September 2021 Newsletter

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September 1, 2021

Busy With Chickens!

We've got a lot going on with poultry these days! We move groups of chickens and turkeys to fresh grass each morning, topping off their food and water and saying hi to the friendly guardian dogs.

Throughout the entire summer every other week, we bring a new batch of chicks or turkey poults into the brooder, to begin their life here on the farm. And every week, we process a batch of fresh chicken to keep the freezer stocked with whole broilers and all our favorite chicken cuts.

If you ask us what Summer means, we'll say "chickens!"

Processing Day

On average, our crew processes between 300 and 400 chickens per week.

We believe in treating every animal with respect from the moment we receive them through harvesting day. We know this isn't something that most people want to think about, but there are many questions that are left open that many don't know what that process looks like and how to form a question to better understand.

So for those wanting to learn more, we highly recommend watching Green Farm Life, Episode 5. It's a very educational episode (video) we recorded to help shed light for our farm friends to be more informed of the process.

Watch "Green Farm Life"

Turkeys on Pasture

We raise several batches of turkey throughout the growing season to have delicious, nutrition packed turkey meat for your Thanksgiving Dinner! In order to do this, it's important to have fresh green grass and bugs in their diet, so this means raising them throughout the Summer Time.

During this past month the turkeys were big enough to move onto open grass from their movable shelter designed to keep them safe while they were little.

They walked happily across the field and into their new paddock with a little direction from the crew.

Learn More about how we raise our Turkeys - HERE

HOW TO COOK A CHICKEN

Have you ever felt intimidated by cooking a whole broiler chicken? Wondered about crock pot vs. oven, basting and cooking times?

Check out this step by step guide for multiple ways to cook your pasture raised broiler to perfection - without the fuss!

Recipe Here

Chicken Bundles Available Again!

We're excited to offer our Whole Bird Bundle and our Chicken Parts Bundle again. Chicken sure is a staple at our house, anyone else?

Checkout these bundles and see if stocking your freezer with one of these bundles is a good fit for your family.

Chicken Bundles

Thank you for taking the time to learn more about our farm in this newsletter! We call you our farm friend, because we see you as friend's of our farm. So thanks for being you and supporting our farm in the way you do! We look forward to hearing from you soon!

- Laura

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Family Friendly Weeknight Bolognese

If you're like me, family dinners are important. It feels like there are a million different responsibilities these days, and it's easy to get so busy that there doesn't seem to be time to sit down as a family and enjoy a filling, nutritious meal - much less cook one! The more I learn about the food industry, the more committed I become to making my family's food from scratch as much as possible. So then the challenge becomes finding recipes that fit my criteria... For a meal to be a winner in my book, here's what it needs to be: easy to make with very few separate stepseasy flexibility for dietary needs of individual family memberscustomizable for personal tasteeasy to swap ingredients to a) make it seem like a different dish sometimes and b) use what I have on handbe overall inexpensive (since I have a growing family of 6)have no "weird" ingredients or crazy spices. (In other words, it has to be "kid approved") Now. A quick browse on Pinterest might yield hundreds of recipes that mostly match those criteria, but as soon as I click the mouth-watering picture and actually read the recipe, my stomach churns at all the pre-packaged, ingredient-laden, seed-oil-filled "conveniences" that cook used. 😞 My meals also must be nutritionally dense and use no mystery ingredients or seed oils. Since I created this family-friendly weeknight Bolognese recipe that actually meets all of these requirements, I thought I'd share, because you may be "in the same boat" searching for recipes like this for your family, too. Hannah's Family Friendly Weeknight Bolognese Ingredients: 16 oz dry pasta (For extra kid-friendliness, I usually choose penne or rotini) 1 pound ground beef 1 pound ground pork sausage (My go-to is breakfast sausage, but you can use any flavor. It does need to be pork sausage because of the fat content.) 2 whole carrots (diced) 1 small onion (diced) 1 1/2 tsp salt (I only use REAL salt) 1/2 tsp ground black pepper 1 tsp EACH dried basil, dried oregano, dried parsley (substitute with 1 Tablespoon of fresh herbs when able. 😊) 4-8 garlic cloves (diced) - depending on size and preference 16-32 oz pasta sauce or tomato sauce - based on preference (I use my home-canned tomato sauce, but any will do) 1/2 cup whole milk or heavy cream (again, depending on preference) Steps: Cook pasta according to package instructions for al dente and set aside. Cook and crumble meats together in a large saucepanIn the meat pan, add vegetables and spices/herbs and cook until tenderAdd tomato sauce and simmer for 10-15 minutes to infuse flavorsStir in milk (or cream) and cook until warmStir sauce into cooked pasta and serve immediately with parmesan Recommended sides: Green salad or caprese (tomatoes, mozzarella, basil, balsamic vinegar, olive oil, salt and pepper) Sauteed kale or Swiss chard Roasted green beans, squash & zucchini, or asparagus Garlic toast Let me know if you try this dish, what you changed, and how you liked it! There are endless substitutions and changes that make this meal so so easy to keep in the back of your mind and just use whatever you have on hand. And its so easy that even kids can help with prep (which I love to have my kiddos do).