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City opens free-range chicken farm

By adamg on Thu, 08/26/2010 - 7:04pm

City officials gather on Long Island tomorrow morning to dedicate the addition of free-range chickens to the Serving Ourselves farm, which provides organic food - and job training - for the city's homeless. The Boston Public Health Commission, which oversees Serving Ourselves, says this is Boston's first free-range chicken farm.

Neighborhoods: 
Dorchester
Free tagging: 
Boston Harbor
Long Island


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Comments

By NotWhitey on Thu, 08/26/2010 - 7:44pm.

So the public can't get access to Long Island, but the city can run a free-range chicken farm for homeless people there?

Did I just write that? You couldn't make it up in a million years.

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By O-FISH-L on Fri, 08/27/2010 - 3:05am.

Since you can't get to Long Island by road without going through Quincy, and since it's unlikely that the hens will be transported by boat, have Quincy officials signed off on all of this poultry being transported through the prestigious Squantum section?

Don't forget, an uprising of Squantum residents about 20 years ago forced the city of Boston to halt the clear-cutting of several acres of forest on adjacent Moon Island that was planned to accomodate a police firing range. Squantum residents also essentially stopped the transport of bombs and other explosives that had long been trucked through Quincy on their way to disposal at Moon Island. Long Island is only a couple of hundred yards away. Will Squantum residents tolerate the trafficking in chickens? As the guy from Bob's Discount Furniture sayson his TV ads, "I doubt it."

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By NotWhitey on Fri, 08/27/2010 - 11:13am.

Power to the people - free range chickens, no peace!

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By eeka on Sat, 08/28/2010 - 10:25am.

You have to show ID and have a reason to go on the island, but it's not like there are only a few super-seekrit reasons to get on. I'd say that it's about like getting in to any office park or apartment development that has a security procedure at the gate.

Camp Harbor View is held on the island, so a lot of area teens go to the island. People who work in the various businesses on the island obviously go there, and they can have lunch visitors and whatnot. If you really want to see Long Island and explore the place a bit, I'd think the easiest way would be to schedule an interview at one of the businesses. E-mail me and I can tell you of the various openings I know of.

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By anon on Sun, 08/29/2010 - 6:32pm.

...details were in the link.

The Farm provides wonderful volunteer opportunities for individuals and for corporate or school community service projects. Land clearing, planting and harvesting while working side-by-side with program participants is a rewarding experience for all. If you, your company or school would like to join us for a day (or two) on our organic farm, please contact Mariann Bucina at (617) 534-2526, ext. 46148 or via email at [email protected]. Individual volunteers under the age of 21 must be accompanied by a parent or guardian.

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By anon on Fri, 08/27/2010 - 12:41am.

Will they be selling fresh eggs in town on their days off?

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By KnickerbockerGal on Fri, 08/27/2010 - 1:37am.

On alternate Sundays and for the edification of each consecutive generation of these emancipated fine feathered fowl, King Chapel services will be attended. Roosting acommodations generously provided in the Council Chamber for the nursing hens and their chicks

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By CB on Fri, 08/27/2010 - 10:28am.

That the shelter out there had a farm and provided all of that training. That is so awesome. Apparently they sell 15% of the farm's yield at local farmers markets, so perhaps they will start selling free range eggs and poultry as well. It's nice to read some good news for a change.

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By adamg on Fri, 08/27/2010 - 1:15pm.

From a press release from the Boston Public Health Commission:

The chicken farm has about 50 Rhode Island Red hens that are fed organic grains and food scraps from the organic farm, such as carrot tops and produce that is past-ripe. The hens are free of antibiotics and hormones, which are requirements the farm must meet as it pursues organic certification, and they have access to the outdoors, thanks to a solar-panel automatic door that allows them to graze freely and fertilize other areas of the farm, and also protects them at night. Each hen is expected to produce between 250 and 300 light-to-dark brown eggs each year. Starting next summer, the eggs will be sold at local farmers' markets and distributed to the Long Island homeless shelter.

Mayor Menino proposed the idea of the chicken farm after one of his visits to Long Island, where the existing 2.5-acre farm produces an average of 25,000 pounds a year of certified organic vegetables, flowers, and herbs. The produce is sold at farmers’ markets, used at the homeless shelter, and purchased by Boston restaurants, such as Ashmont Grill and Tavolo Ristorante, both in Dorchester and owned by local chef Chris Douglass.

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By karenz on Fri, 08/27/2010 - 9:15pm.

Any word on which farmer's markets they sell at? Would love to check out their products to support their cause.

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By frayednot on Fri, 08/27/2010 - 1:43pm.

Maybe Menino's excitement about the chicken farm on Long Island will extend to him lifting the ban on chicken farming in the city?
I know alot of people raise chickens in their back yards, but it's illegal. Maybe the non-homeless could get the opportunity too?

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By sup3rmark on Fri, 08/27/2010 - 2:44pm.

Give a man a chicken, and he eats for a day. Teach a man to chicken, and he... um... eats a lot more chicken?

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