Winter Open House Today

The Winter Open House is still happening on the farm today.  It looks like the rain will hold off.  Stop by for a visit between 11 am and 4  pm.  Wear your boots!

Shop the Farm Store: Make Your List and Check it Twice!

We've been busy transforming the Farm Store into a modern country larder offering farm-raised, fresh food.  And now that Winter is upon us,  it's time to cook up a delicious feast! While you're making your list of fresh, local treats to pick up make sure the Happy Hens Farm Store is your first stop.

We carry cheeses and whole milk from Spring Hill Dairy, Straus Creamery, Achadinha Cheese Company, and St. Benoit.  Each of these organic dairy products is delicious on its own or mixed into your favorite omelette, french toast, or macaroni dish.  Pair some of our fresh, pastured chicken or duck eggs with artisan cheeses for a hearty breakfast.

As a special treat for the holidays, why not buy a little organic fruit extract to drizzle atop breakfast, yoghurt or dessert?  Hidden Star Orchards has organic fruit extracts that we can't seem to get enough of!  They are kind of like a syrup but no sugar is involved in the making and the flavor is pure fruit and fabulous.  They come in four flavors:  Cherry, Pomegranate, Apple and Blueberry.  (Personally, I'm crazy about the cherry.)

Nuts and just-picked seasonal veggies are packed on the table and shelves in the store and the walnuts are a special treat this time of year.  We have fresh produce from Full Belly Farm, Laguna Farms, Paradise Valley and Noeller Farms.  We also have small-batch, artisan extra virgin olive oil from Sylverleaf.  Made from olive trees in the Sierra Foothills, we discovered this olive oil at the Thursday Farmers Market at the Marin Civic Center and think it's fabulous!

Of course, we still have our pastured chicken and duck eggs; pastured chickens, stewing hens, and heritage pork; and 100% grass-fed lamb, goat and beef.  Plus, we have house-cured bacon from our heritage pork, lard, stock and sausage available.

Now that you've decided to shop and eat locally and seasonally, we have lots of recipes and suggestions for you.  Be sure to visit the store, chat with us and stock your winter pantry.

This Weekend at the Store

We have freshly-harvested whole chickens today at the store.  And if you've never tried goat meat, we have our 100% grass-fed goat meat available, too.  We raise Kiko and Kiko cross goats for meat.  (Kiko is a New Zealand meat goat breed.)  Did you know that 70% of the red meat consumed in the world is goat meat?  It's mild, lean and delicious.  We also have our usuals — grass-fed beef, lamb and pastured pork, too.  Eggs are dwindling this time of year but hopefully some of our younger pullets will begin laying soon!

This Saturday at the Marinwood Farmers Market

Our Saturday Menu: Back by popular demand, our wonderful apple-maple syrup topping for the French toast that includes organic apples from Nana Mae's caramelized in organic Jersey butter from Spring Hill and then blended with organic maple syrup. We will also have our house-made Petaluma Farmhouse Sausage for scrambles. (You can also buy some to take home.) Or try one of our Lamburgers for lunch. These are made with Happy Hens Farm 100% grass-fed lamb and served with our house-made Heirloom Yellow Tomato Chutney. (We've been harvesting the last of our tomatoes and couldn't resist this recipe.) Will also be serving our Grilled Cheese and Heirloom Tomato sandwiches and our 100% grass-fed beef Hamburgers (aka the Happy Hens Farmburger). Have a good day at the market tomorrow!

Our Saturday Menu at Marinwood Farmers' Market

Since Fall begins tomorrow, we came up with lots of delicious Autumn-inspired offerings for tomorrow's market. First of all, we have our house-made Petaluma Far

mhouse Sausage, made with our own pastured pork. Try it in one of our egg scrambles or have a sausage burger instead of hamburger tomorrow. You can buy some to take home, too. We have a wonderful apple-maple syrup topping for the French toast that includes organic apples from Nana Mae's caramelized in organic butter from Straus Creamery and then blended with organic maple syrup. (Double yum!) And lastly, we have grilled cheese and heirloom tomato sandwiches made with organic Colby Jack from Spring Hill Jersey Cheese and organic heirloom tomatoes from Happy Hens Farm. Come celebrate Fall at the market!"

Petaluma East-side Farmers Market

We'll be at the new Petaluma East-side Farmers Market selling our pastured eggs, grass-fed lamb and grass-fed beef.  This is Petaluma's first year-round farmers market and will have over 50 vendors.  The markets are every Tuesday morning from 10 am - 1:30 pm at the Community Center, 320 North McDowell.  We will also be using this market as one of our pick-up locations for our CSA.  Stop by and say hello!

This Saturday at the Marinwood Farmers Market

Here's what's on our menu for Saturday: For breakfast, French toast with Gravenstein apple butter made by my friend June (June Taylor Jams) and a dab of Cowgirl Creamery's creme fraiche on top. Or choose from one of our delicious scrambles using  ingredients such as Feta from Achadinha Cheese Company and lamb Merguez sausage made from our grass-fed lambs.  All our breakfast items are made with pastured eggs fresh from our farm. 

Too late for breakfast? Enjoy one of our Happy Hens "Farmburgers" featuring our 100% grass-fed ground beef and topped with heirloom tomatoes from The Patch and  red onions from Full Belly Farm.

Marinwood Community Farmers Market 
101 Marinwood Ave at Miller Creek Rd
San Rafael, CA 
9 am - 2 pm

Breakfast is Served

We are now serving up some really tasty breakfast every Saturday morning at the Marinwood Community Farmers Market.  This Saturday morning we'll have French toast with wild blackberry sauce and, of course, our scrambles — one of which will feature our fresh (and delicious) lamb Merguez sausage.  If you don't know about Merguez sausage, it's a popular, somewhat spicy North African sausage.  All our breakfast items are made with pastured eggs fresh from our farm.  Come have some good food and enjoy the Marinwood Farmers Market. 

Quack Quack!

hatching ducklings and a curious hen

I have small flock of ducks of various breeds, including Buff, Welsh Harlequin, Ancona, Rouen, Khaki Campbell, Black Cayuga, Blue Swedish and Black Swedish.  I raise them for their eggs, which I sell, and for their sheer fun of watching ducks go about their business. 

This hen managed to build her nest in the walkway to the barn, so we were all forced to sidestep her as we went about our day.  Here she is hatching seven adorable ducklings with one curious onlooker monitoring the progress.

Farm Camp Update

Thumbelina aka the Pixie Goat

The first week of farm camp was last week and we all had a blast!  The "campers" were full of energy and enthusiasm.  They never tired of the farm work and getting to know all the animals and how to care for them.  They also  learned how to "skirt" a fleece, wash the wool, card and felt some very stylish pouches to take with them.  I dyed the wool using natural plant dyes, including Black Walnut leaves, nettles, mint  and wild chamomile.  We made drums from rawhide and willow from the ranch.  Thanks to my friend, Gary, owner of A Healthy Palate, the kids made Paleo pancakes (a big hit).  And finally, after a week of anticipation, one of the nesting ducks hatched her ducklings on Friday.  All seven ducklings are doing well.  (Pictures to follow).  We still have a few openings left for July camp (July 16th-20th).   Happy Hens Farm Summer Camp Flyer
Happy Hens Farm Summer Camp Registration

Spring arrivals

Ewe with new lamb

I'm in the thick of lambing and kidding these days.  Every day there's at least four new arrivals.  Today we had 6 goat kids and 2 lambs born.  The barn swallows and finches have returned and are busily preparing their nests.  The turkeys are setting on eggs and the farm is filled with the sound of chickens clucking away laying eggs.  There never seems to be a smooth transition from Winter to Spring.  One day we are shivering and cold and wondering when Winter will end and the next we are caught up in the rush of activity brought with Spring.

Happy Hens Farm Camp Summer 2012

We have scheduled two weeks of farm camp for this Summer:  June 18th-22nd and July 16th-20th.  The camp will be led by Waldorf teachers and will include lots of farm-focused activities, including animal care, gardening, cooking and baking with food from the farm, and arts and crafts.  Camp hours are 9 am to 3:30 pm and the price is $275.  For ages first grade and up.  As of May 28th, we still have spaces available in both camps.   Please download (PDFs) for more info:  Happy Hens Farm Camp flyer    Happy Hens Farm Camp registration form

Live Oak School Farm Visit

The 3rd grade class from Live Oak School came for a return visit to the farm this week.  Spring has sprung on the ranch and there was lots to do and see.  Claire, my Milking Shorthorn cow,  patiently let us milk her in front of the kids while her calf, Lily, slept nearby.  Manny and Missy, our bottle baby lambs, mingled with the crowd, happily bounding about with us.  The goat kids received lots of attention (and petting) and the younger chickens gladly let the children hold them, often snoozing off in their arms.  Taylor, one of the farm interns, explained the construction of our Native American earth lodge while the kids listened attentively.  And of course our resident herding dog/ranch boss,  Jack, was there to greet each carload of kids as they arrived.  He ran and romped with the kids and eagerly enjoyed snack time with them.

Not only were the kids undaunted by the mud, they actually embraced it.  As I looked on watching a group of kids  gleefully jumping into the muddy banks of the creekbed, one parent said to me:  "It's primal."  Yay!

Welcome Spring!

I was greeted this morning with the sight of Claire, one of my older Milking Shorthorns, standing on the highest hill on my ranch with a small silhouette beside her.   We were all very happy to meet Claire as she came down the hillside with a pretty, little white heifer calf by her side.  Lily, as I named her, spent the day with her mom, happily nursing and sleeping nearby as Claire grazed the pastures.

On rendering lard

I've taken to rendering lard of late.  Mostly I've been making lard from the kidney fat (aka leaf lard) of pastured pork from Highland Hills Farm.  Soon I will be experimenting with the kidney fat from lamb.  I've was leafing through the pages of a James Beard cookbook from the 1970s when I was in high school.  The book is entitled 100 of the World's Greatest Recipes and many of the recipes call for lard, suet or marrow bones.  I remember at some point cooking with fat a la James Beard falling out of favor and now, thankfully, there seems to be a culinary embrace for fat once again.  Real lard isn't as unhealthy for us as we have all been lead to believe.  And kidney fat lard is the most prized for baking (and makes the best oven-roasted potatoes). 

Rendering lard isn't difficult:  it's just a bit of a time-consuming two-day process.  But in the end, there is that satisfying moment of having participated in some time-honored, ancestral process that goes beyond mere food.  (Plus lots of good, creamy-white lard.)

And yes, I've taken to selling the lard — wrapped up in small 4 oz packages.  It's available both at the Berkeley Farmers Markets and at the farm store.