CHICKENS: Available & Uses

Have you signed up for your June chickens?...Mahlon is working one getting his list organized and it looks like we still have June broilers available!!!! They are $3.00/lb. The health benifits and taste of pasture raised broilers is unsurpassed. We invite you to look at our value vs. cost page comparing our broilers to factory ones.
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We have a new option for you!
For $4.00/lb  we will cut up your chicken for you. You may then seperate it and freeze it in portions that you wish.
Let us know if you want to change your order or increase it to include this option.
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SOME WAYS WE LIKE TO USE OUR CHICKEN!

We like to cut up many of our chickens and then bag the legs and thighs in the number we wish for a meal. The wings can also be bagged together to make a special BBQ or hot wing meal. We love to have the breasts also bagged seperately and lastly the remaining bones can be bagged and frozen. If we are short on freezer room they can be boiled to make wonderful healthy REAL chicken broth. This broth may be canned or frozen.

*marinate chicken breast, grill, slice, and keep warm. Serve on a lettuce salad...maybe a ceasar salad. This is a favorite summer meal!
*Easy Favorite Crockpot meal (see recipe page)
*Grilling is always great! Either the pieces or whole chicken on a frame made for that purpose...the famous pepsi chicken.
*Easy healthy winter meal...Real Chicken Noodle Soup
          (see recipe page)
*chicken strips with honey mustard sauce
*Chicken salad, Buffalo wing chicken salad
*Chicken Fajitas
*Baked whole chiken
*Chicken ala king...the list goes on and on....

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LAST CALL FOR YOUR TURKEY ORDERS!
We will soon be ordering turkey chicks and need to know how many you want!
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MAHLON AND BLESSING WORK ON A PASTURE SHELTER FOR THE BROILERS,
GIVING THEM MORE ROOM AS THEY GROW

Farm Fun Day Pictures

*We are having some computer problems so there is some odd spacing...but wanted to get this blogged any way before it is too out of date!

Farm Fun Day 2012

Some enjoyed the rope swing while we waited for more people to arrive. Then it was off to visit the farm.








The horses enjoyed being fed many carrots! Their names are Bonaza, Dakota, and Blackie.

Next it was on to the ducks. We have 3 young ducks that stay near their pen and pool and one adult duck that wanders around the farm.

Mahlon and Mike talk about the cows. Daisy, Liberty, Annabelle, and Blossom relax in the pasture.






A walk through the garden helped find some of the scavenger hunt items....then a peek in the hoophouse at the tomatoes and peppers.

A visit to the egg mobile to gather the eggs and hold the hens.

HOLDING THE ROOSTER!!!!!

So far this rooster has not turned mean. He even let us hold him!

Our tour then brought us to the Large Blacks. They were a little muddy from a romp around the farm earlier that morning!

A look in the portable pasture shelters where the broilers are growing. At this stage they are not the most beautiful, but growing well! Some of the pastures also did not look the most beautiful as we had just baled up hay that had been on the ground for about 2 weeks on account of the rain!

A rain shower sent us running for shelter!  The last stop amid rain drops was the 6 day old black hen chicks. Children learned the art of holding a chick just right...gently yet securely.

We changed plans and ate lunch in the garage during the rain shower. The menu consisted of barbecue pork sandwiches with the optional toppings of alfalfa sprouts and garden lettuce, radish dip, baby carrots, Sun Chips, apples, cow/pig sprinkled sugar cookies, and homemade strawberry ice cream.

Prizes were given out including a Mother's Day prize from Caleb's Local Honey and the grand prize: a November Turkey!

For those who had time to stay, milking Blossom was next!  We had lots of helpers!

Horse rides for young and old.

We had a very enjoyable morning with a great group of people! We hope you all had a good time! Thanks for coming out!

New chicks & Veggies Available

This week from our house or Mepo Market (Saturday 8:30-11:00) we'll have spinach, mixed leaf lettuce, chives, mint, mixed radishes, and alfalfa sprouts! Prices the same as last week with the addition: mint$2/baggie, chives sm$1, lg$2.


Thanks to all who visited Mepo Market last Saturday! It was a great day for vendors and shoppers alike.


The garden is very wet and growing weeds are begging to be pulled as soon as it is dry enough. This gives us time to work in the hoop house staking and stringing up the tomato plants! Our poor hay has been rained on several times and is now only good for horse hay or garden mulch. We hope to finally bale it tomorrow.


We hope many of you can come Saturday for our farm day! See previous post for  details.

    







New chicks came in today! These will be egg layers next fall. It takes about 6 months until they are old enough to lay eggs.

Farm Day

We hope you can come to our Farm Fun Day Saturday, May 12! Come see where your food come from and get to know your farmers better.

Here’s the planned schedule of events:

9:00 Farm Tour   Enjoy new chicks, young ducks, watching the pigs graze, tromp through the garden or hoop house, see inside the egg mobile, gather eggs, ask any question...etc.

10:00 Farm Activities   Milk a cow, line up for a horse ride, revisit your favorite farm animal, swing on the high rope swing if you dare, etc. who knows what we’ll think of by then….or just play in the big sand box

11:00 Lunch Time!!!   An informal lunch will be available. Bring a lawn chair or sit at our picnic table, blanket, or hay bales.

Make sure you sign up for our give aways and prizes.

 

The first Mepo Market is this Saturday, May 5th! Find us on Main Street Mediapolis from 8:30-11:00. Hope to see you there!

Fresh garden lettuce is such a treat. We have all you need to make a delicious spring salad: Mixed lettuce, spinach, radishes, alfalfa sprouts, and homemade whole wheat croutons. Best of all, it’s all grown chemical free using organic methods. This cool rainy weather makes the lettuce and radishes especially good.

Contact us if you want to pick up any veggies from our home.

Mixed lettuce or spinach

• 6 oz (fairly full gal. bag), washed      $4
• 3 oz (1/2the amt), washed                 $2
• 6oz straight from the garden             $3
• 3oz straight from the garden              $1.50

sprouts baggie-$2, radishes-lg bunch $2, sm $1, croutons-$2

Grazing Pigs and A Pet Duck

We really enjoy watching the animals graze the pastures. It’s not uncommon to see our men ‘listening’ to them graze especially when they are let in a new paddock. You actually hear a crunching and munching and they call it a beautiful sound!
Here are the large blacks enjoying a new paddock. They have become quite friendly and are thriving in their healthy environment.
        
Ducky Boy has been a favorite around the farm for over a year now. He wonders around at will not causing any problems at all. At night he roosts in the lean to with his friend a a black chicken. Well…. one day we found a different looking egg…and came to the conclusion that Ducky Boy needed a new name. We now call our her Ducky Gal.
                 

It’s been a busy week here at the farm…..broiler chicks were moved out to pasture, more garden planted and weeded, hay mowed, a visit from IL Grandparents, and town mowing and landscaping jobs are a few things that come to mind. Titus and Courage were sent out to dig 20 thistles each yesterday (deeply to get the long roots). After while they came in and reported they dug a total of 300! They dumped them to the horses who actually ate them!

Egg Mobile

 

We converted our old pop up camper into an egg mobile!!! The boys gutted it and made nest boxes and roosting areas. They also boarded up some of the flimsy sides and painted it. The grain mix and water are kept in the egg mobile. We plan to have the chickens follow after the cows grazing. Many have had success with this and it is a very ideal situation. They seem to accepted it as their ‘sleeping quarters’ but still want to run up around the farm buildings a lot. We want them to hang out near their home and of course lay their wonderfully nutritious eggs IN the nesting boxes.  Maybe when it is time to graze out back they will be less tempted to stay visiting near the buildings!

                

The terrible conditions the factory hens live, breathe, and eat in require routine antibiotics and medications to attempt to keep them alive. Out here on the natural farm in the fresh air, sunshine, and with their natural diet and habitat, health reigns and there is no need for medications.

As happy and healthy as these chickens are, there are dangers lurking nearby that we much watch for. An owl, hawk, coyote, raccoon, or fox can mean great danger to a flock chickens. Camping near the cows  and horses help with the four footed predators, but seeing a hawk floating around up in the sky causes great alarm around here! We also hope our dog, Annie, is helping: although there is some disagreement here on her effectiveness.

New Chicks

 

The first batch of broiler chicks of the year just arrived. It’s an exciting time!

The chicks are so fluffy and cute. VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

 

The chicks leave Hoover’s Hatchery in Rudd, IA the day they are born. They come to us through the postal service. The next morning we go into the Mediapolis Post Office to pick them up. What a lot of peeping!!! The postal workers are probably glad to see us come…and go!

With great care, the chicks are brought to a cozy home prepared for them by the boys. Warm heat lamps and a draft free environment greet the little chicks. Each one must have it’s beak dipped in water.   

                          

The new chicks are carefully monitored. Heaters are adjusted and the heat lamps lowered or raised depending on the temperature and actions of the chicks. 

                            

Daily chick chores include providing them with fresh water and feed. We get our organic grain mix from Kalona, IA. This not only provides organic gmo free feed, but is also free of the medications put in the typical bag of starter feed. The last job of the night is to check on the baby chicks.

    

    These chicks are enjoying their fresh bedding!

     In two weeks they will be old enough to put out

      on grass. That will be an exciting day also!

   

 

 

 

How can chicks make the trip though the mail? Right before they hatch the chicks draw the yolk into their abdomen. This yolk is very rich in food value and liquid and provide the baby chicks with all they need for a safe journey to our farm!