This week Kathi profiled Bill & Arlene Grassmick, Wildcat Produce, and Nina’s Catering and Event Planning.  Great photos and info as always!

http://countrychickengirl.blogspot.com/2010/08/bill-arlene-grassmick-wildcat-produce.html

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Be sure to check out Katie Bradshaw’s feature of Ernie Griffiths and his honey in the Star Herald:

Click here for Star Herald article.

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Just a reminder of Prairiebloom.com listed egg producers. If you know of others, please feel free to share them in the comments:

Open A Bar 2 Ranch, LLC
Dan & Kathi Manville
100133 County Road 4
Lyman, NE
Email: kathi@openabar2ranch.com
Phone Number: (308) 787-1111
Web Site: www.OpenABar2Ranch.com

Sarah Pinet
Victory Hill Farm
200444 County Road F
Scottsbluff, NE
vhfarm@scottsbluff.net
http://www.vhfarm.com

Nancy Butcher
170264 County Road B
Mitchell , NE
tnbutcher@yahoo.com
(308) 623-1794

Rylee and Nathaniel McGowan
FlowerField Farms
Harrisburg, Ne 69345
joy_huber@hotmail.com
308-672-1573 or 308-672-6562

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Check out the latest post from Country Chicken Girl.  This time she has info about Styria Bakery, Roger Brown, Victory Hill Farm, and Ernest Griffiths:

Photo courtesy Kathi Manville

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Photo Courtesy Katie Bradshaw. Please visit the SCB Citizen blog...

Please check out this post on the SCB Citizen blog mentioning area farmers’ markets.  Great post that mentions an idea I dig – having music at the market!  Thanks for your awesome post Katie!

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Update on Morrill Farmers’ Market courtesy The Index:

Farmer’s Market thriving

Last Tuesday at the Morrill Farmers' Market. Photo courtesy The Index.

The Tuesday afternoon Farmer’s Market was a busy place last week, with vendors lined up the length of the field and two rows of cars and trucks waiting for shoppers to return with their fresh goods. There was home-baked bread, corn on the cob, green beans, jellies and jams, peppers and squash-you name it, if it was in season and grows in our end of Nebraska, it was available at the market. The Swiss chard was excellent, as were the golden ears of sweet corn. This is a delicious time of year, and it is so nice to be able to enjoy the fruits of someone else’s labor! Don’t miss the next market, there is truly something for everyone.

Don’t forget: Morrill Farmers’ Market
Hwy 26, south of the Subway
Morrill, NE
Tuesdays, 3 – 6 p.m

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Another big THANK YOU to The Country Chicken Girl for her post on a fellow Scottsbluff Farmers’ Market vendor, Dee’s Pantry and Gary’s Garden.

Read Kathi’s informative post here: http://countrychickengirl.blogspot.com/2010/08/dees-pantry-and-garys-garden.html

Link to: Dee’s Pantry

Dee and Gary Scott of Lusk, WY. Photo courtesy Kathi Manville.

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If you can’t see the video, Click here to link to video on KOTA.

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From The Index, read about Open A Bar 2 Ranch:

NEW Ag: The Open A Bar 2 Ranch

This family ranch is located in Western Nebraska between Torrington, WY and Scottsbluff, NE. Dan Manville is a 5th generation rancher. The family works together to keep the ranch productive. Dan and Kathi married in 1996 and have four boys: Nick, who serves in the United States Air Force; Colton, Chris and Skyler.

Pictured here are Colton, Nick (with ball cap on,) Danny, Kathi, Camille (the cat), Chris and Skyler. The family works together on their new-style agricultural endeavor.

Open A Bar 2 Ranch, LLC is a family-owned, local beef operation. Their goal is to provide an alternative source of beef to the discriminating consumer. For high quality and flavor, their cattle are pasture-raised, grass-fed and corn finished to perfection. They retain ownership and records on these cattle from birth until packaging. This gives them total control over the quality of the meat and what goes into it. Their beef operation uses percentage Lowline/Angus cattle.

This beef is raised the old-fashioned way, meaning no growth hormones, no steroids and especially no feed antibiotics. In raising cattle this way, they feel comfortable providing the most healthy beef to their clients. Many people are concerned about how and where their food is raised and processed and this all-natural beef offers a healthy choice. Humane treatment of all cattle in the program is always a top priority.

They agree with Allan Nation who writes, “I personally believe that all of us in this grass ‘movement,’ or whatever you want to call it, are doing something that is bigger and much more important than just building a business. I believe a higher power programmed our food to naturally give us good health and we have lost sight of His handiwork.”

The Manville operation also raises pastured poultry during the summer months. This started out as a small venture between Dan and Chris and quickly grew into a profitable business for this family of entrepreneurs.

Their chickens are raised the old-fashioned way, just like Grandma’s! This provides high quality, healthy meat at a reasonable price. So what is different between pastured poultry and confinement poultry? Open A Bar 2 Ranch chickens are kept in small groups of 100-200 chickens in movable shelters, where the chickens are free to come and go as they please. The chickens have access to fresh pasture surrounding the shelters. The shelters and pasture are fenced off from predators with a movable electrified netting fence. This system allows the chickens to have constant fresh air and sunlight. In contrast, confinement chickens are kept in large groups of around 10,000 in a chicken house. It is dark and dusty in these houses and the chickens require antibiotics and medicated feed to survive. With exposure to fresh air and sunlight, Open A Bar 2 chickens thrive in a healthy environment and do not require the use of antibiotics or medicated feed. As a result, pastured poultry is a more dense, high-quality meat, with an incredible amount of flavor. Confinement poultry is a more porous meat that tends to soak up water from chill tanks during processing. Tests have shown that 10% of the weight of store-bought poultry is water.

Another difference is that Open A Bar 2 Ranch chickens are hand-processed at the farm in a state-inspected facility, whereas commercial processing plants use machines. These machines tend to tear open the intestines and get fecal matter on the carcasses. The fecal matter is then transferred into the water in the chill tanks. Remember that 10% of the weight of store bought chicken is water from these tanks. Open A Bar 2 Ranch’s chill tank has clean water because of the small number of chickens they process in each batch and the dense meat of their poultry will contain very little or no water.
Approximately 30% of these chickens’ diet is green pasture, mostly alfalfa and bugs like grasshoppers. This is very healthy for the chickens and really does make a difference in the quality and flavor of their meat. Humane treatment of all poultry in this program is always a top priority.

You can contact Open A Bar 2 Ranch, LLC by phone at 308 787-1111; by email at either dan@openabar2ranch.com or kathi@openabar2ranch.com. Dan and Kathi Manville would love to talk to you about the wonderful products they have to offer for your healthy table! The ranch is located at 100133 County Road 4, Lyman, Nebraska 69352. Their website is www.openabar2ranch.com.

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