Factory Farm vs. Pastured Poultry: a Side-by-side Test!

We just had our first batch of pastured poultry processed this morning, and I was eager to try one side by side with a store-bought, factory-style chicken.  I must say, I was shocked at the difference; not so much in appearance, but in taste and texture.

I bought the smallest chicken our local Meijer store had, which was over 5 1/2 lbs.  Ours was about 3 1/2 lbs.  For the sake of giving you a true side-by-side comparison, I did not edit these photos in any way.

Store-bought on left, ours on right

In the roasting pan.  A little butter in the cavity along with some celery.  Sprinkled with salt and pepper...that's it!  Wanted to really taste the "chicken" flavor.

Our chicken, done!  Notice the beautiful, even browning on the skin and nice proportion of the legs to the breast.

Store-bought, done.  This bird has such huge breasts that the skin was split, leaving it to dry out during roasting.  Also notice how the whole bird seems puny compared to those giant breasts...I have no idea how that poor bird could even walk.  

I shredded a bit of breast meat from each bird to show the difference...ours on the left, store's on the right.

I think the most shocking difference to me was the difference in texture between the two birds.  The only way I can really describe it is that our pastured chicken had substance, where the factory-farmed bird was...like mush.  See the difference in the photo above?  Now don't get me wrong...ours was not "tough" in any way.  Just a very satisfying meatiness.  The mushiness of the other bird struck me as seeming really unnatural.

And how about taste?  Ours was, once again, far superior.  About the only flavor present in the store bought chicken was the salt solution they get bathed in before packaging.  In fact, the breast meat closest to the bone in the middle of the bird pretty much had no flavor at all.  The pastured chicken, on the other hand, had a rich "chickennish" flavor all the way through, in both the white and dark portions.  

Hands down winner?  Our organic pastured poultry!  We'll be running another batch starting in August, so give some a try!

Get Personal With Your Food

Listen to this while you read this...it's what I was listening to as I wrote it!

Yesterday I was listening to an interview on NPR (yes, I listen to NPR.  Quite a lot.  Another one of those things that GCCRs* are not supposed to do).  They were talking with a lady who is passionate about teaching people how to grow their own vegetables.  Sorry--I didn't catch her name!  She said something to the effect of, "How to grow your own food should be common knowledge; something parents teach their children along with things like learning how to swim.  I have never been in a situation where I was in water over my head and afraid of drowning.  But I have been so low on cash that if I hadn't known how to grow my own food, I would not have had anything to eat.  It's far more likely for most people to have a financial crisis than to be in danger of drowning."  She wasn't saying that everyone should go out and become master gardeners...only that the knowledge of how to do it should be given a higher priority in our culture.

This got me thinking about what happens in our attitude towards our food when obtaining it gets "personal".  I already find myself placing a higher value on what I eat after experiencing the amount of effort it takes to get it from the field to my stomach.  Moving a chicken pen every day, although enjoyable, is pretty hard work.  Our cows plow through impressive amounts of grass every day to get to the size we want them to be to make great steaks.  Our neighbor, Rose, is in her garden every day with her garlic, veggies, and herbs before she takes them to the market.  When I realize what it takes to produce good, fresh food, I take a lot more care with how I prepare it.  I want it to taste its very best...I don't want to embarrass it--haha!

Now, I'm not knocking grocery stores because grocery stores are obviously important!  But when I buy meat there, all precut and shrinkwrapped, I'm not thinking about the farm or the animal it came from.  And I could buy virtually unlimited amounts of any particular cut if I wanted to.  If I take my New York Strip steaks home, cook them, and don't like how they turn out, I can just go back to the store and get more to try it again.  All I'm really out is the cash to buy them.  Did you know that one steer doesn't produce an unlimited proportion of New York Strips?  When our beef cows are done, we will have limited amounts of each cut and we'll be planning meals accordingly.  When it comes time for me to cook that filet mignon, you can bet I'll really be thinking it through first!

All of this is to say...try getting personal with your food, to whatever extent you are able.  Go to the farmer's market and actually talk to the producers!  Get to know them a little bit!  Find out why they do what they do...chances are they're pretty passionate about it.  If possible, visit their farms.  Stop by The Family Farm while you're at it!  Take a walk with us while we move the cows and chickens.  Or best of all, turn a little corner of your yard into a garden and experiment.  Some things will work, some won't, but I'll bet that you'll have a new appreciation for your food if you give it a try.

*Good Conservative Christian Republicans

Why Pastured Poultry?

I'm sure you're all wondering why it's worth spending double the cost of supermarket chicken for our pastured poultry from The Family Farm.  We encourage you to do your own research, but I'll highlight a few of the biggest reasons for you here, just to get you going...

1.  Health.  Chicken from the supermarket is raised on a grain ration almost entirely made of corn, which is high in energy but low in vitamins and minerals.  According to poultry expert Joel Salatin, "When animals are fed a high energy, low vitamin/mineral diet, they tend to have more saturated fat (cholesterol) in their meat, milk, or eggs, just like people.  When these same animals consume a large percentage of green material, the saturated fat of their animal protein diminishes."

2.  Organic.  We debated whether to give all organic feed or not, since organic feed is nearly double the cost.  In the end we decided to go all the way, both from a health standpoint and to make a deliberate point of supporting local organic farmers.  We will be getting our feed from a local farmer who has been certified organic for over 20 years.  [For pricing reasons, we would consider doing a separate batch sometime in the future that is not organic, but still raised on pasture.  If you would be interested in that, please leave a comment!]

*as a side note, we are not Certified Organic, nor are we seeking certification at this time.  We encourage you to come visit us, see how we raise our animals and get to know us.  We would much rather have our customers trust their farmers, not a government label...but that's another whole story!

3.  Humane animal treatment.  I'm sure you've all heard the stories about how poultry is raised on "factory farms"; overcrowded, reeking of ammonia from their urine, no windows, etc.  Our chickens will be outside in the fresh air all day, every day.  They will have fresh green grass every day and be able to peck at all the bugs, grubs, and worms their little chicken hearts desire.

4.  Local.  You can have the peace of mind of knowing who, where, and how your food was raised, and the satisfaction of supporting a business in your own community.  Our chickens are raised right here in Columbiaville from baby chick to broiler.  They are processed nearby at a local meat processor.  (In the next year or so we hope to begin processing our own as well!)

5.  Taste.  Pastured chicken just tastes different...more "chickenish"!  It's delicious!

Now that brings us to the final question...is it worth it?  For our family, the answer is yes.  We hope you'll give it a try...once you do, we're pretty sure you'll be hooked!

So, what's the main reason you want to try pastured poultry from The Family Farm?  It can be one of our reasons, or a reason of your own!  Leave a comment on this post and we'll randomly choose one winner to receive 10% off your first order!

Basic Berry Smoothie

Sometimes the best things in life are the simplest!  I've been trying to use up our frozen berries from last summer since spring is coming soon.  It looks like we'll have an early strawberry season this year considering the ridiculously warm weather we've been having, so I need to make room in my freezer for a new season's harvest! The smoothie I made for lunch today was a hit, so I thought I'd share the recipe.  (Keep in mind the amounts here are "suggestions" because I wasn't measuring anyways!)

Basic Berry Smoothie


2 cups frozen strawberries
3/4 cup red raspberries
1 cup plain yogurt
1 cup raw milk (or more, to desired consistency)
1/4 cup raw honey
1 tsp. lemon juice
1 tsp. vanilla


Blend well.  Makes about 4 servings.

Preserving Apples, Part 1

Isn't it pretty?  And they taste a-ma-zing.  Crispy, flavorful, and sweet!

I've been so thrilled this past week with the abundant apple "crop" at our new house!  And you know I can't stand to just let them sit there.  We've been on the run so much this summer that I haven't been able to do much preserving, but I'm determined to get some of those apples stored away, in various forms.

The easiest method I'm trying this year is just packing them away in the basement (which is old, cold, and unfinished).  Hopefully it'll be a good place for them to keep a few months.  I followed the instructions from an article at the Backwoods Home website.  Basically you: 1) select only unbruised, unblemished apples; 2) wrap in black and white newspaper; 3) pack carefully in cardboard boxes.  Easy.  Of course, I still have to see if it actually works!  Hopefully I don't go down to the basement in a month and find a box full of rotten apple mush.

Yesterday I made spiced crabapple butter--one of my very favorite bread-topping treats!  Making apple butter isn't hard.  It's just a lot of work.  The boys and I picked about 1/2 a crate of crabapples (and a few regular apples, just for good measure).  Then I followed this recipe, given to me by a good friend in Bronson. She found it in an "old-fashioned" canning and preserving book.  I like this recipe because you can use if for whatever quantity of crabapples you happen to have on hand.

Wash and cut apples into quarters, without paring or coring.  Place in kettle with just enough water to cover, and cook slowly until tender.  Press through a colander or sieve.  Measure the strained pulp.  Add 1/2 as much sugar as pulp.  Bring to a boil and cook until mixture is thick.  [Stir often or it'll stick and burn!!]  Pack into clean, hot jars.  Seal.

I also added some cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves for a nice spiced flavor.  My 1/2 crate yielded about 10 pints. I would really recommend using smaller jars--maybe 8 oz. jars--since we usually don't go through apple butter really fast, but pints were what I had around the house yesterday!  I also recently discovered a super easy way to sterilize and seal jars for high-acid/sugar foods, from the Blue Chair Jam Cookbook.  You put your clean jars and bands on a cookie sheet into a preheated 250 degree oven for 30 minutes while preparing your food to be canned.  Then, when you're ready to pack the jars, you just pull them out of the oven, fill them (make sure you clean the rims), secure the lids and bands, and put them back in the oven for 15 minutes.  So much easier than the hot water bath method!  The book is simply beautiful as well...highly recommended!

Earlier this summer we also did some bread and butter pickles, thanks to our neighbor who grows veggies for the Clarkston Farmers Market.  We did decide to spare Cornelia the Cuke though, because she was just too cute.

We Have a Winner! ...and a new recipe!

Congratulations to Kim, winner of the first giveaway on Domestic Reformation!  Kim, please email me at domesticreformation@gmail.com to arrange details for delivery!

And for the rest of you...give yourself a little gift and mix up a batch of these scrumptious waffles:

Oh Boy! (healthy) Waffles


Whisk together:
2 1/4 cups milk (we use whole raw milk...)
1 stick melted butter
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
1 1/2 T. molasses

Stir in:

2 1/4 cups whole wheat flour
3/4 tsp. salt
4 tsp. baking powder

Serve with butter and real maple syrup for a hearty, delicious breakfast!

"Rawberry" Milk

Well...we've been trying to make a conscious effort around here to consume less processed foods and refined sugar and to eat more whole, raw foods.  Today I had an epiphany.  It probably will seem glaringly obvious to everybody else, but for some reason I hadn't thought of this yet.  Last month I made a whole bunch of strawberry freezer jam, but it turned out a lot more like strawberry syrup because I used WAY less sugar than the recipe called for.  I've been using it to blend into smoothies, on pancakes, things like that.  But today...I had the brilliant idea to blend it with milk and...voila!  Instant strawberry milk, made with real raw strawberries and no high fructose corn syrup!  If you want specifics...I used 1 quart of whole raw milk, 2/3 cup strawberry freezer "syrup", and blended for a few seconds in the blender.  So easy and so yummy!

Fitness Friday! 30 Day Weight Loss Challenge Update...

Welcome to Fitness Friday!  For the next month or so I'll be giving you an update every Friday on how my personal "Weight Loss Challenge" is going.  The last week and a half has been pretty good...I've done pretty well at sticking to my diet guidelines, and exercising consistently.  Blogging about it helps--I don't want to have to come back here and tell you I was lazy!  And thankfully, the numbers are starting to reflect the hard work!

Current weight: 150 lbs (halfway to goal #1 already!)
Waist: 30" (1 inch down)
Upper arm: 11 3/4"
Hips: 42" (this is my biggest problem area...takes REALLY hard work to see change there!)
Thigh: 24 1/2"

The first week of exercising was great.  I had tons of energy and was able to work out at a pretty high intensity level.  This week felt harder...like my muscles were in protest.  I don't know too much about sports nutrition, but I'm wondering if that first week my body was running on excess stored carbs.  With that "extra" depleted, I'd love to see some of those fat stores start to disappear too:)  Interesting thought.  The human body is amazing!  One of the best things about paying attention to your body and your nutrition is learning about how it works and how best to "feed" it.  It feels good to have some control in this area!

30 Day Weight Loss Challenge

I've had enough.  Enough of looking in the mirror and saying, "That's not my body".  Enough squeezing into jeans that barely fit because I refuse to buy new bigger ones.  And most importantly, enough filling my stomach with empty calories (at best) and harmful junk "food" at worst.  After boy #4 was born, I did pretty well losing the baby weight at first.  I managed to get down to somewhere around 147 lbs. just with the help of nursing, and I was good with that.  Keeping a few extra pounds on while nursing is a good thing.  Then he started weaning himself sooner than I expected, and by the time boy #4 was 11 months he was pretty much done nursing altogether.  And guess what...from about March until now, my weight steadily climbed up to 155 with no sign of slowing, putting me into the "overweight" category for my height.  It's time to do something.  My goal is to drop 10 pounds in the next 30 days.

In general, I believe in moderation.  A bowl of ice cream now and then isn't going to kill me.  Snacking on chips and salsa isn't all that bad.  But when it's a BIG bowl every night plus a whole bunch of chips and salsa right before bed...that's just getting out of control.  And one thing I've discovered since having kids is that, for whatever reason, I no longer have much self control when it comes to food.  I can't do moderation.  To really see any change I have to do something drastic.

Now, don't go and get nervous for me.  I'm not going to starve myself or anything (I'll show you what I ate for breakfast in a minute!)  My "diet" goes something like this:

1.  Aim for 1500-1600 calories a day
2.  Cut out pretty much all refined/added sugar
3.  Avoid excess carbs.  I know from experience that I have more lasting energy and feel much better when I get most of my calories from proteins and "good" fats, with a hearty dose of veggies to fill me up.
4.  Record what I eat in an online food diary, at least until things are a little more under control.  Having to write down every last thing makes me think twice!

I also plan on exercising daily.  I've been using The Biggest Loser: The Workout - Boot Camp (already on level 2!), plus doing pilates and fitness ball exercises for my abs and core.

I'll also be keeping you up to date once a week on my "stats".  I'm just as excited to see how these numbers change as my weight!  Here's my starting point:
Weight: 155
Waist: 31"
Hips: 42"
Thigh: 25"
Upper Arm: 12"

Anyone care to join me?  My total weight loss goal is 20 pounds, but I'm going to focus on tackling the first 10 right now.  If you want to make a similar decision, please leave me a comment and tell me your goals!  I'd love to have some extra help and support!  Also, here are a couple links you may find useful:

Online food diary/calorie counter
Free Nutrition Type Quiz --very informative, and was really accurate for me.

And, as promised, here's what I ate for breakfast!  I can't really take credit for the idea...I saw it on Food Network a few days ago.  And, by my calculations, it's only about 250 calories a serving!

"Deconstructed" Sweet Potato Hash
Serves 2

1 sweet potato, peeled and diced
1 medium sweet onion, sliced
1 T. butter
water
salt
tarragon
2 eggs

Melt 1/2 T. butter n a small frying pan, then arrange sweet potatoes in a single layer. Cover with water and bring to a simmer.  Cook gently until water has all evaporated and test doneness (about 20-30 minutes).  Near the end of the cooking time, sprinkle with tarragon.  If necessary, add a little extra water if they need a little more time. Remove to serving plates.

Meanwhile in a separate pan, heat remaining 1/2 T. butter over medium heat.  Add onion and cook slowly over medium heat while sweet potatoes cook.  Put on plate at the same time as potatoes.

Fry two eggs using whatever method you like and add one to each plate.  Season it all to taste and enjoy!

I like my eggs over medium.  Yum!

Caramelized Onion and Rosemary Focaccia

Well, it's another cold and rainy day here in mid-Michigan (big surprise), so what's a girl to do?  BAKE!  I was already planning on making pizza dough for dinner later, so focaccia seemed like a logical next step.  Here's the recipe I came up with, and it turned out delightful!  The food processor has become my new best friend in the kitchen...what a time-saver!

Fresh from the oven!

Caramelized Onion and Rosemary Focaccia


3 1/2 cups unbleached flour
2 tsp. sugar, divided
1 tsp. salt
1 T. yeast (or one package...I buy in bulk to save costs!)
1 cup hot water (120 degrees)
1 egg
1 medium sweet onion
1 T. butter
olive oil
Rosemary seasoning blend or fresh rosemary, chopped small (I used Pampered Chef Rosemary Herb Seasoning Blend)

In food processor bowl, combine flour, 1 tsp. sugar, salt, and yeast and blend for a few seconds.  With machine running, slowly add water and egg.  Process for about 30 seconds to a minute.  This is almost too much for your average size blender, so you may need to stop and poke the dough down a few times.  Remove dough from processor and gently knead in about a tablespoon of rosemary blend.  Lightly coat a large round baking stone with olive oil and place dough on stone, cover with a large bowl, and rest for 5 minutes.  Uncover and press dough out to edges of stone.  Brush dough with olive oil and cover with plastic wrap.  Place in a warm spot to rise for about 30 minutes.

While dough rises, caramelize the onions.  Chop onion into thin wedges.  In skillet, heat butter and 1 T. olive oil over medium heat.  Add onions, sprinkle with 1 tsp. sugar.  Cook slowly over medium heat, stirring occasionally.  If onions are browning too fast, reduce heat.  This should take the whole 30 minutes the bread is rising.

Remove wrap from dough.  With the end of a wooden spoon, poke holes all over the dough.  Brush again with olive oil.  Sprinkle liberally with rosemary seasoning and spread onions over the whole thing.  Bake at 400 for about 20 minutes, or until light golden brown.

Recipe: Rhubarb Bread with Honey Lemon Glaze

I was feeling a little Martha-ish this afternoon, so I decided to experiment with rhubarb a little bit!  My mom teaches my two oldest boys and some of their cousins a group singing lesson, and their recital is tonight.  I thought a nice fresh loaf of bread would be a great little appreciation gift.  My in-laws (where we are still living!) are starting to have lots of rhubarb ripe for the picking!  I decided to try a quick bread and it turned out great!  Here's the recipe:

1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar
1 cup butter, softened
2 cups sour milk (or buttermilk)
4 eggs
4 cups flour (I used whole wheat pastry flour with great results)
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1 cup chopped fresh rhubarb

Glaze:
1/2 cup honey
2 T. lemon juice

Heat oven to 350.  Grease 3 loaf pans.  Beat sugar and margarine, mix in rest of wet ingredients.  Add dry ingredients and mix just until combined.  Fold in rhubarb.  Bake at 350 for about 50 minutes.  Immediately after baking, poke bread with a fork several times on the top and brush on glaze.  When bread is cool enough to handle, remove from pans.  Makes 3 smallish loaves.  Delicious!  I also found a cute printable label to put on it.

What's been in your oven lately?

Nettle Tea!

I love spring, especially once we get past that "brown" phase and things start to green up!  And boy, is it finally happening here!  I wanted to share this recipe/how-to with you because it helped me so much last spring.  Towards the end of my pregnancy with Percival (I was due around the 1st of May) I started getting this awful, itchy red rash on my arms and legs.  The best thing I could figure out was that it was PUPPS, not uncommon during pregnancy.  It was the most annoying thing.  Ever.  I couldn't sleep (as if sleeping wasn't hard enough at 8 months + already!) and I could hardly enjoy anything even during the daytime because I itched ALL the time.  I showed it to my doc at a checkup and his answer was basically, "Put some steroid cream on it and hope you have that baby soon."  Well, sorry doc.  Wrong answer.  I started researching online and found that many believe PUPPS is caused by an overtaxed liver--your blood volume increases so much during pregnancy that your liver just can't keep up, so those extra toxins start rearing their ugly heads as a nasty rash.  One of the remedies listed on some herbal sites was nettle tea, and we had nettles in abundance!  I started drinking several big glasses of it every day and within just a few days, the rash was almost all gone.  Now a year later, I'm going to try it again just to see how it helps.  I haven't been eating too well lately, so it probably won't hurt to give my body a little cleansing boost.  The taste is just sort of "green". Nettles are LOADED with vitamins: vitamin A, C, B vitamins, and antioxidants. God's natural energy booster! 


Here's how:
Pick a bowlful of nettles.  WEAR GLOVES.  They're nicknamed fireweed for good reason.  And whenever you're going to consume wild foods, make sure you've correctly identified it!  You'll find tons of pics of nettles with a quick google search.
Wash them well.  I use a salad spinner.

Put in a pitcher, cover with boiling water, and steep well.  I prefer to drink it cold.  After a day or so it'll start to turn really pretty bluish.  This is normal and fine!

My favorite breakfast smoothie yet!

I'm always on the lookout for easy, nutritious, energy-boosting breakfasts, and smoothies are one of my favorites (and the kids love them too!)  Yesterday morning I hit on a real winner.  Sorry there's no picture.  We drank it all up before I had a chance!

1/2 bag frozen mixed fruit
1/2 cup plain yogurt
2-3 T. raw honey
juice of 3 oranges (somewhere around 1 cup or so?)
enough milk to cover the fruit (we use raw milk, but that's another whole post...)
2 eggs

Combine it all in the blender and puree until smooth.  Made enough for me and 3 kids.  For an extra kick of energy and flavor you could add some grated fresh ginger, and I really want to try it with coconut milk.  So delicious!