Dancing Doe FFarms, arms, LLC S2126 Wing Hollow Road Chaseburg, WI 54621
What’s coming up? Early Spring 2010
608 788-4039 www.DancingDoe.biz
Dancing Doe Farms, LLC Chaseburg, Wisconsin www.DancingDoe.biz
It’s time to start planning and planting for a year of chickens, eggs and veggies at Dancing Doe Farms.
Eggs Last summer, we got some “Easter Egg” chickens (Americanas) The shells of their eggs are blue, green, and pink.We now have lots of eggs for sale! If you refer a new regular egg customer, you will get a free dozen eggs.
Veggies We will have lots of veggies available starting around May 1 and through October. Regular egg customers will get updates with egg deliveries Or you can call me or check the website for what’s available. We grow on land free of pesticides or chemical inputs and do not use these on our plants.
Food buying club seeking new members! Mighty River Buying Club orders monthly from United Natural Foods, Inc. Many organic, ethnic, frozen, bulk and health and beauty items available at good prices. For more information, call us or visit our blog: MightyRiver.blogspot.com. No minimum required. Must help unload truck (1/2 hour per month time commitment).
Chickens Starting about July 4 and continuing through August, we will sell about 100 birds, ranging from three to about seven pounds, processed. These are free range they live on grassy pasture free of pesticides or chemical inputs. We process the birds on our farm (thus the limited number), double bag them and freeze them. To pre-order, please email or call me or use the form on the inside of this note. We will arrange a delivery date that works for you. Beef We may have a limited quantity of pasture raised beef. We’ll know more this summer.
Fresh watercress from spring fed stream available now! Call or email for delivery!
Saturday, April 24 - Earth Day Celebration, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., Three Rivers School, 901 Caledonia St. (with many local farms, including DDF!) Thursday, April 15 - FOOD, INC Academy Award nominated film about the factory/commerical food industry. 6 p.m. Franciscan Spirituality Ctr, 920 Market St Tuesday, April 13 - Will Allen, founder of Growing Power, an urban farm and learning center in Milwaukee. 7 p.m. at UW-L’s Main Hall auditorium Thursday, April 8 - FRESH! A great film about our food system and local foods, 6:30 p.m. Public Library (800 Main St.) Wednesday, April 7 - FOOD FIGHT, a film about our food system AND discuss food policy with U.S. Rep., Ron Kind. 122 Wimberly Hall, UW-L. 2:15 p.m. - film, 3:30 - discussion. Monday, April 5 - Greens, Eggs and Cheese - local food competition at the Myrick Hixon EcoPark 5:30 p.m.
Earth Month is coming with a great line up of events. See the full schedule at www.GreenLaCrosse.org.
News and Plans at Dancing Doe Farms We spent several evenings last fall scooping chickens out of the evergreen trees! But, finally, the girls decided they’d be happier, warmer and safer in the coop. They still have access to the outdoors, but are more protected in the coop and coop yard. We’ll move them back to their hoop houses when weather permits. The heavy snow collapsed our temporary hoop house - a structure of plastic pipe and sheeting built over our peppers, basil and eggplants to extend the harvest season. We’ll repair it to use this spring. I gave a little presentation about our farm for some three year olds at the UW-L Campus Child Care center in February. DDF has donated eggs to UW-L’s student food pantry and to the YMCA’s multicultural after school programs. Congratulations to Sara Baker who won the “Chicken or Eggs” drawing at the January 29 Coulee Progressives State of the Union! We will have another drawing at the Earth Fair on April 24.
Frequently Asked Questions about Dancing Doe Farms Why aren’t you at the farmers’ market? Our family and work schedules make it hard to participate in farmers’ markets. Plus I’d rather be working in the garden than sitting at a market with veggies that may have been picked several hours earlier. We’d rather pick what you want and deliver it straight to your door. It seems a better and more efficient use of time. Why aren’t you certified organic? The cost and time to be certified organic don’t make sense for us right now. Our fields are free of chemicals and we grow our veggies in keeping with organic standards - strict avoidance of synthetic fertilizers and pesticides, crop rotation and mulches, compost, cover crops and ‘green manure” (plants grown and plowed under to provide nutrients), organic fertilizers and soil amendments, and natural pest control habits and products. Our eggs and chickens are not organic because organic chicken food is too expensive. We use a combination of unmedicated commercial chicken food and locally produced grains. We also feed garden and table scraps. Most of the year, our free range meat and egg chickens eat grass and bugs from our untreated pastures.
CHICKEN ORDER FORM Name ____________________________________________________ Phone/ ___________________________________________________ Email O Please email
O Please call - best time(s)? _________________
How many chickens would you like? ____________________________ Size preferred? O 2.5# to 4# O 4# to 5.5# O 5.5# to 7# (heavier birds will be available in August and September) Do you want neck/heart/liver/gizzard? O yes
O no
Mail to address shown on other side OR email cvmaren@mwt.net OR call 608 788-4039 to reserve your chickens. We’ll process 100 to 125 chickens this summer. Orders will be filled on first come, first served basis.
Why aren’t you a CSA? CSAs (community supported agriculture farms) are a great idea and many people enjoy them. We have chosen not to follow this marketing model for a variety of reasons. Our personal schedules would make regular delivery times hard to follow. We also know that CSAs don’t work for everyone. Some people can’t afford the relatively large upfront payment that many CSAs require. Some families take extended vacations in the summer, so regular vegetable deliveries don’t work for them. And, some people don’t like getting veggies they might not like. We deliver what you want when you want it. Most deliveries are scheduled to coincide with other necessary trips so we are using efficient transportation resources. (In summer, you may get your deliveries by bicycle!) Free ranging egg layers in summer