1. Poppa Skinny's Farm Newsletter
Fall 2012
Howdy!! The turkeys are coming...
Whew! this summer has been incredibly busy, and We are excited to announce we plan to add
I am sorry it's been so long since my last heirloom turkeys to the farm next year to be ready
newsletter! in time for the holidays! Please let us know your
The spring of this year was very challenging but level of interest so we have a rough idea how many
very rewarding. Planting and running our largest poults (turkey chicks) to get.
market garden so far and offering eggs and chicken
for sale was a real milestone at the farm. It has
been very very difficult, especially since the farm is
not yet supporting itself and Terri and I still have
off farm jobs (you may not know this but the
electric company will not trade for chicken or
eggs!). Fortunately the Lord blessed us mightily
and late this summer Janet and Mathew of
Flowerhill farm near Henderson contacted us and
asked if we would be interested in selling our
animal products to
their CSA
members! We also
started selling at
In This the Nacogdoches
Midget White Turkeys
Issue Farmers Market In keeping with our sustainability goals we are
and working with getting Midget White turkeys. This is an heirloom
Bryan and Cindy breed developed for superior flavor, smaller size
• Turkeys
at Appleby (hens are 8-12 lbs, toms 14-18 lbs). They have the
• Pastured pork and Community Farm large double breast but are still able to reproduce
Grass fed beef is and that has all naturally. The big double breasted turkeys from the
almost here!! been very exciting store can't reproduce naturally, please don't ask me
• Increasing layer and and a huge how that works I don't have a clue :)
broiler production blessing! We've
enjoyed meeting
• Organic Goat Milk everyone and This breed is listed as critical by the American
• Meat share program? getting to know Livestock Breed Conservancy much like our Red
you and your Wattle Hogs. Critical means there are very few
• Northeast College
family. farms raising the breed and it is critical that an
presentation
active interest is taken in the breed or it may be lost
• Plans for 2013 forever.
• Thank you!

2. Pastured pork and grass fed beef Organic Goat Milk
is almost here!
We are set to pick up our fall hogs and beef from
our processor in Paris. We originally thought we
would have received it two weeks ago but I didn't
account for hunting season and the load that would
place on the processor. I added to the problem by
ordering a small amount of about six or seven
different sausages to try. All the sausage recipes
are all natural with no nitrates, preservatives or
MSG. Keep an eye out for samples of these at the
farmers market or CSA pick-ups. We want y'all to
taste them and let us know what you think so we
have a better idea what to order in the future. Some of our Lamancha milk goats
Terri and I are VERY excited to get some beef! Over the last month or two we have been blessed
We eat lots of chicken because we eat the culls with getting more dairy goats including three
from our production. These culls are ones who registered Lamanchas, two does (Sassy and Zinnia)
skin tore in the plucker or had scratches or cuts and a beautiful buck (Ducati). So now we are up to
from close encounters with predators. Terri said nine goats including the wether. Unfortunately our
we are the Forest Gump of chicken, you know, plans to only breed half the does were thwarted by
chicken salad, chicken enciladas, chicken and a concerted effort from both Ducati and the does to
dumplings, fried chicken, rosemary chicken etc. "get together". Oh well, looks like we will have
etc. But NOW we are going to have some STEAK! LOTS of kids n the spring and LOTS and LOTS of
Since we will have so many different cuts and we milk. By then we will have the milking parlor and
can't bring everything to market we though we milk room complete and the herd share program set
would bring one or two cuts and let folks know on up so folks can get some of this awesome fresh
our Facebook page and website. For example one organic milk!
week may be pork chop and ground beef etc.
Meat Share Program?
Increasing layer and broiler Early this year we attended the Southern
production Sustainable Agriculture Working Group (SSAWG)
conference in Little Rock and learned about a farm
The response to the organic pastured chicken and
in Arkansas that had an interesting idea and we
eggs and pastured pork has been great and the eggs
want to get your input.
sell out every time so we decided to press hard on
the animal products this fall and have added about The farm started a meat share program where folks
200 laying hens and have over 500 broiler chickens signed up for one year of frozen meat. For
either finished in the works. We didn't plant a fall example their program consisted of: 1/4 beef, 1/4
garden in order to concentrate on the animals. hog, 24 chickens, and 1 turkey with portions
Hopefully we will have enough chicken and pork delivered to the share holders homes each month.
to have a really good fall and winter with all our They guaranteed a minimum of 240 lbs of meat.
new friends and a better idea about demand as we Does the idea sound interesting to you, not
plan our production for next spring. necessarily the details but the idea? If there is
enough interest we will work on some details and
pricing.

3. Northeast College Ground Up
Seminar
We were invited to speak at a recent farm day
program at Mt. Pleasant's Northeast Community
College. Rene' McCraken a dear friend and former
Cherokee County Extension Agent asked us to
speak on sustainable agriculture with regards to
pastured poultry and pork. The event was well
attended and we got a very nice response from
folks as we shared what we have learned and the
production system we developed for our farm. If
you know a group that may be interested in a
presentation on local sustainable agriculture, Beans (our sow) with five week old pigs
organic farming or humane livestock animal
treatment please let us know we are always very
happy to share our insight and experience with
interested folks.
Plans for 2013
We are planning to build a store with a commercial
kitchen this year. We hope to include provisions
for preparing sausage and smoking meat, as well as
plenty of room for canning.
We also hope to have our first farm day this year,
we have friends with a mule team wagon for a hay
ride tour of the farm and would love to have old Laying hens and their chicken mobile coops
time music, dinner and a movie. We have hoped to
do this for some time but it hasn't worked out so
far, hopefully we will get the opportunity this year.
If you have an idea for a product you would like us
to grow/raise/produce please let us know.
Thank You!!
That's a quick update and small preview of what's
to come. As we approach the Thanksgiving Terri
and I want to especially thank you for supporting
local farms and farmers and give thanks and glory
to the Lord for all His blessings in our lives. Please
join us in praying that His plans for us will provide
a way for us to work full time on the farm in 2013! Broiler chickens in mobile hoop houses
Ron & Terri Luce - Poppa Skinny's Farm Ron's Cell 903-363-2844 Like us on Facebook!!
www.poppaskinnysfarm.com