Monitor Barns Farm UPDATES!
It’s been a while since we’ve last given an update on the happenings here at the farm! We’ve been busy! One of the more exciting happenings around here was the much anticipated processing of our 290 broiler chickens. We didn’t just raise pastured chickens, we raised ENORMOUS pastured chickens. These birds were some of the best eaters I have ever met, and it definitely showed. Towards the end of their 8 week lives, we were all anxious for the broilers to become someone’s dinner.
We began our day at the early hour of 5 AM and began rounding up the birds.
Sunrise
Cornish Cross at 8 weeks
We moved them down the street to the Andrew’s Farm where we began the very long process of processing! We had a veritable team helping us, including all the folks from Maple Wind Farm, the VYCC farm crew, Harold, the man who made the processing facility, and Bee, the master gizzard woman! We also had some help from Ry, one of the HQ staff from VYCC. We formed an assembly line, starting with the slaughter, which was followed by the scalding tank and de-feathering machine. While a few of us had the privilege of participating in the actual slaughter, most of us were kept busy with the more time- consuming task of evisceration (otherwise known as taking the insides out). With the help of some upbeat bluegrass music we stayed busy all morning and into the early afternoon with the first part of the processing. After a much needed lunch break, we returned for part two, which entailed taking a second and final look at the birds to make sure they were good and clean, stuffing necks and bags of organs into the cavity, and then cryovac-ing and weighing. Our largest bird ended up weighing in at 7.9 lbs! Some (large) family will be enjoying a lot of chicken soon!
The day was incredibly long and exhausting, but there was an undeniable sense of accomplishment in the air after we were done. We had raised those birds from second day of their lives, given them a good life, lots of green grass and sunshine, and now they will provide nourishment for a lot of people. I have never been so excited to sell someone a chicken!
In other news, we’ve had our first two CSA pick-ups. While we were all nervous that the shares would seem too small, in the end everything looked great and the members seemed genuinely pumped about their veggies. It’s quite a feeling to know that there are 80+ households in this area who are being nourished by the food that we have grown here.
Kelly harvesting radishes
We are now busy trying to stay ahead of the weeds and pests, thinning our root crops, and seeding some of the crops that we’re planting in successions. The vegetables are really starting to take off—lettuces, cabbages, squash, tomatoes in the greenhouse—you can almost watch them grow. And flowers are blooming daily in our pick your own garden. Soon there will be a wealth of color out in the field to complement all the green and folks will be able to take home a freshly picked bouquet.
Lastly, our newest batch of broiler chickens are happily running around the pasture. They seem to be more active than the last, and definitely more interested in foraging. There’s nothing like seeing happy animals living the way they were meant to.
We’ll be starting a new compost pile on the far side of the field with food waste generated, not only on the farm, but by CSA share holders as well. Members will receive a 4 gallon bucket where they can put their food scraps and return to the barn to be composted each week. This is truly closing the loop!
Until next time, wish for sun!
~written by Kelly McQuade, VYCC Farm Intern