GREETINGS FROM SHELBYVILLE ~
Spring is here again, and we are enjoying its beauty.  We have been enjoying the outdoors – planting the garden, eating around the “campfire” watching the kids swing, going on walks through the pasture…  It is hard to stay inside and get things done.  We are excited that one of our laying hens has decided to “set”.  A lot of breeds have the “setting” instinct bred out of them, so we are glad that we have one that will do it.  We haven’t ever had chicks hatch out in their natural state; we have always bought them when they were a day old and raised them under heat lamps.  We are looking forward to watching a hen with her chicks.

This year we have expanded the number of locally raised things we have to offer. We now have beef, pork, and honey in addition to our regular chicken, turkey and eggs.  All of the details are below.

CHICKENS ~
We currently have about 100 meat birds almost ready to process.  We have the processing date scheduled for May 16.  We started out with 200, but unfortunately the coyotes found them again and destroyed a pen full.  So we are back to “sleeping on duty.”  One of us sleeps by an open window just inside of where the pens are so we can hear any disturbance.  We are glad that at least all of the kids have been sleeping through the night so we can be on chicken duty.  Our second batch of chicks will be arriving later this week –we have a full summer ahead of us!

HONEY ~
We have been buying honey from a farm near us and we are happy to have it available for you also.  It is sold in 1 lb., 1 1/2 lb. and 3 lb containers.

PORK ~
For our last delivery, we had boxes of pork available from a local farmer.  This pork is raised without antibiotics or chemicals and the taste is terrific.  This is the only pork our family will buy, and now you can have it too.  We have the pork processed and then we divide the cuts up evenly between 4 boxes.  This give each box a variety of cuts, ground pork and sausage.  If you want just one or two cuts (for example, a ham) please let us know any we can try to have it available. 

BEEF ~
We currently have three cows scheduled for processing at the end of May, beginning of June.  They are also from some local farmers that we know.  They have been raised “naturally” with no hormones .  We are still working out how we will box and price these.  We are thinking of dividing up the cuts into boxes (like we do with the prok) so that each box is an 8th or 12th of a beef.  If you are interested in a half or a quarter (or even a whole) let us know ahead of time and we can have it packaged to your specifications.

FENCES ~
We are still working on getting started on our fencing project.  Somehow life keeps getting in the way.  We just purchased a post driver, and now we are working on getting posts ordered.  We can’t wait to have our “own” beef.  We have been buying fresh milk from grassfed Jersey cows from a farm about 70 miles from us and that has us wanting to get our own cow.  We’ve been making our own butter and even some cheese from it.  Unfortunately, the fence and a shed needs to come first. 

PACKING PLANT ~
The packing plant is still coming along.  Ground hasn’t been broken on it yet, but a lot of work has been done towards it.  As soon as we get through all of the red tape we will begin construction.  Next year all of our meat will be processed in this plant and we will be able to control the quality of our products from start to finish.

WEBSITE ~
Last year we didn’t do a very good job of keeping our website updated.  This year we hope to do better.  We are planning to add an online order feature.  You know the old story about the cobbler’s children not having any shoes…many of you know that Todd’s “regular” job is as a computer programmer, therefore none of our own computer programming gets done!.

DELIVERY SCHEDULE ~
We are planning our first delivery for May 19^th.  We will have chicken, eggs, pork and honey available for this delivery.  The beef should be ready by our next delivery at the end of June.  Here are our planned delivery dates for this summer:  May 19, June 23, July 21, September 8, October 13, and November 10.  Please mark your calendars!

For those of you who didn’t get our mini newsletter with our last Chicago delivery, here is an excerpt from it.  Thank you for a good year.  We appreciate those of you ordered from us and have told others about our farm fresh products.  It takes a while to get going with a project like we are undertaking and we are glad for your loyalty.  With the higher cost of gasoline, our deliveries are still not quite large enough to “pay for themselves”, but our customer base is gradually growing and with an extended line of products we think the deliveries will finally “break even” this year.  We really appreciate it when our customers tell their friends and family about us.  Word-of-mouth advertising is a slow way to build a business but it results in the best customers.

DELIVERY LOCATIONS ~
It seems to be working well to deliver to Deer Park Towne Center and Old Orchard, so we will continue to make our deliveries to these places.  If anyone needs deliveries made to another location and the total order warrants it, we can certainly consider it.  Please note:  We will be delivering to Deer Park first and then going to Old Orchard this year.  We will be at Deer Park from 11:00 to 11:30 and at Old Orchard from 1:30 to 2:00.  We will keep this schedule all summer.

IN CLOSING ~
We are looking forward to a great year.  We are loving farming, and we hope you are enjoying the products we are able to offer you.  The cost of raising our own food and food for others is higher than what can be bought at the local supermarket, but the more we read on the subject, the more we believe that the higher price isn’t too much to pay for a healthier future for you, us and our children. 

Thanks again for your business and loyal support,
-Todd and Tamara

PS.  We don’t use any imported feed additives ~
With all of the news about the animal, and now human, food supply being contaminated with poison chemicals imported from China, you will be glad to know that we feed our chickens only locally raised corn, soybeans, wheat, and minerals.  And, of course, lots of fresh green pasture.  Some people think the food supply should be regulated more closely, but regulation is just a band-aid on the real problem.  The only real solution for a safe food supply is to know the person who raises your food.  Our goal is to raise as much of our own food as we can and we are glad we can share it with you.