FARM HAPPENINGS
Much has happened since my last newsletter written during the brutal depths of the cold snap. I was able to escape to Orlando for two days to attend the annual American Pastured Poultry Producers Conference (yes it is a lot of Ps!). I brought along Nick, our Poultry Operations Manager, and wow did that 70 degree weather feel nice!
It was a fantastic conference, we met many interesting farmers from all over the world and brought home a bunch of great ideas to improve our broiler, turkey, and egg-laying operations. And our timing was excellent, as we flew home just as the cold snap was rolling into Florida.
Back in the great Midwest we are enjoying this recent sunshine and warmer weather. A couple of frozen water hydrants are thawed out and the animals (and farm workers that tend to them) are happy again.
We ended up with a bunch of early lambs at our Wisconsin farm, pictured above frolicking around in a corner of the cow shed. We were planning on spring lambs (late April/early May) and therefore kept the ram separate from the ewes until late November. However those plans seem to have been thwarted, likely by fast-developing young ram from last spring's lamb crop.
We do have all of our chicken and turkey processing dates now scheduled for the 2026 growing season. Our first batch of Freedom Ranger broiler chicks will arrive from the hatchery on March 31st, and they are scheduled for processing on Wednesday, June 3rd. We will pick them up the next morning and have FRESH chicken available in the store the following day by noon. We will post the full schedule of all the fresh chicken sales dates for the season in the farm store and on the website in the coming weeks.
We also have the dates booked for fresh turkeys the week of Thanksgiving. Our fresh pickup dates this year are Tuesday November 24th and Wednesday November 25th. We are now accepting reservations for those fresh turkeys online. It's definitely early to be thinking about Thanksgiving but those fresh turkeys will sell out well before fall.
Our winter egg production has been up and down the last few weeks. Not surprising with the cold snap but we were hoping for a big rebound with the warmup but haven't seen it yet. Reinforcements will be arriving this spring, but we won't be getting those new pullets (young hens) until the end of May. We will have to rely on the current flock of hens to supply us with eggs through early summer.
FARM STORE UPDATE
We restocked our beef inventory last weekend with eight head harvested in late December. This is 100% grass-fed Angus beef finished on our farm near Elkhorn, Wisconsin. We grilled a couple of the ribeye steaks on Tuesday for dinner and they were fantastic, with just the right amount of marbling and very tender. We have a full selection of steaks, roasts, ribs, organs, and ground beef (including ancestral blend with organs mixed in) available in the farm store right now.
Fresh organic produce in the store this week includes Michigan apples, Igl Potatoes (WI), Onions, Garlic, Lemons, Oranges, Grapefruit, Mandarin, Pears, Avocados, Beets, Carrots, Celery, Parsnips, Cabbage, and local mushrooms and microgreens.
New products in the store includes line-caught canned fish from Wild Planet - sardines, tuna, and smoked salmon. Plus Jovial Organic Chickpeas and BioNature organic tomato paste. And some new Ice Cream for Bears flavors including Cubbies and Cream, Churro & Burrow, Dough Bear, and Roar-Ange Cream.
We also have a selection of hand-made Heart-Shaped bees wax candles from Aleks at Miod - perfect gifts for Valentine's Day.
Janie's Mill Organic Flours
We are proud to offer our customers a broad selection of organic flours and grains produced by Janie's Mill in south suburban Ashkum. Farmer/Mill Owner Harold Wilken is a long-time friend, and I can recall him talking excitedly about the idea of building a stone-ground mill near his organic farm to help sell his products locally.
The financial investment he put into the mill was significant, but he pulled it off and now provides high-quality organic flour to most of the premier bakeries in Chicago and the Midwest (including the bakers that make sourdough bread for our store). Harold is great storyteller and its always fun to catch up with him on the off-chance he is driving the delivery truck out to us. Learn more about Harold and Janie's Mill on their website.
That's it from the farm this week, enjoy the nice weather while it lasts. And please remember to bring us your leftover shopping bags and egg cartons so we can recycle them.
Cliff, Anna, and the Farm Team