Our son is responsible for the egg business, and just started selling them.  It’s wonderful to see him so excited to do the work, keep the records, and care for the chickens and eggs.  The text below is from the flyer that he puts into each carton (you can click here to see his webpage). Hi, I’m David, and I run the egg business at the Flying T Ranch! I feed the chickens and water them, and I take care of them.  Every morning, I check the chickens to see how much food and wat

When we first started dreaming about our farm, “organic” was high in our priorities.  This flows out of our family mission, to glorify God in all ways, and to live that out on our farm by raising, managing, and using His creation in a healthy, sustainable, humane, and respectful manner.  Since we planned to produce food for others, organic certification seemed like the way to pursue this mission. Rhode Island Red Free-Ranging at the Flying T However, as we started researching

I spent 10 years in NATO assignments, so I’m pretty acquainted with the challenges of trying to accommodate seemingly incompatible desires.  Hey, if I could somehow deal diplomatically with both sides of the Aegean Sea dispute between Turkey and Greece, I should be able to figure out a farm, right? Right. OK, we’re not talking international incidents, but our chickens did provide us with a challenge, caused (as most challenges are) by competing agendas: 1.  We want to raise o

Please welcome the Flying T’s first guest-blogger, our 13yo daughter… I mentally go through the birds as I check on them for the night. 5 ducks. Check. 6 Rhode Island Red hens. Check. 3 Araucana hens. Check. 1 Araucana rooster. Check. 15 Barred Rock chicks. Check.  1 chicken-duck. Check. You may be wondering about that last bird. No, it is not a new-fangled hybrid of some kind. It’s just a Araucana hen that thinks she’s a duck. It’s true. And it just goes to prove that we did

It’s a little known fact that the managers at the local Tractor Supply Co and Home Depot franchises have recently seen the same specialist to cure the same problem. It seems their salivary glands go hyperactive anytime they see me roll into the parking lot. If you have a small farm, you know that there are all sorts of gadgets you can buy to “help” you.  Now, I’m a gadget guy – and my wallet and I are drawn to them like bugs to a zapper – but I’m also honest with myself.  I’m

Our family has a weakness for free-range eggs.  You may be thinking, “what’s the big deal?  Eggs are eggs,” or “Can you really tell the difference?”  If so, you haven’t had a truly fresh, free-range egg.  I’ll have to save that discussion for a later blog post, but if you’re skeptical, just humor me through the rest of this story. Anyhow, our weakness for free-range eggs, as well as a desire to be a little closer to our food is what led us to think about bringing chickens to

You can do an Internet search of “cage-free” and “free-range” eggs or chickens and see that there really aren’t a whole lot of legal requirements to claim those titles. "Free Range" Chickens at a Factory Farm “Free range” at the Flying T means that as soon as our chicks and ducklings are safely able to live in the outdoors, we let them roam the farm. Rhode Island Red Free-Ranging at the Flying T Most of the chickens return to the coop at night to roost, and the ducks to the b

As we build up our farm here in New Hampshire, one thing we’re working on is putting together an annual farm cycle – a rotating calendar of events so that we not only get everything done, but also spread the work evenly as possible across the year.  Here’s an example of how this might have looked on an early colonial farm (put together as part of a National Heritage Museum curriculum). It’s neat to see that though we don’t have to worry about combing flax or buying salt (and

You might live on a farm if… 10.  …you normally awake before the rooster (and when he wakes up first you have an urge to reach for the duct tape). 9.  …at least once this week, you’ve been outside in PJs and rubber boots. 8.  …the dockhand at the grain store starts filling your truck with your order before you get to the counter. 7.  …some of your nightmares start with your kids yelling, “Mom! Dad!  The goats are…” 6.  …you cruise dumpsters for building supplies. 5.  …your wo