We could use some rain. The water source for our whole farm is a developed spring back in the mountain. It’s slowing down. Other springs in the area have dried up. Makes me nervous...
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Last week we emptied out the last of the meat birds from the chicken shelters. With chicks in the brooder ready to take their place in the field, we decided to leave them in the brooder a few more days in order to squeeze in a little vacation. With cows, pigs, and chickens to look after, there’s never an easy time to get away. But with...
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Amy here this week. Has this summer been a whirlwind for anyone else? I feel like time moves so quickly and I just can’t keep up. We were back to summer weather and I’m soaking up all the sunshine I can...
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It’s cooling down especially at night. I’m sure we have plenty of hot days left, but a hint of fall is in the air. Amy and the kids delivered meat to Knoxville families on Monday and came back to the valley Tuesday morning.
We emptied out 4 more chicken shelters Tuesday evening for processing on Wednesday. Down to moving only 6 shelters through the field everyday now. Wednesday was the lightest processing crew we’ve had in a couple years, but...
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Farming keeps us busy. Taking care of the animals and the land is a never ending job. We figured out several years ago, when we began selling our meats locally, that it takes about as much time and work on the retail and distribution side of the business as it does on the actual farm work itself. I could work full time just taking care of the farm. I could also work full time on the distribution side of the farm. It’s often hard to prioritize my time and figure out...
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Our last batch of almost 1000 chicks arrived to the farm and got settled in the brooder this week. No chicken killing this week. We’ve harvested birds every week in July and most weeks in June. Instead of processing chickens, we spent that time sorting chicken inventory in the freezers. With only 3 or 4 harvest dates left
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It’s Rich Valley Fair week. I remember as a kid circling fair week on the calendar and looking forward to it all year. The kids have been as excited about the fair as I was growing up. It’s been a good change to our summer rhythm…
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Thankful for more rain. Twice this week we moved the chicken shelters during a rain shower. It felt good. Even the kids enjoyed it. It was nice to get the mower back out and see the grass coming back to life…
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Let it rain, let it rain. Grateful for a couple more showers this week. Hopefully more to come in the days ahead. It was a busy week but nothing out of the ordinary. We put another couple hundred chickens in the freezers. Can’t say enough good things about the friends and family that come out to help on chicken processing days. They are a pleasure to work with…
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Not much resting on Sunday. Amy helped move chickens before church. Afterwards we rounded up a herd of over 50 cows into the barn to sort out the biggest ones for this week’s trips to the processor. Getting cows into the barn requires moving them across the road which is always a little nerve racking…
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Lots of chicken work this week. A couple weeks ago our crew processed chickens at a pace that I didn’t think we could top. Low and behold, this week they went even faster, putting chickens on ice at a pace of over 150 birds/hour. Thankful for our faithful crew and proud of the 8-10 school age kids that continually keep improving in their work…
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We could use some rain. We could’ve used some rain on Monday afternoon as Hallie, Wren, and I helplessly watched our Jeep go up in flames. I’m not real sure what caused it. We could smell something burning, so I pulled into a field and turned the motor off. Smoke started coming up…
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Another long week. We got a lot done. A lot more we didn’t get done. We’ve been lucky to get through this much of the chicken season with minimal predator attacks. I’m afraid our luck is running out. A bear made a visit to one of our chicken shelters one night this past week, crushing through the two brand new lids I built a couple weeks ago…
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Saturday was on-farm pick up day. Though our farm is not conveniently located for many people in our area, quite a few faithful locals come out to the farm every 2nd Saturday of each month to pick up their beef, chicken, and pork herd shares. The kids were helping with morning chicken chores while Amy was at the Abingdon Farmers Market when the first folks arrived to pick up their meat…
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We turned last week’s cookout space back into a chicken processing area and harvested our first batch of ORVF chickens for the season. We’ve been sold out of all chicken (except bone-broth) for a while, so it’s good to get some ORVF chicken back in freezers. Hopefully it won’t stay in the freezers long…
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What a week. Saturday’s cookout was not only the highlight of the week, it was likely the highlight of the year. It was good. I know that “good” is an elementary exclamation, but good is the best way I can describe it. This was living at its best…
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It’s been a busy week. I like working with pigs. Except when it comes to hauling them to and from the woods. This week we did both. It was time to take growing piglets out to the woods and bring a group of full grown hogs back to the barn. Before Amy and the kids took off for a Knoxville meat delivery on Monday, we took down and relocated our pig pen setup used to corral and load up pigs from the woods. While they were gone…
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School’s out for summer. The homeschool school year comes to an end. I don’t know who’s more excited, Amy or the kids. Now they have more time to help with chickens. As hectic as it was for Amy to teach Hallie and Hasten while also trying to juggle farm admin and house work, along with Wren and Carter running around on the loose, Amy’s reflection on the school year, “It was worth it.”
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Not all are farmers, but everyone eats food. Everyday. We choose what we eat. Not all farming practice are the same. Not all chicken is just chicken. Not all apples are just apples. What we continuously choose to eat not only has direct implications on our health, the way our food is produced has direct implications on the health of our surroundings. The food we choose to eat impacts not just our own lives but all life, life as a whole. I need to eat better. Not just for my own sake, “for heaven’s sake.”
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After almost seven months of wood burning, this week we let the fire go out of the outdoor wood stove. Although I’m not filling up the wood stove everyday anymore, still no break from firewood yet. Cutting, hauling, and splitting more wood for the fall.
On Monday we processed over 200 chickens…
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