Sold out until Spring

All I can say is wow. We have sold out of chickens in an unprecedented amount of time. The response to our chicken venture has been incredible and we are so thankful. It makes such a difference to have happy, nice, appreciative customers who value what we're doing. Unfortunately we've had to turn people away, but it has shown us that we really need to revise our method so we can do more chickens at a time. We are planning on expanding to two movable pens in the spring, that way we can have either twice as many chickens each cycle or chickens twice as often.

And in case you didn't make it to the market this weekend, pepper season has arrived and the tomatoes are still awesome. We've also been planting our fall greens, so your bodies don't have to wait too much longer for delicious and nutritious chard, kale, arugula, and spring mix.

That's it for now. Keep it local and keep it healthy. Go outside and enjoy the day!

Chicken Time

It's that time again! Our baby chickens are almost grown and ready to meet their maker. They will be available September 24th, 25th, 27th, and 28th. That is Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday. Saturday's chickens will be available for pick-up at the Santa Rosa Farmer's Market. The birds should be between 3 1/2 and 4 1/2 pounds and the price is still $6.00 per pound.

You should also note that this is the LAST BATCH OF CHICKENS FOR THE YEAR. We have 80 birds available, so we highly suggest that you stock up for Winter and buy multiple birds. Chickens freeze really well and we have been told that freezing does nothing to compromise the quality or flavor of these birds. We recommend using a vacuum sealer if you can, but it isn't necessary.

We will be taking orders at the Farmer's Market on Saturday, but I suggest that you email us at Redwoodempirefarm@live.com to place your order TODAY!

Tomatoes, Chickens, and Turkeys...oh my!

Welcome to our first official "blog"! My hope is to use this as a means of keeping in touch with all the friends of the farm and to let everyone know what we're doing. So what are we doing? Well, right now, when I walk into the barn, I get a little confused about what kind of farmers we are. We have two brooders, side by side, that are home to 25 baby turkeys and 100 chicks. These little guys receive more TLC and attention than you can imagine. Jeff is constantly checking on them and is trying to find the absolute best, most revolutionary way of poultry farming. For example, certain that they benefit from the vitamins and nutrients, he's turned the turkeys into tomato lovers. Hopefully he doesn't live to regret this when they're free ranging in the field and trying to get to the heirloom tomato plants. The turkeys will be raised until Thanksgiving, at which point they will become the centerpieces of some very lucky households. The chickens, on the other hand, will become dinner in about 6 weeks. You wouldn't believe how fast they grow. One day they're babies, the next they're monsters. Amazing!

In addition to the birds, we're still in the middle of the summer crops. Actually, we feel like we haven't really been able to capitalize on summer yet because of this bazarre weather. In case you haven't noticed, it's been mild during the day, cool at night, and foggy - weather that is more characteristic of spring and fall and not summer. We've been harvesting tomatoes, which have tasted great, but there are so many more still on the plants waiting for some heat in order to ripen. We're also anticipating our peppers. We planted about 12 different varieties of sweet and spicy peppers, which we should be able to start harvesting within the next few weeks. And in the midst of all this summer stuff, we're also starting to think about fall. That means that I have been seeding up a storm. Chard, kale, lettuce, beets, and all the other cool weather veggies are starting their lives as we speak.

So that's the farm update for now. I'll keep you informed about the birds and the veggies and I hope to see you all at the farmer's market. Right now we're selling at the Santa Rosa market on Saturday morning at the vet's building and at Petaluma's Wednesday Night market. See you there!