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 out some 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.