Happy Sheep

The sheep are slowly making their way back to the barn in anticipation of upcoming cold and snow.

Luckily we don't have any snow on the ground (yet) so we can take our time moving them to make sure the sheep get one last graze of the land.

Here they are hungry and waiting for the farmer to move them to greener pastures!

New Kitties!

We adopted a couple kitty cats from the humane society a couple months ago. A farm is not complete without barn cats! One of our other cats disappeared in early fall, so we figured we had better replace him.

Punkin!

Jack

Big Pigs

The pigs are getting really big, and they love their little home in the forest! They crunch on acorns and run among the trees. It's fun to watch them. They occupy a quarter acre of our wooded property.

This is a close-up of Cashew, the most personable pig of the pack. She usually expects a back scratch when we visit.

The farmer and his pigs :)

Last Broiler Slaughter Day!

Today was the last official broiler slaughter day of the year!!! The broiler season couldn't have gone any better! Thanks to all who purchased birds and to those who helped support us through this endeavor.

To give you an idea of how it all works...

Step 1: Kill cones

Step 2: Scalding

Step 3: Plucking

Step 4: Eviscerating

And the final product!

We plan to do it all again next year :)

Lamb

Although we have no lamb to sell this year, we will (hopefully!) have plenty in the Fall of 2015. Our sheep have proven to be some of the best eaters. They are even less picky than the goats and are experts at finding good forage.

Our sheep are 'hair sheep', meaning they grow extra fur for winter and shed the fur on their own in the spring. They do not require shearing. 

Beef

Although we will not have any beef to sell for another 2 years, I wanted to post a couple pictures because I think they are beautiful animals. They are our gentle giants on the farm.

Pearl is our calf from this year and we intend to keep her for breeding. 

Sweetpea and Delilah are mother cows that will calve in spring of 2015. They should be pregnant now.

Hickory is our steer that we plan to slaughter for personal use in the fall. 

Fargo, our bull, is a nice guy but we still like to give him plenty of space :)

The cattle are especially fun to see at moving time when they are excited for new grass. They often wait in a line for Todd to open the fence to the 'new' pasture.

Barn Cats

We adopted our barn cats from the Humane Society and they are a joy to be around while working on the farm. They are happy cats :)

Nutmeg

Balsam

The Midland humane society fixed, microchipped, and vaccinated our kitties for next to nothing. I highly recommed adopting an otherwise unwanted animal from your local rescue operation if you are in the market for a pet or barn kitty.

Easy Grilled Chicken Recipe

I recently found a good grilled chicken recipe online (I can't take credit for this one) using chicken quarters. It's tangy and spicy, and even better- no need to buy barbecue sauce for marinade! We tried it out last night on the charcoal grill and it worked great.

Recipe for Lexington-Style Grilled Chicken can be found HERE.

Pork Update

The pigs are getting used to pasture and are so much fun to watch. They are often found running around the weeds, chasing each other in what appears to be a game of tag. They are enjoying the fresh forage!

Let us know if you are interested in purchasing pork. We sell by the whole or half hog.

Pastured Eggs

With these long summer days come plenty of eggs! Our pastured layers are hard at work. Although these chickens do eat grain, they are more often seen eating the seed heads and bugs in the pasture.

Eggs are available for pickup at our farm in Mt. Pleasant for $4.50 a dozen.

Pastured Pork

Our pigs this year are a cross of 1/2 Tamworth, 1/4 Large Black, and 1/4 Blue Butt mix. We have not raised this specific cross before, but are told that the Tamworth lends itself to some very juicy bacon.

Right now we have them in one of the barn stalls to help aerate the compost and we are slowly training them to respect a fence so that we can put them onto pasture. They eat a varied diet of weeds, bugs, and local organic feed.

They seem quite content with their new home and I think I even saw them smile yesterday while they were eating. 

Pastured Broiler Chickens

Chicken tractor time….

It’s that time of year! Our broiler chickens are starting to visibly fatten up and slaughter is soon approaching.

The birds are housed in a sheltered “chicken tractor” and are moved daily to new grass. These chicken eat grass (they are mowing it for us), bugs, and local organic grain.

They will be tasty!

Welcome to my blog!

I am so excited to introduce our farm to everyone! Todd will continue to distribute the farm newsletter, and I have elected to start a blog to attempt to chronicle the lives of our chickens, pigs, sheep, goats, and cattle for both your enjoyment and information.

Please, if you have any serious questions about the workings of the farm or you are interested in purchasing chicken, eggs, or pork (this years’ offerings), contact GEURINKT@GMAIL.COM (Todd’s email) and we would be happy to reserve animal(s) for you.

We have chicken and pork available for reservation as of 7/17/14. Chickens are sold by whole chicken and pork is sold by whole or half pig. Eggs are available daily for pickup at our farm in Mount Pleasant.

I will leave you with a picture of our goat wether, Nugget J Have a wonderful day!