Wow!  Spring is here and it is past time to send out our spring newsletter.  We hope you and your family have had a good winter, and we look forward to seeing you again this summer.  We are happy to announce the pending arrival of the newest member of our family.  Our sixth child is due on May 26^th!  As most of you know, we have five wonderful little girls.  All of the girls have been hoping for “triplet brothers”, but the doctor assures us that there is only one heartbeat.  We are waiting until it is born to see if it will be a boy or girl.

Chickens~

This year we are planning to increase our chicken production to at least 1000 birds.  Because the demand for our chemical free pastured chicken has been so great, we have been sold out of whole chickens and most of the parts for several months.  Green grass and warm sunshine are two of the things that make our chicken so much better than “factory food” and it is just impossible (and inhumane) to raise them in the winter.

Turkeys~

We are also planning to raise a limited number of turkeys again this year.  If you would like a farm raised turkey for Thanksgiving this year, please get your order in early so we can plan our flock accordingly.

Sheep and Goats~

Later this year, we are hoping to add a few more animals to our farm.  This spring we are busy building fences, and as soon as we get them finished, we will be getting some goats and sheep to help clean up some of the old pastures that have “gone wild” over several years of neglect.  We should have all natural lamb and chevon available by next spring.

Beef~

We are also planning to add grass fed beef to our list of available products.  Over the last two or three decades, most of the beef industry has focused on raising bigger and fatter cattle on cheap corn.  This has resulted in very fatty, unhealthful beef.  Several recent studies have found grass fed beef to be very high in Omega 3 “good fats” and CLA.  God designed cattle to eat grass, and when we work with nature instead of forcing animals to eat the easiest or cheapest feed, we find the resulting meat is both better flavored and better for you.  Several prominent cardiologists including  Dr Steven Atchley in Denver are now prescribing grass fed beef as part of a diet to improve heart health.  We are currently researching several of the smaller “old style” cattle breeds that grow especially well on an all grass diet.  We are also working to get the right mix of grass species established in our pastures.

Our own processing plant~

We have been very happy with the Amish company that processes our chickens.  However, they are extremely busy.  Over the past few year, they have been processing more and more “contract” chickens from large factory style producers.  They may soon stop doing custom processing for small producers like ourselves.  There is also a real shortage of facilities capable of processing organic beef, lamb and pork.  The Amish plant only processes chickens and turkeys and there is only one certified organic livestock processor in Illinois.  Many small locker plants have closed over the past few years, and those that remain often have older equipment and are not prepared to do custom processing for the retail market.  Recognizing this need for a state of the art certified organic processing plant, we are working with several other livestock producers to build a new processing plant near Mattoon.  This plant will be the only organic processing plant in the country capable of processing all of the animals we plan to raise.  (Most plants process poultry or large animals, but not both.)  We hope to have the plant in operation by next spring.  Because we will be part owners and because Todd sits on the Board of Managers, we will be able to ensure the very highest quality processing.

Chicago Delivery Dates and Locations~

This year we are planning to make a Chicago trip about once a month and we hope to make a few stops on each trip.  We have had requests to add delivery points near Hinsdale and Barrington in addition to Evanston.   This year we are planning to use public places for our delivery points instead of private homes.  Last year it was too convenient to ask the delivery point host to store orders instead of coming to the delivery point at the delivery time.  Each delivery point will still have a Host or Hostess to help us coordinate everything.  Like last year we will give this person a Hosting discount based on the sales at the delivery point to make it worth their while. 

If you place an order it is very important that you meet us at the delivery point to pick it up.  We will call you a few days before the delivery to remind you of the time and make sure you will be available.

This year we are planning to make our Evanston area deliveries to the Old Orchard Mall parking lot at 10:00-10:30.  If we have enough orders we will plan to deliver to the Woodfield Mall parking lot at Noon-12:30 and to the Oakbrook Mall parking lot at 2:00-2:30. 

At this point, we are planning to deliver on the following Saturdays:  June 10 (we may have to change this date if the baby is born late!), July 15, September 9, October 7, and November 11 (this delivery will include our Thanksgiving Turkeys)  Of course, we can make additional deliveries if there is sufficient demand.
 

Delivery to other Locations~

We have had some customers wondering if we could deliver to other areas including Valparaiso and St. Louis.  We would be glad to deliver to these (and other) areas if there is sufficient demand.    As we note in the Delivery section below, all of the orders to a location need to add up to at least $1000 to keep the transportation costs down.  There is no extra charge for Shelbyville delivery or on farm purchases.

 
Get your chicken for FREE!~

Just like last year we will be giving $5 referral coupons good for your next order for every new customer you refer to us.  There is no limit to the number of coupons you can receive.  We’ll even send you a stack of brochures to make it easy for you!  Just let us know and we’ll put a stack of them in the mail to you.

As always we love to hear from you.  If you have products that you would like us to add or questions about our animals, please drop us a line or give us a call.