The chicken shelter countdown begins. Most of this season we’ve been moving 16 shelters to fresh grass everyday. Now we’re down to 7. I love chicken season. But I also love the end of chicken season. I look forward to fall’s cooler days and change of pace. 

In years past we’ve raised and sold some cows, pigs, and chickens to other farm-to-table farms in more populated areas who have a demand for more meat than their farms could produce. This was great for us early on being that we were in a very rural part of the country with very little demand initially. Raising clean pastured meats for the folks in our area was the dream, but only having a local demand for a few cows, a handful of hogs, and a couple hundred meat chickens doesn’t provide much of a living for a growing family hoping carve out a life on the farm. Raising animals for other farms provided an opportunity for us to grow our production while doing what we love and simultaneously connecting with more and more folks in our area who were looking for local meats. As local demand has steadily and thankfully grown over the years, we have transitioned to raising less and less for other farms. 

Last year we raised several batches of chickens adding up to a couple thousand birds for other farms. This year we just raised one batch of about 500 chickens for another farm that was picked up Monday evening. To be honest, I wish we were putting those chickens in our own freezers. Local demand for pastured chickens has grown more than we anticipated. Remaining inventory won’t last long. We’re hoping to be able to fill orders that keep coming in. Again, those with chicken shares will get their chicken every month. Otherwise, first come first serve. 

Already making plans for next chicken season. Looks like we need to raise more chickens and likely just for ORVF and not other farms. We’ll see. Either way, we need more chicken shelters and more freezer space. And more help. I’m not as young as I used to be. 

We also processed a few chickens on the farm Wednesday. Some of our chickens but most were chickens raised by a neighboring farm for their family homestead. All chickens were killed, cut up, packaged, and in the freezers before noon. 

After lunch, Bella Jane and Ms. Desiree helped us get empty shelters off the field. Waterers, feeders, lids, and shelters put away for winter. Most of the shelters were put at the edge of the field in place for next spring. However, 3-4 shelters were hauled off to the burn pile. Some shelters, going on 10 years old and falling apart, have provided shelter for their last group of chickens. We tack boards on and repair them as best we can, but there comes a time when it’s just time to go. Building more shelters on the to-do list for winter. 

Amy made a quarterly delivery to NC on Monday morning. We both made the monthly delivery to Bristol and Kingsport yesterday. Another date night in the books. I finished getting the rest of the hay off the field. Still buying more hay, though there’s not much out there to be found. Amy has been teaching the kids, keeping the broth going, and trying to stay on top of orders and such. 

I started a couple more audiobooks this week, but mostly I’ve been thinkething about AS A MAN THINKETH by James Allen. Not being very long, I actually went back and listened to it again. A few more quotes:

“The body is the servant of the mind. It obeys the operations of the mind, whether they be deliberately chosen or automatically expressed… Disease and health, like circumstances, are rooted in thought. Sickly thoughts will express themselves through a sickly body… The people who live in fear of disease are the people who get it. Anxiety quickly demoralizes the whole body and lays it open to the entrance of disease. While impure thoughts, even if not physically indulged, will soon shatter the nervous system. Strong, pure, and happy thoughts build up the body in vigor and grace.”

“Change of diet will not help a man who will not change his thoughts. When a man makes his thoughts pure, he no longer desires impure food. Clean thoughts make clean habits.”

“All that a man achieves and all that he fails to achieve is the direct result of his own thoughts. In a justly ordered universe where loss of equipoise would mean total destruction, individual responsibility must be absolute. A man’s weakness and strength, purity and impurity, are his own and not another man’s. They are brought about by himself and not by another. And they can only be altered by himself, never by another. His condition is also his own and not another man’s. His suffering and his happiness are evolved from within. As he thinks, so he is. As he continues to think, so he remains. A strong man cannot help a weaker unless that weaker is willing to be helped. Even then, the weak man must become strong of himself. He must by his own efforts, develop the strength which he admires in another. None but himself can alter his condition.”

“He, who would accomplish little, must sacrifice little. He, who would achieve much, must sacrifice much. He, who would attain highly, must sacrifice greatly.”

“For you will always gravitate toward that which you secretly most love… You will receive that which you earn. No more, no less. Whatever your present environment may be, you will fall, remain, or rise with your thoughts, your vision, your ideal.”

“Seeing a man grow rich, they say, ‘How lucky he is.’ Observing another become intellectual, they exclaim, ‘How highly favored he is.’ And noting the saintly character and wide influence of another, they remark, ‘How chance aids him at every turn.’ They do not see the trials and failures and struggles which these men have voluntarily encountered in order to gain their experience, have no knowledge of the sacrifices they have made, of the undaunted efforts they have put forth, of the faith they have exercised that they might overcome the apparently insurmountable and realize the vision of their heart. They do no know the darkness and the heartaches. They only see the light and joy and call it ‘luck.’ They do not see the long and arduous journey but only behold the pleasant goal and call it ‘good fortune.’ They do no understand the process but only perceive the result and call it ‘chance.’ In all human affairs there are efforts and there are results, and the strength of the effort is the measure of the result.”

“The vision that you glorify in your mind, the ideal that you enthrone in your heart, this you will build your life by. This, you will become.” 

Have a good week.

Will