Maple Wind Farm Spotlight
This blog post was written by our friends at Maple Wind Farm of Richmond, VT; you can read more about them and the farm on their website.
Healthy Living is proud to sell Maple Wind Farm chicken, eggs, beef, pork, and organic vegetables. Organic turkeys will also be available in the Meat department by special order this holiday season. Maple Wind chicken is is delivered fresh all summer long; after Nov 3rd, customers can find our chicken in the frozen section.
Maple Wind Farm, owned and operated by Bruce Hennessey and Beth Whiting since 1999, specializes in producing delicious pasture-raised poultry in addition to 10 acres of organic vegetables, and their herd of 100 grass fed and finished beef and whey fed pork. The animals on their farm that eat grain get a diet of NON-GMO grain sourced here in Vermont for the chickens, egg layers and pigs. They also produce certified organic turkeys for Thanksgiving. As with our beef, we guarantee that our birds have fresh pasture daily during the growing season, and that they don’t receive any antibiotics, synthetic vitamins, artificial hormones, or appetite enhancers of any kind.
Broilers
For the 2014 season we will raise 8000 birds on our farm in Richmond/Bolton. The chicks arrive at the farm within 24 hours of hatching. After 2-4 weeks in our brooder barn, the chicks are put out on pasture in “chicken tractors”, portable pens that are moved daily to fresh grass. Our chickens get a significant portion of their diet from pasture in addition to NON-GMO grain, making for a more delicious meat that is low in saturated fat and high in Omega-3s and CLAs. The rest of their diet consists of specially formulated grains, natural trace minerals and probiotics. Thanks to our USDA poultry processing facility we have fresh birds for purchase weekly during the growing season (June-October).
Layer Hens
Layers are great fertilizers and pest control for our pastures! We now have 2,400 hens laying delicious eggs. Moving our hens to new pasture twice a week makes a huge difference in the taste and quality of our eggs. We feed them a NON-GMO grain in addition to what they get on pasture.
Pigs on Pasture
Pigs are great renovators! They love pasture and love to move the earth with their rototiller like noses! We feed them NON-GMO grain in addition to whey from cheese making at Shelburne Farms. Our Berkshire Tamworth hogs live the good life on our farm, they farrow in huts outside, they enjoy the shade of our hedges and also the open pastures. After a rotation, we harrow and smooth the soil and re-seed.
Enjoy our products! We feel its important for the health of the animals and the soil to allow the animals to enjoy the life of pasture living. We believe the NON-GMO grain is a crucial part of our commitment to a making the right choices for our health and that of the earth.
-Bruce and Beth