The Renegade Poultry Project

I've been so busy with getting everything together for the Mile-Hi Farmers' Market that I've neglected my blog writing duties.  But since I got some really nice feedback today from our newest renter, I got some motivation to get back on it! What better to write about than a "behind the scenes" on what goes into our daily-life coop building.  In December while planning for the new year, Cameron & I committed to building up as much of a stock as we can this winter to be ready for the market season.  We didn't anticipate renting out/selling out every time we got a small stock going, it seemed as soon as we finished one there was demand for another.  I'm not complaining by any means, this is what we want, this is how our business works - but we did think (at one point) that we would be able to get ahead of the curve...we laugh about that now. Artisan Valley Smokehouse Custom Chicken Coops: Ben of AVS called us in February to order two custom coops ...

After a nice but snowy trip to Chicago & Detroit to visit/meet my family, we're back in the land of enchantment...I've never been more happy to call this place home .  In the snow Cameron decided to make an honest woman out of me and put a shiny rock on my finger, now I really feel home with my biggest motivator and best friend. Now with the feeling we can accomplish anything together, we are stoked to announce our newest venture...  (as if we needed another) We will be managing the newest farmers' market in Albuquerque:   Mile-Hi Farmers Market at Alvarado Park in the newly named Mile-Hi neighborhood. Renegade Poultry was the first vendor to sign up to be at the market and it was our first market to be at.  It's pretty fitting that we take over as we know first hand what the market represents for this neighborhood.   This little seed of an idea has been slowly growing in my head since probably December when Cameron got word of the management...

Its so surreal to see ourselves in this top selling magazine in Albuquerque...Albuquerque the Magazine! We knew it was coming, we had the interview with Tom back in October and had basically forgot all that we had talked about over the hour and a half he stayed to chat.  That's mostly what I was wondering about, 'how the hell is he gonna fit all of what was said into a page or two of magazine?' The photo shoot was in mid January, at way too early in the morning for me.  Cameron likes to schedule things so that I have to wake up with the rooster to be functional by the time of scheduled event, torture for this night-owl...'conditioning' for chicken-farming he says.  The photographer brought his big lights and took tons of pictures, in the workshop, in the backyard, in the chicken run, all over really.  We had a bit of a bet going as to which set of photos would be published in anticipation for last night. Last night was the release party for the March edition...

Albuquerque’s city ordinance on poultry is a maximum of 15 hens and 1 rooster.   We’ll be pushing that limit with our baby chickens which will soon be considered hens.   Fortunately with Rent-A-Coop we can get most of these girls to other backyards in ABQ.   Winters are pretty mild here and this month of February has been incredibly beautiful, so our girls are laying on schedule…all 15 of them.   Plus since the addition of our rescued-rooster Paddie, all the ladies are trying to appeal to him by laying his fertilized eggs consistently.   Needless to say, we got eggs! We’re just giving them away at this point, mostly to neighbors to keep them from complaining about Paddie’s loud, early-morning crow session.   But I do consider our home an ‘urban homestead’ so I try to do as much as possible with these nutrient-packed gifts from our flock.   I lived in France for several years.   I like to say “I became a woman in France”.   T...

Ahhhhh finalllllly! It'd be an understatement to say we had a case of cabin-fever this winter... Even though the last couple months have been like a Mid-Western autumn for this thick skin, what really kills me is the lack of daylight.  I usually work the evening shift and Cameron the day, so we've barely seen each other during daylight since November.  I moved in officially January 1st, though Cameron had been calling it 'our home' since I can't even remember.  So really its only been a month and a few, but at this point we're both convinced we live in a dimension outside of time.  The only thing that relates us back to this time-based reality is the alarms I set for everything that doesn't pertain to time spent together. But we have gotten a lot done inside, the house is definitely feels like ours . New Year's Eve was spent with the pups and chickens (who we awoke at midnight to make some noise) making plans for the year together and learning how ...

Every farmers market, every phone call, every email we do the spiel.  I was trying to avoid being so business-minded on this blog - but who am I kidding, the very creation of this blog shows how proud of our business we really are.   So for any of you unaware of what Renegade Poultry or Renegade Rent-A-Coop is, this one's for you...  We are a two-person team working towards building a local, organic, hormone/antibiotic-free poultry farm here in New Mexico for the local community (a real emphasis on local ).   This would be "The Renegade Poultry Project" which really only sprouted in Cameron's mind less than a year ago.  In its infancy stages, we are currently looking for land hopefully in the Sandia mountains East of Albuquerque to avoid the summer heat at city-level.  We have most of the vision sorted out so far, at least how we would like the farm to function.  I doubt that what we plan is what will be implemented to a tee, if we...

The Grind. After getting used to such an intense weekly grind its hard to rest.  Its hard to not work, not find something to do when for the last 6 months the 'to-do' list has seemed endless. So it's winter - my first winter in New Mexico - if you can call this winter...I got snowed in and stayed in my pajamas for days last winter in Detroit, where it's generally accepted that hell is a cold place.  Here it's warm thanks to that Southwestern sun and the car is as toasty as the house on a clear day. But the sun only hangs out for so long, not as much work can be done outside - this effects our 'grind'. We both work full time jobs too...well Cameron does, he's the finest butcher I've ever seen (and by fine I mean fine ).  I was a vegetarian before I met him.  Maybe its the slightest scent of blood that has stuck to him over the years, but he makes me crave the protein and vitality only grass-fed beef gives the body (a craving I haven't felt...