something new

We picked up this year's first batch of broilers and more replacement layers, and I'll post pics later, I'm just tooooo tired tonight. We also picked up a couple of Red Rangers to try this year as well, they are a slightly slower growing chicken that's raised for meat, but I understand they are pretty good at foraging and more suited to a natural setting so I'm giving it a try. We'll see, stay tuned!

6 weeks in and round two shows up

Thought you'd like to see the size comparison - what a difference 6 weeks makes in the world of a broiler. For the past two picture updates the broilers have been out in the sprinkling rain and dusting, scratching and eating... well, whatever they find that strikes their fancy. That's why they look so dirty, maybe next time it'll be sunny and they'll be clean-ish.

5 weeks old

4 weeks old - 4 weeks left...

I cannot believe we're half way through the first round of broilers! WOW when you measure things in 8 week increments it goes WAY to fast!

three weeks - graduated to the outside and grass!

two weeks old - only slightly cute

check out his giant legs!

One week old - still cute!

Imagine that these guys are usually doing one of three things; eating/drinking, sleeping or pooping! Round two was ordered today along with the turkeys!

Our broilers have arrived!

All 55 of them. This is just the first order of them, about the time these are headed out the next order will be arriving! Oh I'd forgotten how cute they are at this stage!

My 300th post!

And it's about ... chicken! pretty crazy since I'm a vegetarian huh?! Well, I guess it goes with the name Twistie...

This is one of the broilers from the last batch of broilers I raised on the farm and I roasted it in the oven tonight for my husband. Seeing as it's the first oven roasted I've ever made I don't think it came out too bad. It's 'blogworthy' at least. (Yeah, I just made that word up, sorry.) Ron seemed to enjoy it.

I am thankful these birds are tasty, (so I hear) and that are nourishing my husband well.

Success!!!

This seems to be a year of redemption, for the garden at least, as many of the items I attempted to grow last year failed miserably, but did well this year.

Swiss Chard for example...
Last year I planted Swiss Chard and was sadly disappointed when I didn't get any to harvest, but I was determined to get some this year and was successful! I'm looking forward to a delicious mess of greens soon!

My Great Aunt has a crab apple tree that, for the past two years at least, has been loaded with crab apples. She has no interest in putting up anything anymore but is ever happy to give it to someone who is. My attempt at crab apple jelly last year failed miserably, it turned out more like pink goo but the pigs really enjoyed it! This year I was successful! Isn't that color beautiful?

And finally, I made broth from the chickens I raised. So not only did they feed my husband once, but twice with the same bird then I boiled down the carcass to make broth. Hopefully I did it right and will have it to make him some chicken noodle soup when he gets sick in the winter. Let me just say that picking chicken bones is not my best thing to do! I think three meals from one bird is pretty honoring to that broiler. I hope that would be considered being a good steward.

Hay Day #2

I spent the day doing hay with my kids; of course; and my nephew, another 150 bales in and not a complaint among them! It was very windy here today which was nice because it kept us cool, but was a bit of a pain because it blew the loose hay around us like we were inside a snow globe. At one point Andrew put his swimming goggles on to keep it out of his eyes, they didn't last long due to the fact he steamed them up almost instantly. Haying is hard but oh so rewarding work. Too cool off before dinner I took them to the lake, I'm surprised they had the energy to swim!We also dug potatoes and picked cucumbers to go with dinner tonight. After dinner cleaned up the pasted butts on the newest chicks. Out of 50 I think there were 6 that needed attention. Who but Twistie could make that fun?! After the butts were cleaned up they needed to be held to dry off, it was hard to find children willing to hold adorable baby fuzz balls, but I managed. ;-) So now as I write this the kids are getting ready for bed, we've got another early day tomorrow and it'll start with a taking the second batch of chicks; which are now beasts, to be harvested. I'm too exhausted to transfer and posts the pictures tonight, in fact I think I might even skip Army Wives tonight and head straight to bed! Thankfully the DVR is set to record it in the event that that is what I decide.

I am so thankful for these kids today, they worked as hard as I did and we had such fun. Not many kids; I know of a few, would be willing to work that hard or do work that hard and do it with a joyful heart. The best part of it all for me is that I never even had to ask for their help. I fully expect to do all the hay myself; I'm the farmer, and it is so nice that the kids help without being asked. I'm so proud of all of them.

round 3 Ding!

Yesterday round three of broilers arrived, no boredom here!

soapbox - ingredients vs. ingredients

You are aware that I raised some broilers this spring for my husband, well I decided to cook one for him the other night, and here's where the story begins....

Because I was curious and wanted his opinion I wanted to do a side be side comparison, not that I had any doubt that my pastured and organically raised chicken would come out on top, but I wanted to show him the difference, I don't eat meat, haven't in over 20 years, so I could not be the "guinea pig" but I'd heard that home grown meat was a bit tougher; not like shoe leather, just not limp like supermarket chicken. So I cooked one chicken breast from the supermarket and the homegrown broiler and had him try them. He said the home grown chicken was "GOOD!" But the real story and now my soapbox for the day is this. I placed the wrapper to the chicken in the trash upside down (don't worry, it was taken out shortly after) and walked away, back to the cooking chicken. A short while later I threw something else out in the trash and just happened to glance down at the trash and see the back side of the 'supermarket' chicken. I'd never actually looked at it, didn't ever cross my mind that there would be an ingredient list for a package of boneless skinless chicken breast!!!! I pulled it out of the trash to look at and it and read the ingredients for said boneless skinless chicken breast. At the bottom of the list it had a phone number to call with questions, I wonder if that phone number ever gets used, not once have I ever read an ingredient list for chicken but have never called about it either and I wondered if anybody ever had. I've got a good mind to do just that, but how does one tactfully ask "Why is there xanthan gum, carageenan, 'natural flavor', etc. in my chicken breast?" Better yet, how does one truthfully (yeah right from a huge food giant?!) answer that?! Then I was reading Joel Salatin's book, You Can Farm this morning; about raising pastured poultry in fact; and came across a section of the book that said, ..."when TIME magazine reports that roughly 10 percent of the weight of supermarket chicken is fecal soup."... (Guess the big food giant decided to leave that off the ingredient list, likely figuring it might turn people off to eating it huh?) So I decided to show the ingredients from my chicken vs, their chicken and do a side by side comparison for you too.


One organically raised pastured cornish rock cross. (This picture was taken a few weeks prior to harvest.)

Dressed and ready to go, rub down with olive oil, salt and pepper,

Add a sprig or two of rosemary, (grown in my garden of course!) under the skin and in the cavity,

place in rotisserie and cook for appropriate amount of time. Seriously, that's it, nothing else, nothing I cannot pronounce or know what it is, ie. 'natural flavor' if it's natural why is it added to the chicken? Isn't chicken flavor by itself natural and enough? Truth be told I would not be at all surprised if it were MSG.

'supermarket chicken' ingredients, yum!

So there you have it, the story I've been wanting to post for days now but with this ancient computer so near death it's been difficult to do anything with much less blog on and post pictures as well. UGH! I'd love to hear your thoughts on this subject, makes you want to run right out and buy some 'supermarket chicken' huh?

pampered poultry

Yes, that's a brand new box fan and yes, it's in the broiler pen. Its been so hot here this past week and broilers are dropping like flies! One friend lost 5 recently and another lost like 70! that was his entire flock! He had a 3 foot barrel fan on them to boot! To say he is devastated would be an understatement! These guys are just three weeks old but the heat still bothers them. Turkeys not so much, so far. I've started putting them all out on pasture this week, but in the heat of the day here of late they've been parked in front of the fan, and seemingly enjoying it!

the harvest has begun

Yesterday I took the first batch of broilers to be "harvested." I had such a pit in my stomach and in no way looked forward to this. They had been let out of their coop to forage and be chickens for week (after being weaned off the heat lamp) and they all knew the drill when I'd show up. They'd congregate at the opening of the door climbing over one another and pushing their way to the front in hopes they'd be the first one out. I'd call to them and they followed me to the pasture, and there they'd spend the day, eating, sleeping, scratching, pecking, feeling (gentle) rain showers, sunshine and wind. They'd dust themselves in a dirt bath nearly every day and were content, happy. Yesterday when I went to put them in the crates to take them to the butcher it was completely different. The only thing I can think of to describe it is what I would think a soldier headed off to battle must look like. Knowing full well he/she may not return but boldly and bravely forging ahead. They stood there quietly not running to the door but let me pick up each one and place it in the crate without a fight. It was very peaceful. I sincerely hope that they had a good life here are From the Country Farm and only had one bad day. The hard part was over quickly and as humanely as that can be and afterward I went to Mom's house to prepare them for the freezer. She has a fancy Kangen machine that makes great water, so we washed off the birds in that and packed them up for the freezer.
patting the birds dry

Mom and I bagging them up.

As difficult as this day was, it was rewarding in a sense as well. Knowing the birds I raised will nourish my husband and will be so much healthier for him made it worth the pit in my stomach.

*Faith took these pictures.

a somber evening...

...knowing that "the boys" (broilers) are headed to be harvested tomorow...

6 weeks make a huge difference!

The broiler on the left is about 6 weeks old. The one on the right is only a few days old. I cannot believe how fast they grow!

oi! you're such a turkey

Our newest additions to the farm, temporarily at least. Broad Breasted Bronze turkeys and a few more broilers.

Sound asleep standing up, I've had days like that.

broilers do not make good teammates

because they think the whiffle ball and mitt just happens to look like one of their feeders, or

they are underfoot!

Tonight the kids and I were out playing whiffle ball and the free ranging broilers decided to pop in and play as well.

decide for yourself

The other day my sister asked me if I thought my mother hens were or looked happier now that they were mothers, oddly enough this is not an odd part of our lengthy conversations on any given day. I have to say both of them do. I was reading a blog a long time ago and came across a picture of a Buff Orpington hen looking so proud and happy at a chick I felt inclined to print it off and it is hanging in my kitchen, I look at that and a smiling goat when I need a smile. It's just a really great shot. So I hoped that with all the chicks hatching here I could capture a picture with a similar feeling. How'd I do?

Oh, on another note, the broiler I've marked, and subsequently named Mark -sick huh?) and been weighing to capture his growth is now up to 13 1/2 oz. and we only picked them up 2 weeks ago as day old chicks!

* Promise, this is the last chicken post for a while.