It's April already and I failed to post a March blog. We have been busy collecting pre-orders for the spring and finding the right pasture to lease. I'll have more to say about that in a later post. I'm keeping my lip buttoned until we sign the dotted line. I have also been getting my Master Gardener certification in preparation for a future Jr. Master Gardener program.
In March, we attended the Farm To School Conference. Tony Geraci was the key note speaker. He has a fully operational school farm that made me drool. Find out more about Great Kids Farm at http://baltimoreurbanfarming.blogspot.com/.
Our friend Chelsea was able to go to dinner with him the night before, and has been obtaining blueprints of his eggmobile and chicken tractors, which were built in the school shop class. We named a kid goat after Chelsea. By the way there are 15 new kids on the block. Come see!
If I would have posted a blog in March I would have dazzled you with this magic trick. An egg will stand on it's end at the exact time of the spring equinox. You may have to test it on the hour and have a clean up rag ready. Don't trust the calendar: Trust the egg!
I will leave you with some other fun facts about farm fresh food. Refer to this the next time you question the price tag!
A study by Pennsylvania State University found 3 times the omega-3s, twice the vitamin E, and 40% more vitamin A in the eggs of chickens on pasture compared to conventional confinement.
A recent study funded by the USDA shows meat from chickens raised on pasture contained: 21% less total fat, 30% less saturated fat, 28% fewer calories, 50% more vitamin A, and 100% more omega-3 fatty acids.
A study conducted by James Madison University found bacterial contamination to be lower in pastured poultry: 133 colony-forming units per milliliter (cfu/ml) in pastured poultry compared to 3600 cfu/ml in conventional poultry.
Signing off for now.
