Cedar Meadow Farm Newsletter
April/May 2007
Greetings from Cedar Meadow Farm!
Wow, it's been one crazy spring here in New England. We went from fall-like weather in January to the Arctic Circle in February. We really thought March would bring us respite from the bitter cold but it has taken until the end of April for us to feel like spring is finally here. Needless to say, now that the weather has become a bit more temperate, we are in the full-swing of spring activities: building new brooders, reparing fencing, installing new fencing, and building new portable range houses. Add to that the steady influx of young ones, and you have one busy place!
We welcomed our egg-laying pullets in early March and are pleased with how they are growing out. They have had several moves due to the weather, first from our basement to the pumphouse, then out to a small brooder, and then into a yet larger brooder, and now they are thriving in a range house equipped with an Ohio brooder. Won't be long before they are ready for your henhouse. We only have a limited number left. Please take a look at our price list page to learn more about the varieties of birds available.
Our ducks arrived mid-April, along with a couple of geese. In addition to our egg laying ducks (Khaki Campbells) and our meat ducks (Rouen), we ordered a few Blue Swedish Ducks to round out the flock. Our poor ducks were decimated by predators this past fall. It has been a sobering experience for us and we've decided that their new home will be within the confines of our garden walls. We plan to have 1/2 the garden sit fallow every year, planting it in the fall with winter rye. The ducks will live in this garden space, enjoying the greens and providing us with a great source of fertilizer. We have a couple of Toulouse Geese that will live in the active part of the garden. Believe it or not, when trained appropriately, geese make excellent weeders! They are off to a great start - at the ripe old age of 4 days, they are already showing a voracious appetite for fresh greens.
The first round of broiler chicks are in the brooder with our second batch due to arrive towards the end of April. We are looking forward to the summer months and are pleased to announce that we will be continuing our partnership with the Still River Cafe, providing them with chicken, duck, rabbit, and pork.
Due to the increased cost of feed, it was necessary for us to raise our prices effective April 1st. We know that you can buy some of the products we offer at the supermarket for much less, but as the old saying goes, you get what you pay for! We appreciate your understanding for this change.
In our last newsletter, we mentioned we would be starting a "Pork Sampler" this summer. The response we have received has been tremendous. We are close to selling out of this product, even before we officially put it on our price list! Two of our sows will be bred shortly so we expect we will be able to fill everyone's order before the end of the year.
With all that business out of the way, we'd love to share some fun activites we've had at the farm. At the beginning of the month, several of our chickens became movie stars. A small film-production company was putting together a short film based on a local legend. The setting for the film is the late 1700 and we were pleased we could supply them with historically accurate birds. The birds all behaved beautifully and we are especially proud of our rooster, Rocky, who managed to stay in the right place for all of his shots! As soon as the short film has gone through production and editing (by the way, never tell your children that their favorite chicken could end up on the cutting room floor...) we will be sure to share all the details with you. It was a fun experience for all of us.
On a more serious note, we are pleased to announce that we are a recipient of a grant from SARE (Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education) and will be commencing a study on the effect of various pastured poultry housing techniques on three varieties of birds. We have a great support team on this project, including nutrition experts, poultry breeders, and contributors from the National Center of Agriculture Technology (NCAT). If you are interested in learning more about this study, please let us know, we'd be happy to share the details with you.
Julia Cronin, owner/manager of the farm will be speaking about the plight of the American Family Farm and what you can do to help preserve this cornerstone of our society. At the same time, you will learn more about misleading labeling practices used by the industry and find out ways you can help support your local farmer and feed your family healthful, high-quality products. The first lecture will be held as part of the monthly meeting of the Sierra Club of Southeastern CT on May 9th at 6:30 pm in the Ledyard Bill Library. This talk is free and open to the public. The second lecture will be held at Mount Holyoke College on Friday, May 25th and Friday June 1st at 1:30 pm. This is free, but open only to alumnae, friends, and family of Mount Holyoke College.
As a final note, if you live locally, we want to remind you that we will be holding our annual Spring Open House. This activity is geared towards the youngsters in our area - we want them to have an opportunity to meet all of our animals and interact with baby rabbits, ducklings, and chicks. Also, we will be featuring our heritage breed animals at the 3rd Annual Ledyard Sampler held at the Historic Nathan Lester House at the beginning of June. For more details, please visit http://www.lioninc.org/ledyard/whatsnew.htm and scroll down until you see the Ledyard Sampler header. We had a wonderful time at both of these events last year and look forward to seeing many of you again this year!
Happy Spring to All.
Wishing you all health and happiness,
Brian and Julia Cronin