Menagerie Acres
This grower has a photo album.
Menagerie Acres is a family homestead established January 1980. Since the children left home, our need for canning vegetables and putting up fruit has decreased dramatically. We now offer our produce to the public at local farmer’s markets and WIC markets.
We raise barnyard fowl (chickens, ducks, geese, turkeys and a peacock pair), and use the henhouse litter to sidedress our garden in late summer. The birds are not caged, but they do have an enclosed run during the growing season to keep them out of the garden. During this time we feed them the unsellable fruits, vegetables and used-up plants. They also get all the good “misplaced” wildflowers that take up space in the veggie garden. In the past we have also bred rabbits and raised pigs & lamb to slaughtering age.
For the vegetables, thick mulching is provided by straw and paper refuse (cardboard, magazines, etc.). When watering we use drip hoses brought to the plants that need it most. Pest control is primarily accomplished through hand-picking and the use of pepper spray made each autumn from our own peppers. We do not fertilize, but rely on earthworms and the organic content of the soil. We do rotor-till for ease of planting, then immediately refurbish the mulching material between rows.
Our birds are not fed commercial feed with antibiotics or additives in liquid form. Our focus is to give them the safest and healthiest environment that we can, and letting their immune systems take care of whatever germs they might run into.
Menagerie Acres has the following licenses:
1 Candler’s (eggs) #5059 & 5060 (expiration: none).
2 Live Plant (hobbyist) #A6502 (exp: 12/31/13)
3 WIC (GWFMNP) #0639 (renewable each spring)
You can find us on FaceBook at MENAGERIE ACRES
Stop by and visit awhile.