We're back with a vengeance...or not

Where do we start? After a lot of deliberation we have decided not to personally raise chickens this year. We've had trouble securing land among many other farming and personal experiences and just feel it best for our family to take some time off from the physical, day to day work of farming.

That being said, we are not taking the year off from being dedicated to and sourcing good food, including poultry and eggs. We are still feasting on our dwindling supply of chicken from last year, but know that's going to run out (not literally because they're dead now). I am really missing the eggs, but recently found a farm that raises pastured eggs and the proof is in the color of the yolk!  They don't have many extra but are planning on having 20 doz a week available in Aug/Sept that we have requested for us and you. 

The good news:

Last week, we visited a farm in Vernal, UT owned by Dale Batty and his family. The Battys raise their chickens very similarly to the way we do, modeled after Joel Salatin's Polyface Farm. The shelters are moved daily to ensure fresh pasture, and the moveable electric fencing rotated to new pasture every 2-3 weeks. The birds have free range access to green pasture and bugs. The Battys also raise pork, lamb and beef. One difference is up until now they have raised Cornish Cross breed of chicken only.

Dale has agreed to a test run raising some Red Rangers and Turkens this year for us.  We are hoping he will also do a test run raising a few turkeys. 

We, the McDowells, want well-raised poultry but are struggling with land availability/location and help with the daily labor.
They, the Battys (and hopefully other local farmers in the future), enjoy farming and have their own land and some help, but are struggling to find people interested in their type of food who are willing to pay a fair price for it.
You, the customers, want...well what do you want? If you're like us you want humanely raised, on pasture, hormone/antibiotic free, healthy and yummy food (and access to the farm, honesty in how the animals are treated and what they are given, etc.)!

We're hoping to form a longer term arrangement with the Battys, and hopefully other local farmers - where we would sell their meat products as long as it is raised to our standards. We will visit each farm and taste anything we agree to sell, and would be able to continue having pickup right from our house in Salt Lake City, where the majority of the interested people can easily access it. Our dreams include continuing to work with local restaurants, getting eggs on a regular basis for our customers, and securing sources of meat, particularly poultry, that meets our standards.

A problem:

Processing. This has been an ongoing problem. The Battys are planning to build a free-standing facility, but until the processing wrinkles are ironed out, we can't promise anything other than our diligence in pursuing this dream. There is a meeting on May 16 to discuss the processing regulations and some "changes" that are coming, so until then we dont really know what to anticipate. We will keep you all posted though.

And last but not least, an update on our non-farming adventures: Saffron is now almost 2 1/2. Lucky for us, she loves to be outside...and she loves to eat meat. I don't know if she's made the connection that chicken for dinner and the chicken on the farm or in her books are the same thing, but we'll couple that conversation with the birds and the bees one in several years! Last year we enjoyed Thanksgiving in Arizona - out on the porch in the 80 degree weather. We roasted a heritage turkey and we deep fried a broad breasted turkey and had a little taste test. Shawnee's parents just had us for dinner last week to sample their roasted heritage turkey. We are so thankful for good food!

Danny recently purchased a sweet new (to him) mountain bike and has been breaking it in. Shawnee still works at Primary Children's hospital and we're glad for spring! We did some nice hiking in Southern Utah on our way to AZ last year (it's called the Wave).

We're happy and hopeful that this arrangement will work out because we love the interactions with our customers and friends, love the food movement, but the labor and location of farming may not be best suited to us (at least this year). Time will tell won't it? Thanks for reading, and we look forward to seeing a lot of you again soon now that winter is over and we're done hibernating!

To every thing there is a season (turn turn turn)

We're coming up on the last week with birds out on pasture (besides the egg layers). Our last chickens will be gone tomorrow and our turkeys will be gone next week. We are so thankful for these animals for providing food for us. This post is dedicated to animals...especially since 2 little lambies were born this week on the farm. Though they are not our sheep, we are great friends with them and we probably see them more than anyone. They are finally used to us and they come up to say hi.




This last month has been super fun as far as farming goes. It has been a lot of work as usual, but it's also included a fun farm day and two more days at the downtown farmer's market, where we get to meet a lot of you. That is one of the highlights of farming! Thank you for being a part of this adventure.

We're excited to have a little bit more time on our hands to do stuff like this!

McDowell Family FARM day

Saturday, Sept. 17, 2011 8am-11 am

Come see the Utah farm being modeled after Polyface Farm in VA, which is featured in the movie Food Inc. & the book “The Omnivore’s Dilemma” by Michael Pollan.

Nestled on the banks of the upper Weber river in beautiful Wanship, UT.

Don’t forget your water, hat, snacks, camera, a light jacket, hand sanitizer and farm shoes (aka crap kickers). Come prepared to walk around. There are also sheep, cows and horses on the farm (not ours).

Appreciate & respect your food. See how your birds are raised. Know where & how they lived before coming to your home!

Directions: From SLC, go east on I-80 approx. 30 miles. (10 miles past Park City exit) Take the Wanship/Kamas exit (#155). Turn right at the exit and immediately turn left into the grassy field to park. Look for the egg-mobile, several moveable white chicken shelters, and a bunch of birds! It’s almost directly across the street from the Rafter-B gas station.

Cooking your Turkey

I promised directions, so here they are. I will be cooking our turkey on Sunday and will let you know how it goes!! Good luck with yours! Check out the entry before this one to see all the yummy veggies we will be roasting with our bird. And...if you read this soon, come see us at the Farmer's Market tomorrow 9/3/11.

If turkey is frozen, place the wrapped turkey in the refrigerator for 3-4 days to thaw (allow 5 hours per pound of turkey to completely thaw) OR placed wrapped turkey in a sink and cover it with cold water – allow 30 minutes per pound of turkey to thaw. Change water frequently.

Once thawed, brush turkey with olive oil and sprinkle with fresh or dried herbs. Place turkey, breast side down, on a flat rack in a shallow roasting pan, about 2 inches deep. Some like to add 1 cup stock to the bottom of the pan before cooking, which creates some steam and helps keep the turkey moist but doesn’t prevent browning the skin. Turn the turkey over to breast side up during the last hour or so – this results in moist, white meat. The turkey is done when a meat thermometer (inserted deep into the thickest part of the thigh next to the body, not touching the bone) registers 165 degrees F. and drumstick is soft and moves easily at the joint.
If you want to stuff the turkey, spoon prepared dressing loosely into body and neck cavity just prior to roasting. Remove stuffing immediately after roasting.

Approximate Roasting Time (at 325 degrees F. oven) - PLEASE NOTE: BOTH VARIETIES OF OUR TURKEYS TAKE SIGNIFICANTLY SHORTER TIME TO COOK, SO GO BY TEMPERATURE TO GUARANTEE IT'S NOT OVERCOOKED (ours was done about 1-1.5 hours before we thought it would be).

Weight Roasting Time Roasting time(stuffed)
6-8 lbs. 2 ¼ to 3 ¼ hours 3-3 ½ hours
8-12 lbs. 3-4 hours 3 ½ to 4 ½ hours
12-16 lbs. 3 ½ to 4 ½ hours 4-5 hours
16-20 lbs. 4-5 hours 4 ½ to 5 ½ hours
20-24 lbs. 4 ½ to 5 ½ hours 5 to 6 ½ hours
24+ lbs. 5-6 hours 5 ½ to 6 ½ hours

Begin checking for done-ness about one hour before end of recommended roasting time. Time is affected by type of oven, oven temperature, & degree of thawing.
When skin is golden brown, shield breast loosely w/ foil to prevent over-browning.

The 'veggies' of our labor

Thanks for a successful chicken pickup. Our first turkey pickup is today. We processed about 30 turkeys. We can't wait to fix ourselves a nice turkey dinner with our fresh garden veggies...

You too can have a completely local turkey dinner. Order your turkey now!! Tell your neighbors and your friends. We're having a farm day on Sept. 17 (changed from Sept. 10 because that day was becoming way too busy). Come see the animals in action!!

Processing Poultry: A little story about Ole McDowell & Mr. Bird

Once upon a time, there was a chicken farmer. He wanted to raise egg-laying and meat chickens and turkeys naturally, running around on pasture - but he didn’t know how he would process them. He met a nice man who was a butcher by trade, who also had all the equipment for a mobile poultry processing facility. The first year, the processor, Mr. Bird, drove out to the chicken farm and in the most clean and humane way possible, ‘processed’ the chickens. The chicken farmer was then able to sell them to his friends and family. The chickens were nicely plucked and their innards were properly removed and disposed of. All was hunky dory.

Then one day the chicken processor learned from some (state)government people (what a mess) that even though he followed all their rules, he was being shut down and could no longer process chickens the way he had been doing all along. So the chicken farmer was left scrambling to find someone to process the rest of his birdies. Thankfully, a temporary substitute was found, but the farmer still missed Mr. Bird. In time, Mr. Bird built a small, local, chicken processing facility in Utah – the first of its kind. He made sure to talk with higher (federal)government people so he wouldn’t all of the sudden get shut down again. They inspected and approved his facility. He called the farmer to inform him that he now had a USDA approved custom-exempt processing facility. Not a moment to soon since their chickens were getting bigger by the day.

Now the farmer and his wife are very happy. This was causing them big headaches. The processor said he’d have to raise the price of processing chickens by $1.50 per bird and turkeys by $3 per bird in order to pay for this facility and feed his li’l wife and kids. This makes the farmer have to raise his price on poultry by the same to help make farming worth it.

Though he hasn’t turned a profit yet, the farmer knows that there are many ways to measure success. Supporting the local farmer, the local processor – shortening the distance the food has to travel, knowing what is put into the food he raises for his family and friends, and respecting the land and animals are just some of his measures of success. Ole McDowell and Mr. Bird get to work together again. The end.

This is a picture of Mr. Bird and his mobile processing facility...the 'before' if you will. The 'new' pic will be up soon.

The EGG-mobile

After much ado, I am finally able to post a slideshow of the process of building the egg mobile. What a project! Enjoy...and stay tuned because we're hopefully planning a farm day for the last Saturday in August (27th) - a day to bring yourself and kids to see the farm.

About the egg-mobile: Danny was gifted a trailer from a friend – and used his creativity to dream up this egg-mobile. Shawnee’s dad is a builder and an artist, so he helped design the thing, and her brother helped on the labor too. Between the three of them, this is what they came up with. And I can tell you, the chickens LOOOOOVE it! It’s like the Marriott of chicken hotels. It’s a moveable structure that holds about 32 egg laying boxes lined with hay. The boxes can be closed at night so the chickens don’t sleep and poop in them. The sides open giving easy access to the eggs each morning. It has an Aluminum shingle roof, compliments of Alumilife and the Aluminum Shingle Company. Thanks to all who designed, built, and transported this beauty!(which included a flat tire that left the egg mobile on the side of the freeway overnight!!) We have so many pictures, (none of the flat tire experience though, they were too graphic for a family blog!! Or was that the audio that was too graphic?) enjoy the slideshow.