Ground chicken burgers are pretty fabulous, and super easy to whip up on the grill.  Simply take 1lb of our ground chicken and mix with 8-10 ritz style crackers, salt, pepper and worcestershire sauce to taste.  Make three 1/3lb patties and grill for about 7 minutes per side over 350-375 degrees or until done (165 degree internal temperature).  Serve with your favorite toppings and enjoy!

With gas prices coming down a little bit and the rain starting to taper off, many of you will probably be busy mowing your yards. Your lawn mower requires you to fill it up with gas and then you’ve got to walk behind it and tell it where to mow.

Our lawn mowers make gas (methane of course), walk around under their own power on their four legs and just mow all the grass that’s long enough to chew on.

Oh yeah, and they end up making a pretty delicious pastured beef steaks and hamburgers too!

Many of you know by now that the small meat processing facility owned by This Old Farm in Colfax, IN was destroyed by fire on December 27. If you know Erick and Jessica Smith, the owners of This Old Farm, you know that they put their heart and soul into everything they do, and they do it with graciousness and determination. The meat processing facility was no exception. Dedicated to combating the steep, nationwide decline in small, local slaughter houses, and the general shortage of those that process primarily organic and natural meats, the Smith’s had opened this facility just last summer. Small-scale, sustainable agriculture is alive and well in Indiana, and This Old Farm’s latest accomplishment was more evidence of that.

It’s a testament to Erick and Jessica’s faith and strength that they decided to rebuild the facility almost as soon as the ashes were cool, and they have indeed nearly completed reconstruction. However, it’s no secret that the gap between insurance coverage and actual rebuilding costs are often substantial.

I’m sharing this information with our readers and customers because I know many of you are all eager to help support local farmers and our efforts to increase the appreciation of local agriculture and farming.

On Saturday, May 21st from 6pm-9pm, Friends of the Green Market at Traders Point Creamery is hosting a gala evening of local food and wine tasting, good entertainment, and a chance to meet the Smith’s personally. Tickets are $25/person or $100 for a family of five and are available at the Valentine Hill Farm booth at Traders Point, Binford, Zionsville, Broad Ripple, and City Farmer’s Markets or by e-mailing [email protected]. Maria can mail you the tickets or hold them for you, please make checks out to “Friends of the Green Market” and mail your payment to:

ATTN: This Old Farm Rebuilding Gala
7549 South Retriever Lane
Zionsville, IN 46077

Download PDF Flyer for This Old Farm Rebuilding Gala

If you’re not signed up for our e-mail newsletter list you may not have heard. We have bulk chicken and pork orders available now!

Down on the farm we’re looking to take a pulse on things for the summer. Many times that’s made possible by checking in with our core customers and finding out about their interest in purchasing bulk orders of our products for the year. However, we don’t want to exclude any of our new or potential customers from those estimates either.

If you’d be interested in purchasing our pasture raised chicken and pork products we encourage you to visit those pages on our site for more information. If you’re ready to buy now, visit our Chicken CSA purchase orders form or Pork Orders purchase form. Also, while we have not sent out an e-mail yet we will be taking beef orders very, very soon.  If that is something you are going to be interested in please let us know as quickly as possible.  Once I mail that opportunity out to our full list, the beef will all be spoken for very quickly. There will be more information to come on our beef orders. Be sure to sign-up for our email list for more information as well.

If you want to participate in one or more of these programs but need to make alternative payment arrangements, please contact us.  We will be happy to try and work around individual needs to make this possible for your family.  We want your family to be able to have access to quality, nutritious, safe food and will do what we can to work that out for you!

Lastly, for those of you that have already sent in your deposit checks, thank you!  Without each of you, this farming venture would not be possible so thank you so very much for your support. It literally means the world.

With Spring almost here, and the days getting longer, our laying hens are ramping up egg production on a daily basis.  We now have a much better supply of fresh, brown eggs at the Indianapolis Winter Farmer’s Market each Saturday from 9:00-12:30.  And of course, we only feed our chickens locally raised, transitional organic grains.  That means no genetically modified grains, no herbicides, pesticides, insecticides or the other yucky stuff that most chickens get fed.  You are what you eat, so demand only the best for your family!

Come see us at the Indy Winter Farmer’s Market now through April 30th.