Shellys Garden Tour
On Sunday, October 17, 2010, CUESA organized a tour to Glashoff Farms (which grows berries, walnuts, persimmons, citrus, French prunes, and more) and to Shelly’s Garden, which raises hens for eggs as well as culinary herbs and tomatoes.
When we got off the bus at Shelly's Garden in Brentwood, we were greeted by Shelly McMahon and her husband Connie. At right is tour organizer Julie Cummins of CUESA.
Connie works off the farm, managing commercial construction projects, but he was there on a Sunday to welcome the group.
Shelly's laying hens arrive at the farm as chicks, and spend their first few weeks entirely indoors. (These babies are 2 weeks old). Heat lamps warm the space constantly for 3-4 weeks, but are left on only at night as the birds get older.
The chicks are fed a special feed called crumble that mimics grain that has been broken up by mother hens.
These babies are about six weeks old.
She keeps six different varieties of hens.
Shelly pulled out one baby that had an injured leg and carried it around for the rest of the tour.
Once the hens are big enough, they go outdoors. The doors to the hen houses are always open and the hens are free to roam. Shelly keeps several coops around their 10-acre parcel; they just started leasing another 13-acre parcel so they can expand production.
This is the view inside of one of the hen houses. The hens eat a custom blend of feed that contains grains, oyster shell and vitamins. (Unlike most commercial feeds, she doesn't add rice hulls as filler.) The feed is mixed, crushed and pelletized. This is necessary because of the pecking order -- if it weren't pelletized, the top birds would pick out all the high-protein feed.
The houses are cleaned out weekly. The hens' manure is collected and will add nutrients to next year's vegetable field.
Shelly uses no sprays, chemicals or hormones on her hens. They usually lay their eggs in these nests, but Shelly says she also often find eggs outside the hen house as well. She has about one nesting box for every 10 hens. The nests have pine pellets inside.
She has about 1200 hens in production now and 700 babies. She's getting another 1000 soon for the new parcel of land.
A hen lays about one egg every 25-27 hours. Bigger hens are generally slower layers.
Egg production slows down significantly in the winter for pastured hens, due to shorter days and cooler temperatures. The year-round abundance of eggs that we have become accustomed to is made possible by artificial lighting and temperatures in indoor industrial operations.
The small dust cloud on the right is the product of dust bathing, which is a natural behavior that the hens seem to enjoy; it also helps them keep parasites under control.
They dig wells in the dirt to bathe in. This is a behavior that hens in industrial operations don't get to engage in.
The hens are kept for 3-4 years, after which point their laying decreases significantly. Shelly doesn't like to slaughter the birds herself so a neighbor does it. Hens of this age yield tough meat that is generally used for stocks and stews.
"These birds will have one bad day -- instead of living in a cage their whole life," says Shelly.
The McMahons' land used to be located 2 miles outside of Brentwood. At that time, coyotes were sometimes a problem--one winter they lost 70 hens. Now, because of the town's rapid growth (the population has risen from 6,000 to 55,000 in 20 years), the farm is only a mile outside of town. Coyotes are now much more scarce.
These are Shelly's rescue burros. She got them from Nevada and uses their manure for compost.
Shelley gathers the eggs in baskets for washing.
The McMahons' egg cleaner is old, but very similar to new machines that are still being made.
We got to see the cleaner in action. Here Connie feeds the eggs into the machine; when they come out on the other end, they will have been washed with cold water and dried.
Shelly's son Nick (one of four) is at the other end of the machine, collecting and putting the eggs in boxes. In his hand is a green egg from the Araucana breed.
She sells the eggs at farmers markets and in two Whole Foods stores. She made this pasture-raised label and says they are flying off the shelves. They retail at $6.
She generally includes one green Araucana egg in each box. She says she once got a call from Whole Foods asking why there were only 11 eggs in each box. It turned out that people were stealing the green eggs!
Each box is stamped with two dates: the date the eggs were laid and an expiration date, 4 weeks from the lay date. Eggs keep (in the refrigerator) from 4 to 6 weeks, but as they get older they lose some nutrients. Older eggs are great for hard boiling because they are much easier to peel than very fresh hard-boiled eggs.
Shelly also grows a variety of culinary herbs.
She had basil, lemon basil, cinnamon basil, thyme, lemon thyme, summer savory, rosemary, tarragon, sage, chives, sorrel, lemon verbena, parsley, and more. Shelly explained how to use each herb.
Shelley was also kind enough to give us all a bunch to take home -- an especially bright ending to a drizzly afternoon (note the rain on the camera lens).
Thanks, McMahons!
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About CUESA
CUESA (Center for Urban Education about Sustainable Agriculture) is dedicated to cultivating a sustainable food system through the operation of farmers markets and educational programs. Learn More »