Why Pastured Poultry?

Heritage Harvest Homestead prides itself in producing PASTURED poultry (broiler chickens, eggs, and turkeys)!!! 

All of our poultry products are "Pastured", meaning, they are out on the grass/fields and are able to scratch the earth and eat as many bugs and/or grass that they can find (in season of course)!

NO hormones or Antibiotics are given to our poultry!  Additionally, they are supplemented with organic or transitional, non-GMO grains.

Pastured chickens (both broilers and layers) and turkeys provide a much more superior flavor and higher nutrient values than mass-produced poultry (see graphic below regarding egg quality)!

 

New Baby Quilt

My newest Quilt for my newest grandbaby to be born next week:  Garbiella Nicole

Pattern is from the book:  JELLY ROLL QUILTS
Pattern is called:  Baby Love

Making Four, Plus, Meals from One Chicken

Today I finished just one experiment on what I could do with a 4-5 pound free-range chicken.  Yes these chickens can get expensive.  Had I not grown it myself it would have cost me upwards of $15-18, but divide that by 20 and that's $.75 cents, or so, per person for the protien portion of each meal.  Let's look further.

**NOTE** This method can ONLY BE DONE with a 4-5 pound pasture raised chicken from your local farmer.  It would take 3-4 of those sale priced $.78 a pound chickens you get on sale in the store.

The first meal was Roast Chicken, Stuffing, Smashed potatoes, Creamed Green Beans and Pumpkin Cake Pudding (all gluten-free).  This served 4 adults and 2 young children.

The remaining chicken was saved including the remaining chicken from the bones.  The bones were saved and placed into a stock pot with a gallon of water, one onion, two stalks celery, two carrots and 4 cloves garlic.  It was simmered with 2 tablespoons pure apple cider vinegar for 12 hours covered.  The bones were given to the barn cats and the vegetables to the chickens after the broth was strained off and reserved.

Stop The Cold and Flu Bugs In Their Tracks!

Wow it's cold and flu season and the little ladies with the needles are out everywhere trying to give you a flu shot. Good news is that there is a better way to get through the cold and flu season without invaiding your body with toxins.

Germs are everywhere. The key is to build up your immune system to fight them off so today we are going to share with you 10 strageties that can help build that immune system in to a big mean fighting machine.

One site said, "Eat Like Peter Rabbit". I like that. Bad, unwholesome food impairs immune function. This includes avoiding French fries, soft drinks and most importantly SUGAR.

The best way to build and increase the action of those action warriors, your white blood cells, is to enhance your intake of fruits, vegetables, and nuts. It's also important to get an adequate amount of good protein.

If you are a new mother and worried about your infant getting the cold or the flu. Breast milk is your babies first defense against sickness and disease.

A great way to add fruits and vegetables to your or your child's diet is smoothies. Who doesn't like a smoothie?

Pumpkin Smoothie (adapted from and picture by Healthful Pursuit)

Great Mashed Potatoes

The Great Potato Cooking Hint

Did you know that you can peel and cut your potatoes up and put them in your pot of salted water well ahead of meal time? In fact, you can do this up to two days ahead if you are planning a huge meal and need the extra time on cooking day.  My mother taught me to just quarter the potatoes and the cook time was sometimes over thirty minutes.  Now I cut my potatoes in one inch or so cubes.  This reduces the cook time to 10-15 minutes. 

• Always put your potatoes in cold water immediately after peeling and cutting to avoided the dreaded brown potato.
• Always begin cooking your potatoes in cold water.
• Always salt your cooking water.  This will be the only time to get some seasoning in those spuds.

Creating Smooth Mashed Potatoes