About Our Blog

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Our blog is to inform and entertain you as we pursue our goal of starting a farm. Here we plan on recording thoughts, projects, farm additions and other note-worthy happenings. You may even see us on a magazine or two. If you would like to comment on our blog or just say "Hi" feel free to do so on our CBOX to the left.  Just enter your name and a message, then click the 'GO' button.  We enjoy your emails too, so don't be afraid to email us a note. Yahoo users: feel free to contact us...our profile is mn_nice_couple.  Just because we don't appear online, doesn't mean we're not.  When you send us an IM, please identify yourselves... and let us know why you're contacting us. Put yourself on the map! CLICK HERE to show us where you are in the world.

Rybec Highlanders on the cover.

The Blog 

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CHICKENS FOR SALE -  Only $2/lb

** We are now selling  processed birds by the pound. **
(as outlined by the Dairy and Food Inspection Division of the Minnesota Department of Agriculture)
for more info click here

 Call Carol Today:  320-220-3235

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July 31, 2008
- If not today - try tomorrow

Early this morning, we has anther storm move through.  We must have been on the northern edge of, as we got some big gusts of wind, but nothing like they got a few miles south.  From the early morning hours, we watched the weather reports.

On one of the local stations, they reported wind gusts of 100+mph, just 6 miles south of Kerkhoven.  Yikes dud!  That's some crazy stuff.  We were watching for it, but like I said, we didn't get it.  We were lucky enough to just get the rain... another 9/10's to be exact.  We got nearly 2" of rain in just a few days... just what the soy beans needed at this stage.

Farmer Mike called to let me know the obvious.  He reported it was raining.  THANKS MIKE!  He was nice to let me know that today may not be the best day to swath oats.  He advised that tomorrow may work better.  If you knew Mike you would know I'm not being mean.  Mike has a knack of making so many things sound funny.  He's a pretty cool guy to know and talk with.  So... with the info he was soooo gracious to volunteer, I modified my plans.

In the afternoon, I want to retrieve the swather.  It started right up and off I went.  I now see why these machines are not used by the masses as a main form of transportation.  These things are slow.  I mean really slow... but I got it home, ready for tomorrow.

July 30, 2008
- Think about harvest

Around noon, Farmer Mike gave me a call.  He was wondering if I had contacted Mark, a nearby farmer, to cut the farm's oat field.  Mark does some custom cutting and Mike said he does a nice job.  I had not, but it was on my list of things to do.  I told Mike I would try calling Mark as soon as we finished our call.  As promised, I did just that... but no answer.

I called Mike with the news.  We discussed my options and described how and why we needed to do things soon.  I told him that my sister uses a swather for her horse hay.  Mike thought that swather she uses should work just fine.  After a few calls, I located my sister and that evening we did a couple minor repairs on the sickle bar and the International 230 Swather was ready for tomorrow's work.

Mike thought the oats should be dry enough to cut sometime after 11:00AM.  Good enough.  I told him I'd have the Swather on the farm, waiting for him to show me some pointers.  Not knowing anything about harvesting oats, I can only assume was want to cut it as short as we can (for the straw) without cutting too much of the alfalfa that is growing.  Hopefully, Mike will give me a crash course on everything I need to know.  Talk about pressure... lol.

July 29, 2008
- Good people

It's 6:00 PM and Carol just came into the house crying.  She handed me a check.  Carol sobbed that it was for the barn that blew down in the tornado.   HUH?  She reported that the guy who owned the house west of the barn (not the person who sold us the barn) just wanted to help us out.  He had insurance on his house and knew we didn't have any on the barn.  Carol said he did it because, as he put it, "It was the right thing to do."  Simply put, it is one person helping out another.

Friends and those interested, have told us to ask for help when we need it.  Also, to give back when we can.  We have decide to swallow our pride and accept help to cover the cost of the barn that we lost in the July 11th tornados.  If you would like to help us rebuild, we will accept your help.  At this time, we are only accepting $1 - $5 donations... but will not turn down a free barn or the hay-loft of one if we can afford to have it moved... lol.

$5.00 Donation

$1.00 Donation

- More storms

Last night brought some much needed rain and along with it some crazy storms.  Most years (if we get rain) we simply get a shower.  This year, the moisture is accompanied with strong winds, lightning and some light hail.  Weird.  Whatever the trend maybe, we still got some water in the ground.  Carol said we had about an inch in the rain gauge.  Another inch or so and our beans will be in descent shape again.

July 28, 2008
- Post pounding

Not much happened today... it was so blasted hot. 

We were able to open the new (north) pasture in the morning and we made sure the animals crossed the invisible line where the fence once one.  It's kind of funny, even when certain animals LOVE to escape from a fenced in area, they are still apprehensive to cross a line where the fence was. 

Nick came over as we were scooting the critters into the pasture.  Shortly thereafter, he and I pounded 64 posts into the vineyard ground with the post driver.  Some are less than perfect but they are in.  The whole process to less than 3 hours and the job is done for the year.

In the morning, when things still felt cool, our plans were to bring posts into the creek area and drive a dozen or so post for that pasture.  We'd like to open that vicinity next year.  My thought was this - pound them in this year so they can set into place for fencing next season.  Sometimes driven posts feel a little loose until the ground sets-up around them.  But... like I said, it was so hot and miserable, we decided not to take-on the task.  It'll wait.

July 27, 2008
- The new pasture is done

The weatherman said it was going to really heat up tomorrow, so I figured I can't wait for Neighbor Nick to help me finish the last 350' of fencing.  Yesterday, we were able to run the bottom strand of barbed wire, before running out.

With one strand in place and pulled tight, I marked the placement of the T-posts and drove them into the ground with my post-maul.  Man was it hot!  It was so humid... I was drenched.  I came back up to the homestead to get some fluids.  While waiting for Carol to get home with more wire, I started to run electric fencing wire on the east and north sides of the pasture.  Nearly done, I got my call.  It was Carol, saying she was home with the final roll of barbed wire.

After loading the wire into the pickup, I mentioned that it was possible for me to finish the pasture project tonight.  If I could get the last four strands of barbed wire in place, I was sure I could quickly wrap up the stinging of the electric.

I hauled the wire to my work area and using and old water pipe and a shortened ratchet style tie down strap, I devised a simple pulling device for the spool of wire.  In under 2½ hours I had the final 4 strands in place and tightened.  Another hour or so and the electric was done as well.

Carol suggested I finish the details of the project before we eat (it was already past 7 PM).  That way Austin would be home from his job and could join us.  I agreed.

I started closing-off the east pasture and opening up the new pasture.  Between the lane of the old pasture and the new one, there is a small pen.  I worked on removing the fencing of that pen so the goats, sheep, llamas and pigs would have access to tall green vegetation of the 4+ acres of new north pasture.

After all was said and done, it was nearing 9:30PM.  The pasture was done and it was time to eat.  Time for a beer I think.

July 26, 2008
- The north pasture is taking shape

Today was the day for kick-butt fencing.  Neighbor Nick came over bright and early to get moving on the fencing project.  With posts and three strands of wire already in place, we hit the ground running.

The first strand we ran, I showed Nick how I was tackling the fence.  The next strand he showed me how he and his dad (and probably his dad's dad before him) fenced.  From that point on, we used what I learned and combined it with what worked in the past.  The three strands were in place.

We the worked on the next section - the first segment next to the creek.  We stretched the wire, marked for posts, and put up the wire.  This continued on to the other two segments near the creek.  The reason there are 3 portions

July 25, 2008
- Let's start fencing... again!

Here we go again.  When I opened pasture for the animals last time (June 5th), I was sure it would last until fall.  I was wrong... so more fencing is on the schedule for this week.

The land I want to pasture, is actually land my dad used for pasture decades ago, when he had dairy cows.  I was able to find the old boundaries, using USDA maps and a single wooden post that was rotted-off in the grass near the creek.  I had started this project back on the 10th, but became discouraged when I noticed how angled it was.  It wasn't quite running north to south.

Like before, I ran a single strand of barbed wire from corner-post to corner-post... a total length of nearly 500 feet.  >>>> more later

July 21, 2008
- Hired work

Neighbor Nick has been stopping by since his return from Texas.  He's looking to add a little green to his bankroll and I'm needing help around the farm.  We struck a deal.  We decided he would be our part-time hired-hand. 

We were able to hand plant over 100 grape vines.  With the temps and humidity rising and the wind being nearly non-existent, work was held to just a few hours, before taking an extended break until things cooled down.

We also attached a borrowed post driver to one of our tractors and pounded a half-dozen trellis posts in the vineyard.  It was more of a test drive.  Tomorrow, if the weather is somewhat friendlier, we plan on driving more posts.  We now understand the mechanics of the driver and Nick is more familiar with the tractor.  We should be able to drive more posts with less effort.

July 20, 2008
- The 3rd Sunday in July mean family reunion

Unfortunately, we missed this year's festivities.  Daughter Chastiti' was not feeling well.  For those of you who know us, know of some of the trials and tribulations we face with her.  Today was a particularly bad day.  Thank goodness for the foresight of her nurse and doctor.  We had the correct prescribed medication to ease the pain associated with the problems we were challenged with today.

It's not easy dealing with an adult child with severe handicaps, but when that's all you know, you say to yourself "It's not so bad." And you deal with the hand that's been dealt to you.

Later in the day, Madison came inside with a somewhat disgusted look on her face.  Carol asked what was wrong.  Madison replied the the fence was not working correctly... again.  With that information, I headed outside to do some fencing maintenance. 

I first noticed the electric wire tangled with the barbed wire in the cow-yard.  I then notice the same problem in the lane.  After correcting the problem(s), I thought that maybe the thistles in the east pasture may be contributing to the problem.  I surveyed the fence line and noticed quite a few thistle plants were in the way. 

I chopped the thistles along the fence and was quite satisfied with the job I did.  All the downed weeds were now being eaten by our goats.  It seems as though tender thistle blossoms are quite the goat treat.  It wasn't long before the critters had the thistles eaten away to nothing... the fencer was working correctly.  Thank Madison!

July 19, 2008
- Planting more grape vines

Last night and early morning brought us more rain.  4/10" to be exact.  With the light showers we had the day before, we received 1/2".  It was just what the doctor ordered.  The rainfall this year has been coming at a very nice pace.  Our beans look as good as they ever have.

Carol and I spent a few hours in the afternoon planting more grape vines.  In all, we planted 5 Somerset Seedless (table grapes) and 102 wine grape vines (two rows) today.  Only 500 more to go.

The two person team of Carol and I, worked pretty well.  We had the 280 gallon poly pallet tank of water on the trailer, with the trees and tools riding along.  I dug the holes and Carol planted and watered the vines.

Whenever we were near the pick-up, we noticed a strong gasoline smell.  Hmmm.  I then looked underneath the truck... that's when I saw it.  The gas tank has a leak.  Super freak'in fantastic!!!  Well, I guess that would explain the crappy gas mileage I've been getting.

July 18, 2008
- We're not back online

I went back to Willmar to recover the tractor rim from the welder, then dropped it of at Rule Tire for Mike (my tire guy) to finish the repair job.  At around 4:00 PM, we got the call that our tire was fixed and could be picked-up. 

My bill was under $40.  By bringing the rim and tire in, I saved approx. $50-75... well worth it (even with the multiple trips to Willmar).  Mike told me that I may have saved more than that, since he would have had to make two trips to the farm, due to the needed rim repair.

Within 20 minutes of getting the tire home, I had it off the trailer and mounted back onto the tractor. 

While waiting for my final call from Mike the tire guy, I was able to get a few hours of mowing in.

NEWS Our wireless internet card stopped working.  It seems the Unicell tower in Kerkhoven doesn't like the Alltel internet modem card we have in our laptop.

Later, I put new wire on Carol's solar powered clothes dryer.  It seems as though, the wire I used before, left the clothes with rust marks, wherever the clothes-pins were used.  The clothes-line now has green, plastic coated cable for hanging the clothes on.

July 17, 2008
- We're back online

We finally have internet at the farm.  We will be blogging soon.  We have been keeping a journal so we will be adding our backlogged entries.

Thanks for waiting for this moment, we have lots to tell... both good and bad.

Farming news brings us to the subject of tractor tire repair.  I brought the Farmall's tire to Rule Tire of Willmar.  Mike the tire guy removed the tire from the rim, extracted the tube and suggested that I bring the rim to the local welding shop.  The rim will be repaired tomorrow.

Rich & Carol

July 16, 2008
- Tornado News

We ran a few errands in Willmar, that's when we took the chance to look at our barn that was destroyed in tornadoes that roared through last Friday. On the way to the barn's last known location, we could see the devastation caused by the funnel. The corn was shredded, causing the corn plant to look more like tiny palm trees. Instead of long full leaves the corn stalks has two leaves that resembled fans. The bean fields that were effected by the storm had plants with out foliage... nothing but sticks and stems. Area trees were reduced to splinters.

The county road we needed to travel on, in order to get to our location, was closed, due to the debris. As soon as we passed the road-block, we could see where the barn once stood. It had two walls and not much else. The roof was completely gone and the hay loft floor (what was left of it) was twisted and tattered, sitting in the ground. We looked out past the barn, into the surrounding field, where saw what was once the roof boards and shingles.

Could some of the barn be salvaged? Of course, but at what cost. One would need to hire an excavator and operator to move the pieces, in order to expose what isn't damaged. After talking with the owner of the property, we decided to cut our losses and let him remove the wreckage with the waste of the house that stood only 25 yards away. The house was leveled, exposing the foundation and floor joists.

Carol decided to run a few errands, while I opted to stay behind to help with the picking-up of glass and nails. Eventually, there will be a mower traveling over this ground again. It would be a shame for the residents of the dwelling to have made it through the tornado, just to become injured by some of the shrapnel, hidden in the grass.

Once home, I worked on removing the airless tire from tractor. Wow! What a task. I can only assume it has been decades (maybe longer) since the wheels have been moved and/or removed from the axles of this old tractor. Once removed, it took Carol, Austin and myself to hoist the tractor tire into the trailer. I have an 8:00AM appointment at the tire shop. I'm hoping the tire can be fixed while I wait.

Tomorrow, I'm going to talk with Kristie at the cell phone company. The company we use, offers internet services. Carol and I talked it over. We did some simple figuring. We believe we can do better farm business with the internet than without. After calling dozens of internet providers, using the internet service offered by the company Kristine works for, is our only option at this time... unless we want dial-up... we would only be able to subscribe to dial-up if we pay for a landline phone service. All in all, we have come to learn that internet services, if you rely on it, maybe one of the hardest things to deal with when homesteading.

July 15, 2008
- Dozer work & tractor repair

The morning stated with noise from a semi tractor and trailer that pulled into the yard early. The folks that we hired to plant our beans the same people that my dad had do the work was alive) mentioned if I had use for a dozer, that I could use it when they have it in the area. Long story short... they dropped-off the dozer toady.

When Dad was still alive, he had his stuff stored in different locations through-out the farm and over time it changed the traffic flow of the farm. Straight roads started to curve and curved roadways got even curvier. When you change one thing on a farm on purpose, it seems you change several others without making the decision to. In this case, weeds and trees grew where they had never been before... over time.

I used the dozer to move a portion of a farm road over approx. 20 feet - from a wide curve to a straight line with a smaller, tighter corner. I also took this opportunity to clean-up the grade in front of the old garage. Over the years, we have had erosion in some spots and a build-up in others. My goal was to visually clean the garage area, by scraping the top soil off to the gravel. What we did was dig into the dirt without ever finding the gravel. I'm hoping we won't have a mud-hole with the next rain. I used the old 300 Farmall to smooth down the ridges and to fill-in the dips. I thought I did a pretty good job.

The area looks better... I guess that was my goal. It now looks like a garage with a decent drive to it, instead of simply an old farm with a garage on it. I took pics.

At the end of the day, before turning in for the evening, I noticed the tire of my loader had gone flat. I suppose it found it's way into the tire after the ground had been disturbed after decades of rest. Two steps forward, one step back. I make improvements using equipment that would have normal cost us a couple of $100, just to spend some of the saved money on an impending tire repair. Crap, crap crap!

July 13, 2008
- Self-pity

It's amazing how one focuses more on personal losses than they do on personal gains. Most of my thoughts today (at least those about the farm) involved the barn. I'm not sure if I'm most hurt about the financial loss our little farm took... or if it was the loss of what the barn meant. I know we couldn't afford to lose the money... and have nothing to show for it. But, at this point, I don't think we could afford the psychological blow either. Tomorrow, we are going to make an effort to examine the the barn... or what's left of it. We'll bring the camera... of course.

Hour after hour, I run down the burdens we have faced in the short while we have tried this thing we call farming. Last year, we were expecting the year's corn harvest be better than most. With corn prices reaching the $3.00/bushel mark, it was our year to get ahead. We were wrong. As most know, we had a six week drought, which reduced any crop to nearly nothing... add in the hail we got (twice) and we went from an 150+ bushel per acre expectation to slightly under 65 bu/acre.

Last year was also the year we planted 1200 grape vines. With the frost we had in the first week of Sept. and the relatively poor snow fall throughout the winter, we lost almost 80% of our plants to winter kill.

Trying to be good stewards of the land, our philosophy is to establish a pasture based direction for the farm. We want to get back to the basics when it comes to animal production. Being pasture based, our #1 focus is the production of hay and grass as food for our animals. With that in mind, we purchased a pair (cow and calf) of Scottish Highlanders.

Within a couple of weeks of having the cow and her youngster proudly grazing our farm, the little wooly bull-calf died. The death was due to a twisted (then ruptured) intestine. The condition is rare but not unheard of... some say it hits 1 in 500 animals. Others say it is much more rare than that when it comes to beef animals, especially young, grass-fed animals. Needless to say, in just a short amount of time, we lost 50% of herd. We now look out at our pasture and see our cow, Caitlin, as a saddened lone sentinel. At this time, we are unsure if she represents the beginning or the end of our farm's engagement with large animals.

July 12, 2008
- A tornado took our barn

We had a nice day today... less humidity and lower temps. It was a nice day for work. Before noon, I installed a support and horizontal post to the fencing that I worked on yesterday. It looked great.

After noon, I worked north of the place (next to the creek). While Carol ran for fencing supplies, I added support posts to my corner posts and a couple of horizontals. It wasn't long before to task was completed.

Shortly after the fencing, I removed most of the scrap iron that was located in and near our burn pit. We have a borrowed bull dozer coming on Tuesday. An area farmer is doing some tree removal and said he'd let us have access to the dozer while his guys saw the trees. We want the dozer to fill in the burning pit. What was once a useful site for burning brush has since become an eye-sore. I guess that's the cost of progress.

Early evening came with bad news for the farm. As most folks know, we had tornadoes rip through the area last night. Some time ago, we purchased a much needed barn to move onto the place. Last night's tornado destroyed the barn, leaving only two of the walls standing. It was quite a blow. We didn't have the building insured, so the building was a total financial loss.

The money is one thing but the loss of barn is another. The direction the farm was taking has been horribly disrupted. When I got the call from the barn's previous owner, I actually felt sick. The feeling of loosing the barn will take some time to get over. Tonight will be a night for drinking a few too many beers. Hopefully, tomorrow's outlook will be better. It's amazing that the set-backs we have faced has not stopped us from working on the place. With each setback, it's getting tougher to stay on course. How much more can we endure.

I called my sister Regina about the barn, shortly after getting the call myself. She implied that with the bad luck we have had thus far, maybe it was a sign, telling us that we weren't meant to farm. I hope not... I guess we'll see. I'm not thinking her statement as being too negative or discouraging. I am, for the most part, a realist. I believe she said what she said in order to have me face the reality of the situation. I also feel she made the comment in jest.

July 11, 2008
- It's not the heat, it's the humidity

I was planning to do more fencing today, but the rain last night has the soil near the creek so sticky, that digging 6" holes for the corner support posts was out of the question in that location. I turned my attention to starting the lane fencing, from the cow-yard to the north pasture. I was able to hand dig these holes with ease, as it was mostly sand. Normally, digging the posts and setting them in place would be a short chore, but today the temp was in the 90's with extreme humidity levels. After just 5 minutes of work, I was exhausted and drenched with sweat... I took a short break... got something to drink... and went to work again (for another 5 minute)... then repeat the process. It took about an hour or so, to construct a simple H-post set-up. Thank goodness it was noonish... I needed the extended break.

Even after the needed rest, I still wasn't feeling quite right, so I thought I would do a little mowing with the riding mower, thinking that sitting on a tractor seat in the wind would be enough to keep me cool. I was wrong. It felt like work just the same. Heat or no heat, the ditches need to be mowed and mowed they got. Time for another beverage break. Keeping hydrated today was my top priority if I was going to do anything that resembled work.

Before I could call it a day (regardless how unproductive it was) I needed to finish my H-post project. Dark clouds were rolling in, so if I was going to get the barbed wire attached to the posts and my tools in the truck, I needed to get it done soon. Within a half hour, the job was done. It was starting to sprinkle when I got a call from daughter Madison. She wanted to warn my about the storm warning we were in and she wanted me to get home before things got bad. I was able to get back home before the rain and winds settled in. Once at home, I quickly shut any open windows on the vehicles and then headed to the beer fridge for a much needed, cool beverage.

It was supper-time. Total rain fall, approx. 2/10".

July 10, 2008
- Opening up more pasture

Well, today was the first day of working on the new pasture, which we're starting to call the 'north pasture'.

Hand digging 12" holes for the corner posts takes allot of effort and quite about of time... that's why I don't do it. I borrow a tractor with a 3-point hitch attachment. when we started working on the farm, I had purchased a PTO powered post-hole digger from our local farm & fleet store. it's been a life saver.

I was able to dig my corner post holes and since we are following the creek, I had to dig a few more holes. It would look better if I could keep the fence lines square, but the creek has a few bends in it and I want to get as much use of the pasture as we can.

I like to reuse things when I can, and fencing supplies are always high on my list of re-usables. Since we have been doing quite a few fencing/pasturing projects, my used post inventory has been getting thin, but I was able to locate a few 6" posts. I'm no fencing expert, but I'd never use to anything smaller than a 6" post for corner posts, especially on long runs of fence lines of approx. 300' or longer. I think with shorter fence runs, narrower diameter posts should work just fine for the corners.

With the holes dug in relatively a sort time, I had more than enough time to set my posts. We have quite sandy soil (more of a sandy loam) so packing the soil around the posts needs to be done as best as possible. If the soil isn't packed properly, the corner posts will most likely pull-up... then you can deal with that problem. Shortly after getting a handful of the corner posts in, Carol gave me a call on the cell phone, saying she was was putting food on the table... and if I wanted to eat a hot meal, I'd better hurry and get home.

The overnight gave us about 3/4" of rain. Some hail was noticed, but not enough to effect the crops or garden plant in a negative way.

July 09, 2008
- Chop, chop

The morning was filled with more butchering. carol and I got started fairly early with the processing, to take advantage of the cooler temps that the over-night brings us. we plucked a few birds and skinned the rest. each time we process, it seems to get easier. I wouldn't say we are seasoned veterans, but it does feels as though less effort is needed to get the job done. I think carol mentioned that we only have 17 poults left.

Today, I brought the 300 Farmall w/loader to my grandparents old farm. I first loaded my grandfather's 7' sickle mower onto a trailer, to bring home at a later date. it's not in working order, but I figure with a little elbow grease, I can be the third generation to use the mower.

Once home, I walked (or should I say re-walked) the acreage north of the place. with the next few days, I'll start fencing this area for the goats, sheep and llamas. a few days ago, I noticed the 3 acre pasture (east of the farm site) was starting to get thin. the critters were doing a great job eating it down. the only weeds that remain untouched are the thistles... which I think I will touch with a cutting tool of some sorts. if the goats can do their job, I best find time to do mine.

The soon-to-be north pasture will be approx. 4+ acres in size. this year, I will leave it as one large pasture, but next year I am planning to make a few paddocks for better pasture management.

July 08, 2008
- Hey, we have more hay!

I unloaded the pickup and trailer of the hay we had loaded with the ditch hay from the day before. with the hayrack loaded full, I started a small haystack east of the barn. It's a wonderful feeling seeing hay that I mowed, raked and baled go into storage. doing a quick guess-timation, I think we have enough grass-hay to get us through the winter. anything more from here on out, will be a bonus... no lean rations for the animals this winter.

Later in the morning, we took off for Raymond to mow some lawns and pack up more tools, supplies and sewing stuff for farm living. We left the farm with a mower and a weed trimmer and came back with a trailer and pickup box full of crap (including the mower and trimmer).

In the afternoon I flagged the vineyard for posts. We have a few more trellis posts to go into the ground, then we're calling it quits for awhile. It's not that we don't enjoy having a vineyard, it's just a little frustrating to put so much time and effort into this type of project just to see that 70-75% of the vines didn't make it through the winter. Although we still have a few vines starting to sprout leaves, I fear we are on the tail-end of seeing any sort of a comeback.

Rich

CHICKENS FOR SALE -  Only $2/lb ** We are now selling  processed birds by the pound. ** (as outlined by the Dairy and Food Inspection Division of the Minnesota Department of Agriculture) Carol has 70+  40+ 100+ (25 are sold) Cornish Cross Broiler Chickens on hand and growing well (this batch of chickens is the 2nd of what she is growing this year).  If you would like to buy some hormone free/antibiotic free chickens Aug. - Sept, make sure you contact us immediately. These chickens dress out at approx. 6-9 lbs.  We also live bird if you want to process them yourslef... but if you want us to process them for you, make sure you tell us.  Cornish game hens (1½- 3 lbs) sell for $2.50. Already, we have a few folks reserving their birds.  We will call you a week before it's time to get your birds and again the day of.  Please contact us for details. We sell all our birds skinless and frozen.  If you want skin-on, quartered or cut-up chicken, please let us know ahead of time. Do we eat what we raise?  You betcha!  We will be raising approx. 100 chickens for our family alone.  Why so many?  Simple... we like knowing we are eating a healthy chicken, raised with care in healthy conditions and we love the way they taste. We also have some beautiful Heritage Turkeys (Red Bourbon) growing well.  Turkeys should be ready in Nov - early Dec.  CALL CAROL TODAY:  320-220-3235

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