One Farmer’s Thoughts on Help On The Farm:
Hired/Bartered Help, Interns/Apprentices
We frequently field questions on how we do all that we do and if we hire help.
We have found that getting workers for farm work is VERY difficult. The following link is a very good description as to why some of our nation’s food is so cheap, go here: http://www.takeourjobs.org/
We don’t take apprentices or interns. Aside from some liability issues (Frank, our insurance agent, are you reading this?), interns and apprentices deserve a well-designed program and we haven’t put the time into doing this.
We have invested in mechanization to help make things safer, easier and simply much more dependable.
Frequently Asked Questions:
I see that you repair yard and garden
equipment as well as automobiles, tell me more.
Farms are under increasing pressures to stay afloat, and many of the skills
used by a self-reliant farmer are in great need. We are experts at keeping
just about anything mechanical alive and in reliable service. Lawn mowers,
tractors, cars and trucks......we see just about anything that has an engine
and wheels.
Vehicle undercoating is offered, isn't that
passe with all the new cars on the road?
During winter, caustic road chemicals used for de-icing are dissolving our
roads, bridges and anything metallic including auto frames and
undercarriages at an alarming rate. We use environmentally friendly
Fluid-Film and vegetable oil to help defend your vehicle and equipment from
the ravages of de-icers. With a lot invested in your ride, keeping it whole
and reliable has never been more important. Especially helpful for older
vehicles! We have vehicles from 1969 that are still in service due to
keeping rust and corrosion at bay.
I can't get a contractor to call me back,
would you help me with carpentry and small projects?
We've rebuilt houses, barns, greenhouses, entire new houses, new custom
cabinetry and are very knowledgeable of the building codes. With a bend
toward reliability, durability and value, count on a farmer to fix it once
and be done!
Do you sell your beef in halves, whole or quarters?
We
no longer sell our beef.
Your prices are higher than meat in the supermarket- why is this?
We
run a small-scale farm (~100 acres) and in a region of the country where real
estate is expensive, and farming is not well-supported. We don’t receive any
farm subsidies. Our style of farming is more time intensive, though more sustainable in
the long run.
With so many labels out there; organic, grass fed, free range, etc….what’s the difference? How do you do things exactly?
We are concerned with the myriad of labels and the murkiness, too. We won’t try to explain what they mean here, only to describe what we do. We look to our customers to be our certifiers.
CHICKEN/LAYERS- An FCI certified animal-product free feed of roasted soy, cracked corn, other grains and minerals. Full outdoor access on pasture, rotated at least weekly. Eggs gathered, washed and refrigerated daily.
BROILERS:
We brood day old chicks in our special brooder house then we will them move out to our
pasture schooner which is a moveable greenhouse type structure. Fresh pasture daily.
Animal product, antibiotic, chemical free grower/finisher feed containing soy, corn,
wheat, minerals and vitamins. We process our broilers in a state-of-the-art facility
designed for humane treatment.
Chickens are not ruminants, why is grass important for them?
Chickens
will gather up to 10% of their diet from grass and grass appears to offer many health
benefits for chickens. We marvel at how happy chickens are on pasture! Young shoots, bugs,
grubs and sunshine make for happy chickens!
You don’t always have what I want, what can I do about that?
E-mail us to order ahead, or ask us about using our more common cuts.
The
orange yolk comes largely from beta- carotene, an important vitamin (Vitamin E to be
exact) an important anti-oxidant. Only with a diet containing living roughages will you
see beta carotene mobilized into the fat of eggs (and in the meat in beef cattle, too!).
Orange yolks = very healthy eggs! An older egg (months old) will lose water and shrink
inside the hard shell and separate from the shell leaving a small space. With our
hard-cooked eggs, try cutting the egg in half and scooping them out with a spoon instead!
If you are intent on easy hard-cooked eggs from us, then store them for at least a month.
We’ve tried all the tricks- vinegar or baking soda in the water with VERY mixed
results!
chicken - eggs -
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