This Fall I was lucky enough to be able to join Peter Lowy
and Jennifer Hashley, founders of Pete and Jen’s Backyard Birds, on their
beautiful farm in Concord, MA to help with the harvesting of their flock of
chickens. Jen and Pete regularly
invite volunteers to come out and get their hands dirty (or rather, bloody),
and to get an up-close look at our food system in action.
Jen and Pete started raising chickens in 2003, and the farm
is now home to over 600 hens, as well as pigs, rabbits, and sheep. All of the
animals on the farm are pasture-raised, with humane and sustainable practices
being essential aspects of Jen and Pete’s farming philosophy. Additionally, Jen
and Pete are state licensed to slaughter their birds using something called a
Mobile Poultry Processing Unit (MPPU), which is a custom-built trailer
outfitted with a killing-room, a feather-plucker, and set of processing and
cleaning stations.
The long day of chicken harvesting starts early, with
volunteers arriving before 7am for coffee, home-baked bread, and a quick
briefing from Jen on evisceration techniques and hygienic practices during the
handling of freshly killed birds. Joining me for the day were a handful of
other Tufts students, a half-dozen students from the Cambridge Culinary
Institute, and a random assortment of folks from the Concord community and from
around Boston.
For the next six hours, we worked hard to process around 375
birds, including capons, Freedom Rangers, Cornish Rocks, and even one large (and
handsome, I might add) turkey. Surrounded by good company and the feeling of
being a part of what is, in my opinion, one of the more impressive and
respectable operations that exists within our food system, we enjoyed a long
day helping put tasty, humanely-raised
chickens on the tables of Jen and Pete’s loyal customers.
To anyone who is interesting in getting gaining a deeper
understanding of where the food they eat (or don’t eat) comes from, I would
highly recommend making a trip out to Jen and Pete’s place. They are a wealth
of knowledge, and the experience just might change the way you look at the food
on your plate.
For more info, visit their website at http://peteandjensbackyardbirds.com/.
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