No Backyard Chickens For You!

http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/home/51122033-76/chickens-residential-springville-backyards.html.csp#

A big thumbs down to the Springville city council for voting down a proposal that would allow residents on less than 1/2 acre of ground to keep backyard hens.  I hear people complain all the time that the Federal Government is taking away our rights.  As a member of a city council myself I can say that there is no government more invasive and more likely to take away peoples rights than city government.  Springville has a rich heritage in farming and agriculture and now has apparently forgotten its roots.

I can completely understand concerns with keeping chickens if residents are asking to keep roosters as well.  Roosters can be noisy although I have lived next to dogs that were far noisier.  The Springville city council cited two concerns as grounds for rejecting the ordinance:

   1. Cost of enforcing the ordinance
   2. Chickens will attract wild animals into the city

The cost of enforcing the ordinance.  This is a lame excuse.  How many residents do they actually expect will start keeping laying hens in their backyard?  The town only has about 6,400 owner occupied households.  Subtract a few hundred for condos and such and they are left with 6,000 owner occupied households.  I would be shocked if more than 1% of households kept chickens.  Of these, how many are going to abuse the ordinance to require enforcement?  Portland, OR a very "foodie" city allows residents to keep up to 3 hens.  For four or more, a permit is required.  In all of Portland (pop. 582,000) only 52 households have applied for this permit.  Regardless of the minuscule cost, why not just fine the non complying households enough to cover the enforcement costs?

Chickens will attract wild animals into the city.  Based on this logic, they city would need to ban backyard gardens as well as pet food, bird seed, backyard BBQs, and picnics at the park.  We keep lots of chickens and turkeys.  We live in the country where at least once a year I see mountain lions, bobcats, coyotes, foxes, badgers, raccoons, and skunks.  All are potential predators.  The only problems I have had are with raccoons and skunks.  I can raise chickens all year without a problem, but as soon as the garden starts to produce corn, here come the raccoons.  They wreck havoc on our gardens.  The skunks have killed chickens on occasion, but mostly they go after cat food and garbage.  My point is, that there are far greater attractions for critters than just chickens.  Again, we live in the country where there is far more wildlife than in a suburban setting.

It is saddening that a small city like Springville deprives its residents of the opportunity to produce their own eggs.  I can fully understand the problems with keeping common livestock within city limits.  As a resident of Springville, you can have numerous dogs, cats, rabbits, reptiles, hamsters, parrots etc... all of which you can breed and produce offspring.  Try and keep a couple of chickens to do something meaningful like produce your own eggs and that is problematic. Wake up Springville City Council! Booooo!

Real Beef for Sale

This morning I read in the news that Taco Bell is being sued for false advertising for listing "ground beef" as an ingredient in their products. 

"...the "taco meat filling" used by Taco Bell is only about 35% beef, with binders, extenders, preservatives, additives and other agents making up the other 65%."

Just what is the other 65% made of?

"...water, sodium phosphates, soy lecithin, modified corn starch, and anti-caking and anti-dusting agents, among others ingredients."

Quotes extracted from the following AP news article.  Click below for the full article.
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/2011/01/25/2011-01-25_taco_bell_is_using_false_advertising_when_it_calls_its_food_beef_according_to_la.html

Fox News has a similar article where it lists, wheat, oats, maltodextrin, as additional ingredients to the "ground beef".
http://www.foxnews.com/health/2011/01/25/wheres-beef-taco-bell-sued-ingredients/#

I have expressed my opinion on this blog in the past that labels are often misleading.
"Beyond Organic" and "Food Inc and Thoughts on Organic" are two posts that summarize my opinion well.

The hard and frustrating aspect to all this is that since we can't trust a label or how a business like Taco Bell advertises, we the consumer become burdened with a difficult task.  The task of researching and finding out the truth about our food.  And then supporting the food providers we find to be acceptable.

I really don't have an issue with Taco Bell adding fillers like oats, wheat, and soy to their meat so long as they are honest about it.  After all, is it not the consumer who has demanded that tacos be sold for $0.59?  I don't believe I could make a taco for $0.59!  And I'm a farmer!  How would I expect a business to buy the ingredients, pay for employees to make my food, as well as an expensive retail location that is convenient for me for less than what I the farmer can make that meal for?  The scales of economy can only reach so far.

The problem as I see it is two fold:  1. Businesses lack integrity. 2. Consumers lack knowledge of where their food comes from.  I believe one solution will solve both aspects of the problem.  The solution is behavior-changing knowledge.

As consumers learn about the food industry, they will become more aware of the food they are eating.  Hopefully this will lead to a change in their food buying habits.  Businesses that are honest and offer a product that consumers demand will thrive and grow.  Those that are deceitful and/or don't offer products that consumers demand will suffer.  Slowly the food industry will change for the better.  The consumer has the money and therefore the power to make changes.

So if tacos sound good for dinner, we would be happy to provide you with some real ground beef.  Ground Beef that has been dry aged so that it is full of deep flavor and wonderful tenderness. 
(Dry aged ground beef cannot be found in stores.)  Our beef has not been washed in ammonia.  It is grass fed and therefore lean, low in saturated fat and cholesterol, and high in omega 3 fatty acids and conjugated lineaic acids (CLA's).  Our ground beef comes from perfectly healthy young steers.  Not cull cows or injured animals.  Best of all it is 100% pure ground beef made from the whole beef and not just the trimmings.  While your taco may cost a little more than $0.59, I think you will find it well worth it.
Order your ground beef here.

While your at it, may I suggest that you top your taco with fresh heirloom tomatoes from Jacob's Cove or another local farmer?  Jacob's Cove grows their produce in greenhouses and can provide produce most of the year. 

New Logo

This is a cry for help! : )

I am thinking it is time for a new logo.  However, I am not very good with computer graphics.  Would anybody be willing to help us design a new logo in exchange for some pork?  If this is of interest, please contact me and I will give you an idea of what I have in mind.

I am also wanting to make our website easier to navigate and clean it up a bit.  Does anybody have any recommendations for a good website design software program that doesn't require writing in HTML?  I simply don't have any training in writing code.  I am thinking of using WebPlus X4 by Serif.  Can anybody recommend this program or perhaps something better?

Thanks!

Beef and Ground Beef CSA Shares Available

For those who have been waiting for a Standard Beef CSA Share as well as a Ground Beef CSA Share, you can now order them on our website!  These shares are a direct result of customer suggestions.  As we continue to say, "We want to be your Farmer!"  Please keep the feedback and suggestions coming.

A little about our new CSA Shares:

A Standard Beef CSA Share consists of 30 lbs of our grass fed beef and will include ground beef, steaks, roasts, stew meat, short ribs, etc... We will make every effort to distribute the cuts proportional to the yield of the animal.  Due to the low yield of some cuts, not all CSA Shares will receive every type of cut available.  However, we will make sure that each CSA Share contains a fair and proportional variety of cuts.

A Ground Beef CSA Share will simply be 30 lbs of our premium ground beef.  Each package will contain approximately 1 lb of beef.  This beef is no different than any of our other beef.  We do not use cull or "retired" cows.  Rather our ground beef comes from healthy young steers.  We simply ask the butcher to grind all the meat rather than cut into the usual cuts of beef.  Because our beef is grass fed you will enjoy lean and healthy beef that tastes like steak!

As with all our beef, our cows are treated humanely and grass fed (pasture raised) from start to finish.  We don't feed our cattle any grain resulting in lower cholesterol, lower saturated fat, higher omega 3 fatty acids, and higher conjugated linoleic acids (CLA).  Our CSA Shares are a great way to sample our gourmet quality meats.  Find out why even our "Foodie" customers proclaim our beef to be the best tasting beef.  Feel free to contact us with any questions.  Order here.   

Now on Facebook

We may be a little behind the times, but we are finally on Facebook!  Several of our customers have suggested we create a Facebook page over the past couple of years.  After it was (once again) recently suggested we decided it would be worthwhile.  We hope to provide more frequent farm updates, as well as greater insight into our farm.  Our iPhone will allow us to post right in the field providing close to real time updates.  It is kind of interesting how our technology is changing farming.  Can you imagine explaining this capability to farmers 50 years ago?!  The thought makes me laugh!

Please follow us on Facebook.  You can "like" us and share our page and info with your friends.  This is a great way to support a family farm!

Click here to check out our new Facebook page.





 

Reflecting on 2010

This year has been a very busy year for us!  We have had lots of ups and downs but hopefully we have averaged an upward direction.  This year we were blessed with the opportunity to expand our farm.  We purchased a new parcel of land about 1 mile from our previous location.  We built a new home on the farm as well as a large workshop/barn.  We have some of our pens built and will work on more through the winter and coming spring.  Our new farm will give us lots of room to grow.  This spring we will plant new pastures as well as a small apple orchard.  Our new location seems to have a constant wind, something we plan to utilize.  As finances permit we plan to install 2-3 SkyStream wind turbines (or equivalent) to offset the farm's energy needs.

 

CSA Shares

Our CSA Share program changed a bit this year.  After delivering 10 lb shares every month to our CSA customers we found that many of our customers' schedules conflicted with our delivery schedules.  (Especially during the summer.)  It was also a little hairy tracking which customers had received their shares and trying to deliver make up shares etc...  We now offer a one time delivery of 30 lbs.  (3 months of meat by the previous standard.)  When you run low on your CSA Share, you can easily reorder online. We have some meat lovers who order this every month and others who can make 30 lbs stretch for 6 months.  We have a 30 lb Pork Share ($160) as well as a 30 lb Combo Share (15 lbs of beef and 15 lbs of pork)($175).  Beginning in February we will be offering a 30 lb Beef Share ($190) and a much demanded 30 lb Ground Beef Share ($150).  Our goal is to keep these Shares in stock ready for a quick delivery.

 

Poultry

Raising poultry has been the source of many of our "downs" this year.  In Vernon, our growing season is a mere 90 frost free days.  This is good info for gardening but as it turns out is equally applicable to raising chickens on pasture.  This strong winds proved to be fatal for nearly every breed we attempted to raise.  We have concluded that in order to successfully/profitably raise chickens in our area that we would need to provide the chickens with a heated building that allowed easy access to pastures outdoors.  Another option would be to team up with another farmer in an area with better weather.  However, our plans have recently been squashed by the Utah Department of Agriculture and Food (UDAF).  Last winter we spoke extensively with the inspectors to find out how we could legally and safely process chickens for our customers.  They helped us get set up under an exemption that allowed small farms to process their own poultry.  Under this exemption, we had a young aspiring butcher process our chickens outdoors on our property following safety guidelines set forth by the department.  This has worked wonderfully all year.  Recently, we received a call from the department informing us that we would now have to take the live chickens to each of our customer's private property and process them on their property in order to continue under this small farm exemption.  We protested their request stating that not only would it be economically unfeasible, less sanitary, and ridiculously time consuming, but that no city would allow for processing poultry in people's driveways.  However, they refused to budge.  Our only alternative is a costly one, which would require us to build a full blown processing facility.  Even if we were able to justify such an investment the UDAF informed us that there isn't an inspector in Utah who is even certified to inspect our facility.  So, for now poultry is on hold for 2011 as we explore our options.

 

Pork

Our Berkshire pork continues to be the product that defines our farm.  We are pleased to be acquiring the reputation of raising Utah's finest pork.  Even customers from Idaho, Wyoming, Nevada, Colorado, and California have found our pork worth the drive.  This year we successfully switched to our own custom feed that consists of 100% Utah grown grains.  Much of the grain is purchased from local farmers right here in Vernon.  The grain we use consists of wheat, barley, triticale, and oats.  These small cereal grains produce an even higher quality pork than pork raised on corn and soy.  The small grains produce a harder and whiter fat that our chef and foodie customers love!  We also love the fact that our grain isn't being shipped in from all over the country.  In 2011 we will began raising our pigs to a live weight of 300 lbs rather than the 250 lbs we have aimed for in the past.  In our own experiments, we found that a 300 lb Berkshire pig offers a higher yield in terms of meat to bone ratio.  The marbling is better defined and the meat develops a slightly deeper flavor.  Overall we feel this will take our quality up a notch as well as offer our customers a little more bang for their buck.

 

Beef

Our beef sales have pleasantly surprised this year.  So much so, that we have teamed up with some of our neighbors to help us keep us with demand.  These neighbors have committed to raising beef to the standards that we have set forth.  We have been fortunate to be able to work with neighbors that have quality stock and well managed pastures.  They also have considerably more land than we have.  Our grass fed beef is complimented by our butcher who does a fantastic job dry aging the beef until it has developed a rich flavor and tender texture.  Our customers have repeatedly been surprised by the mouthwatering flavor of our hamburger.  We frequently hear, "It tastes like steak!"   To which we chuckle and reply, "Why shouldn't it? It all comes from the same cow!"

 

Thank you!

We would like to express our gratitude to all of our customers for their support; both in terms of orders as well as in the many kind comments and emails we have received.  As we look forward to a new year we will continue to dedicate ourselves to raising the finest, safest, healthiest, and tastiest meats utilizing sustainable, humane, and natural practices.  We are excited to pursue new ideas next year.  This spring we will kick off 2011 with another Farm Day!  We plan to host several farm days in 2011.  Not only do we love to meet and mingle with you, but we also enjoy allowing our customers the chance to see where their food comes from.  Our farm days offer customers a chance to really connect with their food.  As always, we want to be your farmer!  Please feel free to communicate your ideas, suggestions, and comments.  Let us know what products you would like to see.  We have toyed with the idea of offering bratwurst/sausages that are spiced with local Utah flavors.  Or finding a local artisan to cure hams and bacon.  Perhaps Rose Veal is of interest?  We are constantly trying to learn and improve and would be happy to hear from you.  We hope that as you gather with your families this holiday season that the meats you prepare are delicious and nourishing.  

 

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

 

PS.  Please don't forget that our farm is very much dependant on word of mouth referrals.  Please feel free to forward this blog or our contact info to your family and friends.   

The Whole Truth

I was recently questioned why I post some of our negative experiences on our blog.  It sort of caught me off guard.  Was it being implied that I am a whiner?  Because that certainly hasn't been my intention.  Was it out of concern that it may not be good for business?...something I hadn't considered.  Was the blog perceived as being negative?  All of these questions danced around in my head.

The reason I post some of our negative experiences is because I want to be honest.  I want people to have a well rounded idea of our farm life.  Of course we enjoy sharing our positive stories and at the same time we aren't afraid to share our negative experiences.  Raising animals is something our family enjoys.  But animals are living creatures and susceptible to predators, weather, sickness, their own mischief etc... To present ourselves as a perfect farm where nothing goes wrong would be far from the truth.  We want our customers to have a real sense of where their food comes from.  To use the trendy term, we want to be transparent.  Our hope is that we offer the opportunity for people to connect to their food and even us as the farmer, if that is their desire. 

Some of our failures have been from our lack of experience.  We enjoy acquiring our experience.  We were not born into this lifestyle.  Well, Hollie grew up raising apples.  But I think most would agree that is different from raising pigs! : )  There are times I wish I did grow up on a farm.  It would likely mean that I would have inherited the farm or at least have access to it.  That really would have made things easier.  Think about it, little or no mortgage to pay, plenty of equipment, many more years of experience, good sources and contacts, good established farm ground, and family familiar with our operations that could lend a hand when needed.  But at the same time, I know I wouldn't appreciate what we have like I do now.  I also would likely do things the same way my dad had done things which is the way his dad did things.  This is good and bad because I would likely have continued to make the same progress as well as the same mistakes that had been done for generations.  Instead we have tried (or rather been forced) to take a fresh approach.

Some of our success stems from our non agricultural experience.  For example, Hollie has a degree in Business and has worked for several years as an office manager.  This is critical in keeping track of our growing list of customers and our accounting needs.  I have been employed as a business manager for 10 years.  This has given me lots of experience in marketing, customer interaction, dealing with vendors and so forth.

Other failures we have experienced are just part of life.  Even the most experienced professionals encounter new obstacles or are subject to the ever active and evolving world of biology.  Our little farm has its own unique ecosystem that we learn more about every day.  We prepare the best we can and make every effort to learn from past experiences.  It is a journey.  We hope to have more success than failure.  And hopefully sharing this journey with others will contribute to our success as well as the success of others.

As we share bits and pieces of our farm life, keep in mind that what we share is the truth.  How would we be any different from the large factory farms if all we did was portray this mythical nirvana of a farm?  We would be trying to pretend that we were something other than what we are.  We will continue to share our farm experiences both positive and negative.  We will present our farm exactly as it is.  No rose colored glasses, no fluff, and no sugar coating.  Who wants to connect to that?  From us you can expect the whole truth and nothing less.