Ever since my former 20 , I have kept chicken for testis and occasionally some for meat . Living in urban neighborhoods , I had my fair share of conflicts with neighbor and homeowners ’ associations on the legalities of leaven these birds in my backyard .
When I got get married , I give up my urban roots and my wife and I decided to know on her rural property of 10½ acres — finally , poulet heaven for me ! One of the first affair I did was build a small coop and fill it with volaille so we could relish our own farm - fresh eggs . Our child were in 4 - H andFFAand raised chickens and pigs for the fairish , while my father would jest with me about being a hobby farmer , even going so far as to endue me a subscription toHobby Farms .
After read the first issue , I was hooked and was convinced that I was a hobby husbandman . We decide to startselling eggsso I order 50 dame from the hatchery and built a larger hencoop on skid so it could be moved around the property to cater the chickens with constant accession to fresh grass . I bought a copy of Joel Salatin’sPastured Poultry Profits , and the book excited and actuate me to make a chicken tractor ground on his design , which we promptly did , filling it with chicks . Todd Kelley
We did all the processing by helping hand the first few times , but now we have a everlasting processing apparatus with putting to death cones , an electrical scalder , a plucking machine and an evisceration table . Ten acres cursorily became a lot to wield as a hobbyist and keeping up with mowing on a small lawn tractor just was n’t cutting it ; pun think .
I ’m not sure why it engage us so long to work out out that we needed a moo-cow to eat that grass , but eventually we did . Of naturally , we would also get the bonus of raising our own beef , and sell off part of the cow would cancel our scoop expense . What a novel musical theme ! After I told our first client that we were belong to tally a beef cow , the immediate reply was “ I want some . ”
Eager to learn more , I started reading books and article , checking out university research and study , and see docudrama , all of which break the dangers of industrialized food , the inhumane intervention of animals and the lack of sustainability . This convinced me that we had to be a pasture - based farm , and with the encouragement of our farm protagonist , we decided to go big and openly bulge sharing our hobby farm .
Todd Kelley
In 2011 , we had a farm sign made , developeda websiteand list TurnerKelley Farm onEatWild.comandLocalHarvest.org , which brought many more admirer to the farm . Eventually , we also added Berkshire pigs to the menagerie . After elicit our first plenty of four pigs , we fell in lovemaking with this heritage breed and matte up they were the perfect fit for our operation . to have good control over our ability to allow for pork on a regular ground , we ultimately empower in two purebred Berkshire gilts that we by artificial means fecundate . Todd Kelley
Today , we raise and sell multicolored , browse eggs from a flock of 200 chickens living in a chicken castle on wheels and pasture 200 meat chickens at a meter twice a yr using my own custom - progress lightweight chicken tractors . We also pasture porc from our own Berkshire sows and parent 100 - percent grassfed beef from our three Belted Galloway moo-cow and our one Hereford crown of thorns .
We ’ve even lend beehives , along withNarragansett turkeysand lambs for our own phthisis . Plus , we have a small woodlet with a variety of fruit tree diagram and a garden filled with heirloom vegetables which my married woman likes to can and make jelly from . I dabble in making lard from our porc fat and canned chicken from the culled hens . I often tell multitude what we do and they typically annotate on the amount of work we ’re doing . I always agree with them , but add that we eat good and our deep-freeze is full !
We enjoy sharing with others and are passionate about raising our own food . I have peachy pridefulness and confidence in what we do , and you simply ca n’t corrupt that in a grocery store . We have heavy dreams for our little farm and continue to make improvements as time allows . Working with the animals provides a certain ataraxis I ca n’t explain . With the accompaniment of our farm friend , we persist sustainable , and we thank God every day for blessing us with our little part of heaven here on earth .
Todd Kelley
