The News

Well, crap! What is going on over there?

We are experiencing some changes around the farm. As a result, Lucky Duck Farms will NOT be producing eggs or meat this season. I am truly sorry for any inconvenience this has caused.
I do hope to be back up and running again soon.

I do, however, intend to keep on blogging.

Also, as I still plan on eating, I will be looking into sourcing some quality local meat. I loved my butcher last year (Owasco Meats in Moravia, NY), so I'll stick with them. If any folks are interested in a hog or beef share, please message me.

And last, but not least, even though I won't be able to provide meat this year, I'm still thinking about schwag.

Any interest in t-shirts, calendars and/or the blog book?
Just a straw poll at this point, no committments yet, but let me know.

See you all soon. Hope you had a great winter!

Voyage to the Abattoir - no photos, please

This has been a wonderful journey for me.

I never imagined how much I would learn in this process. The benefits of stewardship, and producing food for friends and family cannot be measured by the hours of sweat, cost of feed, or repeated incidents of having dirt on one's face (or worse).

At this point, I really don't know if I'll do it all again. I need the winter to process all of this, intellectually and emotionally. I do think there is some merit to my plan of having livestock that is big enough to put in a truck and drive to the abattoir.

This distance, created by a few transactions, has allowed me to sleep better. Knowing that a professional has done what needed to be done is a great source of comfort. The load in went very well. My craigslist ad paid off and the man I hired was worth every penny! He was prompt, reliable, experienced and kind. I really appreciated that he brought his wife along both for the load in and the trip to the abattoir  & back. She was sweet and chatted with me along the way. If you need animal transport help or junk removal/hauling, contact me for details. 

 I chose Owasco Meats in Moravia for several reasons. I didn't want to drive for 3 hours in February with a truck full of hogs. There are relatively few USDA inspected meat facilities around any more and I didn't want custom processing the first time.

 The folks at Owasco have been great to me. I had a ton of questions and they were very patient, but I would not be surprised if I am known as "that reformed vegetarian Ithaca woman". Or worse yet, another reformed Ithaca vegetarian woman! 

 Aside from my awkward foray into a room that was clearly NOT the office, and general uselessness at unloading the pigs, all went very well at the abattoir. There were 2 beautiful black angus steers in front of us ( so I won't be doing beef anytime soon). They were just magnificent. 

 The whole process has made me think more about where our food comes from, how it is raised and how and why it's life is ended. I am okay with the choices I have made for our family. I still feel a bit strange about my day. I guess I won't really know until the pork comes back. 

 No matter how it all turns out, I have peace of mind knowing that we did the best we could. What a long, strange trip it's been! 

Thanks to all of our supporters (shout out to the Gustke-Wallace family for pork, more pork, even more pork and turkey!!!). And thank you to all of the folks who have helped move pigs, herd flocks of ducks, eat millions of spring duck eggs and suffer through my enormous Sunday dinners with 4 different kinds of potatoes! 

Stay tuned for details on pork priced by the pound, turkeys and more ducks.

Famous Last Moves

Over the Columbus day break, my folks came to visit. Good news because I could sure use the help with the pigs!

 The last move to the back garden was making me very nervous. After all of our hard work, and the emotional toll of impending trips to the abattoir, I was dreading this last move. I started having dreams of the pigs escaping and running off into the woods.

 Of course, the pig part of the move took 30 seconds. They took off at full gallop to the back gardens and compost pile area. I figured - why should I turn all of this compost when we have pigs? They loved it. Until they destroyed the compost bin. But that patch of ground will look great next spring! I hope.

At any rate, it was great to have my folks up for a visit and for my Dad to get to meet the meat. I don't think he believed it, until he saw (and heard) everything.

Hoggin' down the Garden

In one of our biggest moves yet, I let the pigs enjoy a moment in my veg garden. Again, they ignored the rutabaga patch, ate all of the sunflowers and tomatoes they could find and generally made a mess. They loved it. I still can't get over how big they have grown.

As usual, our big barrow had no interest in moving to a new spot. He seems quite content to lie around in the sun.

It's Turkey Time!

This whole summer has just flown by us! I can't believe it is already Labor Day Weekend! We are making heaps of progress around here.

All of our turkeys are now out on pasture. We have very sturdy, but portable pasture pens. The turkeys have protection from the wind, rain and sun and perches for roosting. We have them separated by breed and as they grow bigger, we will divide them again so that they have enough room.

Looking to purchase Thanksgiving Turkeys for your holiday table? We are now taking orders! 

We will be using a price band scheme for 2010. 

Turkeys will be sold fresh, whole, by weight.

To reserve your Thanksgiving day bird, send a $30 deposit. Let us know which size bird would best suit your holiday table. We will do our best to honor that.

Prices are: 9-12 pounds $55

                            12-15  $65

                            15-19 $75

                             20-25 $85

                             25 +  $100 

The pigs are still growing. The other day I was in a rush. I fed the pigs in my flip flops. Bad idea for so many reasons! They were curious about my toes, but were more interested in the food bucket. Because of that, my toes got trampled by one of the sows. Greedy pig!

Other than that, they have really settled in and have quite a nice deal. For now . . .

Caroline Farmer's Market Debut!

Lucky Duck Farms products will be available at the Caroline farmer's market starting this saturday from 10am to 2 pm. The market is held at the old Fire Hall in Brooktondale, NY. We will have frozen Muscovy duck and duck eggs (a mix of khaki campbell and Muscovy) for sale. Stop by to purchase some tasty treats! I hope to see you there!

But, what about the Muscovy Ducks?

Some of you have been asking, "what about the Muscovy Ducks? Are they a heritage breed?"

Well, no, they aren't. They don't really fit into to my scheme of raising heritage breeds.

Muscovy, or Barbary ducks, as they can be called, are not from Moscow or the Barbary coast (the Maghreb). They come from Mexico, Central and South America.

Muscovies are large birds with dark, flavourful meat. They can hatch up to 3 clutches each summer. They lay many, many eggs.

They don't quack. The drakes (males) hiss and the hens make a trilling coo noise.

Even though they don't fit in to my goal of all heritage breeds, we will keep our Muscovy Ducks. We have had the flock for several years. They are healthy and happy. Most of their time is spent wandering all over the property (and the neighbor's) and swimming on our pond.

It doesn't seem like such a bad life, now does it?