This Week's News

SALE

ON CHICKEN LEG-THIGH PACKAGES

If you read the article below, you'll see that we are out of several cuts of chicken, but we still have a good number of leg-thigh packages. We'd like to sell these before the summer arrives and we have more chicken than we know what to do with, so we are having a sale. For a limited time, our leg-thigh packages (two of each) are on sale for $2.⁵⁰ per pound (they are usually $3.⁸⁵ per pound). This is a great deal on a great product, so order yours before they're gone too!

HOW CAN YOU BE OUT OF WHOLE CHICKENS & CHICKEN BREASTS?

Ok, we know it's hard to fathom, living in a world where we have food-on-demand in every grocery store across the country, but, for now, we are sold out of whole chickens, chicken breasts, livers, neckbones, and stock bags (we still have leg-thigh packages and wings!) and it will be late May or early June before we have more in stock. How can this be?

The answer is a good-news, bad-news sort of answer. The good news is: Business is booming and our wonderful customers cleaned out our entire inventory of healthy, pasture-raised chicken. The bad news is, because the chicken is pasture-raised, we can't replenish our supply until the weather is warm enough for grass to grow and for young chicks to live outside. It takes eight weeks for the chickens to reach maturity, so even if we started chicks today it would still be the first of May before we could butcher the chickens.

There's no doubt about it, eating naturally raised foods does have a down-side: The supply fluctuates with the seasons because we're raising our animals in a natural environment and feeding them natural foods that only grow during certain parts of the year. Of course, the up-side is pretty incredible too: Great-tasting meat, eggs, and milk that come from happy, healthy, drug-free animals. We hope you'll agree its worth the wait!

GET READY FOR ARTISAN CHEESE

Yes, it is finally going to happen. Greenwood Farms is preparing to become your source for artisan raw milk cheeses. We are putting the finishing touches on our aging room (aka "The Cheese Cave") and getting ready to have the cheese vat and other hardware installed at the dairy barn, so now is the time for our cheesemakers, Julie and David, to go to school.

From March 31st - April 2nd, Julie and David will be attending a three-day intensive course on artisan cheesemaking in Columbia, MO where they will get hands-on training in the making of Alpine cheeses, whey-based ricotta, and Italian washed-rind cheeses. In addition to the actual cheesemaking instruction, Julie and David will also have courses in the theory behind the making of cheese and a short-course on the running the business-side of an artisan cheese operation. Read more>>

EGGS ARE BACK

Our hens are back from their "vacation" and once again, we have a bounty of eggs. Our brown, free-range eggs are $4 per dozen and can be ordered by emailing orders@greenwoodfarms.com or by calling our toll-free order number, 800-253-6574. Please be sure to call during our business hours: 8AM-7PM daily.

A NEW TOPIC ON OUR BLOG

Julie & her first hens in 1981

As you may already know, Greenwood Farms now has its own blog! Click on the "Our Blog" at the top of the page to visit and comment on a variety of articles written by all of us here on the farm. This month, Julie has added a new category to the blog called "Life in the Hen Garden." These are stories about Julie's life as Greenwood Farms'  "Hen Master," the proud keeper of our laying flock. Julie has been raising laying hens for almost thirty years and she has some great tales to tell. Join us in the Hen Garden today!

Other good reads on our blog include: Holly's Farm Stories, a farm photo and quote of the day, and Julie's column, "Finding the Foodie Within."

NEWS FROM THE NURSERY

WELCOME SCOTTY

Montgomery "Scotty" Scott was born on March 3rd. Julie named him "Scotty" because March 3rd would have been the 90th birthday of James Doohan, the actor who played Scotty on Star Trek. Welcome to the world Laddie!

WELCOME AXEL

Axel was born February 20th at about 11:30 AM. His mother, Funny, had been at the calf barn for almost a week, to keep her out of the cold and snow, but Axel's birthday was one of the most beautiful days we've had all year: 58 degrees and sun!

WELCOME CRYSTAL

Crystal was born on January 18th. Her mother is Sandy, a lovely cow in her own right. Crystal's entry into the world was a little difficult, though. Sandy was in labor all day on the 18th and when she didn't seem to be progressing into the final stage of labor, Julie did a quick obstetrical exam and discovered that Crystal was positioned wrong. She was upside down in the birth canal. Julie used gentle traction to get Crystal turned properly but because Sandy is a small cow, she couldn't get the calf through the birth canal. It took both Steve and David, pulling with all their might, to bring baby Crystal into the big world. Happily, once Crystal was born, both mother and daughter were fine. Crystal is now a big, healthy one-month-old heifer and Sandy is having a great lactation up at the dairy barn. Sometimes things really work out well.