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!

Minnesota couple nurtures endangered farm animals | Minnesota Public Radio NewsQ

Minnesota couple nurtures endangered farm animals Minnesota Public Radio NewsQ

Regarding regrets

Thank you all for visiting our blog! I am so sorry to inform you that we are all sold out of turkeys and pork at this time. It has recently come to my knowledge that we are in the Minneapolis St Paul Magazine this month and so I am sure we are going to get some visitors to this blog (which my the way, is not getting the attention it needs from me because my camera is broken and photos are what keep me blogging). Please send me an email so I can get you on our list for next year. Although April is early to begin thinking TURKEY it is when we begin taking orders and accepting deposits. Just think, you can reserve your heritage bird in April and all your thoughts can be clear until November! Rest assured your bird is in good hands and will be ready for you to do what you will with... I will be sending out an email regarding the birds and our pick up drop off plans in April and, again, would love for you to be on our list. We will be increasing our numbers slightly next year but only to about 50 as we believe that they should be raised humanely and any more than that would make us sacrifice some of our qualities which include things like roosting space and barn space (which played a huge hand during the flooding this year). We know that we are raising a quality product and are unwilling to sacrifice quality for quantity. We also want you to recognize that in ways of quality is our "quality of life" that we deserve as farmers and the turkeys deserve as our livestock. We strive on keeping everything manageable.

On another quality of life note, we had a generous gentleman order a turkey from us with the request that we give it to a family in need and send him the bill. If this is something that you would ever wish to do we would be most gracious to partake in that order. Perhaps you would like to donate a certain amount towards their turkey but cannot make the entire order, we will work that out amongst folks that are willing to donate. If everybody this year were to offer an additional $10 we could've served about 5 families with a great turkey and will increasing our numbers to 50 birds next year we would do even more. Just something to think about. We will also join in the fund and then we can all feel that much better about the meals we are eating.

As we grow a certain amount of vegetables here we are also thinking about offering a Thanksgiving package which would include things like sage, potatoes, garlic, and other common Thanksgiving amenities. If this sounds good to you, we would love some feed back. Thank you for visiting our blog and please, drop us an email so that we can get in touch with you early next year!

Nature versus Nurture

I have many times chewed the cud about NATURE vs NURTURE and feel that there is no clear line...

everything

uses and adapts a little of both to survive. However, Aurelia's 2nd birthday has hit me with a bit of an epiphany... In our house, Hot Pink (which has become a noun in our house since the arrival of Aurelia) is Nature...I do not like Hot Pink, Joey doesn't like Hot Pink, Azure only likes Green and Brown (which have the support of both of us Parents) but Aurelia thinks Hot Pink is Pretty and only Hot Pink is Pretty and she is only interested in Pretty

"Bring your Guns to Town, Boys" bonfire

September 19th...kids and parents come at 4 for Azure's birthday- we'll do the ol' fashioned gunny sack races, egg tosses, etc...bonfire for everyone else starts at dusk..BYO...musical instrument. Valet parking available for a million dollar fee...

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...