We celebrated "the last chicken" of the season this week. Like the seasons, our farm changes through out the year. In the spring and summer we are bursting with life, the brooder is full of tiny chicks and piglets arrive. By the fall we are like the leaves on the maple trees, preparing for winter.

We choose not to raise our chickens in a barn all winter long for the health of the chickens and therefore the quality of the meat.

Dakin and Kristen (brother and future sister-in-law) came down for my birthday last weekend and he brought a drone to take some pictures of the last chickens in the field. 

The field coops are "left behind" as each batch ends and is no longer replaced by a group from the brooder. Notice the dark green of the grass left behind, Chickens on pasture also give great fertility to the pastures.

With the last chicken in the freezer we know how much we have to available until the spring when the grass is green once more. 

A few more drone photos

I love this one, you can really see the shades of green from the nitrogen in their manure. Chickens in a barn create air quality problems and waste that needs to be treated (caustic manure). On pasture the solution is built in: manure builds the soil that nourishes the chicken.

The last chicken! You can see the last coop, and the catching crates we use to transport chickens back to the farm for processing.

Thank you Dakin for your amazing photos!

-Nathan