World's priciest chicken at Beargrass?

[Robin Garr]

Last week at the Beargrass Farmers' Market, on a tip from Leila Gentle, I picked up a frozen chicken from a new vendor, Earth's Promise Farm of Shelbyville.

Everything about it sounded great: A certified organic farm producing what's said to be the only true pasture-raised chickens in the region, hormone-free and natural. It's gotta taste great!

However, after I got the thing home, a bit of buyer's remorse set in when I took a closer look at the tab: They charged me $5-something a pound for this bird, well over 15 bucks for a three-pound fryer.

This may be the priciest chicken I've ever bought in my life, right up there with <i>poulet de Bresse</i> in France. I'm sure it's bodaciously delicious, but still ... have any of you tried the chicken from this farm, or know anything about the folks? Are they taking advantage of a presumably affluent St. Matthews audience?

OOOOOUUUCCCHH! Robin!

Was it the booth with all the tables in front of it, that was also making breakfast?

You could be right about the motives... It has happened to ME before.
But first thought would be: Could they have made a calculative error?

I will check it out tomorrow.

[Robin Garr]

OOOOOUUUCCCHH! Robin!

Was it the booth with all the tables in front of it, that was also making breakfast?

You could be right about the motives... It has happened to ME before.
But first thought would be: Could they have made a calculative error?

I will check it out tomorrow.

No, it was the booth out in the "island" in the middle of the main portion. They also had a live chicken in a tiny cage, just room enough for it to turn around, which also seemed a little sketchy, but to their credit, they had set up a fan for the little critter.

The price was definitely correct ... something like $5.04 per pound for a bird that cost a little over three pounds.

Since I paid the same total for a nice rib eye from Dreamcatcher, and the chicken has more meat on it, it didn't really seem right to complain. Still, that's an awful lot for chicken!

Yea,
That's them!

They have a guy there named Jason who is the "spokesperson", and he can come on a little strong. He comes off as a bit of a "carnie"
Sounds a little suspect. I'll shop tomorrow.

Well, sounds like paid about $10 premium for the things you mentioned. Sounds high but I guess you have to pay extra if you don't want a tortured chicken.

However, I tend to check the prices of items before I buy them and take them home

[Robin Garr]

However, I tend to check the prices of items before I buy them and take them home

You got a point there, Brian!

Seriously, though, I feel strongly about natural, chemical-free and humanely raised poultry, seafood and meat, and for a combination of ethical, environmental and health reasons, I'm willing to pay more than premium price to get it, with extra credit to local and regional producers. Same goes for restaurants, by the way - I wish we had more folks here making it a point to acquire and serve such product.

But yeah, $15-plus for a frying hen kind of got my attention, after the excitement of WOW! PASTURE-RAISED CHICKENS! got past.

Robin,

We are very familiar with Earth's Promise (looked into them for the store and buy at the Farmer's Market). Yes, they are pricey but their methods are much more expensive to do than regular "free- range". Their pastured poultry is basically raised the way Old MacDonald would: all organic, totally pastured in the field (they move a tent aroun during the day to give them cover as they move them from place spot to spot) raising heritage-type chickens, no antibiotics, etc. A lot of folks don't realize that you can call chicken "free-range" if you let it out of the coop for a very short-time during the day ( I think it's a hour and a half).

From what I've seen, Jason is just an inexperienced (Hippyish) owner who's very excited about his product. They are not trying to rip anyone off: Their costs are much higher, and until the Farmer's market, their market has been direct to restaurants (I think they sell to Lilly's and Proof among others) . They've also seen what prices their type of chicken fetch in Manhattan, etc: there is no one else in Kentucky that does it the way they do. Keep in mind, these aren't business people: I think their prices may adjust after they get used to a consumer market. We couldn't carry them at the store because they were too expensive .

I've got to tell you, we buy one or two split chickens there every week : the chicken is OUTSTANDING! Truly the best I've ever tasted. And you are right, it's much more like a specialty bird than an regular chicken. We grill them with very simple prep: last time I did a Dijon- herb sauce under the skin. The very small split breasts we got last time were $6.50 for two, and we just keep our portions small. THat's only $3.25 a peiece for dinner. And we eat every last morsel, literally tearing them apart to get every possible piece (another reason why I like the split breasts. )

Can you tell I'm hooked? (and no, I have no connection with them: only talked them at the Market).

Deb

[color=blue][i][color=darkblue]First of all, the best buy at this farmer's market is the first vendor on the left as you enter. No one has better corn on the cob than this man. He also has seedless watermelon that is amazing. He is my first stop - put the corn & watermelon in my car, then go back and browse the rest of the vendors.....

Try the Marinara sauce sold by Chef Chris Howerton. I haven't had sauce like his in a very long time. It's very much like what I remember from my trip to Italy.

Last, but not least, look for "Heavenly Honey". This a a small booth with a great lady selling her home-made-honey products, usually there by herself..... her chow-chow is a weekly purchase for us. Hot or mild, it's outrageous. Her salsa is an addiciting jar of goodness...... just ask Ashley. It's made with the perfect blend of hot, sweet, and fresh..... she even sells hand cream made from her honey. But try the chow-chow[color=darkblue]![/i][/color]

A few of us are there at 8am when they open...... for a good reason.[/color][/color]

Thanks for clearing that up Deb....

Being From NY, I always have a guard up! (to a fault), although with teenagers I haven't been wrong yet!

That is a hell of a lot of "feed" for a chicken though!

This discourse strikes me as very funny. I live in the Highlands - not exactly considered rural. My house was built in 1912. When I dig in the back yard to plant flowers, I routinely find shards of pottery. My elderly neighbors have told me that those who lived here before me scattered the pieces in the yard because they raised chickens, and the hens had to feed on such broken pottery to produce the shell for the eggs they laid.

I can just picture my forebears spinning in their graves at the thought of the term "free range chickens" and paying five bucks a pound for the critters. They just went to the back yard, grabbed one of the varmints and wrung its neck prior to dinner. They would be laughing at us now.

I know what you mean!

My dad is constantly telling me and my kids about all the times he had to chase the chicken around the back yard (Long Island NY) after his father had
dropped the ax on the poor thing!!

I know what you mean!

My dad is constantly telling me and my kids about all the times he had to chase the chicken around the back yard (Long Island NY) after his father had
dropped the ax on the poor thing!!

That was my job at my grandparent's in Iowa. Every year my parents would visit and buy 24 chickens from the egg lady which were dispatched in one afternoon and frozen for later. The only time I ever saw chickens fly was when they were headless.
The idea of moving a tent around for the chicken's comfort seems to me the height of silliness. I'm sure the egg lady is twirling in her grave.

I saw one of those free range chickens lounging around in front of Thornberry's pie shop last year, they said she'd been there around a week or so and the guys from the hardware store were feeding her. I didn't see anyone following her around with a Sunbrella however.

Heather,

It's not about the feed (though that's one factor).Being certified organic is very expensive to maintain, especially for the small farmer. Their feed has to be organic, fields where they eat have to be organic, etc. And the big issue is volume, because their methods are land and labor-intensive , their volume iis inherently small, which drives up their costs per bird substantially. Waterworks Farm , the other Shelbyville Poultry -raiser I know of, (which also has very good chicken) is not organic, ( they are free-range) Because to do so would be too expensive.

Regarding the tents: I think that was only a temporary measure due to our extreme heat. And while it sounds that really pampered chicken- it actually is just protecting their valuable "crop" - Jason said the birds don't put on weight when they get too hot and remember they are moved from area to area with a temporary fence so they probably can't just go find shade like Grandpa's birds did.

Deb

Deb,

I meant "FEED", money, to feed the people selling the chickens!