Expanding our Pastured Chicken Operation with a grant from FACT

Earlier this year when COVID-19 struck, we sadly had to close the farm to guests for a couple of months. It definitely wasn’t what we wanted, but it did give us the opportunity to work on a few projects around the farm that might otherwise have been pushed off until fall.

One of the things we’ve been wanting to do is expand our pastured chicken operation, but we had a couple of roadblocks. One was the night-time housing, which Denny solved. (We let the birds roam freely on the pasture during the day.) The second roadblock was space to store the processed chickens. The freezer in the house pantry was already full of lamb and some of the items we provide to guests, and our personal freezers were already full… what to do?!

Fortunately, we learned about the emergency mini-grants offered by Food Animal Concerns Trust (FACT) — up to $500 for materials, services, or equipment so that farms could transition to online or alternative sales strategies, or for other projects that would help their farm businesses to maintain sales during the COVID-19 crisis. This was a great opportunity to get the freezer space we needed so that we could offer more pasture raised chicken to customers and (eventually) guests! Plus, we reasoned that we could get the lamb out of the house and into a dedicated “farm shop” freezer as well.

We applied and didn’t make it into the first round. It was such a popular program, they had to start a waiting list and see if they could obtain more funding. Happily, they did, and we made it through the second round.

And then… and then… there were no chest freezer to be found anywhere! Slight panic. Would we have to send the grant back unused? Between people suddenly wanting a little more food security at home (couldn’t really dine out, after all) and slowdown in the supply chain, no freezers. The always reliable Stover, Evey and Jackson in Corvallis put us on their waiting list, and we finally got our freezer.

We’re really grateful for the opportunities that grants like these provide to small farms and we’re working hard to fill that freezer with humanely raised meat!