we’ll have the 4 gals we want to make babies every year, so that we have no more than 8-10 cattle on the land at any given time. The steers will become food in the summer, and we are grateful for that—filling our freezer and providing income as well. Our newest arrivals came from Coyote Creek Farm and we’ve been waiting for them for awhile~ to have their calves, get pregnant and be ready to move. Their breed is called South Polls and we think they’re magnificent… our neighbor Otis told Sue that we have “some fine looking cattle there”… we’re so proud. Welllll then.... I guess I feel both parental pride and also some sisterly affinity to our cattle… I just know we’re glad they’re here!

Sue’s on her way home, waning fast, she said. Me, too, so I’ll close and post, then back to bed for another rest before the afternoon chores begin. Don’t get me wrong—I’m not complaining—I look out the window and see our two keeper broilers, Golden Freedom Rangers named Golda and Hillary… they’re just scratching and pecking and murmuring their soft chicken talk (okay, I’m inside, just imaging that last part, since I can’t hear them… but I know what they do as they make their way around the farm)… the cattle  are up here by the cross fence, flipping their tails at flies as they nibble the good grasses of our pasture… the ducks are as usual milling about like a school of fish… and the pullets… dog gone it! They’re back in the duck house, eating their food again… gotta go!

Sales are Taking Off and Chickens are Coming!

Well, my friends, there is much in the way of news on our little farm. After wondering if we would ever get to the point of having regular sales, we have just sold out of our chickens! Except for the 2 USDA chickens we are holding for People’s Pharmacy in Austin, I sold the last 3 today at Bastrop 1832 Farmers’ Market. We have less than a dozen of the locally processed chickens~ at least 5 will be delivered to places and people in Austin next week… and today at the market several other customers indicated they may come out to farm and pick one up. I love it when that happens, because I can then show folks where their meat is coming from, so we can feel good about it together.

[ By the way, in Texas a piece of state legislation that was apparently meant to support small poultry producers had regulations attached that contradicted that intention. Now, unless you have your own processing facility on your farm property, you cannot sell to stores, restaurants or at markets; you must have your poultry processed at a USDA facility. Part of our approach to raising food in sustainable fashion is not to try to do it all, but support existing small farmers by paying for them to process our chickens. It’s like everyone on the block having their own lawnmower~ we would rather not see resources used this way and would rather share and cooperate. And so we have some chickens processed locally and sold off our farm and the rest done at a USDA certified plant. After searching extensively for a USDA processing facility anywhere in the state, we found one~ yep, just one!~ that will take birds from other people’s small farms. We are incredibly grateful to them for taking us on at a challenging time for their family! I will maintain their privacy on the website until I hear from them that it’s okay to thank them individually by name. We hope that changes someday, so we can address another of our goals, which is to keep all our farm business as close by as possible, especially when it involves moving animals.]

Back to our news…. We’ve sold out but you will not have long to wait to be able to purchase  our chicken at the Bastrop Market and at our home.

We have listened to our customers and are striving to have smaller chickens available. In order to make a living from them, our goal is that they will weigh between 3.5 and 4 pounds. We also hope to have some of them cut at least in half, if not fully parted into breasts, legs and thigh sections. I’ll let you know when we know.

Chickens will be available starting Friday November 7th, 2008 and should remain available consistently available at least until spring, depending upon demand and our decisions about when or if to take another pause in brooding during the coldest month, January.

Another opportunity for buying a chicken is to reserve one or more or our famous large chickens for the holiday season. We will hold back chickens for people who want a fresh, never frozen big roasting bird the Tuesday before Thanksgiving as well as the Tuesday before Christmas. If you celebrate another holiday at the this time of year, let us know and we will see if we can make it work to have a fresh chicken ready for you; it may be that we can offer a large roaster but that it must come to you frozen.

Contact us to reserve your holiday roasters~ send us an email, give us a call or come visit us at the Bastrop Farmers’ Market on Fridays and Saturdays. Only those who have reserved roasters will be able to purchase them.

Life Abounds on the Farm

As I write this entry, I can hear the sounds of night in autumn from the open windows~ crickets and cicadas ring out their persistent song; thanks to a small recent rain, I hear the calls of at least two frogs from the run off pond nearby; dogs are snoring on the porch after a day chasing squirrels and munching big new bones from Bastrop Cattle Company (who offer them at their market booth in all sizes)… and if I listen closely, I can hear the periodic chirps from Flock 4—160 one month old broiler chicks in their Pasture House, who have reached the age of becoming pushy with each other. In another moment I hear the peeps of the 10 day old chicks that make up Flock 5 who are still in the brooder not far from the house. It may not sound romantic or appreciative to name our chickens by their number of arrival on the farm, but this approach lets us know which group of chickens we’re concerned about when we’re talking or writing about them, and that’s really important to their well-being, especially in the middle of the night when we hear the dogs barking wildly “Something’s out near Flock 4!”. And given that another night sound often heard around here is the wailing barks of coyotes, I’m glad for our dogs and our quick identification when we run out to see after our chicks.

In addition to the 320 broiler chicks, we have 300 pullet chicks that are 2 ½ weeks old. With this flock we tried something new that is working very well~ we brought our babies right into their Layer House and brooded them on pasture. We put together one of those 10’ x 20’ portable ‘garages’ with metal frames and tarp roof and walls; we attached it to a base made from 4” x 4” timber and surrounded it with wire, to keep unwanted critters out and our chickens safely inside. I built two hovers which are low, wooden, table like structures that contain heat lamps underneath; we can have the heat from as little as one 100 watt bulb or as much as four 250 watt bulbs. We are now using just one light and keeping the windows upon most nights; the chicks are doing great and are ready to go outside… so, now it’s time to build their first yard, as well as roosts. These gals will be ready to lay their lovely brown eggs in the middle of February and we are looking forward to expanding our produce to include organic pastured eggs. We have several people who are interested in buying a few for their own home coops when they get a bit older. Because we use only organic feed (oh, we’re lucky that the only commercial organic feed mill in Texas, Coyote Creek, is just 25 miles away in Elgin!), our pullets cost more and will not be contaminated by petro-chemicals or GMOs. Eggs offer a much better return financially, so we’re trusting that this addition will allow us to keep raising and offering our happy healthy chicken meat as well.

Our practice flock of 16 Khaki Campbell ducklings are now a month old~ they’re doing well and are adorable! These babies move like a school of fish, with their quick, fluid shifts in direction… except that their waddling and chirping is more comedy that choreography. They are also the messiest eaters and end up being pretty stinky pretty quickly… still working out how to set up the coop in a way that will ease keeping the drinking area fresher, as well as their ‘comfy box’ which is a large thick cardboard box on its side and which holds in the heat and lets them feel snug and safe out there in the big world. Because their webbed feet are prone to injury, I’m hesitant to use the wood chips we put in the other houses, yet the shavings are expensive and get yucky fast. I don’t want to move the coop too often, since I am also working on a swimming pool set up that provides them safe entry and exit, even when they have one of their group panics and must rush back inside their comfy box… ah, a new learning curve, what fun! We will share these characters with another family who are also wanting to have some duck eggs; because we ordered the less expensive “straight run” we don’t know how many are male or female… we’ll be having a meal or two of young drake, which one of our friends is eagerly anticipating. If this works out and there’s a market for duck eggs (as we’ve been told) we may add a larger flock to our flapping farm family.

Last but not least, our cows and calves are coming home! We’re fortunate to have this wonderful breed called South Polls, and access to the bull at Coyote Creek Farm, from which they come. Huge gratitude to Jeremiah Cunningham, whose vision brought us the organic feed mill and whose farm values match ours so well~ thank you! Our cows are coming back pregnant and we hope these are females (heifers) to add to the herd. The calves were males this time, and are now steers which we will eat and sell when the time comes. We’re adding portable, solar powered fencing to keep their pastures from the chickens, as separate cows from calves when they wean. As time passes, I’m eager to work on rotational grazing that will add another layer to our sustainable farming strategy.

Now, I just have to find the time and energy to put in that fall garden…..

We're growing again!

"Oh my... am I ready for this?" This is what comes to mind when I am not too busy to think or too excited to be worried... or sleeping.

It's almost autumn and we are growing our work here on the farm. The short term calendar looks like this:    
Wednesday Sept. 3rd~ 250 day old laying hen chicks arrive into a new brooder/house and pasture     Wednesday Sept. 10th~ 15 ducklings (Khaki, egg layers) arrive into their new house and yard    
Friday Sept. 12th~ 160 broiler chix arrive (thank goodness their brooder and house are built!)     S
aturday Sept. 13th~ Shades of Green Farm conducts a demo on preparing whole chickens and leftovers at the Bastrop 1832 Farmers' Market    

We're also bringing our own cattle onto home pastures here in September.    
Oh, there's the fall garden.

My my, aren't we busy? Are we crazy?!?

People want our chickens, increasingly... as folks get a taste of them and understand what it means to their health and our planet to eat organic, local, humanely raised meat as part of their diet, demand goes up. Some folks would like us to raise ducks, turkeys and other meat as well. People ask us about eggs, both chicken and duck eggs... we're hoping to offer eggs at market and primarily to small grocers and restaurants. We'd love to be growing more produce for ourselves and some to sell... and we're thinking about herbs-- fresh herbs to go with our chickens.

The possibilities are endless and so is the work. If you'd like to support us, there are a number of ways to do this. Buy our products, since without customers we have no farm. (In accordance with our values, we only sell locally, in south central Texas) Consider offering a contract for meat and/or eggs; regular sales/revenues go a long way in meeting our fiscal needs. Call jules to arrange a time to come and work on building, maintaining or moving poultry houses and pastures, gardening, etc; regular help would be greatly appreciated. Donate materials, expertise or money to build the expanded infrastructure we need; this includes electric and barbed wire fencing, freezer and/or frig-cooler, storage barn, water lines, trailer, tractor, gardening, etc. (At this time, your donation would not be tax deductible). Share your recipes and cooking strategies with us and others~ to expand our repertoires and help those who don't know how to approach a large, whole, pasture-raised chicken. Make suggestions for improvement and expansion~ we'll take all into consideration and if we might not be able to do it, we still want to hear it.

Life is good on the farm. At times strenuous, at time stressful... and good. How fortunate we are to have this opportunity to live here, work here (at least some of the time) and make food for ourselves and others... food we know is healthy~ for humans, the animals in their lifetimes, and the planet. Oh joy!

Ah, vacation... and home-coming

At long last we’re on our way home from almost a month on the road. Sue and I haven’t had much of a break for almost two years and looked forward to our vacation with great anticipation. Except for ongoing minor vehicle issues (including the air conditioning going out as we drove through Oklahoma’s 107 degree weather!) we have enjoyed a peaceful and rejuvenating time together. Unfortunately, the ferry we planned to take from Michigan to Wisconsin broke down, so we lost an opportunity to visit a couple small farms before leaving the area. Sue did spend a day at the sister mill of Coyote Creek Organic Feed Mill in Elgin, where she works and we get our chicken feed. She received answers to many of her questions and I spent the time in an amazingly beautiful cabin just a few miles away, set in fields of wildflowers where I walked and sat and breathed in the sweet northern air. We thank all those who supported our goal to take this time away from the farm~ without you this would not have happened!

Today we sat down and planned out the time line for our fall flocks. After quite a bit of discussion we decided to keep to raising two flocks of 160, even though we may run out of chicken before our spring flocks have matured. This plan does not allow for much growth, and we may yet alter the plan if a good opportunity comes up, but it does give us the chance to see if we can repeat our successful yummy, healthy, happy chicken outcome as well as address areas we want to improve in, such as regular weighing of the chicks over their life span and fine-tuning the ways we call them in each evening. Given that there were nights we were still coaxing chicks into their homes for over an hour, we have a strong incentive to make that process move more smoothly and quickly. Also we have recently lost several of our personal flock to an as yet unknown predator, so it is imperative that nighttime finds all chickens safely tucked into their sturdy pens. The learning continues and we eagerly await our next babies’ arrival in early September.

In trying to find the best approach to make a living and offer quality food at decent prices, we will be raising the birds for a shorter period this time around, making them a bit smaller when finished and hopefully saving us some money in expensive organic feed. Feed prices have gone up significantly and will continue to; we will likely have to increase our price per pound, so the smaller sizes should help offset costs to our customers. Raising broilers is not a way to get rich quick, that’s for sure. We have just about decided to add a flock of layers to the farm~ 250 to start~ which would provide more income, more consistently once the work of building infrastructure is completed. Because there are other farms selling eggs at the Bastrop Farmers’ Market, we would focus on sales from the farm and to small groceries and restaurants. We’re a long way from ‘there’ and this endeavor would involve more of my least favorite activity- marketing- but the idea feels good so far. Scary and good, this farming life we have entered into.

Seasonal Ethics, Bastrop Market News, and New Website Pages

Greetings on this hot, dry Texas day... yep, another hot, dry day here in south central Texas. I'm glad that, except for the 16 'keepers', all our chicken flocks have gone to processing, meaning they are not here to swelter in the heat; rather, they are chillin' in the freezers on their way to market.

We do not intend to have chickens in pasture during August or January, when temperature extremes are most likely (like we didn't have 100 degree days in June this year!). This seasonal approach to raising animals fits with our values about providing the best possible environment for the animals in our care and building in some relative down time for ourselves. We know this isn't the most lucrative approach in terms of keeping as many chickens as possible out in the marketplace  at all times, but we are aware of many farmers who take this approach and make it just fine. Some raise only enough to fill the requests of customers who pre-order a quarterly number they commmit to buying or pay for in advance. At this point in time we choose to take a looser approach and see if it's possible to keep raising poulty for the general public while exploring a strategy to raise some flocks that meet specific contracts... all based on seasonal times of availability. This means there will be times of having fresh never-frozen chicken, frozen only (which is all we can offer at the market, due to regulations) and hopefully minimal periods of being completely out until the next flocks mature. If we can make this work we will be happy farmers indeed-- with happy chickens whenever they are here.

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We are now selling at the Bastrop 1832 Farmer's Market on both Fridays (1-6) and Saturdays (10-2). Even though we'll be out of town for almost a month, Erika at Bradshaw Farms will continue to offer our chickens for sale to keep availability for customers, which is good for everyone. Our heartfelt gratitude goes out to Erika for her support! The sense of community and fun amongst the vendors at the market make the work a joy, even in these hot hot days.

On Saturday September 13th, Shades of Green Farm will offer a demonstration at the Market in preparing  our wonderful chickens~ we hope to see you there!

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To address the wishes and needs of customers, I've added two new pages to this website/blog. The first provides a place to express yourself~ called "Compliments, Critique and Comments", it's meant to be a forum for feedback and input; the other page is entitled "Recipes and Suggestions for Cooking" and is self-explanatory.

Well, I couldn't get the pages to accept comments, so they are now new posts under similarly named categories... works the same, in terms of going to the post and contributing via posts. And thanks!

Compliments, Critique, Comments

After several delighted customers have shared with us their wish to have a place on our website for leaving their comments ("I would testify for your tasty chickens if I could!"), I'm starting a page just for feedback and input from customers, friends (often and increasingly overlappying categories, oh joy!) and folks who are interested in our product or what we are about. Happy are we to receive your kudos... and equally happy to hear how we might improve our product or our service to you. As beginner farmers and marketers, we are eager to hear from you. If you give approval to use your comments in our advertising, please let us know in your post; otherwise we will not use your words. Advice to others who might wish to know how to make the best use of the big chickens we typically sell, as well as strategies for cooking and recipes, will go on another new page, plainly called Recipes. Thank you in advance for taking the time and making the effort to reflect on our efforts here at Shades of Green Farm!

Recipes and Suggestions for Cooking

Okay, I didn't call this page simply 'Recipes', as indicated on the 'Comments' page; I wanted to offer enough guidance to enable new folks to find helpful information about cooking our chickens.

Because our chickens are a different breed, are slightly older and typically larger that most found on the market, it can be helpful to hear how other folks approach these chickens for the yummiest results. In general, longer cooking times are needed; we use a meat thermometer-- not a fancy one, bought at the local grocery store, works fine for our purposes-- and when the thigh shows 170 degrees, it's done throughout. We've found it takes a couple hours at fairly high temps (375-425) but definitely read on for others' input, who are likely to know as much or more than us.

Although one chicken costs somewhere around $20, the overall value is actually very good. There is a great deal of meat on our chickens, of high nutritional value; a 5 pound bird can feed 1 or 2 people up to 6 or 7 times easily, and a family of 4 or 5 will eat at least 3 times if the leftovers from the first meal are removed from the bone and combined with other ingredients for burritos, casseroles, etc. Several people stress not to waste the bird and use the 'finished' carcass to make broth from which soup, rice and other broth-based dishes may be created. Anyone want to share how they do it?

During our vacation, we'll try to find enough down time to write more about how we have prepared our chickens... in brief, several dishes are our current favorites.
    First time cooking~ simple oven roasting remains our ultimate favorite, with any of a variety of simple flavorings (rosemary, basil, lemon and garlic), with or without veggies like potatoes, carrots, leeks, and onions; a rub of apricot preserves mixed with garlic and dijon mustard is fabulous for both roasting and BBQing. Because it heats the oven and house, we usually cook two in different ways, enjoy a bit of both the first day and use the remains for later dishes or to freeze, labeled noting the flavoring and date.
    Subsequent dishes from left-overs~ nothing beats this chicken for cold chicken salad- we keep it extremely simple (at this point) just to savor the basic flavor (don't use thawed left-overs, it's just not the same as fresh); chicken in verde sauce over rice, chicken parmesan with zucchini and/or mushrooms, and in Indian curry simmer sauce with carrots, spinach, goat cheese pieces, and tomatoes... these are recent delights in addition to plain sandwiches and nibbling cold or warmed pieces with good cheeses and crackers.

Truth be told, neither of us are extraordinary cooks (I enjoy raising them as much as cooking them).  We've been given many great ideas from others (including the apricot rub, thanks to Rachel!) that have enriched our repertoire, for which we are grateful. And now we present YOUR ideas... and thank you all endlessly for sharing your advice and recipes with others, and us!

Oh joy~ it rained!!!

Finally, after weeks of squalls passing just to the north, south, east or west of us, it rained a good drenching rain this evening... almost an inch in about an hour and a half. Sitting quietly on the porch, I could hear the grasses and the trees sighing as the sound shifted from the hard tap of wet on parched leaves and ground to the wet plop and swish of foliage drinking in the sweet deep rain. Now, if it's not too much to ask, we'd like another inch tomorrow... and thank you.

The chickens were quite funny~ since it's been so dry that the most 'rain' they've experienced has been when we've misted them with the hose, those chickens started off by running and flapping before getting themselves settled under trees and in their houses. As the rain eased off, those gals (all but 3 of our flock are females, the rest having transitioned into meat) began legging it through puddles and floating grass, pecking and scratching and having a great time. It took a bit more urging to get them in tonight~ I think they weren't finished with the novelty of their first big rain. Hopefully they'll get another experience tomorrow.

Our Farmers' Market Debut

Yesterday Sue and I (jules) set up a farmers' market booth for the very first time. The people at Bastrop 1832 Farmers' Market were wonderful! They helped us set up, loaned us equipment and told their repeat visitors that we were a new vendor selling great tasting chicken.... which, of course, is true, as those who have enjoyed them will attest to. For a first selling day, with one week to prepare our materials, we did pretty well~ we sold 10 chickens with several more customers claiming a chicken for next week, when they'll bring a cooler to take it home in.

At just around 100 degrees on a sunny, windy day, we came home a bit desicated and feeling oh-so-happy in our dry skin.

Thanks to John and Annell who came down from Austin to give us congrats and bags (which is now on the check-off list). Thanks also to Erika, one of the market managers, who encouraged us to go for it right away and not wait, to Delores and Tracy, also market organizers, who offered advice (and bags!), and to Pati, from Bastrop Cattle Company, who has been supportive and encouraging from the beginning.