Pastured chicken

Soul Food Farm raises poultry on our 55 acres of certified organic pasture in Vacaville, CA. Our biggest challenges with our pastured system are protecting the birds from the intense Vacaville heat and from the numerous nighttime predators.

Unlike birds bred to survive the rigors of crowded industrial chicken operations, with abnormally large breasts and the ability to grow unnaturally fast on a carbohydrate-heavy diet, our Colored Ranger birds are adapted to live outdoors on a foraged "salad bar" diet supplemented with high-quality grain. They are known for their superior taste and meat texture. During the peak grass season we also often incorporate Red Broilers as a second meat bird to offer our customers.

Each week we receive 600 day-old baby chicks from the hatchery. They are first raised indoors for 3 to 4 weeks in a special house we call the nursery (or predators would eat them all), where they get certified organic feed. At 4 weeks we move them into "chicken tractors" out in the field. This year we are using the chicken tractors just to transition the baby chicks from the nursery to the field. They are only in them for about 4 to 5 days, depending on the weather and how well they are adjusting. The next step is to build a large, fenced corral where they are let out and can forage and move freely for the next several weeks. We change the location of the corrals every three days so that they can have clean pasture and new, delicious things to eat.

At 9 weeks our birds are slaughtered and processed by hand at a small Sacramento-area facility. They average 3.75 to 4.5 pounds.

Pastured chicken partners

Soul Food Farm is partnering with Rock Hill Ranch for a pilot project to start a network of pastured birds raised according to SoulFood Farm standards and animal-management procedures. We believe that it is better not to get bigger and overtax our pasture and labor, but to engage more small farms in doing what we do, how we do it and form a sustainable network.

Rock Hill Ranch is in the historical Suisun Valley, a flourishing agricultural hub about 10 minutes south of Soul Food Farm. The property is certified organic by CCOF and the birds are being raised outside on a 20-acre olive orchard by Jim Parr, who is also the vineyard manager for Winterhawk winery, and his partner Albert Katz, who makes olive oil. We mention that Jim and Albert are now Soul Food Farm partners, both on this website and on packaging for those particular chickens, because we think the origin and terroir of the chickens we distribute is important.

We believe this satellite model can help small farms to stay small, in regards to land/plot/labor force, yet still develop and grow in a way that will make feeding thousands of people actually possible. We hope to see lots of new farms springing up, run by dedicated people growing Soul Food Farm chickens and doing what we started this venture for: to provide food that nourishes people's souls as well as their stomachs.