Brick House Farms Fall 2009 Newsletter
This is Brick House Farms’ second newsletter this year. It has been a great year! We have been constantly learning what methods work for us and for the animals. First, we learned that 2 adults with 2 young toddlers have a difficult time managing
85 cows/calves, 225 laying chickens, 250 Label Rouge chickens, 40 turkeys, 22 pigs, 100 French Guineas, and 3 ducks at one time. The description of 2 adults with 2 children really means there is only 1 adult to manage all the farm chores and gardening. The other adult manages the kids and household chores.
Our gardens started great. By June we were overwhelmed with other farm projects and more animals. Needless to say the gardens were neglected. Next year we plan to have fewer gardens. We’ll have a great variety but not the amount of plants we had this year.
Our freezer space has been limited and we are actively searching for walk-in freezer storage so that we can offer our beef, pork, and chicken all year.
We are considering offering a meat and egg subscription in 2010. If you are interested, let us know.
Pastured Heritage and Broad Breasted White Turkeys:
If you didn’t get a pastured Turkey this year, let us know. We will be taking orders for both heritage and broad breasted white turkeys on January 2- March 1, 2010.
Deposits for Heritage turkeys are $20.00 each and deposits for Broad Breasted White Turkeys are $15.00 each. Deposits are non-refundable after March 1. We will gladly add you to the wait list should any become available.
The following is a tentative schedule of availability of BHF farm fresh products:
Farm Fresh Eggs Available All Year
Angus Beef Available All Year
Devon Beef Available Fall 2010
Tamworth Pork Available Spring 2010 (Some cuts are available now)
Berkshire Pork Available Summer 2010
Red Wattle Pork Available Fall 2010
Heritage Turkeys Available Fall 2010
Broad Breasted White Turkeys Available Fall 2010
Label Rouge style Chicken Available May-Nov 2010 (Some cuts available Nov. 2009)
We do offer ½ and whole beef or pork. A 1 month advance reservation with deposit is required. Contact us for availability since animals are sometimes ready sooner or later than anticipated. We will try to keep the website updated on the availability of all our farm fresh products. We also include “Specials” on our website.
Label Rouge Style Chickens:
We raised a batch of Cornish Cross (Cornish X) earlier this year & processed them on the farm. They tasted much better than the grocery store chickens but they are a lazy bunch and would have sudden heart attacks. We then raised a batch of Label Rouge style chickens. What a difference! These birds grow slower than the Cornish X. It takes about 12 weeks before the Label Rouge are ready. The Cornish X are ready in 4-6 weeks. The Label Rouge chickens are very active and really like to forage for insects and grass. They don’t suffer from sudden heart attacks either. While the cost of raising Label Rouge is more, the taste of the Label Rouge meat is far better. The slower growing time really makes a big difference. For these reasons, we don’t plant to raise Cornish X again. Even for our family’s eating pleasure, Label Rouge is our personal preference.
The first batch of Label Rouge chickens sold out in 1 week. So if you want Label Rouge chicken, please, please let us know how many, what cuts, and place a deposit to guarantee you’ll have the best chicken ever. We offer Label Rouge style chickens as whole and in most cuts. Place your orders now for your Spring Label Rouge Style Chickens.
Red Wattle, Berkshire, and Tamworth Pork:
All of these are pasture raised Heritage breeds. At this time Red Wattle pigs are listed as critical by the American Livestock Breeds Conservancy.
We actually had not even tasted Red Wattle (RW) pork until after we purchased our second batch in July. RW is different than most pork. RW meat color, texture, and flavor is similar to a cross between beef and pork. RW meat has a wonderful taste and is very lean. RW are a docile breed and friendly.
Berkshire pigs are fun, silly pigs. We have finally tasted Bershire pork. Oh, how good it is!! Others have given us glowing reports on Berkshire meat and say we won’t be disappointed. Berkshire pigs are docile and friendly too.
Tamworth pigs were the last breed we purchased this year. They have done well on pasture and are a very lively bunch. We processed Tamworth pork recently and have received many complements on the look and taste of this heritage breed. It is very lean and tasty pork.
We don’t feel that any of our heritage pork breeds are better than another. We believe that they are all great and that each breed appeals to the variety of our customers.
For those of you who are new to the Brick House Farms family, there are 4 of us. Jim, me (Eve), our 2 toddlers, Hart -3 years old and Luke- 2 years old. The boys are such fun and we thank God he gave them to us. It is wonderful to be able to have them at home with us and to raise them on the farm. We pray that the life path we have chosen will be their legacy.
Holidays are fast approaching. Contact us now to reserve your Holiday meats for a truly special occasion and place your egg orders now for baking those delicious Holiday treats. Take care and we’ll see you soon.
Jim, Eve, Hart and Luke Lyle
