First, there was a lot of thought that went into deciding whether or not to even farm this year. A few things fell into place at the right time which allowed us to do it, and here we are. We value hard work and have definitely grown closer as a couple and family as we work together. One of our favorite things is chicken pick-up days, when we get to see you all. Since we haven’t had one of those for awhile, we are very much looking forward to seeing you all at the next one (mid-August).
Anyhow, my fingers are rambling now. So…there was the project of moving up to Wanship. The egg-mobile took 2 days to pull up there, with one flat tire and 2 borrowed trucks and lots of family help – all of which made us a day late to Danny’s family reunion (but not a dollar short). We had to wake up at about 3 am to go catch the birdies in the dark (trust me, it’s much easier this way) for the big trip. We had to borrow Shawnee’s uncle’s big trailer and her dad’s big truck (good thing they work in the construction business) to haul the shelters up there and thankfully they all made it with little damage.
Saffron has had her own share. She was scratched by a rooster (not one of ours) a couple months ago :(
Then, we’ve had some processing wrinkles to iron out and are now waiting to hear that a stand-alone processing plant has been built and inspected, ready to use for our next batch!
Yesterday, we found out that a pipe had burst in the Wanship field resulting in a flood that took 100 chickens out on the pasture. Thankfully it wasn’t more, but it was a setback nonetheless. We helped ourselves feel better by driving up Millcreek canyon and going on a beautiful hike in the pouring rain. If you haven’t been up the canyon yet this season, you must…it looks like we live in a bright green rainforest!
So why do we keep doing this you ask? Well…we value raising our own meat, love seeing the birds out on pasture really doing what birds do and eating what birds eat, and connecting with our local community as farmers. We realize that certain risks come with this type of farming, but so many benefits come as well – including seeing the sun rise most mornings, satisfaction of raising and eating our own locally produced food, building relationships with individuals and local businesses within the community, and being able to say “chicken sheeeit” on a very regular basis with a long drawl. Thanks for reading – hopefully some of you are reading this and getting some information and enjoyment out of it. If not, it’s kind of fun typing it anyway!
1 comment:
Great post :) I think far too often we romanticize farming and forget about the hard work involved. Still, nothing is better than eating that homegrown chicken, lamb or beef.
Thanks for keeping it local, and keeping the land healthy and strong!
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