Thanks Giving

We have much to give thanks for. We took our usual, post-prandial and pre-pie thanksgiving walk. The sun helped us shed our winter layers as we walked. I am thankful to have a healthy family. I am thankful to have my brother so close (living in our basement!). I am thankful to have great food

Schmaltz

I typically write my weekly email on Sundays. It’s a time for reflection on what has happened in the last week and where we’re going. An exercise I have come to enjoy for its challenge and perspective. Today is Friday, and I want to write a quick note about Schmaltz. We are so proud to

The beginning of the end

We knew the 70 degree, mid-November weather could not last forever…the weather whip-lash we’ve had this month has me feeling sore. We started with 6 inches of snow on election day, and 16 degree night time temperatures. The chickens did not know what to do with the snow, and I spend most of the daylight

Week of Change

I think for most of us it was a week of change. We started the week with very cold weather and 6” of snow, and an Election Day with record turn out and no immediate result. By the end of the week we had shed our long underwear, had afternoon temperatures in the 70s and

Cooooold!

This morning I began anew the cold weather ritual of dressing for winter. Habit is a powerful memory and I found myself smiling this morning at the foreign and yet familiar pattern of tucking my long johns into my socks. My quilted overalls have been waiting patiently in the plastic bin with other winter friends

Stock Love

After writing about chicken stock last week, I’ve been taking note of just how much chicken stock we use. Especially since our friend Adam has taken over making the stock for us at the Hub on the Hill. Take this burrito meal I was making on Wednesday night, need to wilt some greens with the

Colors of Change

We’re in full fall colors. The nip is in the air most mornings and we tracked down a bike trailer and rode our bikes to school this week! Most mornings Chief and Lovett come out to help me move the chickens before we head to school, but as the sun seems to get up later

How to keep things cool

We use dry ice to keep your frozen orders cold as FedEx carries it to your door. But did you know that the country is experiencing a national dry ice shortage? It has only been recently that we’ve paid any attention to the national dry ice market and for many of us around the country

The Joys of Fall

We received our last batch of chicks for 2020 this week. They all arrived safely on a brisk fall morning and were glad to find the warmth and comfort of our brooder waiting for them. It’s always a humbling marker of the passage of time, each batch is only here for 8-9 weeks, which sometimes

Project Brain

I love projects. Building things, figuring out some logistics problem, you name it. This month the problem to solve was how to get enough chicken into the freezer to try to last as long into the winter as possible. We choose not to raise our chickens in a barn, with no green grass to eat,