Description

Our Story

When you read a label on an organic egg carton that states, “free-range or pastured” most of us will visualize chickens out on green grass enjoying the good life, but actually I have heard that the hens aren’t raised much different than the conventional model. Yes, they are given organic grain and free of toxins and antibiotics, so it is better. What most of us don’t realize is that organic hens are still raised in a huge building that lacks sunshine and nutritious green plants and bugs to devour. Fresh air, sun, plants, and bugs create very nutritious and flavorful eggs. The label “free range” simply means they aren’t in a cage and “pastured” means they have “access” to the outdoors (often through a little door with hopes that they won’t make it outside). Those quaint pictures on the box are a bit deceitful. Here at Mentink Family Farms, we are passionate about growing the best quality food for our family and customers and that means our chickens are going to be outside on pasture for as much of the season as possible. Our business started because I couldn’t find the quality of food that I demand for my family, so I started raising my own and as interest in our products grew so did our flock. My son Aiden joined this business with me several years ago and I couldn’t ask for a better partner!

Testimony

When we first started raising our chickens I gave some to my mom. She called and asked me what was wrong with our eggs and I panicked at first. Then she said “These eggs are like neon yellow, what’s wrong with them?” I didn’t know a lot about eggs and I will admit that I wondered if something was wrong as well. I did some research and was able to calm her by saying, “It’s the grass! Those eggs are so much more nutritious and you can see it in their color.” She had always eaten pale, flavorless, store eggs.

How We Raise Our Hens

Our chickens are moved every two days on our beyond organic pasture during the growing season. During the winter when it gets cold and miserable they are put into our large hoop house on a deep bedding of straw (from our beyond organic wheat) or wood chips. They are still able to soak up the sun in the hoop house, and this means more vitamin D in the eggs than chickens raised in confinement. We have egg boxes for laying, roosts for dreaming, and we strive to keep our chickens comfortable, sanitary, and the air clean to breathe.  An automatic door closes at night to keep predators out and opens in the morning on pasture. The chickens do the same thing whether the door is open or closed at night (they roost). Aiden manages the hens exceptionally well, and eggs are collected daily by him. The eggs are coming in mostly clean, and he always separates anything that is even a little questionable. We use sand paper to remove small specks of dirt and any egg that is more soiled will be eaten by us. We don’t wash the eggs (learn more here) with water because the shell of an egg is permeable, and we don’t want to introduce bacteria into the egg. These eggs should have a longer shelf life since the natural preservative will remain on the egg. We highly recommend refrigerating your eggs, because we put them in a refrigerator right away, and there is more risk leaving eggs at room temperature after they have been refrigerated. Let me know if you want eggs that haven’t been refrigerated. We feed our chickens ground, beyond organic alfalfa hay (from our farm), certified organic corn from our neighbor, and sprouted ancient grains that are raised beyond organic standards on our farm. We are not feeding soy. We also feed Thorvin Kelp, Nutribalancer, Redmond Salt, organic apple cider vinegar, diatomaceous earth, whey from our organic milk cows, and garden scraps from our farm. I love hearing from our customers! If you have a question of any kind, I would love to chat with you!