Spring is here

It’s officially spring here on the farm. The temperatures are on the rise, and the sun has been shining. The grass is starting to green up, our spring bulbs are up and blooming - it's so nice to see some color - and most of all, we have our first two batches of baby chicks in the brooder house.

There is a lot going on - Stan's walk-in freezer is starting to take shape, we are getting the pens all fitted up, cleaned, repaired etc. for the chickens to move into, and the egg layers have started laying up a storm. It is wonderful to have plenty of eggs again. The kids are happy. They have been enjoying French toast almost every morning.

In addition, the farmer's markets are just weeks away and we are getting ramped up for the 2010 season. We are looking forward to seeing everyone at the Broad Ripple and Carmel Farmer's Markets again. We will be adding a few items to our market selection. In addition to our chicken products we will also be bringing our 100% grass fed beef.
This winter we tried out a new egg sandwich and it has proven to be huge success. We start with our farm fresh eggs, chicken breakfast sausage and cheddar cheese served hot on our grilled home made bread. It’s a deliciously way to have breakfast while you do your shopping at the market.

Looking forward to seeing all you again at the markets.

Saving Energy

I decided that since we have had a blog for over a year now, and Stan has never posted anything in it, it might be a good idea for me to give him a hand with making some postings. Winter is our “slow” time of year – but so far it hasn’t felt much slower. We are still going to the Indy Winter Farmers’ Market at East St and 9th; and of course our own farm store is always open. We’ve also had the beef and pork orders to take care of. Speaking of which, we have another pork order coming up in two weeks. If you would like to place an order for pork in February please call or email us soon.

Stan is busy now trying to build and repair things in preparation for the coming spring. We (meaning Stan) are currently building a walk-in freezer. We really need the extra freezer space, plus, we will save energy. Stan is custom designing and building our walk-in to be super-insulated and, therefore, very energy efficient. We expect to have much more freezer capacity and use less energy compared to the chest freezers we are currently using. Stan has also designed and bought all the parts to build a roaster for soybeans. This will be building project number two this season. Stan is totally excited to be able to roast his own beans. :) Does the name Caractacus Potts mean anything to anyone else out there?

All this fall and winter, Stan has been on a mission to cut the amount of electricity we use and become very energy efficient. He came home a few months ago with a large sack full of florescent light bulbs and immediately set to replacing every bulb in our home and in the barn. He also shut down everything in the barn area that we can do without during the off season. Stan managed to reduce our electric bill from $600 to $260 monthly. (Woo Hoo!)

The other day Stan walked in the door with a little fan in his hands saying something about measuring the daily wind speeds on our farm. What is he up to now I wonder…

Laura