It has been nice to be done butchering chickens and turkeys for a while.  There has been so much piling up that having the time and some nice winter weather has really been a blessing.  I’ll post some pictures but we have revamped the ballast system on the hen’s SuperDoops.  This change has really helped us sleep at night (thinking back….I remember posting one time about how well the superdoops are holding up against the wind- only to lose one the next day!  And yes, there is a high wind warning posted for tomorrow!?!).  We have also completed a winter hut for the sows and boar.  This is a group house for gestation, then each sow will choose her birthing hut when she is ready.  We have also moved the cows to the pond area for the winter.  This will help with winter water and help build up some of the worst soil on the farm.  The sows followed the cows and will help turn the top soil for spring planting. ..they also consider cow patties a delicacy.

The girls are strong and helpful and we have had a nice family time this Chistmas break.  It has been nice to recharge the family batteries!

In other news, CoCo the Grey Murray gave birth this afternoon!!  More news on this later, but mama and calf are doing fine, looks like she will have her all cleaned up before it gets dark tonight!

We will be back at Drake Park on New Year’s Day.

We are under the weather at the farm so we won’t make it to town today. Sorry and see you next week.
Anita

Great Fruit, Great Deal, Great Cause

The annual Crook County High School FFA fruit sale is back and you can order on the Great American Egg Facebook page. You can choose four different varieties of apples and three varieties of pears from the Walter Wells and Sons Farm in the Hood River Valley. The Crook County FFA students and alumni have again grown three varieties of potatoes this year. The potatoes are going through a heavy premium sort this year for a bit more consistency in your bag. The fruit comes in 25 pound flats ($13), and the potatoes are coming in 10 pound increments ($3).

We are using Facebook this year because the website handles everything for us. For this convenience we are happy to pay the service fees. This means that you can pre-pay and confirm you order with a computer rather than through us…..impersonal maybe, but far more reliable. There is also the benefit of the social networked world to help spread the word about the sale. If you have trouble or have opted out of this service- give us a call and we can work it out.

The items will be available at the farm on November 19th, and also at the Salem Public Market on the 19th. Your order must be in by November 9th. As always, this sale is merely facilitated by the Great American Egg- these aren’t our products; however, we do support the efforts of the Crook County kids. Last year the local chapter was able to travel to Indianapolis for the annual convention. So spread the word! The fruit and potatoes have always been fantastic and we so love the look on the kids and instructor when we drop off your orders- they are so appreciative (last year we were the largest group supporter!).

CLICK HERE to ORDER!

Happy Halloween,
Great American Egg

The sows and their litters came home yesterday. This means that we have four litters on the ground right now! Two sets are ready for butcher and will be offered up through winter pork boxes. The new sets – four weeks old right now…will be ready by the spring markets. These pigs will also be the first on the kale/turnip pasture. We are excited to see how this works. In the meantime, enjoy a video of the little guys greeting the morning.
Hamp/Tam Piglets

We are butchering this weekend! We plan to process in the morning and open the farm up in the afternoon for folks that are looking for fresh chicken. Please let us know if you are coming out and how many birds you would like so we can plan accordingly. I hate to even mention this, but we should have cures (Cottage, Belly, British and Jowl bacon) back on Friday of this week- you will have first crack at these on Sunday if your interested!

Meet our new puppy! He likes to sleep but when he`s awake he follows you everywhere! Dad says he`s our first mellow puppy.

We have two common requests at the market: first one – ‘do you still have eggs?’ and the second one – ‘is all the meat frozen?’ We have been working both of these issues; however, today at the market we will definitely be able to say that we have fresh (unfrozen) meat. We butchered yesterday afternoon and will have plenty of whole birds and parts on ice at the market today! We had been working on a way to display frozen packs without any luck at maintaining proper temperatures. Maintaining refrigeration temperatures is pretty easy and it seems that many folks wanted fresh anyway. Writing this, I am wondering why we didn’t do this years ago!?! Hope to see you at the market today! Fresh chicken will still be available during farm days, but now there is a weekday dinner option! Thanks much and talk to you soon!

Fresh batch of bacon came in today- expect the full assortment of belly bacons at the market this week! Just waiting for the tomatoes to grow for a BLT!

Hope this message finds you well and warm! I think we are reaching everyone now with this new email program! Not that we can ask the folks that are not receiving these emails to send us a note….but we are getting less questions about when we are going to send out notices!

Fourth of July

Open farm and butcher on Monday the Fourth of July. We plan on processing birds early in the morning and will be ready for pick up between 3-6pm Monday. Please let us know if you would like some birds reserved for you so we can make sure and process the correct number of broilers! As always, the chicken is just $3/lb on the farm.

Stability on the Farm

Sometimes it seems like we are in a constant state of chaos on the farm. This spring has been much smoother. Tayrn has helped out a ton, the broiler operation is stable and running like clockwork, pigs have been a bit nuts logistically but stable as far as pasturing. The weakest point- which should be our strongest point, has been our egg production. We really attempted to ramp up this year, however, we got a bad shipment of chicks in September where most of the chickens were DOA. We couldn't get replacements until much later in the fall. The good news is that we have a couple of hundred birds that are starting to lay- so hopefully our egg shortages will be short lived. Fingers crossed!

First Cutting of Hay

The South field has been cut and baled! I cannot tell you how good it feels to get hay put up without a single drop of rain touching it! Our old gear survived the cutting and is making some really nice bales now that we have tweaked everything to work with our grass.

Stay Connected

We are using Twitter quite a bit (#greataegg). This is a great service for finding out where and when to find us, quick notes on product availability and some fun stuff as well. We also post our booth number when we find out where it is in Salem. We are playing around a little bit with a Store Front on Facebook. This might be handy during the winter drops and with our delivery route. We will see..

We also repeat everything we write through these services. So if we make a blog posting on the blog it will be reposted on Twitter and Facebook and visa-versa. We also repost these emails. Regardless, sign up and stay connected!

Markets this Year

Wednesdays -- Bend, Drake Park -- 3-7pm

Fridays -- Redmond, Redmond Greenhouse -- 3-7pm

Fridays -- Bend, St. Charles -- 2-6pm

Saturdays -- Salem, Downtown -- 9am to 3pm

Saturdays -- Silverton, between the Oregon Gardens and Downtown -- 9am to 1pm

Restaurants serving our Products

3456 -- Bend, Airport -- Chicken and Duck Eggs

10 Below -- Bend, Oxford Hotel -- Chicken and Eggs

Lone Pine Coffee -- Bend, Tin Pan Alley -- Ham Sandwiches

Jackson's Corner -- Bend, Delaware Avenue -- Chicken Wings

Devore's Good Food -- Bend, Newport Ave -- Eggs all week long

900 Wall -- Bend, Wall Street -- Eggs

Hola! -- Sunriver, Marina -- Eggs and Jowl Bacon

--NEW!--The Honey Pot -- Downtown on Franklin, Bend -- Pork Sausage and Chicken

--NEW!--Primal Cuts -- Galveston, Bend -- Chicken, whole and cut up