Molting Hens and Memories of Pigs

     As I sit here this morning looking out my window at the drizzling rain, I'm remembering the faces of our two pigs running around the chicken yard wreaking havoc.  It's a warming thought to remember them and to know that their lives were lived as a pig should live- being curious and inquisitive and rooting and wallowing in mud.  It comforts us to think about that as we enjoy bacon and eggs from our farm.  
     Our laying hens have been going through their annual molt over the last few weeks here so we haven't gotten many eggs for the last month.  Hopefully our Plymouth Rock hens will begin laying soon to pick up the slack of the tired Rhode Island Reds. 
     Over the last year I have focused on trying to build a business out of this farm.  I've been consumed with finding potential customers, and figuring out how to get them product, and what we plan to sell five years from now and envisioning the sales building I hope to someday have here on the farm.  A few days ago it occurred to me that a farm's primary responsibility is to feed itself.  What does it matter if we sell hundreds of chickens and dozens of eggs if our freezer is empty and if we have to go buy eggs at the store to bake our holiday pies.  In the coming year I will still be making steps to building a profitable farm business, but I'm going to readjust my focus to make sure that this piece of ground feeds our family first and the community around us second.

Busy but Blessed Weekend

 

This weekend was super crazy busy, but it was a blessing all the way through.  Saturday  morning I met a bunch of fellow Elevators to help set up for the Rush of Fools concert.  I could not believe how much equipment they had.  I really had know idea how much went into a production like they had.  Anyhow, we got it all unloaded and set up and right off of the get go the devil was trying to spoil plans for this concert and take away from God's glory.  The day before the concert while the band was enroute to Ohio, their equipment trailer came unhitched and was hit by a semi-truck and totaled.  Luckily, by the grace of God, all of the band's equipment was in a box truck they were driving and so all of the equipment was fine.  Then once they were getting plugged in to everything we realized that the school did not have enough power to supply all of their equipment so we had to order in a big diesel generator.  The generator got to the school and the band got plugged in and started testing out equipment and getting everything set for the show and suddenly the subwoofers stopped working.  No one knows why.  The band broke for lunch and Tate and I and a few others stayed at the school to babysit the equipment while they were gone.  Meanwhile, generator quit working.  We called the service number on the side of the generator and got a voicemail.  We left a message and then started making calls to see about getting another generator.  We had another one lined up when the repairman finally called back and then came out to the school.  It turns out that there was a problem with the fuel filter.  So after replacing the fuel filter the power supply was back up and running.  All seemed well, although we were running a few minutes behind schedule since the equipment had been down.  The opening act came out and played great all went well and the show went to intermission.  Minutes before Rush of Fools was set to come on the Subs went out....again.  This time we believe it was because the $25,000 sound board was overheating, so we scrambled to find a fan to put on it tool cool it down and bam! we were back in business.  After that everything went fine.  The band came on stage and rocked it out!!!! It was a great day and a true blessing.  All day long the father of lies tried to steal, kill, and destroy, but we remember that Jesus comes to bring life to the fullest and so we chose to go with the second option.  What a night and what a blessing to the city of Norwalk and all who came out for the show.  Huge thanks to Rush of Fools and anyone who doesn't know about their music should check it out.  They just released their third album "We Once Were", get it.

Rush of Fools

In case you haven't heard the band Rush of Fools is going to be performing in Norwalk this weekend.  Saturday, October 8, 2011 they will be playing at Main St. School in Norwalk, Ohio.  The concert is being sponsored by Elevation Church and tickets are only $5!!! Read that again.  Yes.  Tickets to a concert of a Dove Award winning band for less than the price of a bag of beef jerky- and they won't get stuck in your teeth, ears maybe.  Anyway, you can still get tickets at Sheri's Coffeehouse or you can buy them at the door.  The show starts at 6 PM.    Don't miss out!!!

A Kingdom That Can Not Be Shaken!!

This morning's sermon by Pastor Steven Furtick at Elevation Church- Norwalk Extension was one of the most intense, truthful and inspiring sermons that I've ever heard.  If you missed it you can check it out online at: www.elevationchurch.org. If you live anywhere in Northern Ohio and are looking for a church, but just haven't found one that fit yet- try us out.  If you have never been, or haven't been to church in years, but want to come back- we would love to have you.  Elevation Church exists so that people far from God will be filled with life in Christ.  Come be a part of a "Kingdom that cannot be shaken!".   We meet Sundays @ 11:15 AM at the Main Street school in Norwalk, Ohio. 

Recipes

I've added another link on this site.  This one is going to be dedicated to recipes.  Since you are all buying food from Red Rooster Ranch ( you ARE buying aren't you?), I've decided you should have an arsenal of tasty recipes for cooking such great, wholesome food.  If you have a recipe to share please comment on this post or email me at mdrennen20@gmail.com.  Right now I'm obviously going to focus on chicken and egg recipes so if you have some favorites please send them in and I'll post them on the site. Thanks guys!

New Page

Tonight on the news they reported on two separate food illness outbreaks.  One is a Lysteria outbreak involving cantaloupes from Colorado and the other was yet another E. Coli outbreak involving ground beef.  Tyson Foods recalled more than 100,000 pounds of beef in Ohio because of the bacteria.  Yet more reasons to buy foods from your local foodshed.  Build relationships with farmers in your community and buy food from them.  When there is a relationship between  consumer and grower it sets up some accountability and ensures more integrity than food that comes from who knows where and travels hundreds if not thousands of miles changing hands many times before it gets to our table.  I'm setting up another page on this site to track all of the food related recalls and outbreaks to compile a list showing that bad track record of the military-industrial food complex that feeds most of us.  I think we all are outraged at such outbreaks while they are fresh in our minds, but the memories fade and we forget and go right back to buying our Cargill feedlot mush.  Anyway, check out the running list from time to time to remind yourself just how abnormal our food system is in this country.

Come Join Us

 

 

Elevation Church Norwalk Extension is starting a new series studying Hebrews chapter 12.  Come be a part of the "Kingdom that cannot be shaken."  Sundays starting at 11:15am @ Main Street School in Norwalk, Ohio.  We would love to see you there.

Working with Nature

This morning is clear and it looks to be a good day here in northern Ohio, but it's been raining off and on for about the last six or seven days.  On Monday my dad needed some extra help at his shop so I did my chores in the morning here and left for Birmingham.  As I was finishing up my chores it was beginning to rain very lightly, and I gave my still young broilers that are out in the field pen a pep talk warning them to get under the sheltered end of the pen if it started to rain hard.  I don't think they listened.  Later that morning a thunderstorm rolled through, and though I don't think that the winds were excessive or anything the chicks were scared and tried to pile up in the front corner of the pen.  When I got home in the evening and checked on them I found that eight were dead.  It looked as though they had just been smothered and trampled to death by their brothers and sisters during the storm.  I'll assume that's what happened since there were no signs of predators or anything like that.  I was worried about them when I left because it was only the second day that they had been in the field and had not yet experienced rain.  Hopefully we won't lose anymore before it's time to harvest them.  You win some and you lose some.  As Beyond Organic farmers we take on more risk than that of industrial scale conventional farms, but the rewards are infinitely greater.  We could easily raise birds for Tyson or Perdue and they would front most of the expenses ( cost of chicks, feed, and meds), but the birds wouldn't be worth eating when we finished them.  Our model produces food that leaves us with a clean body, clean environment, and clean conscious.  Nature is cruel and when you are working with it sometimes you will get burnt, but ultimately it is much easier to work with Mother Nature than to work against her.

Souls Satisfying Work

We started our day by watching the boys (minus Micaiah) play soccer.  All three won.  Our big boys play on one team and  Brodey  plays on another.  It sure is a blessing to be able to watch those boys play sports.  They really are doing well and are learning to be fierce competitors, as well as good sportsmen.  We are so proud of them. 
When we got back from the soccer fields ( and Bob Evan's, Becky always wants B.E. after soccer) I changed into my work duds and started addressing a long list of things that need done before the snow flies.  I'm exhausted as I sit here and write this.  I'm not sure that I should be since I only worked for about five hours, but I am.  I cleaned out the nest boxes in the coop.  I cleaned up some of the debris the pigs had created in the coop.  I mowed some of the grass in the big yard to prepare for the broilers coming out to the field pen.  I moved the broilers out to the field pen.  I continued disassembling the "junk" barn.  It was the kind of afternoon that I just didn't want to end.  I was working hard and I was really enjoying it.  Tomorrow I probably will not work out side other than doing the regular chores of feeding and watering the animals because it is Sunday and after church I'll be spending time with my family and getting things ready to start them back to work and school on Monday.  As soon as I can get back at the work that I was doing today I will.  It was enjoyable because I was out there working by myself and so I was alone with my thoughts.  I need that from time to time.  I think everyone needs that from time to time.  It gave me some extra time to talk things over with God.  I enjoyed that.  As I worked and hashed things out with my maker I had the sound of the fire crackling in my ear as I burned some of the scrap wood coming off of the barn.  I also had birds singing as they played in the vines growing on the hay barn.  I had the occasional cackle of hens in the field pens and snort of a pig or two from over in the pig pen.  All the while I had visions of the green grass that will grown under the footprint of this old barn in months to come.  It was a "whistle while you work" kind of afternoon.  So as I sit here physically tired from the work I did today,  my soul sings from the satisfaction that it brought.  Thank you, Father in Heaven for allowing me the privilege to work this small piece of ground and to be a caretaker of your animals.  Thank you.

Rain, Mud, Muck, and Chores...

It's been raining here in northern Ohio for the last few days off and on.  The projected forecast is rain for the next seven days.  YUCK!!!  Well, anyway it's turning into a mess out there, but the pigs still need water, and the hens still need some feed and the broilers still food and water.  Luckily the broilers are in the barn today, but unfortunately they are supposed to move out to the field pen this week, but I think I'm going to hold off until next weekend so that they don't spend their first few days outside of a nice dry barn with seven straight days of rain and fifty degree weather.  The pig pen is turning into a quagmire and I'm not at all looking forward to going out into that today.  Today would be a great day to not be a farmer, but there are no days off in farming.  I'm okay with that.  Sloshing around in the rain for a bit trumps driving to a job off of the farm everyday. 
I'm feeling a little scatter-brained so far this morning-I did yesterday as well.  A million thoughts and ideas and things I need to do and things that I want to do.  I'm just having a hard time focusing.  I actually am having a hard time focusing on anything even worth writing about this morning.  I think I'm just going to read my Bible and make out my to do list for the day and get on with it.

Good morning from Red Rooster Ranch!

the case of the missing eggs

I seem to be gaining some momentum in the egg sales.  I've gotten some good reviews lately and a few people have liked them so well that they increased how many they want each week.  Unfortunately,  at the same time that people seemed to be getting excited about the eggs and wanting more, I started not having as many as I should each day.  A few months ago I was getting about two dozen a day, now I'm getting about ten a day.  I'm sure the pigs are responsible.  I interrogated them for awhile, but they didn't say a word.  Just blank stares insisting their innocence.  I don't know what to believe.  Ha! Anyway, allowing the pigs access to the coop was a good thing while they were still fairly small because they didn't bother the chickens or the eggs but they did aerate the bedding in the coop which composted nicely, but now they are too big and too mischievous to be trusted in there.  So I'm going to have to lock them out of the coop and lock the chickens in it.  I've got some repairs to do because I did notice the other day that the pigs busted a couple of boards loose from the back wall of the coop.  Anyway in the next day or two I should be able to have that done.  I'm also going to move our Plymouth Rock hens in the coop as well from the field pen because they should be laying anytime now too.  With the addition of the Barred Plymouth Rock girls laying we should be getting somewhere around forty or fifty eggs a day maybe more.  I'm excited about that and it is just what we need to strike while the iron is hot so to speak.  Soon, we'll be installing a hoop house here which will be the winter home for the hens.  We'll add some nest boxes hanging from the center and they will be much warmer in there which will allow them to lay better through the winter on less food than it would take if they were freezing cold.  I can't wait to see how the hoophouse turns out. 

The Pigness of the Pig

I've got a question for you.  "If God meant for pigs to live their lives on concrete, or worse, on a slatted floor in a CAFO, why did he put a plow on the end of their noses?"  To steal some phraseology from Joel Salatin, "It's about respecting the pigness of the pig."  I'm no scientist.  Nor am I a well-studied theologian.  I am a Christian, and I do believe that the Earth and everything in it were created by an all-knowing, all-powerful god.  So then, the question must be asked again: "Why does the pig have a shovel on the end of his nose if he was never intended to use it?"  Certainly, God knew what was best for the pig when He designed him.  I am certainly not an animal worshiper, or a member of PETA, but I most certainly think that it is our duty as caretakers of God's creation to respect the "pigness of the pig" or the "chickenness of the chicken".  I take pride in the fact that to the best of our ability we try to allow the chickens to live like chickens and the pigs to live like pigs, not like prisoners in a concentration camp who are not healthy, but given an orgy or pharmaceuticals to keep them alive long enough to reach slaughter weight.  I believe that I am honoring God by respecting His creation.  Yes, ultimately our animals will be killed and eaten by us or our customers, but we must all remember that our food has a face.  Whether or not we want to look into that face or not, does not change the fact that the ham we are eating used to be a living breathing pig.  Did it live its life like a pig?  Was it allowed to express its pigness?  Did it have the opportunity to flip sod over looking for roots and grubs?  Did it get a chance to cool itself from the hot summer sun in a mud hole?  Or did it spend its life in a barn shoulder to shoulder and nose to tail with other hogs not allowed the freedom to do anything but eat?  Those chicken nuggets your eating: Did they come from chickens who were allowed to hunt and peck for bugs and eat fresh grass each morning?  Did it get to live like a chicken or did it simply survive the concentration camp long enough to become a Happy Meal?  We are what we eat and I guarantee you that there is a difference in taste and nutritional value in meat that comes from happy animals allowed to express their individual uniqueness that the God of Heaven and Earth instilled in them.  I don't know all of the reasons that God put that plow on that pig's nose, but I'll bet the farm that they are good ones.  Respect the pigness of the pig; buy meat from local farmers who know there is a reason for that pig's plow.

One step at a time....

 

Yesterday I decided to dig up the potatoes because the plants had pretty much died back.  Last year's potato crop wasn't great.  I mean it was okay, but we ended up with a lot of little golf ball sized or smaller ones.  This year was a different story.  I still had some some that were pretty small but all in all they looked about the same size as ones that you would buy at the grocery store.  Only difference is we grew these.  We planted them.  We dug them.  We knew exactly what went into that soil.  They didn't come here all of the way from Idaho.  They will only travel about fifty feet from the garden to the table where they will be eaten.  Even though we grew twice as many spuds as we did last year I still don't think it is even half as many as we need for the winter.  One step at a time.  That's all we can do.  We can't go from Wal-Mart dependent to totally self-sufficient over night, but we can learn.  Year by year we can do a little more and do a little better.  There is always room for improvement.  Always room for refinement.  It's a slow, life-long process.

... peppers too!

Exhausted and it's only 4pm!!

Today I went over to Round Rock Farm and helped some fellow poultry graziers butcher chickens.  I will tell you what: butchering chickens for five hours straight wears you down.  By the end you are whooped.  We did  60 birds by the time I had to leave.  Unfortunately, I had to leave early to get our kids off of the bus, and Luke and Mary Heymann still had about 40 birds to go.  I still think we made pretty darn good time.  It's nice meeting like minded farmers who are striving to grow food of exceptional quality by keeping it simple and natural.  They certainly are doing just that.  I'm glad that we are getting to know them more and hopefully our friendship with them will lead to increased learning and productivity for both their farm and ours. 

Barn Down....

We pulled the barn down tonight.  Dad came over about six and made a few cuts in some strategic places and then pulled it over with his truck.  It was pretty awesome to watch it fall.  The good news is it looks like the majority of the big beams made it down with out any damage.  Tomorrow I will start sorting out the wreckage.

They don't make 'em like they used to....

Dad and I have been tearing at that barn some more this weekend.  I'll tell you what, for as dilapidated as it looked like from the outside, it is still pretty darn solid.  The proverbial "Brick Sh*t house has nothing on this barn.  We came to the conclusion out there that had the foundation been better that barn would have stood for a thousand years.  We quit for the night, but we are close to the point where we will try to pull it over.  No barn work tomorrow... my lovely wife was named "Teacher of the Year" by the Erie County Soil and Water Conservation District.  I'm so proud of her!! Anyway we'll have this old barn on the ground Tuesday evening.

TGIF!!!!!

I. AM. EXHAUSTED!!!!  Becky is even more so.  This has been the longest week ever.  Becky is teaching high school Monday through Friday during the day and she's teaching evening classes at Ashland University on Mondays and Wednesdays, and evening classes at Bowling Green State University- Firelands' campus on Tuesdays and Thursdays.  She's pooped to say the least.  She gets home some time between eight and ten most nights now.  She really enjoys teaching the college classes and we both hope that maybe this opportunity will lead to a full time position at on of the universities.  I, on the other hand, am not whipped because I'm teaching young adults about rocks and minerals in the late evening, but because I'm outnumbered six to one here.  It hasn't been too bad really, but on top of flying this ship solo while Becky makes the dough, this week I'm helping my dad out at his shop since his driver is on vacation.  Plus the kids started soccer this week on top of it all.  Needless to say I'm ready for the weekend.  I've been picking away all week at the pile of grapes we brought home from Aunt Pat's. One thing at a time people.  One thing at a time.  We're making an effort and that's what counts.  I'm off to bed.

Barn Pics

The barn is still standing, but we got all of the junk out of it.  Now we just need to disassemble some of the nice wood that we want to keep and then pull it down.  Here are some cool pictures Becky took from inside of it on Monday.

The prodigy in me

 

There's a prodigy in you too.  We just started a new series at church called "The Prodigy in Me".  It's all about how God has given each and everyone one of us specific skills and talents to do great things for Him.  Today was the first in a four week series.  Pastor Steven Furtick was on fire preaching this one.  He set the bar pretty high and if the next three weeks are even half as good as this one it will be one of the best things I've ever heard.  You can check out Pastor Steven's blog at www.stevenfurtick.com.  Come check it out every Sunday at Main Street school in Norwalk, Ohio.  Church starts at 11:15 AM.  See you there. 

Wine anyone?

On Friday my grandma called and said that her sister (my aunt Pat) had a grape vine with "gobs and gobs" of grapes on it and that she wanted to know  if my grandma knew anyone who might want to have some grapes.  So, Saturday Becky, the kids, and I went and picked some grapes.  We picked just shy of four bushels of grapes.  We haven't had a chance to process them yet, but we decided we are going to juice all of the grapes and then we are going to can some grape juice and make some jelly too.  I guess we'll be doing that tomorrow.

Today, my dad came over and we started cleaning up in the "junk" barn because tomorrow we plan on pulling it down.  We're going to salvage all that we can.  We'll recycle all of the metal that we can't reuse.  Any wood that we can't salvage we're going to burn, and everything else is going to go to the dump.  Dad came over about four o'clock this afternoon, but some heavy rain moved in about six and we had to call it quits for the night.  We'll start back up at seven thirty tomorrow morning.  I hope we at least get it down tomorrow.  Becky and I rented a construction dumpster which will be here for two weeks so I've got a little while to clean up the mess we make.  We're tearing the barn down because it's falling down, an eyesore, in the way, and we want to get the area cleaned up so that we can us the room for either livestock or veggies.  Hopefully I"ll have some pictures of the barn project tomorrow night. 

Let's go back to the start

 

This video is great.  It's a commercial for the restaurant Chipotle, which is a national chain that is making an effort to purchase animals raised in a more natural way.  It's a step in the right direction.  I came across this clip on a blog that I follow.  It's a pretty good one and you can check it out here.www.coldantlerfarm.blogspot.com

Yesterday, I watched my niece for just a few hours and she was super excited to see the "baby chickies" at Uncle Matt's house.

Last Call

Well, yesterday I picked up the last fifty broiler chicks of the season.  I think just about all of those fifty are sold, but if anyone is interested in any let me know and we'll see what we can do.  These fifty will be butchered on about October 15 of this year. 
I had to run to the grocery store earlier today to pick up some much needed food staples.  It is amazing how much bread a family of eight goes through once you're packing lunches for six of them five days a week.  It was encouraging though to realize that I didn't really need any meat or veggies while I was there because we've been eating what we can produce here.  I must confess that I did buy some Johnsonville Brats because my dad is coming over this weekend to help me tear down the "junk" barn.  I know they are made of junk meat probably from Smithfield (Lord forgive me), but I do love me a bratwurst.  I could have used some ground beef too, but I absolutely refuse to buy Cargill ground beef so I passed, and I'll just have to wait until I can get to the meat market to get some. 
Charlotte and Curly, our two pigs, are growing well and are as mischievous as ever.  I've been wondering how much they weigh, because we are aiming to have them butchered at around 225 to 250 pounds.  I did a little research and found a formula for calculating the weight.  All you do is measure the length of the pig from the crown of the head (between the ears) to the base of the tail.  Then take a girth measurement around her chest just behind the front legs.  The formula is:  WEIGHT= (LENGTH X GIRTH X GIRTH) / 400.  Charlotte measured 43" long x 36" girth or approximately 139lbs.  Curly was 45" x 37, or 154lbs.  I'll check them out here in another month and see how they are.  Right now I need to decide where I am having them butchered and the logistics of that whole process. 

Check it Out!!

Click on the link to the right and check out Salt the Earth blog.  It is written by Randee Jo Stroud and gives many great recipes using healthy and local ingredients.  Enjoy

6 Casualties, 1 MIA

What you are looking at is a pile of Plymouth Rock laying hen feathers in the grass.  We came home from church today to find a few hens out and one very nervous goat.  I thought it seemed strange that the hens were out.  We initially counted four out, but as Riley and I were walking out to catch them I counted not four, but ten chickens out running around.  As we approached the pasture pen that was on the far north property line on our farm, I could see that the chicken wire was not fastened at the top of the pen on one side.  Upon further investigation I could see that the wire wasn't just loose a little, but had been completely ripped away from the frame of the pen on the top on two whole sides.  I also, saw piles and piles of feathers.  As I looked around the area I soon realized the gravity of the situation.  I saw one dead hen laying in the bean field to my left and two severely injured, but not yet dead hens laying straight out in front of me.  As I was taking in a good long look at the crime scene the perpetrator returned to the scene.  Out of the beans came a young, clearly starving, Siberian Husky.  I tried to scare her of by yelling and kicking in her general direction, but after initially tucking tail and cowering she would come running right back.  Long story short we called the county dog warden to come pick her up.  She was a very friendly and beautiful dog, but she made a mess of my chickens.  If you are looking for a dog you might call the Huron County Dog Warden to inquire about her.  She will go up for adoption in three days if no owners come forward to claim her.  By the way we found three other victims and realized that we were still one bird short that we never could find.  Those dead  birds went out to the compost pile out behind the barn where I compost the offal from our broiler processing days.  As sad as it is that those birds had to meet such a tragic death at the teeth of the intruder, I find much comfort in knowing that those seven birds lived everyday of their life getting to be chickens and live like chickens and that in their death they will ultimately add to the fertility of this farm. 

What's For Dinner?

Maybe you've noticed and maybe you haven't, but there is a new link to the right of the page entitled "My Blog List".  Right now there is only one blog listed, but it is another one I'm working on which is designed to equip people with the tools to eat local and seasonal.  Check it out.  I'm going to try my darndest to post a recipe each day featuring an item that happens to be in season in northern Ohio.  Like I said, check it out and follow along.

Cukes Coming Out of my Ears

Well, yesterday was another day of canning pickles.  I made 9 pints of Bread and Butter pickles.  We've now got more pickles in the pantry than we would eat in two years.  I don't know how many more pickling cukes I'm going to get because I've got some bugs that are beginning to take over my hills of cucumbers.  I did a little research yesterday to see just what they are and how to control them, but I'm still not sure if it's squash bugs or something else.  Mostly a million little black bugs.  Tiny.  And eggs.  All on the backs of the leaves and flowers.  I'm not sure what it is, but they are sucking the life right out of those vines.  The leaves are yellowing up and wilting some.  Even if I'm unable to save the plants I'd say we had a pretty good year with them.  So far I have canned 32 pints of pickles which is more than we would eat in three years probably.  Somebody will be getting them as a gift.

Last S'mores of the Season

I picked up a truckload of used guardrail posts at a place down the road that leaves them out for the taking.  They are roughly 8" in diameter and 6' long so it was a pretty good workout to load and unload the 18 posts, but I think that the pig pen is sufficiently reinforced now so that they can't dig out. 

The temps have been a little more tolerable here lately and the evenings are reminiscent of fall, which as you know is my favorite season of the year.  The kids will soon be going back to school and we've been having more evenings out around the campfire and enjoying the stars and the steady crackle of the burning wood.  Soon, these late evenings will be confined to Friday and Saturday nights, and not long after that they will be just a memory of summer and something to hope for with anticipation of a new summer.



Free Range Pork

So, I forgot to tell all of you that the other night we had some truly free range pork here at Red Rooster.  Friday night our good friends, Frank and Mandy, and their kids came over to visit and have dinner.  I got kind of a late start fixing dinner because we had had a long morning of butchering chickens here and then I had to run the chicken plucker I borrowed back to some fellow poultry graziers up in Milan.  Frank rode along with me to take the plucker back to Round Rock Farm and we chatted about the struggles of turning a pasture based, soil-enhancing, farmette into something profitable instead of just something romantic and idealistic.  When we got up to Milan, I thanked Luke for letting me borrow the plucker and offered myself and Becky as extra help the next time that he and his wife, Mary, butchered broilers.  After, talking pastured poultry and chicken processing for a few moments, I thanked Luke again, and Frank and I headed home.  When we got home I got the chili started that we were planning on eating.  A few minutes into cutting up peppers and onions and garlic for the pot I walked past the kitchen window and looked out at our pigs.  Only problem was they were standing on the wrong side of the fence.  AAAGGGGHHHHH!!!!! Code Red!  Calling all available units!!  We all scrambled outside to the pigs and eased up to them trying not to spook them.  One pig went inside of a small portion of the barn and Frank closed the door behind it.  One down.  Meanwhile, Becky grabbed a bucket of water and lured the other pig over to her and then led it with the water bucket back inside the fence.  Now, back to the one Frank has trapped in the outside portion of the barn.  Well, genius me, not thinking how easy it was for Becky to lure the first one back in with the bucket of water, thought "oh good, we've got this one trapped I'll simply straddle it's back and guide it back into the pig yard."  WRONG!!!!!!  That pig squealed and screamed and kicked and bucked.  The harder I tried to hold her the more wild she got.  She got loose from me and walked over to the garden to nibble some cucumber vines.  I went on one side of her and she nervously walked away from me and in the general direction of the road, which, for those of you who know what road I live on know that was not an option to let her get onto RT. 250.  I got out in front of her and she turned and made her way into the old abandoned milk house.  I got over there with Frank right behind me and together we tried to grab hold of 150 lbs of solid muscle.  Again, she threw a fit and Frank and I both ended up on the ground as she broke free from our grasp.  She moseyed over towards Becky, who got the bucket of water and guided her back in where she belonged.  Wow, that was easy!  It was right about then that I realized we also had about twenty laying hens out.  No problem, chickens are easy.  Within a few more minutes I had all of the chickens back in the yard too.  How did they all get out?  Well, the pigs had started digging under the fence to get some sod that was on the other side and then eventually loosened up the fence from the posts and had it dug out and loosened up enough that they could squeeze under it.  We fixed the fence in the places that it had been torn away from the posts and reinforced some areas temporarily with cinder blocks, but I'm going to get some heavy guardrail posts to reinforce permanently all the way around the fence.  Oh the excitement that city folks don't get to enjoy, like catching a couple of pigs who got loose and are ready to go hog wild.

F BOMB!!!

Join us this Sunday, August 14, 2011 at Main Street School in Norwalk, Ohio for Elevation Church's series "F BOMB". 

Have you heard about Elevation Church?  Come see what all of the fuss is about.  Come be a part of something extraordinary in Norwalk.  We'll see you there.

Canning makes my feet hurt

Over the past two days Becky and I have been processing some fruits and veggies in our pressure canner.  We picked some peaches and raspberries in the last few days and wanted to make some fruit spreads.  With the raspberries we made 5 jelly jars of jam.  With the peaches we made 13 jelly jars of peach butter-man was it good.  This morning after feeding all of the animals and watering the garden, and after breakfast was cleaned up, I started cutting up cucumbers to pickle.  I got 18 pints of dill pickle slices.  We have cucumbers coming out of our ears over here. Looks like I've already got some of my Christmas shopping done.  Anyway,  standing in the kitchen for hours at a time has just about broken my feet, so I thought I'd put my feet up for a bit and tell you all about what's going on here. 

Elevation Global Norwalk....New attendance record

Yesterday we had the largest attendance to date at Elevation Global- Norwalk.  There were 127 people in attendance and one person accepted Jesus Christ as their personal savior.  That salvation makes the 41st at the Norwalk campus since its launch in April of 2011.  We will continue to break barriers and and set higher goals because we know that through Christ all things are possible.!

Raw Salsa

Tomatoes, onions, garlic, and jalapeno peppers from our garden ready to be turned into salsa. 

Another reason to opt out of the industrial food channels

Meat giant Cargill is recalling 36 million pounds of ground turkey linked to a nationwide salmonella outbreak that has killed one person in California and sickened at least 76 others.  Illnesses in the outbreak date back to March and have been reported in 26 states coast to coast.
Cargill said Wednesday that it is recalling fresh and frozen ground turkey products produced at the company's Springdale, Ark., plant from Feb. 20 through Aug. 2 due to possible contamination from the strain of salmonella linked to the illnesses.
The CDC said this week that cultures of ground turkey from four retail locations between March 7 and June 27 showed contamination with the same strain of salmonella.  The CDC said preliminary information showed that three of those samples were linked to the same production establishment, but it did not name that plant.
A chart on the CDC's website shows cases have occurred every month since early March, with spikes in May and early June. The latest reported cases were in mid-July, although the CDC said some recent cases may not have been reported yet.
The CDC said the strain is resistant to many commonly prescribed antibiotics, which can make treatment more difficult. The agency said 38 percent of those sickened were hospitalized.
The states with the highest number sickened were Michigan and Ohio, 10 illnesses each, while nine illnesses were reported in Texas. Illinois had seven, California six and Pennsylvania five.
The remaining states have between one and three reported illnesses linked to the outbreak, according to the CDC: Alabama, Arizona, Georgia, Iowa, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Missouri, Mississippi, North Carolina, Nebraska, Nevada, New York, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Dakota, Tennessee and Wisconsin.
The CDC estimates that 50 million Americans each year get sick from food poisoning, including about 3,000 who die. Salmonella causes most of these cases and federal health officials say they've made virtually no progress against it.

ThisorThat - Make the right decision!

Best Sermon Ever!!!!!!!

Come to Main Street School @ 11:15 AM this Sunday, August 7, 2011, to hear the best sermon that Pastor Steven Furtick has ever told.  Elevation Global Norwalk is inviting anyone and everyone to come and be a part of this awesome thing that God is doing in Norwalk.  It doesn't matter how far you've run from God.  It doesn't matter what your past looks like.  We are all broken.  We would love to see you there.  

Refrigerator Pickles

Over the last few days we've gotten quite a few cucumbers out of the garden and so last night I decided to make some quick refrigerator pickles.  I used a recipe out the Ball canning and preserving book I've got, and now I'm going to wait a few weeks to let the pickling happen and for the spices and flavors to blend and mellow.  I'm pretty excited to try them out.  I'll tell you that not many things are as rewarding as looking at jars full of food that you grew in right in your own yard.

I can breathe again

     Well, butchering day was a success.  After a long, late night on Friday making sure everything was set up, we got up and got to the first birds about eight-thirty, two and a half hours later than I had wanted to start, but started none the less.  With my dad running the killing cones and the scalding tank, and Becky's mom helping out at the whizbang chicken plucker we borrowed, the birds quickly made their way up to the eviscerating table where I turned objects that just five minutes before were farm animals, into food.  It's amazing how once the feathers, head and feet come off a chicken, it turns in to chicken.  At that point it has made the transition from animal to table fare.  I would then pass the birds down the line to my lovely wife, Becky, who was in charge of Quality Control.  Becky would check the birds over and make sure I didn't miss anything or that a stray feather wasn't left behind, as well as give the birds a final rinse inside and out before they made their way to the cooling barrels.  All in all we processed 44 birds between eight-thirty and twelve-thirty.  Not bad for a bunch of first-timers, I don't think.  I think we'll be processing the remaining fifty or so that are left this coming Saturday.  We shall see.
     In other news,  the garden is starting to really produce some fruit.  This morning I went out and gathered two zucchini, one yellow squash, five tomatoes, four medium-hot block peppers, five jalapeno peppers, and ten cucumbers.  It was exciting.  In addition to what I brought in this morning, our pie pumpkins have blossoms everywhere as do the spaghetti squash.  Next year we are really going to gear up and try to sell veggies here.  I'm excited and have already started mapping out where it will all go.

Butchering day coming up....I think I'm going to puke....

     So this Saturday we are butchering our broilers.  It's our first run that we are doing for our customers.  I'm sure everything will go fine, but I kinda want to puke a little with anxiety.  I really haven't felt this way since I was in high school, the night before I had an article due for the school paper and hadn't started writing it yet.  My English teacher hated that about me, but I do surprisingly well under pressure.  Several of the articles that I wrote after the due date won awards.  This Saturday will be a learning experience and we will learn what worked and what didn't.  We will learn from our mistakes and refine and improve the process.  Life is a learning experience that you must actively participate in, assess your successes and failures, and move on, striving to be better with each  passing day. 
     So, I've got some last minute prep work to do, and to be sure I've got Nemo working over time weed whacking around the buildings.  I've got to pick up some equipment I'm borrowing, and get the disassembly line set up, but all in all I think we are good to go. 

     We are processing them outside in the fresh air following the procedures of Joel Salatin at Polyface Farms in Swoope, Virginia.  Salatin has been running his pastured poultry business since 1983, and raises and home-processes thousands of birds each summer.  As odd as it may seem, his home-processed birds have been scientifically proven to be cleaner than birds processed by large producers such as Tyson and Perdue.  Two college students at James Madison University took swab samples of his chicken and compared them to chicken purchased in the supermarket.  They cultured the swabs and results were:

Supermarket chicken: 3,600 colony-forming units of bacteria per milliliter to the second permutaion
Polyface chicken: 133 colony-forming units of bacteria per milliliter to the second permutation

Polyface chicken was 25 times cleaner than industrially raised, butchered, and packaged chicken.  That's the model we are following.  That is the cleanliness we are striving for here.  I know it may seem unsanitary to process outside, but the fact that Salatin's chicken was 25 times cleaner is a testimony of just how unsanitary mega-processing plants are.  When you are processing hundreds of thousands of birds a day it is nearly impossible to keep things clean and sanitary.  When you are producing small numbers like we are you can focus on quality not just quantity.  

Happy as a pig in slop!!