A Night on the Farm

On September 24, Ryan and I got to go out for a night on the...farm. We have some friends that have a farm out in Dacusville, Greenbrier Farms, and they were having an event to showcase the venue they have available for events, but also to showcase their wonderful products they work hard to produce on the farm.

I must admit, I was very giddy about getting to go. We've bought from Chad and Amy since they started selling in the spring, anything from their early spring greens, to the meat and poultry and eggs raised on the farm, to the herbs that they grow (which was the ONLY basil that survived in my garden this year). I have spent most of the spring and summer reading about "real foods", the benefits of grass-fed and pastured animals, and the impact that the industrial food chain has on our health, economy, and environment.

Supporting Chad & Amy at Greenbrier and other local farms is just a small way I can help out some local businesses, eat a little bit healthier, be one less person that puts one million miles worth of gas on the road just for some bananas, be one more person that says chicken is better when it gets to be a chicken, and most importantly, feed my seemingly insatiable appetite for all things gardening and planting and raising and growing.

That said, it was SUCH a fun night, with local food and beer and wine, a hayride out to the pasture to meet the cows and chickens, and live music. The food was so yummy, and their venue is so pretty and open. They even have 2 wood burning stone ovens inside, where they were baking pizzas! I have to admit, I did daydream about one of the girls having a wedding reception out there, but I will try to stay out of all that and let them decide how they want their wedding to be.

Inside after the sun went down.

Finishing our hayride.

The chicken coops are rotated daily or every other day. They literally move the coops and the portable electric fencing to move them to fresh pasture. Because they eat their natural diet of grass and bugs, they are leaner that industrial chickens, have more Omega-3s, and even the fat is good for you, with cancer-fighting acids. And some of the yummiest barbecued chicken we've ever grilled. Thank you, chickens!

A pretty cow. I love the sound of cows tearing grass with their teeth.

Eating local cheeses, grapes from Greenbrier, liver pate (a first for me!) and enjoying the view from the porch.