Chicama Run Family Farm

This is one of the busiest weekends we have every year.  This is the Loudoun County Fall Farm Tour. From what I understand there are a lot of new venues on this tour and that's always exciting - for both us and for you.

I will start by saying this is NOT the blog post you want to read if you are sensitive to this sort of thing. Remember, we raise our animals for meat so they have that purpose here.

I was not raised butchering animals and being around animals that were being butchered. In our neighborhood we had horses and the dogs running around. That's it. Chicken came from the grocery store as did steak and whatever else we ate. Yes, we had the fish that people caught, but that was usually catfish caught in the Shenandoah River, when you could still eat the fish, or the occassional smoked rock fish I believe, served with crackers at a party. Rabbit never crossed my mind to eat and believe it or not, I never thought of eating venison. So you can say that I have come a long way since then as far as my food choices and knowledge goes. Butchering though is a totally new experience.

Starting with my first turkey, Joe watching from the garage, as this animal would not die was hillarious - but he was a damn good Thanksgiving dinner!! Otherwise my animals have gone to the butcher - I didn't need to watch everything. Chickens have become second nature with butchering, I don't really think about it anymore while we are doing it - we just do it. Rabbits though have fur.... so this is new! They aren't ugly like the meat chickens - and I still think about cute and furry animals.

I have now butchered 6 rabbits. The first 2 were actually pretty easy and I was thrilled with that. So when it was time to do the next 4 I didn't think anything of it. 20-30 minutes I figured and we'd be done. 2 of us were doing this - 1 to kill and I would clean and gut. Perfect. Oh was I wrong!!!

First, to kill the rabbit, you hit them on the back of the neck. It's SUPPOSED to be instant as it breaks the neck and you are good to go. However, if you miss or don't hit hard enough... well.... ummm....

Rabbit #1 this week - hit on the back of the neck.... but it wasn't dead - the neck was broken - I could feel it - but it was still trying to hop!!! Oh good lord.... now I needed to cut the head off..... it IS dead - it couldn't survive the broken neck so please remember that. It has already been humanely killed. I start to cut and it screams. I jump and tell the person working with me to make it stop!! I am laughing and he's afraid I'm going to start crying (I'm not I was just in shock). I finish cutting and debating if I am going to continue this or not!! "BE FREE RABBITS" is running through my head. But no, this is just a fluke and I made a commitment to this and really want it to work.

Rabbit #2 - nothing like the first one so we are good. I'm happier though my heart is still racing a little from it. Skinned and I am starting to clean it out.... it's twitching... that's just freaky on a whole other level!! Yes this happens with every living thing - you all know the stories of a chicken running around with it's head cut off - well rabbits apparently twitch. It LOOKS like the heart is still beating (which it's not).

This week was definitely one to remember with butchering. Am I going to continue? Yes, I am. I'm raising the rabbits for meat. I know what is involved and what it's going to take. Does it still creep me out? Heck yeah - I am not immune to it at all!!! But knowing what could happen I believe helps me out and will get me through this.

Yes, this story is one for the books.......

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Some people MIGHT say I horde animals..... this isn't true.... but I definitely COULD be one of those people! I love animals. They calm me down, listen to me, and quite a few of them taste REALLY good!

Here's the thing, Joe has "banned" me from the animal shelter because I am GOING to come home with something and a lot of the time it's the smallest and weakest animal in the bunch. Not the one who is jumping up and down saying "PICK ME PICK ME" (you all read that in a high pitch voice didn't you?) but the one sitting in the back of the kennel waiting to see what happens. I'm a softy - what can I say.

So, I also haven't gotten ANY new animals for the farm in a few years. No new trial things, nothing new.

Well, that has changed!!! That's right - I get new animals!! I have gotten rabbits. Not cute cuddly pet rabbits - but MEAT rabbits!

Nope, I have never TRIED rabbit.... Nope I have never butchered a rabbit.....see how this becomes an adventure?

Remember though, 10 years ago we walked onto this property without ANY knowledge of how to farm at all. I had no idea how to do any of these things. I could mow the lawn! I could muck a stall (notice I still don't have any horses)! But dreams were hatched - literally - from 25 baby chicks and 4 llamas.

What do I do now? I learn. I research. I figure it out. If I can't do it, I find someone to teach me. The world is so open though today and ripe for learning. It's such an amazing age where if you don't know how to do something you can go online and watch a video of someone doing it and you are good to go! 10 years ago, youtube was SO slow out here - ok it still is, but we ARE getting better..... and figuring out how to butcher chickens and turkeys was NOT easy. Now, I have an animal with a problem, I'm out in the middle of the field with my iPhone and I'm "googling" how to do something! Amazing right?

My new adventure begins and since I don't ever seem to do anything half way - expect to see rabbit in our store really soon!!

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Ok, so people ask us a lot what our animals are fed. This is coming from the current awareness of various issues with food production and with the big commerical farms and just the public reading more.

Yes, we use a commercial feed for our chickens. Why? Simple.... price.

Let me first explain that we do NOT pump any of our animals with feed. Our free range chickens prefer to run around and find food - but it's there in case it's icky hot or cold or wet outside and they want to eat. They are fed outside so they need to move to get it.

Our broiler chickens are fed a limited amount, but they are moved to fresh grass each day. Instead of it taking 8 weeks for a chicken to grow, ours take 10-12 weeks. This is because they don't have food set up in front of them all day. Even many non-GMO farmers will fill up the feeders so the chickens eat constantly throughout the day! This means they don't really move at all - there is no reason for them to.

Lately I looked at some pricing of other farmers eggs and was shocked and knowing that egg prices will be going up scares me even more. I was finding eggs at $7+ a dozen!! I know everyone wants the "best" for their family - but I will be flat out honest with you..... I could not afford to pay $7 for a dozen eggs. It takes 2 dozen to make 1 breakfast for my kids. That doesn't include the eggs I need for the rest of the week!!

When we raised our egg pricing to $5.25/dozen we hadn't raised the price in over 2 years and it was a 24¢ increase. It was hard for me to increase the price over $5 but it had to be done.

So this goes back to what I said the other day - it's what you feel you can do for your family. I know that our birds are happy running around eating a bunch of other things OTHER than the feed so I feel happy with the eggs. It's a compromise, because from day 1 - I always wanted our farm to be AFFORDABLE to families. Putting it out of reach for more of the public may work for smaller egg farmers, but when for our farm, it just doesn't make sense.

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Something I always find as funny is what people think about what we eat. Seriously - we honestly feel like everyone at the grocery store is watching us and what's in our basket and if they are a customer of ours, I think they fear we are going to judge what's in theirs!

First and foremost - we are NOT the food police!!

Second and I think more important.... we aren't perfect. Heck you should see the bachelor meals Joe has while I'm off camping!! Ok, you should also see some of the meals I decide to eat when I'm camping because cooking is just too difficult! Ice cream is a food group right? Yes, I drive through McDonald's sometimes.

Keyword - SOMETIMES!! This is where you are on the hook! That's right... I'm not worried about IF you go to fast food.... IF you eat ice cream and cookies.... it has to do with HOW often do you do this?

We all have budgets. Even I am supposed to have one. So we do what's best for our families. I eat grass fed beef, pasture pork, and of course free range eggs. This is what I have all year round because of our farm. You don't see chicken on that list do you? This doesn't mean that we don't EAT chicken - we eat a lot of chicken. Unfortunately on this one thing we compromise sometimes. Chicken is a seasonal item and even when it's IN SEASON we don't always get it as our customers come first for these - which is ok with us - when we DO get a chicken we enjoy it a lot!

My point of this post is that if you are doing your best for your family and for you - then that's all that matters! If your sanity requires you to order pizza - ORDER THE PIZZA!!!! If some place we liked delivered, believe me there are plenty of nights I'd be eating pizza!!

We will never judge you if we run into you at the grocery store - you might notice chips and sodas in our basket - so don't judge us either!!

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So this past Wednesday afternoon, we were called by the Great Falls Farmer's Market asking us if we would like to participate at the market starting this Saturday.  Understand, we have NOT done farmer's markets for the last couple of years because honestly, it's exhausting, and with the Lyme Disease, I never know how well I will do and it took it's toll.  BUT, this looked good and we worked around to see what we could do.

Thursday, we call and actually talk to the Market Manager who says that yes they would like to have us there.  I respond back saying that I need to verify that everyone is on board with this because I won't be able to do it myself every weekend.  I also spoke to the farm that is leaving the market and completely understand their need for a larger volume - but it seemed it would be a good fit for us.

Within 30 minutes of hanging up the phone with the Market Manager, I call back (no answer), then email stating we will gladly be there and ask if 8am would be good so we can find our spot etc.  I fill out the applications, scan those in, and send everything over - even the required insurance certificate (1 of the 3 they need).

We start prepping - which is NOT an easy task for a small farm.  This requires a complete revamp of the day and plans for the weekend.  Who is doing what, who is going with me, times we need to wake up, what our specials will be on the farm, holding back the newsletter until everything is set up and in place, and making sure everything still WORKS that we take with us.

Remember, Thursday at 5pm we spoke with them - so all this is going on from 5pm until I'm ready to crash in bed.

8am Friday morning - Joe has gotten all the correct freezer packs ready etc - we receive an email that the space is no longer available and we will not be needed so they are not accepting our application.

WHAT?!?!?!  Ok - first off - they called US asking US to be a part of this market.  Second, we ACCEPTED VERBALLY the spot!!  THEY RESEARCHED OUR FARM!!!

We did not go searching for this avenue - they came to us.  We did all this work - and yes it is a lot on a short notice... and then they "fill" the spot with someone else?  Where is the professionalism in that?

I did respond to their email stating that it is disheartening and that a lot of work goes into getting something set up like this.  I doubt I will receive a response because people honestly, I doubt they understand farming at all - people THINK they do - but they have no idea the difference between a craft vendor and someone who has to package things up!  Heck - if we were bakers - I probably would have been out ordering things and purchasing and even starting to BAKE - then to be told "sorry"??

So needless to say, we will NOT be doing the farmer's market - and honestly - I'm sure there is a reason for this in the grand-scheme of things....and all I can think is "what goes around....."

This weekend was the Loudoun County Spring Farm Tour. Over the years as more and more farms have joined, and we are in our 10th year, the traffic has gotten less and less. We attribute this to a lot of things - the county cut the funding (shocker) and we don't have a lot of new attractions.

Ok, as a farm, it's really hard if you aren't a big agri-tourism farm to come up with something new each season, it just can't happen. Joe's said no new animals ;) but yeah, even animal lover that I am, I can't justify having animals here that don't serve a purpose.

However, we have our moments and each of these is truly precious to us.

This weekend, I had a tween tell me this is her favorite place to visit - and they have been coming here almost 10 years. She didn't have a cell phone that she was staring at, she even brought some friends with her - and everyone was laughing and looking around!

People were coming up to me shocked that Alexis was now DOING the egg gathering tours - and they remembered the first year when she was just sharing the baby chicks with people! Hey, she made the cover of the next farm tour with that!

We had customers give us hugs, thanking us for being here and for the work we do.

Overall, we don't just have customers, we have friends. We have watched kids grow but still come back, we watch the new ones as they look around and see their first real live chicken!

Though we have our ups and downs, and sometimes we get seriously frustrated.... a LOT of work goes into this and we thank everyone who says we are so organized because it never feels like it.....we love each minute of it and have created some amazing memories that will last a lifetime - not just for us - but for many! This in itself is truly humbling and we are thankful to be blessed with making it this far on a journey neither one of us expected to take during our lifetime.

So you may hear us vent and fuss....but at the end of the day..... we can say we love it and we are thrilled to have made so many friends and we can't wait to meet more!

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