JUST FOWLING AROUND©
Mission
Sustainable Agriculture, Self-Sufficiency
Description
We are a working poultry farm, and have been raising chickens for over 20 years in a small country town in North Central Washington, near the Canadian border. In a peaceful, orchard valley below the alpine region of the Northern Cascade Mountain range, where the mighty Columbia river is a stones throw from the property boundary.
After retiring in 2011, it allowed us more time to devote to the farm and the chicken raising efforts.
With encouragement from my sister and a little seed money, 'Just Fowling Around' was hatched. Over the years I had raised barnyard flocks of different dual purpose varieties, selling meat and eggs to the local clients.
After some deliberation and research conducted by a relentless sister, that was completely enthralled with the fanciful plumage and tapestry of coloration in the "rare" chicken breeds, I ordered my first rare chicken variety, early in 2012.
I now have a nice patchwork of color, plumage, personality and purpose among some of the rarest breeds available to the American market. Some breeds so rare, that there are fewer than one hundred still in existence, some fewer than one thousand. Many endangered, some recovering through conservation efforts. The breeds span the globe, coming from small villages where the flocks are isolated landraces, never having been developed for more than local markets.
Gold Laced Wyandottes, followed closely by the Silver Laced Wyandottes, was the beginning of incorporating the rare and endangered species to the more common flocks I had been raising. Since that time, Salmon Faverolles, Buff Orpingtons, Cuckoo Marans, Speckled Sussex, Light Brahmas, Icelandics, Pure Ameracauna, Swedish Flower Hens, Blue Wyandottes, French Black copper Marans, Lavender Orpingtons, Blue Breda, Basque hens and our most recent, the very rare Altsteirer, have been almost simultaneously added. For weeks, incubators and brooders were teeming with eggs and fresh hatches of a colorful array of fluff.
With breeds being added at a near fever pitch, it was necessary to scramble to accommodate the varieties of upcoming chicks and flocks. Through a lot of hard work and construction efforts; coops, pens, nesting areas were built to house the rare species. Separating the barnies and Easter Eggers from the rarest of rare breeds, allowing all plenty of space for nesting, roosting, foraging and playing.
All the breeds are allowed to forage freely on the wildflower and weed seeds during the day, and provided with fruit and vegetables from garden and orchard bounty, making them healthier and happier flocks. Penned in at night to roost and protected from the predatory, Eagles, Night owls, Coyotes, Raccoons and Weasels that co-exist in the area.
Our flocks are raised as dual purpose birds, meat and eggs for the local community, fertile eggs for local and national community, and live chicks for backyard flocks, conservation efforts, elementary and home schooling, FFA and 4 H projects and for exhibition purposes.
We thank our local clientele as well as our national customer base for making 'Just Fowling Around' a success, allowing us to share our enthusiasm and conservation efforts with a broad customer base.
About Sis:
Sis is a long time Master gardener, herb enthusiast, artist, crafter, blogger and author with a degree in Horticulture and Secretarial Sciences. She is a former, designer, art and craft teacher, and business woman, that ran her own boutique for many years, while raising a family, and instilling good honest morals and values. Sis believes in self-reliance, and making do with what you have and reusing what you can. She prepares well balanced, home-cooked meals and believes in eating in moderation as a key to good health and weight control. Sis has a no-nonsense approach to raising kids and livestock, while nurturing and tending to their needs, spiritually, mentally and physically. It is that approach that she uses when giving advice, sharing information and writing informative articles. All recipes and DIY projects are written tutorial style, so that even the novice cook or crafter is able to follow along with success. It is Sis that you talk to when you email or post messages, and it is Sis that coordinates orders and deliveries, as well as administers the Facebook Page, Website and Email. Sis has written articles for Backyard Poultry Magazine, Homestead Survival, From Scratch and Countryside Magazine, as well craft articles for Craft magazine, and Plaid Industries.
All rights are reserved by © Just Fowling Around. All photographs, text and articles are the exclusive ownership of © Just Fowling Around and © Chicken Coop Chatter. No part of the contents of this website may be used in written or digital form, without express permission of the owners and administrators of Just Fowling Around. 2011-2016.
Mission
Sustainable Agriculture, Self-Sufficiency
Description
We are a working poultry farm, and have been raising chickens for over 20 years in a small country town in North Central Washington, near the Canadian border. In a peaceful, orchard valley below the alpine region of the Northern Cascade Mountain range, where the mighty Columbia river is a stones throw from the property boundary.
After retiring in 2011, it allowed us more time to devote to the farm and the chicken raising efforts.
With encouragement from my sister and a little seed money, 'Just Fowling Around' was hatched. Over the years I had raised barnyard flocks of different dual purpose varieties, selling meat and eggs to the local clients.
After some deliberation and research conducted by a relentless sister, that was completely enthralled with the fanciful plumage and tapestry of coloration in the "rare" chicken breeds, I ordered my first rare chicken variety, early in 2012.
I now have a nice patchwork of color, plumage, personality and purpose among some of the rarest breeds available to the American market. Some breeds so rare, that there are fewer than one hundred still in existence, some fewer than one thousand. Many endangered, some recovering through conservation efforts. The breeds span the globe, coming from small villages where the flocks are isolated landraces, never having been developed for more than local markets.
Gold Laced Wyandottes, followed closely by the Silver Laced Wyandottes, was the beginning of incorporating the rare and endangered species to the more common flocks I had been raising. Since that time, Salmon Faverolles, Buff Orpingtons, Cuckoo Marans, Speckled Sussex, Light Brahmas, Icelandics, Pure Ameracauna, Swedish Flower Hens, Blue Wyandottes, French Black copper Marans, Lavender Orpingtons, Blue Breda, Basque hens and our most recent, the very rare Altsteirer, have been almost simultaneously added. For weeks, incubators and brooders were teeming with eggs and fresh hatches of a colorful array of fluff.
With breeds being added at a near fever pitch, it was necessary to scramble to accommodate the varieties of upcoming chicks and flocks. Through a lot of hard work and construction efforts; coops, pens, nesting areas were built to house the rare species. Separating the barnies and Easter Eggers from the rarest of rare breeds, allowing all plenty of space for nesting, roosting, foraging and playing.
All the breeds are allowed to forage freely on the wildflower and weed seeds during the day, and provided with fruit and vegetables from garden and orchard bounty, making them healthier and happier flocks. Penned in at night to roost and protected from the predatory, Eagles, Night owls, Coyotes, Raccoons and Weasels that co-exist in the area.
Our flocks are raised as dual purpose birds, meat and eggs for the local community, fertile eggs for local and national community, and live chicks for backyard flocks, conservation efforts, elementary and home schooling, FFA and 4 H projects and for exhibition purposes.
We thank our local clientele as well as our national customer base for making 'Just Fowling Around' a success, allowing us to share our enthusiasm and conservation efforts with a broad customer base.
About Sis:
Sis is a long time Master gardener, herb enthusiast, artist, crafter, blogger and author with a degree in Horticulture and Secretarial Sciences. She is a former, designer, art and craft teacher, and business woman, that ran her own boutique for many years, while raising a family, and instilling good honest morals and values. Sis believes in self-reliance, and making do with what you have and reusing what you can. She prepares well balanced, home-cooked meals and believes in eating in moderation as a key to good health and weight control. Sis has a no-nonsense approach to raising kids and livestock, while nurturing and tending to their needs, spiritually, mentally and physically. It is that approach that she uses when giving advice, sharing information and writing informative articles. All recipes and DIY projects are written tutorial style, so that even the novice cook or crafter is able to follow along with success. It is Sis that you talk to when you email or post messages, and it is Sis that coordinates orders and deliveries, as well as administers the Facebook Page, Website and Email. Sis has written articles for Backyard Poultry Magazine, Homestead Survival, From Scratch and Countryside Magazine, as well craft articles for Craft magazine, and Plaid Industries.
All rights are reserved by © Just Fowling Around. All photographs, text and articles are the exclusive ownership of © Just Fowling Around and © Chicken Coop Chatter. No part of the contents of this website may be used in written or digital form, without express permission of the owners and administrators of Just Fowling Around. 2011-2016.