Here are some responses to questions and concerns over the years...
~ Just a brief question. I'm wondering if your eggs are "pasteurized"...if the gov't mandates that.
Thank you for your time.
Vivian
Hi Vivian:
No, our eggs are not pasteurized. The US Government currently states that pasteurized eggs be 1.) pasteurized in an approved method 2.) coated in food-grade wax to seal the shell (if you are referring only to “whole shell eggs”) and finally 3.) Stamped with a red circle with a P in the middle.
We use a food grade, industrial egg washing machine, from National Poultry: http://www.nationalpoultryequipment.com/products.htm
The machine sprays the eggs with four different jets of water at 120 degrees F. We use the upper end of the allowable heat process – not enough to cook the inside of the egg but hotter than the minimum 90 degrees F recommended by the University of Minnesota and mandated by MN law.
Please let me know if you have any other questions!
Best regards,
Shawn
~ Hi,
Maybe you can dispel this nagging thought in my head as I attempt to include as few products in my diet that have been affected by the GMO process. Since I am consuming two dozen of your eggs a week this is important to me.
After research and reading, especially Michael Pollan's books, it's my understanding that it is impossible (or nearly so) to acquire corn which hasn't been a part of the GMO process. If your chickens are receiving a feed that includes corn then is the corn in the feed coming from a farm that is organic?
Everything I read about the farm sounds fabulous! Kudos to you for standing up to the status quo and doing what's right for everyone!
Best regards
Marsha
Good Morning Marsha:
It is disgusting what is happening with our food chain. GMO to patents on seeds - common sense is dead - but it is too early in the AM to set my blood pressure through the roof!
We have been lucky in working with a grain supplier like Hyview Feeds which has managed to maintain organic supplies but it isn't easy. Our feed prices have gone past $8.50 a bushel on organic corn which, to put this in perspective, was $5.35 a year ago. They are having to look in ever widening circles to obtain certified organic grains.
Organic canola meal used to be available from Canada as a feed supplement for chickens, but there is enough of it growing wild that the Round-up Ready version pollinated the wild plants and they are now, in turn, pollinating the organic plants to the extent that the organic-ness (or maybe I should say the non-GMO-ness) can no longer be guaranteed.
At this point I can say all the feed is certified organic and inspected as/for such but if we as a nation don't get a handle on corporatization of the seed industry we're going to be in big trouble in the coming years.
Thank you for your kind words and thank you for supporting us!
Best regards,
Shawn
~ Do all your eggs originate on your farm? Thanks, Jake
Jake,
Yes, unlike those firms that state they are a, “family of farms,” Harmony Organics IS a family farm. We don’t put a spin on the phrase, “Minnesota Grown,” because we are a proud member of Minnesota Grown and all our eggs come from only our farm. This is why, much to the consternation of a lot of our customers, our prices vary so widely. When pressure mounts on our supply (meaning kind people like you are buying A LOT of our eggs) we have to raise the price to slow the demand.
We do not purchase eggs from other farmers, from other states, and label them as Harmony Organics. That is why, depending where you live, you may see our prices swing by $2.00 or more per dozen. There simply isn’t any other place for us to get eggs than from the farm we live on.
All the best!
Shawn
Where do we get the feed for our birds? Hy View Feeds, MN http://hyviewfeeds.com We purchase by the truckload and have it mixed especially for us.
What are your fields like? Four main paddocked fields (fenced off areas for the birds): 70x100ft, 170x100ft, 94x40ft, and 60x100ft rotated so we don't burn the grass out (birds can be wicked on grass). All planted grass with certified organic seed from Albert Lea Seed, MN http://www.alseed.com and mowed once weekly to keep it in check. Surrounded by chicken wire fencing. Take a look at "Picture This" - we keep the before mentioned areas mowed but we also allow the birds to explore the greater fields. They have acres to roam.
How do you protect from air assaults? The enemy = Cooper's hawks. The solution? This is good... When we first started the farm we were told, “you can't mix natural birds and domesticated birds together, you'll get disease.” Well, that first year, we took that advice to heart and knocked down all the barn swallows that had made their nests around the barn. What happened? Cooper's hawks swooped in and started eating our birds!!! We consulted experts and they said you need to put poles up with guy wires to trick the hawks and/or put up aerial netting to keep the hawks out. You know what the solution was? An all natural defense. Don't knock the barn swallow nests down – it was like calling in an air strike. When hawks show up to the farm the swallows assemble in groups and attack the hawks. We have not lost a single bird to hawks since we made this change and it is so fun to mow the fields now. Because the mowers cause the bugs to jump and the swallows fly all around us to eat them up. Nature. Simple and effective... PS: We still don't give our birds shots and they've been just fine living together.
What's the size of your barn and what's it like inside? Our barn is 30x150ft and we maintain white light for sixteen hours per day. At night the lights switch from white to red (which has a calming effect on the birds). We use the Owatonna, MN “JOLLY” brand of nest boxes which allows the eggs to roll forward into a metal protective area to be picked twice daily. Unfortunately, Jolly is no longer in business. We're actively asking around for more of these jewels so if you know someone selling them – please let us know!!! We still feed by hand, which means we come through once a day to refill the feeders. The watering system is an automated string of tubes with “nipples” on them. The birds touch their beaks to the watering units and it dispenses water.
Roosts? Yes, the birds are afforded the ability to sleep either on the floor or on roosts. We connected dozens of roosts to the ceiling throughout the barn. The roosts are then extended down either to the floor of the barn or suspended three feet up. Some birds like being high in the air, others in the mid-section, and some on the floor. They pick where they want to sleep.
Pest control? Send in the wasps. Yes, wasps. Flies can be a problem on any farm so we introduced wasps to the farm - they don't sting just eat, flies... It was an amazing reduction in our fly population.
* Our birds are outside enjoying the great outdoors whenever the temperature is above 40 degrees and there isn't rain. Though we don't have exact numbers, they are outside a lot. We believe this makes for great eggs. We hope you agree.
* Cage free living. Our birds can freely roam ACRES of land.
* No antibiotics. There has NEVER been an antibiotic application at Harmony Organics. NEVER.
* Vegitarian fed. Corn, Soybeans, Wheat, Oats, Barley, Oyster Shells, well, you get the picture - no company's names are represented here. We feed our birds what generations ago fed their birds - all natural - common sense foods.
* Eggs hand picked twice a day. Yes, can you believe it? No robots - no automation - just dedicated people walking through the barn picking eggs.
* We allow not only for our organic certification inspection but arrangements are made with any of our partners to review the farm. There is nothing worse than not knowing what it is you are eating. Give us a buzz at browneggs@harmonyorganics.org to talk about anything on your mind.