{"id":42,"date":"2009-01-01T16:37:29","date_gmt":"2009-01-01T23:37:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.greatamericanegg.com\/blog\/?p=42"},"modified":"2009-03-05T13:24:34","modified_gmt":"2009-03-05T20:24:34","slug":"2009-season-offerings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.greatamericanegg.com\/blog\/2009-season-offerings\/","title":{"rendered":"2009 Season Offerings"},"content":{"rendered":"

Well, the planning is done and we are posting our offerings for 2009.\u00a0 Please click ‘Sign Up for Product Availibility<\/a><\/strong>‘ at the top of the page to sign up for notices of dates, prices and quantities available.\u00a0 Comments are always welcome as we cannot be successful without them.\u00a0 Thanks much for taking a look at what we plan to grow this year and we hope to hear from you!\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

F<\/strong>actory Free Broilers \u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Broilers are chickens bred for their rapid meat production, tenderness and mild flavor.\u00a0 The Cornish Cross is the industry standard (on both conventional and grass fed farms).\u00a0 We raise ours to 8 weeks as the tenderness drops off rapidly after this point.\u00a0 Our birds are fed corn, soybeans, oats, kelp, oyster shells, and organic minerals and, most importantly, \u00a0grass.\u00a0 We source feed locally (although it is a bit hard to find kelp in Central Oregon!) and mix it ourselves.\u00a0 All broilers are processed on the farm, out of doors (pending), clean and with caring, competent hands.\u00a0 We plan to process under the USDA exemption PL 90-492.\u00a0 We butcher in the morning and have the birds chilled and bagged and ready for pick up in the afternoon.\u00a0 Our chickens really do ‘taste like chicken’.\u00a0 These are not watered down, gooey factory birds – you will notice great texture, yellow not white fat, distinct white and dark meat flavors, and a completely usable carcass.\u00a0 Best of all you will know everything about the life of the bird that was raised for your family.\u00a0 The chicks are brooded in deep bedding, raised outside on fresh pasture and sunlight, fed only natural ingredients, and processed cleanly and humanely.\u00a0 Factory free broilers are available spring through fall; however, they can be frozen up to 6 months.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

F<\/strong>actory Free Eggs \u00a0 \u00a0<\/strong><\/h3>\n

To make the best eggs we need three ingredients- heritage birds, diverse pasture and natural feed, and proper living conditions.\u00a0 Our main flock consists on Black Australorps.\u00a0 We chose this bred due to it’s hardiness, decent egg production, aggressive foraging,\u00a0usable carcass, and most importantly intelligence.\u00a0 Note the aerial predators around next time you drive through Powell Butte- these hens are smart enough to take cover when hawks are near and are much faster on foot than their pursuers.\u00a0 The birds are given a section of pasture to forage at will, nest boxes available when their internal clock dings and elevated roosts at night.\u00a0 The eggs are radically different than factory organic or otherwise.\u00a0 Our yolks stand tall and proud with a bright orange (not yellow!?!) color.\u00a0 You will also notice a more pronounced chalazae than a conventional egg- a sure sign of freshness.\u00a0 A strong outer membrane holds the whites together so the egg does not spread across the frying pan.\u00a0 Benefits of using our eggs are less broken yokes, higher faster white peaks, full rich flavor, and are nutritionally superior.\u00a0 Can you believe there is so much difference in eggs that doctors will prescribe pastured eggs and prohibit factory eggs for cholesterol patients? \u00a0Factory free eggs are available year round; however, we have a significant drop in production as the birds naturally (not forced) molt in the winter.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

R<\/strong>eady to Lay Pullets <\/strong><\/h3>\n

Backyard chickens should be required on all lots!\u00a0 The City of Bend allows 4 hens per lot and are great for lawns.\u00a0 Chickens will pull up the dandelions, fertilize the lawn, eat insects, hang out in your lap, provide endless entertainment and, yes there is more, they will give you eggs!\u00a0 We recommend some sort of chicken tractor set up as predators are an issue (we lost several in Bend due to skunks).\u00a0 Brooding is an expensive process; the little chicks must be pampered in order to make successful layers and there is no return for about 5 1\/2 months.\u00a0 Our ready to lay pullets will get you started in chickens without the upfront expenses.\u00a0 The downside is you can’t watch the chicks grow up and that is a very enjoyable journey.\u00a0 The good news is that you can always head out to the Great American Egg and see how they are doing!\u00a0 Ready to Lay Pullets will be ready in the spring as we raise extra each year as we rotate our flock.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

P<\/strong>owerhouse\u00a0Pork \u00a0<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Pigs are the work horse of the farm. \u00a0They spend the winter tearing down a compost mound, rooting up weak soil, mixing in fertilizer and preparing our 1\/2 acre garden.\u00a0 In the spring they search for corn deep in winter bedding.\u00a0 It is hard to imagine such a useful animal confined up in a factory – what a waste of talent!\u00a0 Our pigs root for some of their food and are never fed meat or table scraps.\u00a0 So if you like a little pink in your pork you are safe with our pigs.\u00a0 Working pigs are great fun to watch- so please come to the farm and see them in action.\u00a0 We raise pigs fall through spring and for this season we will have pure-bred Durocs and will raise them to 225-250 pounds live.\u00a0 Pigs will need to be slaughtered, cut and wrapped by a custom butcher shop of your choice due to USDA regulations.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

H<\/strong>eritage Turkeys \u00a0 \u00a0<\/strong><\/h3>\n

We will raise one pen of turkeys this year as an experiment to see if there is a demand for these beautiful birds.\u00a0 We will raise Broad Breasted Bronze on pasture similar to how we raise the broilers.\u00a0 We chose this breed for it’s durability and table manners (looks, cooks, yields well).\u00a0 These turkeys will take 6 months to grow out and will be ready for Thanksgiving dinner.\u00a0 This will be a learning year for us so we will be offering these only in exchange for a comprehensive review.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Well, the planning is done and we are posting our offerings for 2009.\u00a0 Please click ‘Sign Up for Product Availibility‘ at the top of the page to sign up for notices of dates, prices and quantities available.\u00a0 Comments are always welcome as we cannot be successful without them.\u00a0 Thanks much for taking a look at […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[48,12,49,52,14,50,51],"class_list":["post-42","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general","tag-add-new-tag","tag-chicken","tag-eggs","tag-for-sale","tag-pastured-poultry","tag-pork","tag-products"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greatamericanegg.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greatamericanegg.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greatamericanegg.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greatamericanegg.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greatamericanegg.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/www.greatamericanegg.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":44,"href":"https:\/\/www.greatamericanegg.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42\/revisions\/44"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greatamericanegg.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greatamericanegg.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greatamericanegg.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}