Til next time

Thank you all for purchasing Poulet Rouge from us this round! We are currently sold out of the batch set to be processed in August. Have more chicks starting the last week in June so hold your horses and I will let you know when I begin to market them. Feel free to contact me and let me know that you are interested.

Turkeys are selling well...please reserve your soon if you want the yummiest turkey in the state!

shhh...it's a treat

So I've done it again...I got me some turkeys. That's not all, I also refilled on the Indian Runner ducks I lost this winter and, here's the secret and the clincher, I got some Auracana Bantams... I am soooo excited. Reality check...time to start marketing. In case you were just thinking, "where's the visual candy?"...I still didn't get the camera I asked for at Christmas time...and I haven't let anyone live it down yet.

Come on out!

Hello all, we are looking for a small group of people (ie; a family, a few friends, etc) to come and stay with us for a couple weeks this summer, right after school lets out, say June 12-27th. We will be fencing in our entire grove and setting up a rotational grazing system for our American Mulefoot Hogs, renovate a barn so that we can house more heritage turkeys next year, and move another barn to house our Poulet Rouge (slow growing) meatbirds. We will provide all food, a fully equipped camper that comfortably sleeps 4, and a Bourbon Red turkey come Thanksgiving. Naturally, we can't help but share our fresh air, prairie nights complete with stars and constellations, local and "fowl" entertainment (heritage turkeys, rare breed ducks, laying hens, meat birds) bonfire and gatherings. We hope to work hard during the day and enjoy great company in the evenings. Bring your instruments or hobbies; we have tons of room for you to express yourself. We would really like to encourage a family with young kids who wants to get out of the city for a while and have a different experience but would be gracious for anyone. If two weeks is hard to commit to but you would like to come out for a weekend or a couple days, bring your tent and make yourself at home (just call to let us know when your coming). The more the merrier. We plan to move the barn over a weekend when we can get the most help (this will also be the weekend of our annual potluck/bonfire). Please pass the word as it would be great to get to know some people that are interested and field any questions. Call us at the farm 320-752-4276 or email HumbleRootsHeritage@gmail.com Thank you!

The Haps

Well, it has been pretty uneventful here on the prairie. "Everything is comin' around" as I heard a wise man say one time. Our turkeys are growing more and more beautiful seemingly every few days. This morning I let them out of there digs, and as they do every morning, they twit about then gather into their formation, run and take flight for the next 50 feet to the silo where our ducks have a swimming hole and the turkeys frequent. I always wonder why they fly that short distance; our house is on a hill and our outbuildings all lay at the bottom of our hill, so as they could run downhill, they chose to fly...perhaps its for my viewing pleasure. I do look forward to it every morning...it's awesome. I have tried several times to get a photo of it but the justice is never done.

All of our piglets are exquisite and our sows and boars are hopefully doing what they are suppose to be doing, although I haven't been a witness yet. The Poulet Rouge are scroungers...they are now running freely in the coop with my laying hens and are all over the acreage when they are out. I have finally been relieved of recruitment duty. I was having to spend an hour every night teaching them as a mother hen would to go back into the coop at 9 PM. It has been a few nights now and they have all been in when I go to shut them in (what a relief). I am surprised how much food they find around here...when I pick then up I can feel their gullets bulging; good greens etc.

All my ducks are looking good. My Indian Runner ducks are just like Ping (do you know the story). I didn't realize Ping from the Yangtze was a Runner...

Tweets on Turkeys

So it has recently come to my attention that this thang called Twitter is the way to go and so this is for the Twits out there (seriously, what do you call yourself? The post is called a Tweet and the program is called Twitter...anyways, no offense intended).

The Bourbon Red is the new bird...it is an old lovely breed from the South, historically known as Kentucky Reds or Bourbon Butternuts. We chose the Bourbon Red for many logical reasons: it is considered critically rare by the American Livestock Breed Conservator (http://www.albc-usa.org/cpl/bourbon.html) and at HumbleRoots, we believe that one of the best ways to re-introduce a breed is to promote it as a food (the more who eat it the more who breed it). We also selected this breed for its slow rate of growth and naturally occurring size (the dressed toms max out at about 15 lbs and the ladies at about 12 lbs), its edible qualities (Slow Foods USA has Bourbon Reds listed on their Ark of Taste (http://www.slowfoodusa.org)/) as being selected for improved darker red color meat production, a heavy breast and richly flavored meat). Superficially (or maybe it does really matter), it is one of the most beautiful turkeys and we love the ambiance they lend to our farm, especially now that the toms are beginning to puff out their chests and show their "authority", for lack of better term.
Our turkeys are fed naturally we do not use antibiotics or medications. Because they need a high protein diet (28% protein) we have opted to add fish meal to our feed and have worked with our local grain elevator to create this feed ration specific to our turkeys and farming morals, while supporting our local grain producers and businesses. Our turkeys leave their home digs early in the morning, spend their days roosting on our chicken coop, garage, or fallen trees and keeping our grass grazed; they have full run of all of our acreage. They mingle with our chickens, duck and pigs freely and come back in to roost in their barn at night.
It is a slow growing turkey so will come to you somewhere between 8-16 lbs. We do ask for a $30 deposit upon ordering and the rest is due upon either pick up or delivery (we will have a pick up sight in MPLS); the final amount due will vary depending on the weight but will be priced at $7.50 per pound, the average bird costing around $90 We welcome you request for a specific weight and, in the end, will organize them the best we can but cannot guarantee anything as these are simply natural birds and are not bred for convention. We will be planning a pick up sight in MPLS probably on Friday, Nov. 20th in the evening; this will allow time for you to travel with I, defrost it, brine it, etc. If you see a problem with picking it up then please specify that below so that we can make arrangement. We will have too many turkeys to fit in our freezer so it will be important that you are there to pay and pick the bird up.

Penny's litter has come to fruition!

Finally after much teat draggin', our little Penny has had 7 healthy piglets! Why do I not have batteries for my camera? I am an impossible battery buyer! But I will try to get some.

The turkey lurkies are getting 'uge and about 1/2 are still looking for a place to spend the holidays. I will be excited when they go...they are messy creatures and the shade of our human stoop, of which we pass daily...unfortunatly are passing something there all day also. I do love the sound them. They are beginning to get their "Gobbles" on and often reply to mine; I can't help but hope I am teaching them proper pronunciation.

Poulet Rouge are doing great under their lights in the coop. I feel bad that they are sharing the Indian Runner ducklings...it's amazing what a mess 8 little 4 inch ducklings can do! But the chicks are already feeling weighty...