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Spring Update
APRIL 2010 - fresh spring green pastures! |
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Greetings!
Spring is finally here! After a long winter and days of torrential rains (and floods), it is refreshing to be outside and  enjoying the sunshine and greening landscapes. And yes, all the roads in Concord are OPEN- you can easily get to us (and our yummy goodies) again! Spring is our favorite time of year - buds on the trees, colorful blossoms, and the hope of a productive and fruitful (and very busy!) summer ahead. The hens and pigs are enjoying the change of seasons and are stretching their legs and wings on fresh pastures and abundant woodlands! We are busy gearing up for another season of growth and expansion (and infrastructure investments!). Our business planning course helped us identify some areas of investment that could help us maximize efficiencies and become more productive in less time (key for us since we both work full-time in addition to Backyard Birds!) . Here are some of our spring projects:
- Starting veggie/herb/flower transplants in the greenhouse and redesigning the backyard raised bed gardens. Tuning up the BCS rototiller! Jen will be experimenting with some field tunnels for early tomato/tomatillo production with our new hoop bender.
- NRA-certification! Yes, we took a gun safety class this winter so we can humanely "dispatch" livestock if the need arises. We still have to apply for our license(s), but we learned a lot about guns and ammo!
- We expanded our rabbit area and are building "mobile rabbit hutches" to get our growing bunnies on pasture.
- Pete doubled the smaller of our two backyard brooders to make room for more chicks this season (we are increasing our broiler production by 60% again this year) and he is experimenting with some new mobile broiler hoop coop designs to make them easier to move in the fields.
- We purchased a large (used) livestock trailer to help us make fewer trips to the slaughterhouse with the pigs this fall. The trailer will also double as a mobile brooder for some of our meat chickens.
- We will be buying a used mobile freezer/reefer
 trailer, storage bins, and a generator to provide space for chilling the broilers this summer and storing frozen meat this fall. We'll also be better prepared in case of a power outage with extra storage capacityTo meet our growing livestock food needs, we invested in some new center-flow feed binsand some gravity feed wagons to make getting supplemental feed to the animals on our 5+ parcels of land all over town much easier! - Gearing up for some new sites - we'll be growing pigs in several new pastures and moving the broilers and layers to some new fields too...lots to juggle!
There is a lot going on at the farm! We hope to see you around this spring - we have an abundance of goodies in the fridge and freezer and some durable goods to keep you clean and healthy. Did you catch the NYT article on rabbit? We have lots of rabbits this spring too! Delish - try some other recipes for rabbit. Read more below about our current offerings and happy spring! |
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 HENS ON PASTURE = DIVINE EGGS! |
 GRASS-FED BEEF = Gatherings at the Grill! |
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 LARD, JOWLS, & TROTTERS - Oh My! Have you made a 1/2 butter, 1/2 lard pie crust lately? We can't begin to explain the following...so flaky and delicious folks gobble up the crumbs and want to lick the plate! It's simple...4 c. sifted flour, 1 heaping tsp. salt, 1 1/2 c. lard (or other combo of lard and butter), 1/2 c. ice cold water. Rub the lard and salt lightly into the flour and stir in the water with fingers of one hand. Flour a board and roller and roll out roughly - try not to work it too much, or it can become tough. Enjoy! It's almost rhubarb season...and this crust is great to use up your leftover winter squashes, soft storage apples, or frozen fruit you've put up from last season.
We also still have yummy pork jowls and trotters or pied de cochon - just marinate and go if you are gearing up for smoking and grilling. Smoked jowls and feet are great to have on hand to add flavor and heartiness to stews and soups! |
 BACKYARD BUBBLES - Scentuous Soaps! |
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Thanks for reading and we hope to see you (or your envelope/Honor Card transactions) at the mini-store soon. We are looking forward to providing you with more tasty, tasty products this season!
Cheers,  Pete and Jen
Pete and Jen's Backyard Birds |
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| Gift
Certificates
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It's spring! That means it is almost wedding season, and Mothers'/Fathers' Days are just around the corner...not to mention the start of outdoor birthday parties and BBQ's...what a better idea than a Gift Certificate to Pete and Jen's Backyard Birds. They can pick out their own eggs, grill goodies, hot sauces, soaps, and fresh veggies. Just email us and we can put together a gift certificate in any amount for your special someone! | |
Best part - Gifts Certificates never expire and one size fits all tastes! |
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