The New Year

hey there all you appreciaters of great food! i hope the winter is finding you well. Here on the farm things are a bit slower. In December we had the last of the meat chickens, turkeys, and ducks processed up at Munsell's Poultry Processing and in the freezers. We still have 700 or so layers laying, two geese, and two sets of ducks - one set past their prime and the other getting ready to lay. If you go to Zingerman's Deli you can order a John H. Turkey Pot Pie or a Berkshire Pork Pot Pie made with Nic's 4H project pig (Joyce). (My pot pie has a first name J-O-Y-C-E).
   At The Ann Arbor Farmer's Market, which is open on saturdays in beautiful Ann Arbor (who'd a thought!), we are purveying all sorts of goodies: whole chicken, half chicken, whole chickens cut up into 8 pieces, breasts, legs, wings, livers, gizards - (or lizards as I often mis-say), stewing hens for soup as well as feet. We also have whole duck, turkeys - both broad brested and heritage birds, and eggs. Oh! and we also have a few braising ducks!
      This saturday Nic and I are going to the Family Farms Conference in Battle Creek to  talk to interested people about raising poultry. We did this last year at the conference and it was fun. Apparently we did OK as they asked us back again and in the brochure it states "back by popular demand" so we must have done something correctly!
i want to learn to play the bass guitar.

holidays

Hello everybody! i hope this post finds you well? just to let you know, I have turkeys still available for the upcoming holidays. i have a number of broad-breasted turkeys as well as a couple of heritage turkeys. i also have duck and chicken as well. merry christmas to all and to all ... 
john

Ahhhh Turkey Time!

Is here at last!

Many, many years ago (at least twelve but not more than a thousand) the Pilgrims had the first thanksgiving. They probably served pumpkin and pecan pie with Ready Whip, turkey, stuffing, muskrat, collards, smoked fish for hors d'oeuvres - probably Lake Michigan whitefish, and Jello salad. Well, maybe not that selection exactly. But maybe?

So why DID the turkey cross the road? Don't know that, but I do know why the turkey egg crossed the road?

It was so inclined!

For my feast, I will have the largest unsold turkey, sweet potatoes, collard greens, brussels sprouts, succotash, yukon gold smashed potatoes, punkin pie (or pumpkin pie, whichever you prefer), jello salad, and smoked fish. I make my stuffing using dried bread, pork sausage, peppers, celery, onions, mushrooms, and my secret ingredient – black olives chopped from the can with the can juice. Sounds odd maybe, but it is truly wonderful.

Now, I get asked all the time “how big a turkey do I need for X many guests. What I tell people is that I do a great job of raising wonderful birds, but … maybe ask Martha Stewart. And then I tell them that I recommend they get the biggest bird possible that will still fit in their oven 'cause you need as much (many?) leftovers as possible!

I, even at this late date, still have a quantity of quality turkeys left. Mostly bigg'ns. The other thing you can do (if they have any left) is to order a T-day feast from Zingerman's
Deli just down the road from the market. They use our (Nic's and my) turkeys. AND – on the first of january, you can get a John H. Turkey Pot Pie from said establishment down the road from Market!

Let's see, what else can I tell you? Got leftovers? Sandwiches both cold and hot with some nice thick gravy will do. Turkey salad maybe? And jook, which is a chinese stew or soup made from cooking the carcass with rice in water until it boils down to a wonderful, basically, a turkey soup. You can find various recipes online. I just saw one from the New York Times (which I think is a pretty good rag). And of course, there is always the “regular” turkey soup method where you cook the living snot out of the carcass and add veggies and spice and everything nice to it.

Recently, someone came up to me (OK, a lot of people) and said they were thinking of turkeys and thought of me. I wasn't sure if I should be offended or pleased!

So, I think I about covered all the bases here. Oh! Wait! I have to share this with you. Some years back, I got a complaint about one of my turkeys. She told me it was too moist and had too much flavor. Oh drat!

Reporting from the Ann Arbor Farmer's Market, the top turkey, John Harnois

Hi everybody! John and Nic here with an update about what’s happing here at Harnois Farms farm. Fall is upon us and things are in full swing. The Thursday Evening Market at Zingerman’s Roadhouse out at Westgate has come to an end but you can almost always find me at the downtown Ann Arbor Farmer’s Market at Kerrytown which is in full swing Wednesdays and Saturdays. These days one can usually find me Saturdays on the sidewalk of Fourth street neer the south end of the market. Wednesdays I can usually be found somewhere on the main aisle which parallels Detroit street. Even if you’re not buying, come say “hi”.

 

            These days we have we have: whole duck

                                                            Stewing ducks

                                                            Whole chicken

                                                            Half chicken

                                                            Whole chicken cut up into 8 pieces

                                                            Breasts

                                                            Legs (thigh and drumstick)

                                                            Wings

Livers

Gizzards

                                                            Feet

                                                            Stewing hens (for soup stock)

 

                                                            Duck eggs

 

                                                            Pullet eggs

 

 

            AND … seeing as the leaves seem to be parting company with their mother trees, it must be fall and that means turkey time is upon us. This year we have a good supply of broad breasted turkeys and a more limited supply of heritage turkeys which this year are again Narragansett’s.

                                    AND …this means it’s Turkey Order Time!

            Come down to the farmer’s market at Kerrytown to place your order or you can call me @ 734.645.0300 or you can email me at deadend@umich.edu and harnoishappyhens@gmail.com

 Thanks for stopping by, and will write again soon (I promise), John and Nic Harnois of Harnois Farms

Testimonial from Glenda

We got this message the other day from a happy customer:

Dear John and Nic, 

I would like to offer the testimonial below for you and your business.  It's rather long, so feel free to shorten it.  Or if you want to suggest any edits, let me know.  Feel free to use my name.  Thank you for all that you give, both to the poultry you grow and the people who are nourished by eating them.  

Best wishes, 

Glenda 

I'm here to shout from the rooftops about the best chicken I have ever tasted, which I bought from Harmois Farms located in Whitmore Lake, Michigan.  But first I must make a confession.  For quite some time, I was aware of the Harnois Farm stand at the Farmer's Market in Ann Arbor.  But while I was always drawn to it and strongly tempted to go over to talk with the man sitting behind the white cooler--who always seem to be wearing one of the broadest smiles I'ver ever seen--something stopped me.  What was it?  Honestly, it was the cost.  I just wasn't sure about paying what I assumed would be a higher price per pound than I'm used to paying.  (Not that I buy chicken at the chain grocery stores.  For many years I've been painfully aware of the inhumane treatment of animals on many factory farms, and have bought chicken and other meat from suppliers that claim to treat animals humanely.)  Well, I'm here to report that with my first bite of the first chicken I bought from Harnois, I got it!  I had simply never tasted meat this delicious before.  And since my husband and I use very basic cooking methods, it had nothing to do with preparation. I'm at a loss for words as to how to describe it.  It simply felt like...well, like this, finally, is how chicken is supposed to taste!  Is it worth the extra cost?  My answer is an enthusiastic yes.  Harmois Farm raises poultry like they were meant to be raised.  And all we have to do is to show up and pay for it.  Yes, you might pay a little more, but I urge you to buy from these guys.  You'll be contributing not just to your good health but to sustainable, highly humane farming practices.  Trust me--you'll be glad you did.

--Glenda Haskell

Life Coach
Ann Arbor, MI 48107

Still Some Turkeys Available for Thanksgiving

Whew, I got through the big turkey pickup day on Friday at the farm. Sold almost all my birds. I still have 18 Broad-Breasted Whites if anyone wants to wait until the last minute to get theirs. Call me right away and I can bring it to the Ann Arbor farmer's market on Wednesday...

In the Media...

Leading up to the biggest day of the year for a turkey farmer! I've done a number of interviews recently for the local media. I thought I'd list a few of them here for you.

It's Hot In Here, WCBN's environmental talk show, interview with John Nov 12 2010, "Talking Turkey with John Harnois of Harnois Farms" (coming soon)

http://hughstimson.org/2010/11/14/talkin-turkey-with-john-harnois-of-harnois-farms/

Heritage Turkey Talk with John Harnois by Corinna Borden, on annarbor.com

http://www.annarbor.com/entertainment/food-drink/turkey-talk-with-john-harnois/

Real Time Farms' John harnois site, with lots of pictures at the Ann Arbor Farmer's market.

http://www.realtimefarms.com/farm/harnois-farms

"You've got to eat 'em to keep 'em alive"

http://www.youtube.com/user/corinnaborden#p/u/4/K0v0prW166s

John Harnois describes turkey anatomy

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T-Za5Dne7cA