January 2012

We had a great fall with the poultry.  It has remained dry - we are 18 inches behind - but it only seems to bother the farmers.  The weatherman seems to be happy with the sunny weekends.  It is also real warm with most days in the 60's.  Last year at this time we were having a long cold spell. 

The chickens are loving the weather.  On the farm we are building and repairing chicken sheds.  Some friends have been coming over to help and it makes it feel like a barn raising 'cept it isn't a barn.

We bought turkey poults the last week they were available last fall so we have a few in the freezer now should you want some out of season turks.  I am going to cook one using a customer's recipe.  She was so animated telling me about it I wish I had the whole tale on video.  For one thing she still stuffs her bird (and she buys the biggest ones I have) whereas I have been told lately that is just not done anymore.  I will include the recipe soon on the site and you can see how it compares with your recipe. 

We are out of pork for a little while and about the only beef I will have is some ground beef from a cow we are processing.  We are changing the beef program here.  Instead of keeping a cow herd I am going to buy steers from my neighbor - like across the yard neighbor.  I figured it did not make much sense for us both to keep a cow herd.  He has great black baldie calves ( a hereford mama and an angus bull).  With the change there will be a lag in the time before we have beef available on a regular basis.  In the meantime I can recommend a neighbor's grassfed beef.  John in Hartsville does a great job with his beef.  I'll put you in touch with him if you want.  I will still be handling the shipping.

We are going to try growing corn and milo and soybeans again this year.  I hope we get a little more rain this time around.  We plan on putting in some sweet potatoes too. 

Thanks for your interest in our product.  To contact us click on the order form on the left.  You don't need to buy anything to fill out the form.

Kindest Regards,

David White

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If you go in for podcast videos you can go to South Carolina's site for Down Home with Tony and Amanda and view the show I did with them a few years ago.  It was a lot of fun.  Besides featuring me and our chicken, Chris Williams, Chef and Caterer in the midlands was on to do some fine cooking with our chicken.  His catering company is Soigne Catering and he can be reached at 803-707-6310.

Here is more about our chicken. 

The reason our chicken tastes so good is they are raised outside on pasture rather than in crowded poultry houses.  They have constant access to a natural diet and enjoy plenty of fresh air and sunshine.  We do not use artificial growth promotants; do not feed meat or bone meal; and do not use antibiotics.  Our chickens mature at their natural pace and offer you outstanding taste and healthy meals.  USDA rules are pretty lax when it comes to claims of free-range .  All that is required is the poultry have "access" to the outside. 

We, and farmers like us around the country ( APPPA) raise our birds outside on pasture where the birds can scratch in the soil, eat green plants and whatever bugs they find.  We move the birds to clean ground regularly.  This has the added advantage of spreading the poultry litter around which is important to the management of our fields.  Raising chickens in this way takes a little longer.  Our birds reach marketable weights in 8-10 weeks as opposed to 6 weeks which is the industry standard.  We believe this longer growout period is a key factor in making the chicken taste so good.

Click here to see what some of our customers say about the taste of our birds.  Some of our customers buy our birds for the flavor.  Some buy because they want to eat healthy foods and know that pasture raised meats are  better for you.  The meat milk and eggs from grass fed and pastured animals has been shown to have a healthier profile of fatty acids and CLAs.  There are several resources for more information about this.  A good site is Eat Wild, Jordan Rubin has several books that outline how healthy eating can contribute to good health. 

 We have a few recipes on our site (link) One is from a good friend of ours, Chris Williams.  He runs the Lone Star Barbecue in Santee SC.  (link).  Mostly when asked how to cook free range chicken we encourage folks to use their favorite recipes but try not to cover up the taste with heavy sauces and flavorings.  But I would also like to put out a call for favorite recipes that our customers might like to share.  Click here to submit a recipe.  I'll try it in my "test kitchen" myself.

Our Processor

A word about our processor.  Williamsburg Packing is processing our poultry and pork and will be doing our beef too.  We are real pleased with their work.  The CO2 stunning and air chilling work real well and allow us to offer poultry and pork that is humanely slaughtered and chilled without adding water.  Williamsburg Packing has been certified by two different humane handling certification organizations. 

Thank you for visiting us.  Click here to go to the price page and here to contact us with an inquiry or to place an order or to offer a favorite recipe.

Pet Food

I forgot to mention our products for pets.  To learn about why more and more pet owners are feeding their pets Raw meats click here.

AND click here to learn more about us and what we are trying to do on our farm.

Thanks for visiting our site.  I look forward to hearing from you.

David White