Chickens are Out, Raw Milk Fans List, Meet Willie the Beekeeper

This week on the farm we enjoyed a bit of nice spring weather, which gave our crew a chance to move over 1,000 hens out of their winter quarters to the pasture shelters near Route 31.  They are now on grass 24/7 and we will be moving them to fresh paddocks three times per week.  We look forward to those spring eggs which will be bolstered by the fresh green forages and a few early season bugs.  

 

Once the hens were out of the hoophouse we did a quick two-day cleanout of the roosts and nest boxes and five months worth of wood chip bedding and chicken manure.  We have another 1500 broiler chickens arriving next week and we have to get the hoophouse setup for brooding chicks and turkey poults by Monday evening..

 

Egg and milk production remain strong, and with a slow Easter Sunday starting off the week we carried forward a surplus of raw milk through Friday. As we get ready for more milk surpluses this spring, we are starting a Raw Milk Fans email list. Click on the link to add your name to this list, and we will reach out to you before the store opens on days when we have a milk surplus available for purchase. 

 

Tomorrow (Saturday April 11th) we are excited to welcome Willie P, our resident beekeeper and owner of Willie's Honey, from 10 AM - 1 PM.  Willie tends to beehives all over McHenry County as well as the hives on our farm in Wisconsin.  He will be available to take questions about all things honey and bees, and will bring some samples of different seasonal varieties of his honey for tasting. 

 

In the coming weeks we have an incredible lineup of local food growers and artisans scheduled to visit our farm store:

 

Saturday, April 18th - Meet Molly of Molly's Kitchen, our fantastic sourdough baker who managed our farm store for two years before children happened. She will be sampling many of her delicious baked treats and can answer all your sourdough starter and baking questions. 10AM-1PM.

 

Saturday, April 25th - Meet Barb of Crystal Lake Mushrooms, and learn all about growing a variety of fungi on a small scale. 10AM-1PM.

 

Sunday, April 26th - Meet Douglas of Nourish Foods, another extraordinary baker and chef that also used to work for All Grass Farms.  Douglas will be sampling many of his delicious sourdough breads and treats as well.  10AM-1PM.

 

Stay tuned for more Meet the Maker events coming in May!

 

Organic produce in the store this week includes Eureka lemons, Pomelo, Oranges, Mandarins, Parsnips, Turnips, Avocados, Red Beets, Red & Green Cabbage, Sweet Potatoes, Onions, Garlic, Ginger, Turmeric, Celery, Lemon Grass, Kiwi, Pears, Cauliflower. Plus local Michigan Apples, Igl potatoes, Micro greens, and Fresh Mushrooms (while supplies last).

 

New Products in the store include El Molcajete Mole Sauce and Mole Verde, sauce, as featured by Chef Ernesto last week during his Meet the Maker Event.

 

With two months to go before we start processing again, we have a quite a few whole chickens left from last fall.  Save and buy a bundle of chickens online , for home delivery or curbside pickup. 

That's it for this week, please remember to bring us your leftover shopping bags and egg cartons so we can re-use them. We are running short of shopping bags and we hate to buy them!

Cheers,

Cliff, Anna and the Farm Team