Farm Tour 2009, Part 1

Friday morning at 8 a.m., I was at Lord Botetourt High School ready to board a tour bus with my friend Meg, who is also editor of the Salem-Times Register.

The Cooperative Extension Office was offering up a farm tour, and we decided to go. Well, actually Meg decided we would go and I agreed. Since I live on a farm and I am allergic to things like chickens and hay, I wasn't sure it was a good idea but I went along anyway.

I knew five other people who were on the tour, and it was nice to see them, too.

Our first stop was at Blue Ridge Poultry Farm. It is located in the Nace/Camp Bethel area of Botetourt County.



The house is one of the county's older homes, built in the 1800s (I think they said 1842 but I wasn't taking notes). The bricks were fired right on the premises.



About 60 people were on the tour. My friend Cathy from The Botetourt View came to take pictures and do a story.

Below is Angie Lenoire, our host at Blue Ridge Poultry.



She and Patricia Whitt raise chickens. The birds are raised in a pasture and not kept cooped up like chickens in large establishments.



This is how she keeps the chickens. She does not keep them over the winter so they don't really need a place to stay warm.



The birds are slaughtered and their feathers plucked with a feather-plucking machine. The birds are sold to folks who want to support this kind of farming.

Angie also sells her chickens at the Botetourt Farmers' Market at Ikenberry Orchards on Saturday.

Join me tomorrow for Part 2.