K and H Farms

A Night on the Farm

noreply@blogger.com (Tractor Mom) — Sat, 02 Apr 2016 03:52:00 +0000

K and H Farms

A Night on the Farm

Join us at K and H farms for a evening of fun and laughter as we take you around the farm for a twilight hay ride and bonfire. This will allow you and your family and friends to relax under the stars and just enjoy each others company!

We will start the evening with a hayride to the barn to learn about our farm. Your party will get a chance to interact with our farm animals as we get all the animals ready for bed. The hayride will then head to supper around the fire! You will have the opportunity to roast your own hot dogs to enjoy with chips and drinks. When you have finished off the hot dogs, you will then be ready for s'mores. As the fire dies down and the s'mores are finished off, we'll head back as darkness falls on an awesome evening!!

A Night on the Farm

Twilight Hayride

with hot dog supper, s’mores $15.00/person
with s’mores only $11.00/person
hayride only $8.00/person

There is a minimum of 10 people with a maximum of 40 people.
Hayride will not be done when raining.
Hayrides will be done on the weekends from September thru May and anytime June thru August.
Plan for at least 3 hours if doing the whole tour. Starting times will depend on when the sun sets and need to be set up at booking.

Come join us for a fun filled time under the stars with your family or friends!

Stacey, Cavonna, Knox and Hamp Holcomb

www.k-and-hfarms.com

thefarm@k-and-hfarms.com

706-491-1743

Pastured Pork Pricing

noreply@blogger.com (Tractor Mom) — Sat, 24 Oct 2015 00:00:00 +0000

K and H Farms

Pastured Pork

On Farm Price List

2016

Whole Hog Sausage, 1 lb package $ 5.00

Bone-in Pork Chops, 4 chops, ~3 lb package $15.00

Sliced Ham, 3-5 lb package $12.00

Half Cut Spare Ribs, 3 lb package $15.00

Pork Shoulder/Boston Butt, 6-7 lb package $38.00

Neckbones/Soupbones, 2-3 lb package $ 3.00

Ham Hocks, 2-3 lb package $ 3.00

Rendering Lard, 2 lb package $ 3.00

Fatback, 2 lb package $ 3.00

CSA Pastured Pork...

noreply@blogger.com (Tractor Mom) — Wed, 21 Oct 2015 16:23:00 +0000

Pastured Pork is Growing!

We have 4 CSA Pastured Pork that will be ready for your freezer the end of December to the first of January (weather permitting).

Put your deposit in to reserve your Pastured Pork!!

Getting Ready for Summer...

noreply@blogger.com (Tractor Mom) — Wed, 11 Mar 2015 13:00:00 +0000

We've seen some glimmers of spring here on the farm. With those glimmers, we have been getting ready for the summer...

We spent the first of the month getting water lines dug and put in place on the upper pasture. Having water closer to our livestocks will be a time saving convenience for us and help us to keep fresher water to our animals.

Stacey, the boys, and a few neighbors worked over the weekend to get our water lines in ground before the next rains came.

The boys are bummed that we had to fill in the ditches...they had too much fun running through the trenches pretending they were WWI reenactors!

The hens and goat have been excited and are reaping the benefits...

How We Raise Our Meat Chickens...

noreply@blogger.com (Tractor Mom) — Fri, 20 Feb 2015 14:39:00 +0000

How do you raise your chickens?

This is a question we get asked regularly and one we love to share with customers.

For our broilers, we get in 2 day old chicks from the hatchery. We get an early morning call from the post office telling us its time to come get the chicks. Once we get them on the farm, we take each chick and dip their pecks in a mixer of sugar and water. This mixture gives the new chicks a boost for their first 48 hours on the farm.

They will live in the brooder for the next 3 to 4 weeks. In the brooder, we are able to control the temperature to keep the chicks warm and cozy. We introduce crumble feed to them after 48 hours and feed this until the week before going on the pasture. It’s then that we start introducing the pellet feed that they will eat until time for processing.

At between 3 or 4 weeks, the cute baby chicks are awkward teenage chicks and ready for more room to explore. So we pack them up and send them to the pasture. Once on pasture they scratch and feed on worms, bugs, and their non-GMO, non-Soy feed. They are moved daily (according to weather) so that they are on fresh pasture. Moving daily keeps the chicks from constantly having to walk in their own poo, keeping disease down to nothing!

Around 9 to 12 weeks, we start processing. The chickens are now young adults and their meat is mature but still tender for eating. We pack our happy chickens and delivery them to the USDA facility where they are processed, weighed, packaged and labeled. Once they are frozen, we pick them up and deliver to our customers.

With fresh water and sunshine, our chickens are happy and active giving our meat chickens a more bold flavor that you can taste! We work hard to make these chickens the best chicken you can put on your families plate. We love to have our customers come and see how our chicken our cared for and the great life they are given.

We feel that God has made us caretakers of this Earth and given these chickens for us. These chickens are part of the circle of life that God created for us and we praise Him for His bounty!

How Long Do Your Fresh Eggs Last?

noreply@blogger.com (Tractor Mom) — Tue, 17 Feb 2015 14:00:00 +0000

We get asked quite often how long will eggs last…

For commercial eggs, those you buy in the grocery store, farmers have 30 days from the day an egg is laid to get it to stores. Then, the stores have another 30 days to sell the eggs. The USDA recommends a maximum of 5 weeks in your refrigerator before you discard your eggs. What does this all boil down to? On April 1, you could be eating an egg that was laid on Christmas. (from Answers.com)

So that is about 4 months...according to the USDA research. The date that our eggs are laid is on each carton. We package our eggs the day they are laid. One thing to remember is that your eggs will only last if stored in refrigerator for 4 months.

We will say from experience that our eggs have lasted up to 3 months from laid date for us. We keep our eggs in the refrigerator in the climate control boxes.

One way to tell the freshness of eggs to put them in a glass of water. If the egg sinks, it is extremely fresh. If it floats on top, it is really old. Why does this happen?

In an egg, there is a air pocket called the air cell. When first laid, the air cell is small. As the egg ages, the air cell increases causing the egg to float in water. The higher the egg floats, the older the egg.

We feel confident in letting our customers know that our eggs should be good for between 3-4 months from their laid date on the egg carton.

Enjoy….

Numbers

noreply@blogger.com (Tractor Mom) — Mon, 16 Feb 2015 14:00:00 +0000

There are not many numbers that can make me happy more than the ones my son, Knox, brought home last week.

Many times before he has brought others numbers home but none like these. The other numbers were not really bad, in fact, they were really good for him. But in a world that looks more at numbers instead of learning for life, he never had “good” numbers.

If he could have get numbers for hard work or trying when he really didn't want to try anymore, Knox would have off the chart numbers. But teachers are not allowed to give those numbers out. Those numbers don’t show a student's “growth”, just his heart and determination.

I see parents always showing off their children are getting awards because their child’s numbers where the highest. They talk about how hard they work. They talk of their pride at child’s achievement.

What awards do parents who watch their child struggle to get their numbers up get to show off?

What awards do parents who watch their child cry over and over because they struggle with concepts that all the other students get easily then after years their child gets barely passing numbers, where is that award for the parent to show off?

Where are the awards showing a child’s constant determination? Where are the awards that show how much a student as “grown” in their numbers from year to year? Where are the awards for students who struggle but keeping working while everyone around them breezes by?

Many argue that high achieving awards give struggling students something to strive for. These awards should, but when the same students are winning them over and over how can a struggling student compete?

Don’t we all want to be recognized for our hard work? How can numbers show determination, heart and constant will power? Why do we use numbers that only perceive understanding and not the road to getting there?

Great sports stories are not always the winners, but the ones of overcoming great struggles just to compete. Those are recognized by writers and the public. So why can we not recognize students in the same way?

I’m not bashing students who work hard to get great numbers. These student deserve the recognition they receive. I want to only point out that we focus so much on the numbers that we forget the road to get there.

Many of these students who bring in wonderful numbers, don’t know what it is like to struggle to the point of tears trying to get out that they understand what they are learning in the language that others can understand. Many high achievers don’t know what it is like to struggle for years to be able to finally succeed at a test that everyone else has accomplished with no problems. These high achievers don’t understand what it’s like to see your friends surpass you academically year after year to the point that you see yourself as dumb.

I want us to realize that we need to reevaluate how we acknowledge numbers that students achieve. We need to look at the whole student and not just numbers. We want our teachers to do this but we continually have them look only at numbers. Not all achievement of learning can be measured in numbers. Heart and determination cannot always be measured with numbers alone.

How do we measure this? I don’t know. I’m not saying that every student needs to be given an award of achievement; we just need to remember how to lift students up so that they will have the strength to overcome any weaknesses.

For the one of the first times in Knox’s school career, my son brought home great numbers last week!

Egg-citement...

noreply@blogger.com (Tractor Mom) — Thu, 12 Feb 2015 13:44:00 +0000

Our hens are laying great eggs!

$4.00 for 1 dozen

$6.00 for Dozen and a half (18 eggs)

$10.00 for a flat (2 1/2 dozen)

For $20.00 you can get 1 dozen for 5 weeks (5 dozen)

Or $40.00 you can get 1 dozen for 10 weeks (10 dozen)

Just message on Facebook for availability

We are selling eggs from the farm right now. We can arrange a weekly drop point at your place of business within Stephens County. Just give us a call!

Our New Feed...

noreply@blogger.com (Tractor Mom) — Mon, 09 Feb 2015 13:31:00 +0000

We have switched to a new feed this year. One that we feel will make our chickens healthier for them and for each of our customers!

Click on the tabs above to see how you can order ready to eat chicken for your family...

Subscribe to our website to stay up-to-date with the farm happenings!

Chatting Around the Water Cooler

noreply@blogger.com (Tractor Mom) — Thu, 05 Feb 2015 12:42:00 +0000

I wish I spoke Chicken.

Really, they are the chattiest animals I've ever been around! It's like you go into a Preschool classroom and all the kids are trying to talk to you at once. As soon as I show up each morning the chatter begins and does not end until I leave.

It makes me smile...so I decided to share it with you...!

I Got Fired

noreply@blogger.com (Tractor Mom) — Sun, 25 Jan 2015 02:55:00 +0000

I got fired. There, I said it.

Well, they called it terminated. But it means I’m fired...ain’t got no job...working on the unemployment line.

I didn’t do anything wrong, they just did away with my position.

We saw it coming. We just didn’t see it coming this soon. We were sure our school would be closed at the end of the year, but we were assured over and over that we would be moved to another position in the school system.

We were blind sided. None of us saw it coming or if we did, we didn’t say it out loud nor did we even think it! We knew changes were coming…

But I’m O.K. with it. Really!

I may not with the power bill comes due in March. For now I feel this great and wonderful peace…! I have really slept better this last week than I have in months. Let me explain…

For almost a year now, I have wrestled with quitting my job. I love teaching...if I was really able to teach, but that’s not what was happening. I was teaching a test. I was teaching students how to pass a test and over-looking the focus of “learning to be learners”. There was so much to cover “before the test”, that we couldn’t stop to focus on fun learning activities or work on what students weren’t getting or figuring out another way for a few students to learn a concept because we “had to get it in before the test”!

Teaching was fun to me. Being able to see a concept “click” with a kid is so awesome! It’s like getting to see a shooting star for the first time! It was especially special with the at-risk kids I worked with. These were the ones that just needed a little extra help or just someone to tell them that they really could do it and show them that they could. Most of them craved attention and our small classes allowed that individual attention and focus.

When we had to go to an individual computer learning due to reduction in staff numbers, teaching was a challenge. I was teaching not only the subject I loved but others that I was uncomfortable and felt inadequate teaching students. I was frustrated and each month I was more and more frustrated with not just teaching but all the other unnecessary trappings of working with at-risk youth and administration constraints. Teaching was losing it passion.

The students were learning what they needed to know. They were learning at their individual paces. They were getting help when they needed it. They were learning to pass a test. But was losing my passion.

I had found a new passion...farming...pasture farming! We started raising pastured poultry for meat and eggs along with pastured pork. It was rewarding for me. Working in the sun, watching the animals grow and then produce savory meat for our family and customers made me look forward to work every day during summer breaks. The work was hard but oh, so rewarding! I felt apart of the land that my grandfather had so loved. I was working the same land he had nurtured. Together with the Hubby and my boys, we were making our land profitable again.

I began praying and wondering should I quit....should I continue like we had been...should we leave it in God’s hands. Then I prayed some more. What did God want me to do? What did He need me to do? Was this farming thing something He wanted our family to do or was it me being selfish?

This week, I got an answer…

And I have found His peace. I know that God is in control. I realize He was in control all the time. He was waiting on me to surrender to Him.

Now, if I can remember this when all the bills start coming in...but I will be happy and content! My family will be stronger and more passionate.

I’m ready for this next step in my life and the life of my family. I pray that God will be with us and bless our farm and help us grow. As He got us here, He will bring us through it….

I got fired...and I’m glad God closed that door!

Did You Know...??

noreply@blogger.com (Tractor Mom) — Sat, 17 Jan 2015 11:00:00 +0000

Our chickens and hens will be feeding on Non-GMO feed this year!

We want to offer our customers the best we can. This year we have been able to find a source for Non-GMO feed for our chickens. We hope you are as excited as we are about this new news!

We Have Eggs...

noreply@blogger.com (Tractor Mom) — Thu, 15 Jan 2015 11:00:00 +0000

The hens have started laying again!

2015 Pastured Poultry

noreply@blogger.com (Tractor Mom) — Thu, 18 Dec 2014 15:26:00 +0000

K and H Farms

2015 Pastured Poultry CSA

K and H Farms is proud to offer our CSA (Community Supported Agriculture)Pastured Poultry to our community! Our chickens are grown in bottomless pens in our pastures, scratching, eating bugs and grass while enjoying the fresh air and sunshine! You will find our chickens to be much healthier and happier than the average chicken. They are fed non-GMO grains and minerals but get between 20 to 30% of the nourishment from the pasture they live on. Each day they are moved to new grass. Their flavor is richer and more vibrant than those in the grocery store...our chickens actually have a flavor! These are the chickens that we proudly put on our own dinner table!

K and H Farm’s new 2015 CSA will last 20 weeks--Full Share (May 30 to October 3) or 10 weeks--Half Share (May 30 to August 1, or, August 1 to October 3). Each “share” will allow you to have one ready to cook whole broiler! You will pick up your chicken once a week at the Stephens County Farmers Market. You pay upfront (or by payments) a set price for your “share” of chicken. These will be whole chickens that you can freeze until you are ready to feed the family! We do not cut up the chicken but will gladly show you how to when you pick up your order. We will only offer 30 shares!

The Hatching Chick 1 whole chickens/week $150.00/CSA 10 weeks $3.75/lb

The Hen and Chick 2 whole chickens/week $260.00/CSA 10 weeks $3.25/lb

The Whole Coop 1 whole chicken/week $280.00/CSA 20 weeks $3.50/lb

The Rooster and Hens 2 whole chickens/week $500.00/CSA 20 weeks $3.15/lb

*Payment for CSA needs to be paid in full before the first delivery date. You must pick up your order between 8:00 am-12:00 pm at the Farm or the Stephens County Farmers Market. Deliveries will be made for a $10.00 extra charge per delivery date. If you need to double up one week due to vacations, arrangements can be made to accommodate our customers, just let us know a week ahead!

New this year, we are hoping to be state licensed! This will also allow us to sell extra whole chickens at the Stephens County Farmers Market each week. These chickens will be $4.00/lb averaging 4 lbs/chicken. We will also be using non-GMO feed!!

Knowing who raises your food empowers you to have control for healthier food choices for you and your family while strengthening your local economy! Know your farmer, Know your food! We welcome all our CSA members to come any time to help move pens, move chickens, or process chickens. We have an open door policy because we consider YOU a part of our farm!! We look forward to getting to know you and your family...

Stacey, Cavonna, Knox, and Hamp Holcomb

www.k-and-hfarms.com thefarm@k-and-hfarms.com

www.facebook.com/kandhfarms www.pinterest.com/kandhfarms

706-491-1743

**Order Here**

The Newest Member of the Farm....

noreply@blogger.com (Tractor Mom) — Tue, 22 Jul 2014 18:19:00 +0000

Meet our newest member of the farm...Mama Hen's little bitty.

We have had Mama Hen for 5 years. She has tried to hatch out a chick three different times. Something always seems to get her eggs before they hatch.

This time when she started sitting, we marked and watched her closely to make sure she was able to hatch out a little bitty...

And two weeks ago, Mama Hen hatched out the cutest little bitty! It's a bit camera shy, so no close ups yet..!

2014 Pastured Poultry CSAs....Still Available!

noreply@blogger.com (Tractor Mom) — Thu, 03 Apr 2014 11:00:00 +0000

K and H Farms

2014 Pastured Poultry CSA

Again this year, K and H Farms is proud to offer our Pastured Poultry to our community in a new CSA (Community Supported Agriculture)!

Our chickens are grown in bottomless pens in our pastures, scratching, eating bugs and grass while enjoying the fresh air and sunshine! You will find our chickens to be much healthier and happier than the average chicken.

They are fed grains and minerals but get between 20 to 30% of the nourishment from the pasture they live on. Each day they are moved to new grass. Their flavor is richer and more vibrant than those in the grocery store...our chickens actually have a flavor! These are the chickens that we proudly put on our own dinner table!

K and H Farm’s new 2014 CSA will last 20 weeks--Full Share (May 31 to October 11) or 10 weeks--Half Share (May 31 to August 2, or, August 9 to October 11). Each “share” will allow you to have one ready to cook whole broiler! You will pick up your chicken once a week at the Stephens County Farmers Market. You pay upfront (or by payments) a set price for your “share” of chicken. These will be whole chickens that you can freeze until you are ready to feed the family! We do not cut up the chicken but will gladly show you how to when you pick up your order. We will only offer 30 shares!

The Hatching Chick 1 whole chickens/week $150.00/CSA 10 weeks
The Hen and Chick 2 whole chickens/week $200.00/CSA 10 weeks

The Whole Coop 1 whole chicken/week $280.00/CSA 20 weeks

The Rooster and Hens 2 whole chickens/week $360.00/CSA 20 weeks

***ORDER HERE***

Stacey, Cavonna, Knox, and Hamp Holcomb

www.k-and-hfarms.com

thefarm@k-and-hfarms.com

706-491-1743
www.facebook.com/kandhfarms
www.pinterest.com/kandhfarms

Due to state regulations, please remember that you are buying a LIVE chicken!
We will process them for FREE when we do our chickens, if you would like!!

Winter on the Farm

noreply@blogger.com (Tractor Mom) — Thu, 27 Feb 2014 02:20:00 +0000

Just wanted to share some pictures from the big snow storm we had a few weeks ago.

Enjoy...

Ready for spring yet??

Baby Chick Cam

noreply@blogger.com (Tractor Mom) — Sat, 22 Feb 2014 16:04:00 +0000

Check out our new baby chicks!

We set up a "Chick Cam" to watch them in our new brooder.

Let the "Chicken Music" calm your day....

The New Brooders

noreply@blogger.com (Tractor Mom) — Tue, 18 Feb 2014 02:11:00 +0000

We have new baby chicks coming in next week. Our brooder has seen better days. We also needed a brooder that did a better job of keeping the rats, squirrels, chipmunks and other critters out. One of these critters took off with half of a batch of our chicks last year!

So Stacey has totally used these past snow days to be very productive! He and Knox have built two new brooders!!

These brooders are really fancy and should work to keep any critters out!

They have two sides...one for the first few weeks with a solid top, two heat lamp, thermometer ...

It also has side vents to help control the temperature...

Stacey added curved corners to keep the babies from smothering each other in the corner...

The other end has an open top covered in a wire mesh...

This allows the chicks to get use to normal day and night temperatures and to enjoy some sunlight.

Hopefully this brooder will keep the critters out of our new little chicks!

But I don't know about THIS critter...

Pastured Pork Sausage

noreply@blogger.com (Tractor Mom) — Fri, 14 Feb 2014 12:30:00 +0000

We now have our wonderful Pastured Pork Sausage ready for pick up!

Mild Sausage....................$4.00/lb

We have backbones available that are perfect for those soups and pots of beans this winter!

Backbone............................$3.00/package

Both are available for farm pick up or in town pick up.

Here is a video of Stacey getting the piggies to "talk" to him.

Snow Day Breakfast

noreply@blogger.com (Tractor Mom) — Thu, 13 Feb 2014 13:00:00 +0000

Since it was snowing this morning and nobody had school, it was time for pancakes!

HoMeMaDe Pancakes...with fresh Vermont maple syrup!

Grandmama gave us the maple syrup for Christmas and this was the first time that we opened it. The pancakes are made with our homemade baking mix and fresh laid eggs (of course!).

It was a great start to a fun day of snow watching...

Eggordinary

noreply@blogger.com (Tractor Mom) — Tue, 11 Feb 2014 23:00:00 +0000

We just had to share a very special egg we collected the other day.

This is one egg with three (3) yolks!

Yes...three yolks!!

Sometimes, you just have to feel for the hens...

Chickens in the Snow

noreply@blogger.com (Tractor Mom) — Wed, 29 Jan 2014 21:22:00 +0000

Just had to share some more snow pictures....

The chickens are taking it all in stride.

Snow 2014

noreply@blogger.com (Tractor Mom) — Wed, 29 Jan 2014 01:18:00 +0000

The first snow of 2014 has fell. Everybody is warm and cozy and hoping to make a snowman in the morning....

The Polar Vortex Has Past...

noreply@blogger.com (Tractor Mom) — Fri, 10 Jan 2014 03:33:00 +0000

We made it! <<knock on wood>> No major water leaks and all the animals rambling around like normal.

The ground is still somewhat frozen but the rain is setting in again! It seems every weekend it rains. We are hoping the rain figures out how to stop when time for spring planting.

With the new year has come all the wonderful seed catalogs! It's so much fun to dream and plan with all the intriguing plants.

Even though the seed catalogs make one eager for spring, it would be nice to see a few inches of snow....