Hay Making

Hay making is always an exciting time. Making high quality dairy hay is what I would call an art or science. We like to get 4-5 cuttings a year and each cutting before the alfalfa flowers. This is the second one of the year.

The healthier the soil, the more nutritious the hay, the healthier the animal, and the more nutritious the food we produce. Every year we take measures to build the life of our soil and it is coming along nicely.

Watching the weather and the alfalfa the men pick a day to mow. A sunny, low humidity forecast is great.

MAHLON USES THE HAYBINE TO MOW THE HAY

 

Next it is time to rake. The rake flips the hay over to help dry the bottom side and puts it in windrows ready for the baler. Usually it needs to be raked twice. The smell of drying hay is wonderful!

After much discussion and walks to the hayfield the hay is declared ready to bale. Now the fun begins!

Everyone likes to be part of the process!

CHEWING A PIECE OF THE FRAGRANT HAY IS JUST MANDATORY





They guys love to show how strong they are, and we love to watch them. This cutting is of great quality and will be ideal for our dairy cows this winter. Notice the lovely green color below!

 

To the shed to save for winter days.

 

Stacking.....

Looks like Courage found a bale just his size!

 

Soon another favorite day on the farm ends. Everyone is tired and thankful to God for his blessing of good hay in the shed...a great feeling.

Chicken Processing Day

As morning dawns the chicken butchering crew had been long up preparing for the exciting day! It's a long, yet rewarding day. All the time, effort, and care of the broilers for the past 8 weeks culminate today to provide superb nutritious food for our patrons. Extra help is always appreciated and adds to the fun. Today Grandpa and Grandma Steiner are here and then a surprise crew from IL shows up to lend a helping hand!

The scalding water must be at just the right temperature and the defeatherer ran for the precise number of seconds. This is Mahlon's area of expertise.

Titus removes heads and legs next. Then the bird is on to the degutting team. For some reason this is a favorite job of many. Daniel and Joseph star in this area. The broiler now needs to be in a cold water about one hour before what we call detailing!

Above one of our surprise IL helpers details a chicken. This involves a going over it for unwanted feathers or innards previously missed. This is the most time consuming part of the process. Then the broiler goes on to the ice cold holding tank to await weighing and packaging.

The broiler is weighed, packaged, and taken to a large refrigerator in our garage to await a fortunate patron. Every part of a pasture raised, organically fed broiler is nourishing for your health: the naturally occurring healthy, flavor giving fat, delicious meat, and mineral packed bones for broth will impart health and strength to our patrons.


Soon our patrons arrive and we enjoy catching up with them and meeting first time customers.

From our Natural Farm to your plate!!!!

Fresh milk

Homemade cottage cheese

Sugar Snap peas

Roasted beets

REAL CHICKEN