Webmaster’s note: The format of this column includes all of the Quill’s Endians participating at various times and in various ways! Phil writes this month’s column.
Eggs and chicken, chicken and eggs
Having poultry on Quill’s End Farm has always seemed like a no brainer. In natural ecosystems, ground nesting birds follow ruminants and “clean up” the larvae that invariably populate ruminant’s waste. This helps break the pathogen cycle and also cuts down the fly population. The poultry also add their own manure to the soil to stimulate growth.
The Quill’s End hens and meat birds move on a regular basis in pens or behind electric netting that ensures their safety from ground predators. This gives them insects and pasture to augment their diet. It also makes for an incredibly tasty egg or chicken.
The business of getting eggs and chicken to you is not as idyllic. We currently process around 250 chickens three times per summer. These days are both long but immensely enjoyable. A crew gathers to make light work of the task, and a lunch unlike any other follows the work. Because the task is not loud, the conversation and laughter around the table elevate the work. Anticipation of the shared meal spurs the crew on.
Processing eggs lacks the communal aspect. Because eggs come in at a steady rate every day, washing and packing eggs usually is solitary work. We try to add a little whimsy to the process by “mixing” up eggs in the cartons. You might find a large egg next to a small one. You may find green or white eggs in your carton. You may find patterns in the placement of said colored or colorless eggs. The specialness of the eggs happens in the field, the patterns and size games are just for your, and our, entertainment.
We have oh so much plenty of eggs and chicken right now, we can cover your mornings and suppers all month. Avail yourself of the bounty.
Heather and Phil Retberg and their three children run Quill’s End Farm, a 105-acre property in Penobscot that they bought in 2004. They use rotational grazing on their fifteen open acres and are renovating thirty more acres from woods to pasture to increase grazing for their pigs, grass-fed cattle, lambs, laying hens, and goats. Quill’s Endians are members of Halcyon Grange and publish a newsletter for their farm’s buying club of farmers in the area, and generously permit us to share some of their columns with Grangers. Visit the Quill’s End Farm Facebook Page for more information.