Harvest

Chickens to the slaughter

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Raising your first chickens, killing them, and eating them has gotta rank up there with other Firsts worth a little attention. Now, I’m at least part of the way there: the killing this time was done behind closed doors, with me on the outside—chicken PROCESSING. Still, first enough to be worth a few photos… I’d been cutting it close with booking a processing day for the White Rocks, the local processor is known to get solidly booked for weeks. I finally called yesterday, looking for a date in two weeks, and was told there was also a cancellation for tomorrow (today!). I checked out the WRs, and, man, how could I imagine them getting any bigger (I think I was mesmerized, waiting for them to explode)? So I called back and booked. We drove over last night to pick up crates (20 minutes each way), then it was up at 5:30 this morning to load ’em. As soon as I opened the door, all of the Frey’s dual purpose darted out immediately, as usual, while the WRs, who mostly go nowhere, stayed in: it was kinda fitting that the Frey’s stood around in unfenced-in freedom, ready to run (and they would’ve!), while the WRs kinda dumbly looked out at their crates (above).

Five to a crate, 25 in all, 30 minutes or so to loaded…no need to chase down these lumbering beasts (while I was packing, most of the Frey’s figured out no good was afoot and entirely disappeared around the other side of the chickenhouse, something they’d never done before, while a couple stayed to watch).

The processor is on a farm, a low building where birds go in live on one side, and come out the other, cleaned and chilled, weighed and government-inspected, ready to go…

Bob and a processing guy unload. It’s 6:45am. The paperwork is quick and painless, I didn’t even have to write or sign anything. The only sign of bureaucracy in action is the required chicken purchase number, a serial number that’s on the form that you fill out when purchasing the chicks. And the on-premises government inspector popped out and did a little of his own paperwork. Other than that, just processing choices. For a few cents more (like 75-85), you can have the chickens halved and put in separate bags, or halved or quartered in the same bag. We got 10 halved and separated, for when cooking a whole fat chicken would be a little too much. Modern conveniences?! :) I also chose to get the organs back (in the black bag; below).

Eleven hours later, it’s 5:30pm and we’re back. Matthew helps pack the big birds for the trip home and into the freezer. Average weight is around 8lbs (3.6kg), where the Frey’s are maybe barely 3lbs. Hmmm… Not the most satisfying little adventure, with three 40-minute round trip drives, and the chickens disappearing through yet another middleman, reappearing neatly packaged for $3 more… With the processing fee tacked on for good measure, these are EXPENSIVE chickens, but I’ll do the math, and review the overall, somewhat unsettling White Rock Experience…later. On the other hand, you can’t beat the results: a lotta REALLY plump chickens! Next up in Meat Birds, Take 1: waiting for the free-ranging Frey’s to bulk up, and THEN it’ll be a fully DIY field-to-table chicken dinner!

More Friday greens…

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Friday harvest and it’s still all greens: spinach, all-lettuce mesclun, beet greens! Despite the recent heat and ample rain, the overall amount of cloudiness that came with all the rain of the last 40 days has slowed things down quite a bit. It’s still early on, but I’m anticipating next week and the start of CSA shares, when the prospects look to be about the same. Not even RADISHES are growing too quick. Lynn, Erin (harvesting above, right beside the garlic) and Mike were along for a few hours to help out. And there are LOTS of greens for market!! (Guest photo by Lynn)

Finally, a field harvest…

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Finally, this year’s field-planted all-lettuce mesclun and spinach were ready for harvest, and that’s all I brought in to the farmers’ market, but in decent quantity. Unfortunately, I still underestimated and was sold out by 10:30 (the market runs 7:00am-1pm). It kinda looks good, being sold out, but really, if you’re doing things right at the market, you want to go home with a very little bit left over. That means you’ve brought enough for everyone who comes by, and have enough to display more than the last one or two of each veggie—it’s a pretty tried-and-true rule that selling the last of anything is harder, one of the few rules that seem useful to me. Overall, I don’t give much thought to sales tactics: with really fresh, high quality veggies, clean presentation, and a (genuinely) cheerful, helpful presence, word of mouth should do the rest. But making the food look attractive I think is a pretty basic part of food enjoyment and…celebration, and having enough for an inviting display right till the market ends is part of that. Of course, selling all you can is another part…the farm may be tiny, but there are still things to buy and normal-sized bills to pay! ;)

Just radishes…

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The only thing new for the farmers’ market this week were a couple of rows of Rebel radishes, with their signature flea beetle-bitten leaves—today was nothing like the busy Friday harvest days to come… Radish is the only brassica crop I grow that doesn’t have to be row covered against FBs. They grow so fast that the damage doesn’t hold ’em back much, and most people around here don’t eat the leaves… Here, they’re bunched and floating in one of the rinsing tubs. They could’ve used a few more days in the ground to get BIGGER, but they’re light and perfectly crisp as they are. Tasty! (Guest photo by Shannon.)

Found: chives, spinach, rhubarb…

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Harvest for the second farmers’ market of the season was OK, but still what I think of as kinda found crops. There’s the first market harvest ever of rhubarb, a binful (20 bundles or so) from the fairly giant patch (about 60 divisions) planted three years ago—kinda stubby, compared to the more sheltered rhubarb behind the farmhouse, but tasty all the same. There’s also 15 lbs (6.8kg) of all-lettuce mesclun from the greenhouse, around 10lbs (4.5kg) of new-growth spinach from a few beds planted last fall, 15 pounds of Jerusalem artichoke, some chives, overwintered and in full return in the herb garden, and a few bags of arugula. Enough to keep our hand in at the market, but I’m really waiting on new stuff from the field…!

First harvest 2008!

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Tomorrow’s farmers’ market, the third of the season, will be the my first. This is the usual timing, although I made it on the second market day last year (our market starts on the first Saturday of May). The earliest harvest for field crops will probably be all-lettuce mesclun in a couple of weeks. But I do have the mesclun in the unheated greenhouse, a small quantity grown specifically for getting to the market as early as possible. So, today’s harvest-for-show: around 20 lbs (9kg) of lettuces-and-arugula mesclun. Not much. But, we also gathered about 10lbs (4.5kg) of “found” spinach (tasty new growth from spinach that made it to baby-leaf stage last year, overwintered, and started again this spring; green onion was last year’s early market found crop). Spinach and salad mixes are sold by the bag, and weight varies slightly depending on what and when: for this round, it was all 400g bags (just under a pound), around 35 units total. Also, collected an assortment from the herb garden: sage, thyme, oregano and chives. Plus, around 20 lbs (9kg) of Jerusalem artichoke. Enough to for a tiny spread! I love the market, for me, it’s as much part of veggie gardening as anything that happens in the field, certainly not a tacked on “business” end… Although cold, rainy weather is in the forecast, people always come out, and tomorrow should be fun!

Rinsing station gear comes out

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Today was the day I decided to bring out the rinsing gear! Upfront for its fourth (or fifth?) season, the trusty Maytag washer turned giant salad spinner. Once again, after a winter in the unheated drive shed, it started up (on Spin, of course) without a protest. (Maybe it’ll get a cool paint job this year, finally?!) Leaning up against the Milkhouse wall, there’s the original, square screen table (formerly used to sift gravel), and beside it, the new one I built last year—just add sawhorses… On the left, the pair of laundry tubs. Drainage pipes lie on the ground… First harvest can’t be far off!


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