July 5th, 2016
Darryl and I have read a couple of books by Joel Salatin about the family farm and how to make it profitable. "Everything I Want To Do Is Illegal" and "Folks, This Ain't Normal". Joel runs his Polyface pasture fed farm operation in Staunton, VA, only 30 minutes from where Skye and Ryan live, so they took us for a visit.
First stop was the store and a look around at the gardens.
Darryl watches as a couple of apprentices finish the butchering of some rabbits.
In the store they invited us to go out and "wander" the farm.
We saw the broiler chickens in their portable pens that are moved every other day.
We walked through the "Salad Bar" pasture to the hoop houses.
Past the "Egg Mobile" where a couple hundred hens spend their day on new pasture every few days.
The mobile rabbit pens.
The house where the chickens are brought to away butchering.
The starter pen for the piglets. These guys are almost big enough to go to the fenced pens in the woods.
The hoop houses where veggies are grown in the spring and summer and where the chickens spend the winter.
As we were getting ready to leave Skye comes walking up the drive with Joel Salatin himself.
We had a little visit where he asked us many questions about living in China.
And he autographed my book.
I'll be honest, visiting this farm did make me a little homesick for my own house and property where I could raise chickens, and rabbits and a garden. *sigh* Maybe next year.
It was a very pleasant day, especially the ice cream we had afterward.
I'll be honest, visiting this farm did make me a little homesick for my own house and property where I could raise chickens, and rabbits and a garden. *sigh* Maybe next year.
It was a very pleasant day, especially the ice cream we had afterward.
The following day it was time to leave Virginia and start on our journey back to Idaho.
No comments:
Post a Comment