Change of Plan

Don’t bite off more than you can chew.
English Proverbs

Our relief milker has decided to move on. Since we have so much work and so little time, we have made the hard decision to sell our Jersey cow and fifty young heritage chickens. If you are interested in getting your own chickens or cow this may be your lucky day!

We have a purebred Jersey cow with calf for $1200.00. The cow’s name is Patty. Patty is presently producing about 8L of milk a day while feeding two calves. She has had two births. She has been bred to a Dexter bull this season. We do not know yet if she has conceived. We would include one of her adopted calves (Brown Swiss Shorthorn cross) for that price. If you do not want a calf, Patty would be $1000.00.

We have about fifty, ten week old un-sexed heritage chickens from Rochester Hatchery. We have Ameraucanas (bluey green eggs), Buff Orpingtons (dark brown eggs), Danish Brown Leghorns (white eggs), and Buff Brahams (dark brown eggs). These breeds are good for the small family flock and produce meat and eggs.

These birds have not been immunized. The birds have not been de-beaked so they can forage on pasture. The birds have been fed certified organic feed. Individual birds are $10.00 per bird. If you buy ten or more birds, the price is $8.00 per bird. Please call Shaen at 250.374.4646 for more information.

Updated September 15, 2010: I have been reading some of the works of Wendell Berry. I have worked my way through Another Turn of the Crank and struggle with The Unsettling of America: Culture and Agriculture. I find myself in deep waters. I fight for comprehension and wonder at my own limits to understanding. But his words sooth my hurts and make me realize how lucky I am.

So, our family cow is not for sale, nor are the chickens. They have come to mean too much to us. They will continue to enrich our bodies and do their good work of enriching the soil. As Wendell Berry says: “The passive American consumer, sitting down to a meal of pre-prepared food, confronts inert, anonymous substances that have been processed, dyed, breaded, sauced, gravied, ground, pulped, strained, blended, prettified, and sanitized beyond resemblance to any part of any creature that ever lived. The products of nature and agriculture have been made, to all appearances, the products of industry. Both eater and eaten are thus in exile from biological reality.” Furthermore he says: “When going back makes sense, you are going ahead.”

Go with your love to the fields.
Lie down in the shade. Rest your head
in her lap. Swear allegiance
to what is nighest your thoughts.

Manifesto: The Mad Farmer Liberation Front by Wendell Berry