Tuesday delivery day coming up!

Come one, come all to the farmer’s market location this Tuesday, June 16, to pick up your groceries (& fresh flowers)! We will be there from 10:40 til 11, then in the Patio Cafe parking lot from 11:15-11:30. We have eggs, chicken and green beans this week, and you can contact Lydia of Betty Anne Bouquets on her FB page to place an order for flowers—she’ll be riding along. Green beans are $4 for a 1 pound bag. Let us know what you need and we’ll be happy to get you fixed up 😁

Call, text, email or message me on FB to arrange an order!

Thanks, everyone.

Billianne

Shaky K  Farm

501-654-4076

Shakykfarm@gmail.com

We’re loading up our Pasture-Raised, GMO-Free, Rich-In-Minerals chicken and Free-Ranged eggs to bring to Conway, Arkansas Farmer’s Market in the morning!

Funny story: my husband ran out halfway thru a lightning storm Wednesday to save 121 chicks after the wind moved their pen 80 feet and left them behind. A tree came down too, which they sheltered under til we got them all back in (I donned a vinyl tablecloth to help 😂). An inch of rain in 45 minutes! Yesterday morning, these broilers looked like they were fresh out of the dry cleaner, white and fluffy. Lost only one 😢—we’ve had it a lot worse.

Beaver Creek Feed gave me a hat when I had to drive 3.5 hours up to their mill in Ava, MO because we ran out of their excellent Non-GMO feed. They milled it for me that day. No substitute for the best quality! 7.5 hours on the road

When you wonder why pastured poultry products are so expensive, the answer is that these animals live outside and need the best care, feed and protection from the elements and predators, no matter the time of day or night or weather.

There will be many friendly vendors with fresh produce, baked goodies, and handmade items at Conway, Arkansas Farmer’s Market tomorrow morning from 7 am til 11 at 150 Amity Rd!

Betty Anne Bouquets will be next to us, per usual. She has LOADS OF LILIES! They will be part of the prettiest, freshest bouquets you will ever see. Get one for your dining room table, or as a gift for someone special in your life!

Y’all come! (Early for best selection 😉)

Life has its ups and downs, doesn’t it?

To say that the past month has been unusual would be an understatement. Each of us has experienced some degree of change to life. For some the change is minor, and for others, the rug has been pulled out and a new, unfamiliar, unwelcome rug set in its place.

At times like this, it’s natural to wonder what the future holds; yet, we can’t know that. We can speculate, or even worry, but we cannot know what lies ahead until it opens out before us like the sunrise each day. If you’re like me, that’s very frustrating. For others, it’s an adventure, and they’re making the most of it. I do admire that kind of attitude. Maybe I’ll get there some day. You see, I’m a hugger, and anything that interferes with me giving special customers a big ol’ hug is absolutely cramping my style. But this too shall pass.

Here at the farm, things are progressing pretty much as usual for any year. The coyotes are out in force and I worry at night about the broiler chickens on pasture. We’ve received three shipments so far and I will never get tired of fuzzy yellow chicks. I worry about the pullets piling up in the corner and smothering. Winter is past, and it’s been just a little too warm, and a little too wet, and when this quits it will get a little too hot and dry. It’s time for the earth to be tilled and furrowed and seeds to be laid down and covered, until their tiny bodies change and emerge in a different form—an exciting, enthralling form, if you were to ask me. It is an intensely ‘expectant’ season. We’re looking for sprouts, pulling young weeds, watching for the first signs of bloom and bud. Keeping an eagle-eye out for harmful pests and beneficial ones as well. Expectancy is a stimulating thing, and we’re even expecting another grandchild to greet this season. I think it will arrive somewhere between the first broiler chickens and the first picking of green beans.

We have received quite a bit more contact regarding chicken meat, eggs, produce and vegetable plants for sale, which is encouraging. I’d love to see more folks growing their own food. And I love to talk about gardening (so call me if you have questions). My sympathy goes out to everyone who doesn’t have a freezer full of chicken and pork, fresh eggs, canned goods in the cupboard, and sunshine on their back. We will have to work together to get that changed for you!

It’s the time of year to get our knees and hands dirty, our brows sweating as we labor to grow a little something so our bellies can be full of nutritious food; and let us look around us locally for opportunities to do someone a good turn, because if you seek them you will find them.

For updates on our vegetable & herb plants, eggs, produce and the beginning of chicken meat availability, follow us on Facebook, where I’ll also post information on delivery days and how those work.

Feel free to contact me with questions or orders using the contact form on our website here: https://www.shakykfarm.com/contact OR give me a call using the phone number below!

Take care of yourselves! Wash your hands and stop touching your faces!

Until next time—

Billianne

Shaky K Farm

501-654-4076

It’s mid-January and our little farm, like similar farms, is quietly stirring with the approach of what we call “The Busy Season.” Seed orders are trickling in, having been placed just a little later than I intended. The raised beds are lacking a top layer of compost and the new smaller-sized tiller I wanted to order is still on the wish list. Shallots are a new item for us this year and I must find a place to set out six hundred. A final supply inventory is mandatory, as is a cubic yard of seed-starting material. Baby chicks are ordered for new egg-layers and broilers and turkeys, the dates carefully worked out to allow for the timing of everything that happens here. Once the seed-starting begins and the chicks arrive, there’s no looking back.

The off-season has progressed with many egg and chicken deliveries (feel free to contact me if you want to be notified about these). There has been time for grandchildren, and a few long drives to visit loved ones. Garlic was planted and mulched. The turkeys we raised last summer were sold one by one, and found their places on central Arkansas families’ tables. Today we picked up our pork from the processor, tonight we had bacon and sausage for supper, and next month we start all over with pigs again so that some of you can savor the flavor of antibiotic-free, raised-in-the-woods babyback ribs and chops. At this very moment, there are only 70 chickens at Shaky K Farm. After 2019, our biggest year ever, it feels like everything is sound asleep because of the contrast between how it felt here February through October, and how it feels right now. To say that we are thankful for the farm’s blessings last year is a gross understatement. It was humbling to be so blessed, to meet so many loyal folks who lend themselves to supporting local farms, local businesses, HEALTH, who believe in what we’re doing and choose to come along for the adventure. We’re extremely grateful for this support.

When the grandchildren spend the night, one of them begins to stir out of sleep by humming. The humming builds as he becomes more conscious and I know I’d better finish up whatever I’m doing because I don’t have much longer. Finally he’s fully awake and up and he wakes up his sisters and they all begin whispering, roughhousing, jumping off the bed, running down the hallway and you can feel the excitement by the time they stop short at the top of the stairs to see if I’m ready for them. That’s what it feels like inside me now: a building of anticipation and excitement, knowing that behind these wet, cold winter days an incredibly busy Spring is hiding, ready to explode onto the scene: Ready or not, BOOM! Here it comes.

Remember, for information on reserving a whole or half hog custom-processed to your desires; to reserve any of our pasture-raised, antibiotic-free, non-GMO-supplemented turkeys and chickens; to reserve your tomato or pepper plants for spring gardens, or to score yourself the most nutritious eggs around, laid by free-ranging hens and supplemented with perfectly-mineral-enriched, GMO-free feed (Eggs: a perfect food), you can contact me with a phone call, text, email, or use FB or Instagram to leave comments and messages (@shakykfarm, #shakykfarm). Or, just holler real loud. I’ll probably hear you.

Until next time—

Billianne

Shaky K Farm

501-654-4076

Nearing the end of the typical farmer’s market season is always bittersweet. The heat and humidity has taken a toll, and after spending the summer battling various natural problems like flooding, drought, cool temps or high heat, disease pressure, insect destruction, horses rolling in the green beans while rabbit families eat them to the ground, frankly we’re reading for a break.

But we get attached to our market community and miss them in the off-season. We also continue to have eggs and other products, such as a fresh batch of chickens and our pasture-raised turkeys, and other fall crops and winter-only items. It’s an opportunity to keep things fresh and moving, and to keep in touch with some really special people we’ve met through the farmer’s market.

Typically, we handle this by making delivery days. I schedule them so as to simply drop orders off where there’s no visiting to be done, but leave time to catch up with our customers who have a few minutes to spare. Last year we scheduled two big “pick-up” days, which seemed to work well for the market community who had winter-interest but no place to satisfy it.

I’m pleased to announce that this year, Conway, Arkansas Farmer’s Market is moving forward with a Fall and Winter Market, 3 months of every-other-Saturday markets, with convenient timing (for us and our market friends!) of 9 am til noon. This will run October, November and December ! Shaky K Farm will, unfortunately, miss the first date in October, but we’ll post here and on our FB advertising page for delivery set-ups on other dates to keep you in eggs, chicken and other needfuls.

So, as we wind down from a very busy summer, rest assured there are green beans trying desperately to grow at a faster pace than the rabbits can eat them; there are hens free-ranging for bug control and snacking on (IMHO) the best GMO-free feed available; new potatoes are thinking about making an appearance; squash plants are trying to outgrow squash-bug damage; spinach and other fall and winter crops will soon have cool enough temperatures to flourish. And we won’t have to miss your smiling faces all winter like in the olden days.

In the morning, we’ll get up early and head down to Conway, Arkansas Farmer’s Market with tomatoes, peppers, okra, purple hull peas and fresh GMO-free eggs & chicken. We hope we’ll see all our dear customers and make some new acquaintances, and maybe it will be slow enough for a little visit.

Y’all come! ❤

Friday’s harvest, ready to bring to market!