Kansas Free Range Eggs

It is getting warmer out and the sunshine is staying around longer during the day! A hint of spring is in the air and we are so excited. Not only are we tired of all the mud, but the added sunshine means we are starting to get eggs again. Part of a chickens production depends on the amount of sunshine during the day. During the shortest days of the year we did not receive any eggs, but now were are getting around four a day.
Now are chickens are free range as we open their henhouse in the morning and they are free to roam anywhere on our property. Research has shown that the nutritional content of eggs from genuine free-range hens (hens that forage daily on a grass range) is superior to eggs produced by conventional means. These studies report higher levels of Omega 3 and Vitamins A and E, and lower levels of total fat, saturated fat, cholesterol, and Omega 6.
So lets cheer for a breakfast of eggs and sausage! It is just a good feeling knowing when I eat this meal that both items came from our farm.

Eating Like a Pig

Everyone has heard the term, "eating like a pig", well after having some pigs you can understand how that term comes about. Now pigs are different than other animals in that they do eat until they are full and will then stop eating. Other animals will actually just keep on eating and it can cause death. Actually once we wean the piglets from their mothers we will then have a feeder with feed in it and they can eat as much as they want. The mothers then will be on a ration feeder, because just like humans they can tend to eat too much and get FAT! (But I can't blame them because I enjoy food also). If you look at the picture here you will see the little ones eating some feed and just making a mess! They eat like pigs because they just get it everywhere. The pigs right now are eating feed and also still nursing from their mothers. We will actually wean them between 6-8 weeks of age, instead of 2 weeks which a lot of confinement operations do. We just want it to be as natural as possible.

The weather is actually much better today and it looks like the week ahead will be much warmer! Lets hope so, because cold and snow is not any fun for working on the farm!

Wine on Valentines Day

As we appreciate the fact the people buy local and look for our products, we also like to support local businesses. This Valentines day we went to a local county winery, called Windswept Winery. It was a wonderful wonderful evening and if you ever get a chance, you should make the trip. Not only will you be able to enjoy the wonderful wine, but you will be able to talk to the owners Randy and Rebecca. This dinner was a five course feast and it was fabulous. Now I am by no means an expert on wine, however this night I had my first experience with food being a perfect fit with wine!

My next blog I will give you an update on the baby pigs and they are as cute as ever.

Is she a cat or a dog?

This is Kiwi the dog we have named our farm after. Sometimes she doesn't really act like a dog. In this picture, Kiwi is sleeping on the top of the couch. I mean we have had our cats perch up here, but now Kiwi is starting to do it. My wife Gretchen will say, I know I should tell her to get down but she is so cute! I swear this dog just brings a smile to everyones face.

Also tonight I had a pork chop and it was great. I just fried it in a pan with some olive oil and it was very tender. I think next time I might try a little marinade. We will see. We have also now gone about a month without turning on our heater, we are just using wood in our wood furnace. It is a great feeling to be able to do it.

I would love to hear any comments of anyone who is reading my blog! Let me know of any subjects you would like me to talk about.

Great Taste

I know it has been a week since I have posted a blog. Just a crazy week for me, as I was out of town. Really it is Gretchen that does most of the work around here during the week, so I just have to say how wonderful of a job she does!
Anyway we picked up our first processed pork and it is great!


Here is a quote from a customer.


"We went to pick up our hog Saturday and have been "pigging out" since. The meat is delicious! Doesn't draw water or shrink while cooking either. So far we've tried the chops, bacon and ham - great food!" ~ Alisha

Also the butcher at Walnut Valley Packing, mentioned that the Wacker hogs were great looking hogs!

It is great to hear these comments as we feel like we are offering a product of good quality and treated very well. So thank you everyone we purchased pork from us.

Propane

This picture of a fire you see, is how we heat our house. Living in the country we are on a propane tank and just like gas for your car, the cost of propane keeps going up and up. Last winter we paid $1.59 a gallon and this winter it has been up to $2.13 a gallon. Now we have a 500 gallon tank and I think last winter we spent around $1300 on propane. So this winer I purchased a wood burning furnace. This furnace is in our basement and connects to our central air unit and uses our air ducts. It works pretty good and we haven't turned on our propane furnace for over week now. Of course this does create some work for us because we have to cut all of this fire wood to be able to burn. The good part about cutting the wood is living in the country we have access to PLENTY of wood and we are getting a great workout cutting the wood. In this second picture is some split wood and it is a funny little story.
Okay, in all the movies you see the rugged tough guy who lives on the farm, he will split wood with an ax. Well I have always had that image in my head so today, I thought I would see if I could split a hard piece of wood with an ax. Well, this picture shows my accomplishment. Gretchen had a good laugh out of me, because I said how tough I felt and for anyone that knows me, is that I am not really a tough guy. Most likely we will use the power splitter when we need to split wood, but most likely we will just cut smaller pieces that do not need split.

So for one day though. I am a rugged tough guy who split wood with an ax!