Poultry Processing Workshop

June 12, 2010, McDonald Farm, Route 414, Romulus, NY  I remember how hard it was to learn how to process chickens when we first started doing this pastured poultry thing.  How great it would have been to have had some hands on experience on not only the production, but the processing, packaging, labeling and selling of our farm products.  So my good friends Jim McLaughlin of Cornerstone Farm, and Tro Bui from Cornell Cooperative Extension decided to put on a day of learning all those things at McDonald Farm.  We're putting the program together as I write, and if you have interest in this kind of thing, this would be the place to be.  Even if you don't ever want to do it for a living, if you want to process your own birds for family and friends, or just want to know how clean food goes from the pasture to the plate, the amount you can learn from the folks who will be here will be well worth the entrance fee.  Email me for more info, and/or visit the link to Cornerstone Farm in the paragraph below.

Poultry School for Small Farms

March 13, 2010, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, Morrison Hall   From 8:30 til 3:30 pm this will be the place to be.  I will be speaking on the 5 P's (principles) of successful and satisfying clean food production with turkeys.  We've grown as many as 1200 in a past season, but now do the far more reasonable 350 per year.  For the past two years, we've grown out the American Bronze, a colorful bird that looks very much like the wild turkeys from our woods.  If you are interested in learning more about poultry, all kinds of poultry, and how they are grown, processed, packaged and sold, this is the event to attend.  A sister event, listed above, is going to be held on McDonald Farm on June 12, where you can see the program in action.  Please visit http://www.cornerstone-farm.com/news.htm#PoultrySchool for more information, or you can contact me. 

NOFA NY 2009 Winter Conference

January 23-25, 2009, Rochester, NY Riverside Convention Center The theme of this conference is "Meals Without Wheels:  Revitalizing the Local, Organic Foodshed".  This weekend is chock full of workshops, displays, demonstrations and speaking sessions with some of the most progressive and organically minded individuals in the country.  I will be doing a  program titled "Processing 201...The 1,000 Bird Limit and Beyond".  You can check out the brochure at http://nofany.org/projects/winterconference/nofa-ny2009conferencebrochure.pdf

Factory Farming vs. Alternative Animal Agriculture

October 30, 2008  Dr. Temple Grandin, Cornell Professor Joe Regenstein and I will share insights, and compare notes at this seminar held at Cornell University in Ithaca, NY.  The event was very well attended, and anyone who knows Dr. Grandin knows how passionate and single purposed she is on this topic.  After 3 lively presentations, we all took questions and then, best part for me, was taking lunch with Temple.  I have always wanted to meet her, and to be able to compare notes and challenge each other on this very important topic was perhaps as much fun as I've had.  Temple, as a frontrunner in dealing with livestock slaughtering, queing, movement and emotional states of cattle, takes a ton of flack from those that don't see the necessity for livestock production for our diets.  She is right on with so much of her research and her models, that is a shame that her work would in any way be hindered by those who would rather stand in her way than just do their thing, and let us livestock producers do ours.

Delhi Technical Center Henrietta, NY

June 15, 2007 This hour long event, an in house luncheon is a closed venue for this inquisitive group.  Good food, good questions and we'll add to the number of smart folks who have knowledge of where there food comes from.

NOFA-NY's 2007 Annual Conference

January 26, 27 & 28, 2007  The Holiday Inn, Syracuse/Liverpool, NY The title of this year's conference is 'Building the Farm Economy Around Local Foods.  Keynote speakers are Joel Salatin, Richard Pirog and Judy Wicks.  This is also the 25th anniversary celebration for NOFA-NY and the balance of the conference promises to be one of the best ever.  I will be speaking on Saturday at 10 am.  The title..."A Pastured Chicken in Every Pot...How to Grow 'em, Clean'em and Sell 'em".  Our open ranging, pasture brooding, low labor, hoop house model will be discussed, as well as the 2 other popular pastured poultry production models.  We'll tred lightly on the processing end, as this is much more effective to teach as a hands on course, and will then spend considerable time on our marketing paradigm, which has really proven to be a winner in getting our farm raised clean food products on the tables of hundreds of families in our neck of the woods.  You can visit NOFA's website for more information here:  NOFA-NY 2007 CONFERENCE

Natural, Grassfed and Organic Mentor Program

December 2, 2006  This one-day seminar will connect the six northern NY counties (St. Lawrence, Jefferson, Lewis, Clinton, Essex, Franklin) via distance-learning technology.  I will be presenting from the St Lawrence facility located in Watertown.  This is sponsored by the North East Center For Risk Management Education and facilitated by the Cornell Cooperative Extension in each of those counties.  I am hoping to put up a web site link which will have more information for you so you could visit either the live location or one of the satellite locations.  If that does not happen, please email me and I'll give you the most up to date information I have.  You could also contact Bill Van Loo CCE specialist at 315-379-9192 ext 233.  This will be a very interactive program with in-depth details the '5 P's' or 5 prindiples of our pasture based farming enterprise.  It will also include one on one mentoring for any participant and a scheduled group visit to our farm next summer to see how we are doing it. 

Celebrating the Stewards of the Land

November 21, 2006 This event, will be held at the Trinity Church on Rte 14 in Geneva, NY and is a first of its kind for me.  The Geneva Interfaith council, hoping to celebrate local farmers who have and are making an impact on the land and their communities by their committment to farming practices that show good stewardship principles, as well as their efforts to make their farm grown foods available to their communities.  Elizabeth Henderson of Peacework Farms, Stephen Galens, a local dairy farmer, and I were the honored farmers.  We will be surrounded by members of many different religions including Christian, Buddhist, Hindu, Jew, Bahai and Islam.  This meeting will be held in a traditional Quaker setup, in the round, with a script that sets the order of the speakers and events. 

The Center For Sustainable Living

August 31, 2006 7-9 pm  Rochester, NY. The Rochester Farm Connection is a group of consumers and farmers who purpose to put local food on local tables in the Rochester area.  Started by Elizabeth McInerney, the group has grown over the past few years to include a significant venue for the marketing of local fruits, vegetables, dairy products, grains and table meats.  Come and hear Elizabeth expound on her vision and learn how to become a part of this aspect of the clean, fresh and local food movement.  Peter McDonald, of McDonald Farm has been an early member of this connection and will speak on the significance of purchasing local foods.  Peter currently delivers over 50 farm raised products to customers in Rochester every other week and has claimed a customer's driveway as his storefront.  The McDonald Farm Connection model is a very viable alternative to store bought products, and the best thing is, you can meet the farmer who grew it.  This event promises to be informative, enlightening, and Peter always has a bevy of wonderful photographs of both his family and farm that highlight the values of a small family farming enterprise.  The event runs from 7 to 9 pm and will be held downstairs in the Brighton Town Hall, 2300 Elmwood Avenue, in Rochester.  There is a $10 fee.   Hope you can make it.  For more information, contact Elizabeth McInerney http://home.rochester.rr.com/farmxchg/

NOFA 23rd Annual Winter Conference 

January 28-30 2005.  Liverpool, NY. This is the premier annual event of it's kind in Upstate, NY.   I will be presenting two talks. "Restorative Agriculture and the Clean Food Movement" will highlight the philosophy and practical applications of farming practices that give back MORE than we take out, thereby returning our farmland to it's fullest production capacity.  It is through farming practices that build and then maintain the land to produce to the fullness of its capacity that produces 'clean food'. The second talk titled "The 5 P's of Pastured Profits" will expound on the many lessons McDonald Farm has learned over the years on our multi-species, multi-generational, pasture based farming model. The 5 P's are: Production, Processing, Packaging, Promotion and Profits.    See you there!

Farm Diversity Day

February 5, 2005.  Malone, NY.  Sponsored by the Adirondack North Country Association.  Bring your snowshoes and be prepared to see how chickens are raised in igloos while fed organic snow cones.....Kidding...actually this will be a collection of successful farmers talking about marketing, multi-species enterprises and general information on how to either make the leap into grass based farming, or how to add to your current farming enterprise.  Malone is in the upper most Upstate region of NY.  Come say hello.

Marketing Pasture Raised Livestock

February 19, 2005.  Montour Falls, NY.  Do you have a small herd of cattle, sheep, poultry, or other livestock species? Have you ever thought about selling the meat at a farm market, to the neighbor, at a roadside stand, or even to a restaurant? If so you should attend this workshop.  

"Peter McDonald, a successful pasture based farmer and marketer will discuss his experience with a family operated, pasture based farming enterprise that is healthy financially, ecologically, socially, and generationally.  McDonald Farm serves as an evolving model of research, innovation and experience, all focused on the benefits of pasture based, multi-species table meat production. His lectures are informative, encouraging, entertaining and enjoyable. In addition this workshop will feature a session on the rules and regulations of livestock marketing, what a store and/or restaurant is looking for, and a panel discussion from local livestock farmers who made the leap into various forms of direct marketing."  (Click to see rest of brochure.)

Pastured Poultry Conference

April 9-10, 2005.  Syracuse, NY.  The American Pastured Poultry Producers Association (APPPA), Cornell University, and Central NY RC&D are hosting the North East Pastured Poultry Conference on April 9-10, 2005. The conference will be located at the Wyndham Hotel Conference Center in Syracuse, NY. Pastured Poultry producers from through out the Northeast will be attending this conference to receive the latest information on pasturing poultry.  I and other folks with a passion for successful pasture raising of poultry will be on hand to fill everyone in on the latest developments, challenges and victories in this feather filled portion of producing clean, pasture raised products. I'll be speaking specifically on multi-species grazing techniques as well as offering a marketing talk based upon our home farm experiences.    Hope you can make it.