Healing the Earth One Chicken at a Time
Our Story
Above all, we raise everything at Liberty Acres Farm in a manner that is humane. Likewise, we embrace the essence of that particular animal, allowing them to move and eat in a more natural way. Additionally, all food produced on the farm is eaten by our family as part of a wholesome, healthy diet. Our land management practices help build healthy soil, prevent erosion and sequester carbon.
Furthermore, the farm currently produces pasture-raised broiler chickens and farm fresh eggs from pasture-raised hens. In addition, we also raise pastured pork, pasture raised turkeys, and pasture raised duck.
All animals are raised on pasture and provided with non-GMO supplemental feed and minerals as needed. Likewise, the pastures are maintained using management intensive grazing techniques. Management intensive grazing techniques help build naturally fertilized soil, sequester carbon, and reduce water runoff. So no artificial fertilizers, herbicides, pesticides, growth hormones, or antibiotics (unless needed to treat illness) are used.
We humanely process our grass fed chickens, turkeys, and ducks on-site. Sales are farm direct, through local farmers markets, and retail outlets
Above all, our goal is to help shift the current paradigm away from large, corporate, environmentally destructive, factory style farms. Instead, we want change the trend, focusing it towards small, family, eco-responsible, local food systems. In short, we want our families, friends, and customers to connect with their food.
As we finish our fourth growing season, the response from our customers has been overwhelmingly positive. We feel we have really begun to connect people with their food,and equally as important, with their farmers. Our farm is owner operated. We have no employees. When you talk with us you are talking directly to the owners/farmers. Building a healthy relationship with people is as important to us as building a healthy environment for our animals.
Unlike large factory farms, we welcome people to our farm and enjoy telling our story and showing people around. We have nothing to hide at Liberty Acres Farm and feel the more people know about where their food is coming from, the more they understand why its better for them, the animals and the environment.
Are We Organic?
Every so often, customers will ask if our products are organic. The simple answer is: no. However, it really isn’t that simple. In order to say we have organic poultry and eggs, we must be certified. That certification requires mountains of paperwork, meticulous record keeping, and paying a third-party certifier. Currently, we have neither the time nor the resources to do this.
What certified organic means with regards to eggs:
1 – Hens must be raised in a cage-free environment. Cage-free means exactly what it sounds like, the birds aren’t in cages. They can, and usually are, raised in giant chicken houses with over 10,000 birds in them.
2 – Birds must have access to the outdoors. Sounds great, doesn’t it? Of course it does! That is, until you learn that access to the outdoors means a one square foot door leading to a 12’x12′ concrete patio.
3 – Birds are fed a certified organic vegetarian diet. Great unless you are an omnivore like a chicken.
4 – Hens are never given antibiotics or hormones. That actually is a good thing.
Our birds:
1 – Our birds live outside in small groups and have a movable shelter where they sleep and lay eggs.
2 – As stated above, our birds are outside. Our farm surrounds them with an electric fence to keep them safe from predators. We move them to fresh pasture at least once a week.
3 – Our birds are fed noncertified GMO-free feed from a local mill. Being outside, they eat bugs and worms and grass as well as their feed ration. We give them fresh water at least daily.
4 – Our hens are never given antibiotics or hormones.
I hope this helps differentiate our us from the organic eggs you find in the local supermarket.
Buying Local
One purchase can support an entire community of local businesses.
When you buy from Liberty Acres Farm, you aren’t just supporting Liberty Acres. You are supporting Johnsonville Farm and Garden, where we get many of our farm supplies. Our Non-GMO Feed is milled at Triple M Farms in Lebanon, PA. When you buy our pork or lamb you are supporting Lehigh Valley Meats, who does our USDA processing, smoking, sausage making and packaging. Our piglets come from R and M Farms in Wantage, NJ. Our broilers and turkeys are from Reich Poultry . Along with these major suppliers of ours, there is also the local hardware store, auto parts store, along with others. Above all, we believe shopping local is important for our customers and equally, if not more, important for us.
