Monday, May 5, 2008
Saturday, April 26, 2008
Hello, world...again
I'm back. New town, new year, new chickens, same Tim.
Brief farm update up until now:
I started 100 K22's again in February in Morrilton but moved them to some land I'm renting near Pinnacle Mountain west of Little Rock. It's on Barret Road between Highways 300 and 10 on the banks of the Little Maumelle River. They're ready for processing now but my plucker has a few more parts that are en route via UPS currently. I'll probably process one day next week but it could be as late as Saturday, May 3.
Major problem:
The local gnats have been wreaking havoc on my chickens for about a week now. I lost over 20 in a 3-day span starting last Sunday from stress and overheating/suffocating as they piled up on each other to try to escape the biting bugs. I'm not sure if it's survival of the fittest at work or the fruits of some of my attempts at lessening the problem, but I haven't lost any since about Thursday.
Moving forward:
Ragan is moving to Little Rock, too, and we've decided to work pretty closely together on raising and marketing this year. I think it'll be a good partnership since we'll both bring different strengths to the table, not to mention the halving of our individual work loads. The pairing has already paid off by leading to an arrangement with Scott at Boulevard Bread to supply eggs for his new restaurant opening some time at the end of 2008 or beginning of 2009 in Little Rock.
Brief farm update up until now:
I started 100 K22's again in February in Morrilton but moved them to some land I'm renting near Pinnacle Mountain west of Little Rock. It's on Barret Road between Highways 300 and 10 on the banks of the Little Maumelle River. They're ready for processing now but my plucker has a few more parts that are en route via UPS currently. I'll probably process one day next week but it could be as late as Saturday, May 3.
Major problem:
The local gnats have been wreaking havoc on my chickens for about a week now. I lost over 20 in a 3-day span starting last Sunday from stress and overheating/suffocating as they piled up on each other to try to escape the biting bugs. I'm not sure if it's survival of the fittest at work or the fruits of some of my attempts at lessening the problem, but I haven't lost any since about Thursday.
Moving forward:
Ragan is moving to Little Rock, too, and we've decided to work pretty closely together on raising and marketing this year. I think it'll be a good partnership since we'll both bring different strengths to the table, not to mention the halving of our individual work loads. The pairing has already paid off by leading to an arrangement with Scott at Boulevard Bread to supply eggs for his new restaurant opening some time at the end of 2008 or beginning of 2009 in Little Rock.
Wednesday, December 12, 2007
Work details
I just finished my first day on the job at Competitive Cyclist. It's a quickly-growing online bike shop located in Little Rock. Basically my job is filling orders for pretty bike parts and other paraphenalia from their warehouse and then boxing them up to ship all over the world. Today I sent stuff to Germany, Australia, UK, Canada, Guam, and Mexico in addition to lots of stuff sent all over the US. They run a tight ship but the folks and dog there are super nice (and beard friendly).
The farming will continue and expand next year, but I'm still working on timing, numbers, etc. I'll let you know.
The farming will continue and expand next year, but I'm still working on timing, numbers, etc. I'll let you know.
Tuesday, December 11, 2007
Gift certificates available!
Looking for a last minute holiday gift for a loved one or friend? How about giving the gift of chicken?!
I don't have a fancy e-commerce system set up here, but feel free to email me with questions or just send a check for $15 along with the recipient's name and a place to send it, and I'll mail a gift certificate good for one 3-4 pound chicken redeemable any time in 2008 at a yet-to-be-determined central Arkansas location.
email: tim@sandtownfarm.com
snailmail:
Tim McKuin
PO Box 1363
Morrilton, AR 72110
Any requests received by Tuesday, Dec 18 will be mailed in time to arrive before Christmas.
I don't have a fancy e-commerce system set up here, but feel free to email me with questions or just send a check for $15 along with the recipient's name and a place to send it, and I'll mail a gift certificate good for one 3-4 pound chicken redeemable any time in 2008 at a yet-to-be-determined central Arkansas location.
email: tim@sandtownfarm.com
snailmail:
Tim McKuin
PO Box 1363
Morrilton, AR 72110
Any requests received by Tuesday, Dec 18 will be mailed in time to arrive before Christmas.
Where in the world?
Not much to update with farm stuff right now. However, I have rented a house of my own and found full-time employment. More details to follow.
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
Baskets of the Month
Due to some natural disasters and a little miscommunication between the three growers supplying Hardin's River Mercantile I've ended up sending 75 chickens to them instead of 50 for their Thanksgiving-themed baskets of the month. I had to promote a few birds from the "personal consumption" category and shrunk some of the family orders to make it happen, but at least this will mean more people will be introduced to Sandtown Farm. However, a few of those extra chickens may be of less than ideal cosmetic quality. From a food safetly and taste standpoint they're fine, but some of the ones that were processed first may have a couple of pin feathers remaining or some of the skin might be torn. We learned so much about producing a nice looking product by the end that there's really no comparison with the early ones. I hope the folks who end up with those crunchy-granola birds appreciate the authenticity of them and take great pride in participating directly in the birth and evolution of this new local food enterprise. At least that's what I would think if I were on the receiving end.
Anyhow, we worked most of the kinks out of the processing system by the 84th chicken, so next year all the birds that leave the farm should be fit for a beauty pageant.
I'm going to send outsome farm propaganda a newsletter/order form this winter so people can reserve chickens for 2008 and so I can better gauge how many to raise. If you'd like to join the mailing list, just send an email to tim@sandtownfarm.com with "Mailing List" in the subject line and your name and snail mail address in the body. Look for the newsletters by mid-December.
Anyhow, we worked most of the kinks out of the processing system by the 84th chicken, so next year all the birds that leave the farm should be fit for a beauty pageant.
I'm going to send out
Friday, November 2, 2007
Aahhh...
It's over. The chickens are frozen. My three stitches are out. Our hands are clean and our backs are resting. Sigh...
My trip to Falling Sky Farm on Monday paid off in many ways. The whole crew up there was very helpful and I was able to gain a lot of experience just by helping them for the day. Carl and Joel Felland from Chimes brought a semi-automatic plucker with them for me to use on my own chickens. While it's not quite a Whizbang model it's a vast improvement over hand plucking. I offered to rent it but they asked that I just find three more legs for it instead. Deal. Good folks those Fellands.
Mom, Dad, Ragan, and I spent parts of the next three days processing the birds with a little help from a pair of folks on Thursday who were in town to photograph Ragan for a book about young people causing change in rural areas. Cool. Unfortunately I ran out of time for distribution, so the cold ones will have to chill out in Mom and Dad's freezers for a while until I get back from a trip to NYC after the 10th. (Vanessa's boss has written a book about preservation in New York and I'm going up for the release party, among other things.) Until those chickens are gone I don't think it's going to feel like my first year's farming trial run is over. Some reflections on the past couple of months will follow soon.
My trip to Falling Sky Farm on Monday paid off in many ways. The whole crew up there was very helpful and I was able to gain a lot of experience just by helping them for the day. Carl and Joel Felland from Chimes brought a semi-automatic plucker with them for me to use on my own chickens. While it's not quite a Whizbang model it's a vast improvement over hand plucking. I offered to rent it but they asked that I just find three more legs for it instead. Deal. Good folks those Fellands.
Mom, Dad, Ragan, and I spent parts of the next three days processing the birds with a little help from a pair of folks on Thursday who were in town to photograph Ragan for a book about young people causing change in rural areas. Cool. Unfortunately I ran out of time for distribution, so the cold ones will have to chill out in Mom and Dad's freezers for a while until I get back from a trip to NYC after the 10th. (Vanessa's boss has written a book about preservation in New York and I'm going up for the release party, among other things.) Until those chickens are gone I don't think it's going to feel like my first year's farming trial run is over. Some reflections on the past couple of months will follow soon.
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