Chickens have built in GPS?

Animals are simply fascinating! Some day we might be able to understand more of nature to make sense of the odd but wonderful things we see every day on the farm.

I have read that chickens, like migratory birds, have the ability to "home in" on their nest area. It is not the structure they head to as humans would. Instead chickens can identify the exact spot on the ground where their nest was even if the next is removed.  I have read warnings about not moving a moveable chicken coop too far at a time, because the chickens will not find the structure and instead nest in a pile on the ground where the coop used to be.

Last night I witnessed this for the first time, exactly as described! Our teenage chickens are still in the moveable coop in the orchard. This week we opened the coop so they could roam, since they are large enough to fend for themselves now. The birds would put themselves to bed inside the coop each night as expected.

Then, a couple days ago, I decided to move the coop to the opposite side of the orchard, maybe 100 feet away. That was a mistake! Last night I walked by after sunset and sure enough there was a little pile of chickens all huddled together on the bare ground right where the coop used to be.  They looked so sad sleeping out in the cold under the sprinkly skies!

I had to pick up each chicken and walk it to the coop, place it inside where the food and water was. If i didn't put them inside the coop, they would turn and run back to the huddle on the ground. The last couple of them almost refused to go! It took a while to get them all settled in safe and warm.

How do they do that? It is amazing to think that these little chickens can return to within a foot of a certain spot on bare ground, even when he structure is removed.

Nature is more fascinating than we give credit. Even in all our knowledge, we still don't begin to understand some of the most simple things.

Fresh the Movie --- a must see

We have only seen trailers so far (awaiting the arrival of our copy), but this is said to be the single greatest expose on local and healthy food production and procurement. While similar to Food Inc, (you have seen this, right???) Freshthemovie is said to concentrate on the positive aspects of local and healthy foods instead of the negative aspects of factory farms. While I am sure there is mention of the negative aspects (its impossible to talk about food without touching on the unhealthy norm our country accepts) I am looking forward to a more positive approach to the problem.

We definitely want to find a way to host screenings near Medford as soon as practical and will report back here once we watch the movie for ourselves.

The website can be found at http://freshthemovie.com/

S.510 - FDA Food Safety Modernization Act ---- call to action

Little Sprouts Farm has remained silent thus far about the ongoing debate over food safety in our national government. But, alas, it is time to speak out. If you value the ability to have a choice in your family's food purchases and production, then it is time to act.

As you may know, recent "food" factory failures have caused more deaths and illnesses recently than ever before. This rightfully prompted an outcry from Americans for something to be done. Unfortunately, in true "big government style", the answer from our elected official was largely more of the same. They reacted by working to enact tougher food safety laws, which in reality are just better tracking and ability to recall the inevitable dangerous products coming from today's factory farms. These new laws do very little to decrease the occurrence of lethal contaminants within our grocery store isles, they simple make it more efficient and quicker to remove the poisons once they occur, so fewer people are affected.  In the process it creates more government, more paperwork, and higher cost to everyone. Ok, Ok, that's my interpretation, but I would challenge you the reader to dispute my claims.

The next major event that happened was the amendments. The most important one is the Tester amendment. This amendment adds the logical exemption of small traditional farms. Since small family farms are virtually immune to the problems rampant in the factory food system, it does not make any sense to subject these small farms to the overbearing regulations that are intended to help root out the bad products from the factories. Adding the regulations to small farms actually worsens the overall situation by putting more small farms out of business, thereby increasing reliance on factory foods that are inevitably poisonous. Therefore, the "fix" from the government, without the amendment, actually makes the situation worse for the consumers with increased risk of food illness and death.

The senate thankfully passed the bill with the amendment in place. Now it is up to the house.

Today, the small handful of owners (yes, incredibly small) of the factory food networks have come out in strong opposition to the amendment. They know that the amendment levels the playing field between decent food and their product. They know the new regulations will stifle small farm production of real food and protect their market share of the food dollars. They are working very hard to distort the facts and make twisted claims of logic to coerce the house into dropping the amendment. If this happens, you, the consumer, will have less opportunity to choose where you buy your food and how it is produced.

So here is our official position:
With the Tester amendment in place, we support the food safety bill because:

1. It makes recall of factory produced and tainted food faster and therefore less deadly
2. It creates more tracking, cost, and consequence for factories producing food, which ultimately raises factory food prices from their unnaturally low level, lessening the gap between this imitation food and real food.  This makes it easier for consumers to buy real food and increase their health, ultimately lowering their out of pocket expense overall due to lower health care.
3. It makes the corporations in control of our food system pay a price for their disrespectful deceitful behavior geared at only making themselves profits instead of making America healthy.

Without the Tester  amendment we oppose the food safety bill entirely because:

1.  It makes small farms pay a higher cost for the failures in the factory food system thereby increasing cost of real food and broadening the gap between real and factory produced food, thereby consumers ultimately shift towards factory food, decreasing health and increasing health care cost
2. It removes choice from the consumer since many small farms will give up instead of fighting the fight, farmers markets shrink, and supplies of decent food dwindle.
3. It rewards corporations responsible for the failures in our food system and the subsequent health crisis in America through removal of competition. Their profits increase, which encourages them to continue producing even more poisonous dangerous foods.

Don't get me wrong... I fully support everyones right to make a profit. One of our goals at Little Sprouts is to prove that it is possible to make a profit while producing decent food (which oddly the bulk of agriculture community states is impossible in America).  Nevertheless, we do not support increased profits today through methods that leave a scarred and sick land to our children, and cause a national health crisis that is touching each and every one of us today. Profits have to be balanced with responsibility to the consumers and the next generation.

For example... would you dump tons of DDT on your yard today if it gained you a few extra dollars, and then handed the scarred cancer producing land to your children and grandchildren to live on? Most people would say no. The reality is, all that has changed since the realization that DDT kills people is... the name of the chemical used. Agriculture today uses more man made chemicals than ever before, ALL of which are slowly being proven to cause health problems and are constantly being replaced with new ones. All in the name of profit for the few. Every non-organic food product purchased in the grocery store supports these chemicals. Every product bought at the grocery store instead of off-farm or farmers markets supports factory "psuedofood" and factory vs farm methods. The strongest arm we have, each of us, is our wallet and our voice. You can either be part of the problem, or part of the solution. I find it fascinating that people will change incandescent bulbs at home for fluorescent to save energy and feel "green", but buy anything presented at the grocery store without a second thought. The time is here to choose.

Bottom line here is.. if you value freedom of choice, health, and fairness, than I implore you to contact your representative and tell them that S510 should not pass unless it has the Tester amendment intact.  Do it today!

I also encourage an open debate on this topic. It is truly one that affects our families in our every day life. Through open discussion, eyes are opened and truth prevails.

Little Sprouts has a Logo!

We are very proud to announce that Little Sprouts Farm now has an official logo! We have been working with a very talented graphic designer who helped to capture the essence of who we are and what we do.  Here's a sneak preview of the final product.

The graphic we worked with designer is :

Jason D. VanDusen

Owner - Design Specialist - VanDusen Design
Toll Free: (800) 691-8566
http://www.vandusendesign.com/

Organically and humanely raised pastured heritage breed pork for sale now!

Drum roll please!

We finally, after 3 long years of preparations, have our first official Little Sprouts Farm products for sale. The Red Wattle hogs are officially at market weight and ready for immediate sale.  We butchered one for our own use last Friday and it weighed in at 151 lbs hanging weight, which is about 200 to 220 lbs live weight.

Often when you browse the food in the grocery store you see different claims such as "organic", "Humanely raised", etc. We are proud to announce that we have not one, but many reasons why this will be the best tasting, healthiest pork you ever tried.

1. Heritage Breed -- Our hogs are untouched by genetic engineering, and unchanged by breeding. They are hogs just as nature created, never modified to increase profits to the breeder. What you get is real natural pork.

2. Humanely Raised -- Our hogs are raised as a large community, no confinement. They roam the pasture, choose their own sleeping and eating arrangements, play together in the sunshine, and act like.. well.. pigs.  We work very hard at providing to them the most natural yet safe environment possible, mimicking their life as it would be in the wild. We do not use commonly used medical intervention such as castrating or teeth trimming. Our pigs are physically the same as the day they were born. We strongly believe in a minimal intervention into their natural life.

3. Organic Feed -- The only hog feed we provide is certified organic hog feed, blended to our specifications.

4. Organically grown natural produce -- in season we collect and offer as much natural organically grown produce and leftovers as possible. This provides a variety in their diet of good wholesome fruits and vegetables, as well as green plants, to provide all the nutrients that cant be found inside the processed grain food.  To date we have collected thousands of pounds of pears, pumpkins, apples, vegetables, and various stalks from farming operations.

5. Natural Foraging --  In addition to organic feed and organically grown produce, we allow the pigs plenty of room (about 4 acres) to roam and forage for their natural food of roots, bugs, etc.  They happily dig and root int eh soil looking for that extra bit of nutrition only nature itself can provide.

6. Organically raised -- we do not use any antibiotics nor chemical treatments. When required only natural pest control (diatamaceous earth) and herbal parasite control (verm-x)  is used. No supplement shots are given at birth or later. These pigs are allowed to achieve their health naturally from their environment.

7. Farm Fresh -- when you purchase our uncured pork, it is fresh 100% meat, no water or chemical added during processing.  The cured cuts (bacon, ham, etc) are produce to your desires at out local butcher.  You can specify exactly how you prefer the cuts in shape, thickness, etc. From start to finish takes about 2 weeks for uncured, about 3-4 weeks for cured.

Care to give it a try? You will not be disappointed!

For Pricing click on "FOR SALE NOW" above.

WEIGHT:
The first hogs weight in at about  150 hanging weight.

QUANTITY:
We currently have 5 hogs ready to go for December.  There will be another set in late January to February.

To secure your portion, just give us a call or email

541-826-4345

littlesprouts@salchfamily.org

And brace yourself! This is going to be the best tasting pork you ever experienced!