Coop de Villa

It's that time of year again. We raise a limited number of Turkeys each year and the poults have just arrived! As with all of our meat, they are hormone and antibiotic free, but these have a slightly different take on pasture raising. For regular meat birds, you make a dragging pen that uses the ground as the floor and move it each day. It allows the birds to graze on the grass and bugs and the weight of the pen keeps predators out. Roofing panels keep the birds in the shade while they politely fertilize the field with nitrogen rich manure.

Many of you may have seen the chicken tractors for laying chickens. It needs to be larger as the birds need to lay eggs in a designated spot as well as roosts. It should be elevated so it can be a safe place while they forage on fresh grass. These are usually made of nice rough sawn pine and look pretty in a field. Very Martha Stewart like.

I started to price out the material and trailer and began to realize that Martha wasn't in our budget. While explaining my predicament to a friend, he asked a simple question "Why not just use an old camper"? After thinking for a moment, I realized I had no viable reason not to. So for 200 bucks, I was the proud owner of a mobile turkey coop with water and electric hookups and a gas powered fridge that I sold a week later. Other than a tire that disintegrated on the way (long overdue thanks to the guys at Manchester Paving for the assistance and use of their garage in that jam), piece of cake.

The bathroom serves as a handy feed storage area. The electric all works so I plug in the cord an hour before feeding and the lights all come on. The turkeys know that this means it's time to eat, so one by one they jump in the door and await my arrival as darkness falls. I can also run a hose to the hookup for water so I can fill waterers right at the sink. Also, the already tiled floor makes for easy weekly cleanings. Did I mention the great roll up/down windows that allow for climate control as the fall weather shifts from cold to hot and back again? Perhaps the best part was the look on Karen's face when I attempted to graze the turkeys in the front pasture. After some discussion, it was decided that the Turkey Coop de Villa, as it became known, would be a back field fixture-out of view from the road.

We have since pulled most everything out of the interior and have added roosts for the birds to jump up to. An electrified net fence forms the boundary of the yard and the turkeys grow up on fresh grass, grain and sunshine. The funniest part is when they are finally feathered out enough to go to the Coop de Villa and see the mirror for the first time. Unlike chickens, turkeys don't peck and fight constantly. They seem more pensive and curious and nothing interest them more than a fellow turkey who appears to do everything that they do. It is generally 15 minutes each spent in front of the bathroom door craning their necks and flapping their wings.

I suppose when time allows, I will add some cedar shakes and window planters to the outside to tone down the redneck a bit, but it generally gets a few chuckles on the tour when I explain what the beat up old camper is for.

As for the Turkeys, they are Broad Breasted Whites and range in size between 13-22 lbs dressed out. We have a professional handle the processing so they are vacuum sealed in plastic and completely cleaned with giblet pack included. We will have them available for pick up on Tuesday and Wednesday the week of Thanksgiving so that you are getting the freshest product possible-they won't be frozen unless you would like one for Christmas. They are going quick, but you can reserve yours with a $25 deposit. Typically we sell them for $5.50/lb but if we get you deposit prior to September 5th, we will take $.50/lb off. Don't miss out!

What do I get with that....

We recently posted about our winter pigs being ready on our Facebook page. I was happy to see the flood of interest that comes with that because people believe buying a good product matters. There are also lots of questions about what buying a whole or a half of a pig means. Questions are about amounts, space it will take up in a freezer, will it need a fence in the backyard (joke)- It can be intimidating if you have never ordered meat this way. We do like explaining it to people because it is a new way to buy a product but we feel it is a better way that fits the more sustainable local model of agriculture while offering value to the customer. We figured this posting can explain it on a broader level. I’ll be using pork as my main example but it is across the board when buying a whole or half animal. For some info on how we raise our pigs, please click here:

http://farmer-phil.blogspot.com/2013/10/do-you-want-my-leftover-bacon-said-no.html

-Why buy a whole or a half animal:

                -You get to pick how each piece is packaged: A pound of ground makes four burgers. With two people, one eating one and one eating two, there is always the odd man out. I either have to over-eat that nite or it goes in the fridge. For two weeks. Then it gets thrown out when we can’t figure out what that thing in the zip lock bag is and why it is moving. ¾ pounds of ground makes three burgers. No overeating, no wasted food.

                -You get to choose how each cut is made: Summer calls for grilling. Winter calls for comfort food. You can get steaks for the summer and roasts for the winter that let you enjoy both. We have one customer who loves pork, but mostly in the morning. Her standing order is simple-Ham, Bacon, Sausage.

                -Ready for you on your time: No need to wait until the next market or till morning. If you want bacon, well pull it from the freezer, let thaw and you are ready for a killer midnite BLT.

                -Meal planning is a cinch: Groceries are the biggest budget buster and I would imagine that wasting groceries is the worst catalyst to that. Having a freezer stocked lets you plan your meals in advanced so when you head to the grocery store you aren't trying to pair chicken breast and canned brussel sprouts.

                -Value: Perhaps the best part is the money saved. We always talk about the value of raising food right but to go to the farmers market and buy individual cuts can add up fast. This saves money while giving you the peace of mind that you bought a humanely, well raised local product.

-What do I get?

                - It depends on a lot of things but here is my best explanation of the process and the variables.

                -A few definitions first. An animal has a few weights attached to it in the butchering process. The first is live weight, or "on the hoof" as it is often called. For a pig, the target live weight is 225 lbs. A litter is 6-14 piglets so this will vary because 12 trips to the butcher is not economical, so we try to get the average at this weight-some are bigger, some are smaller. This is why the industry standard is hanging weight to base pricing on. Hanging weight is the animals’ weight after being slaughtered, insides, head and hooves removed and blood drained. Using a cut sheet to determine how a customer wants the animal, the take home weight is called the cut weight.

                -Generally, A hanging weight will be 70-75% of the live weight.

                -Cut weight varies, depending on cuts, from 60-75% of hanging weight. As an example, if we took the breakfast pig from above, many cuts will be needed to remove the meat for the sausage. Even the best butcher will have some left on the bone. This would be the 60% example. Conversely, If someone wanted mostly roasts with the bone in, that would be the 75% example. Generally, most of our customers are in between with each person liking it a certain way. And in the end that is the point. We always do a telephone call to review the cut sheet, a list produced for the butcher to know exactly how each one is to be cut. We keep a record of each customer’s cuts, so if you liked the way it was done, we can do that again or make changes as you wish.

                -It’s not too fancy and fairly old, but it tells the options for what a half pig be made into better than anything else.

-         - How is it delivered and much room does it take up?

-Everything is vacuum sealed at the USDA facility and then cryo-frozen (subzero immersion freezing) immediately after packaging. This process all buts eliminates freezer burn associated with the old paper wrap and regular freezers. We will pick up the boxes and have them promptly available for pick up at the farm.

-The cost includes smoking of the bacon, anything other smoked cuts are an additional cost. The smoked cuts arrive generally 4-6 weeks after the fresh cuts are ready.

-As with everything it varies, but a whole pig is generally three 1’x1’x1’ boxes and can fit in the freezer above a standard refrigerator. However, it is generally best to have a stand-alone freezer because the cuts can be a bit of a puzzle to fit in that space.

- It can be a bit intimidating at first but we really do enjoy explaining it to each customer and taking the time to make sure that everything is how you want it to be. Please feel free to call or email with any questions.

Water, Water

"Water, water, every where,

And all the boards did shrink;

Water, water, every where,

Nor any drop to drink"

 

The Rime of the Ancient Mariner - Samuel Taylor Coleridge, 1798


Most people have heard the last two lines in some form or fashion, generally referring to a lack of intoxicating spirits. The poem itself refers to a ship that becomes stranded off of Antarctica and the crew is nearly driven mad by thirst despite water as far as the eye can see. This poem is certainly prophetic for the sailor and the farmer around this time of year. As a foot of snow surrounds the farm, with ice everywhere you step, the irony the sailors must have felt rings true.

I'll be the first to admit that winter snuck up on me this year. There was an early cold snap and it really hasn't released it's grip since, with exception of a quick thaw that teases as the ground is still hard as stone. One of the hardest parts of raising livestock through the winter is getting water in it's liquid form to the critters. Getting the water is the first issue. The hose bib out side has long since frozen so we have an inside spigot to draw water from. This was last years big upgrade from filling buckets in the second floor bathroom tub. there was a genius idea to mount a hand pump on a dug well we have in the fields so that the water would be right near the animals and it wouldn't freeze up. A great plan until the pump we got was defective and the month to get it exchanged had transformed the farm into a winter wonderland.

I like the weather-I blend in.

The second task is keep the water as a liquid once you bring it to the animals. The barn is the easiest, with outlets galore as we use heated buckets in the stalls. We have also put most of the animals close enough to the out buildings so that they too can have heated bowls to drink from. The one trick is that there is only so much space within range of the outlets and someone invariably gets literally left out in the cold. This year was Erica Jean our cow and the breeding pigs. A few factors determine this. They are the larger animals and there isn't much predator threat to them based on their size. While sheep require whole bales of hay, Erica only needs a few flakes and the sows only need two buckets of grain so it isn't as hard to feed them on foot. We then try to put the bowls in the sun so that even if they do freeze, we can just break the ice and there will be water once the sun hits it. They also realize that they better drink up right after the water is delivered so that also helps. In fact, most of the animals adapt very well to the cold. They move with the sun to keep warm and have their little spots away from their shelters that shield them from the wind. People are no different as we go through our routines to keep the winter blues away. My optimistic moment of the day is to look to the evening sky as it stays light just a few minutes longer each day and while I am enjoying the solitude of winter, I look forward to the explosion of growth that spring will bring- trees to tap, seeds to order and lambs on the way. Hey wait-weather just said it may warm up!