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Community Corner

The Way God Intended

A local woman raises chickens on a diet of feed that's not genetically modified and bugs.

I met Mary Beth Sellers last year when a photo of her chicken tractor caught my eye in the paper. I had never seen the likes of a chicken tractor. My natural proclivity to buy local meat and produce brings me in contact with many interesting neighbors.

I bought my first chickens from Pastured Meats last year when it was in Canton. Mary Beth and I share a common desire to eat food as close to the way God made it, which is what led her into her chicken foray. Her chickens are raised on a diet of feed that's not genetically modified and bugs. She learned Chicken Raising 101 from a family friend kind enough to loan her some of her first equipment to help her get started.

Mary Beth recently moved from Canton to Ball Ground to purchase more land to expand their farming efforts. She started eating healthier in her late teens and became even more interested after moving to Atlanta and seeing all the health food restaurants and bakeries making whole grain breads. She grew up with a wonderful 4-H leader named Irene Dubose.

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"She taught us how to bake bread and preserve food," she said.

Mary Beth's grandmother was also very frugal and preserved a lot of her foods so she grew up with that role model, too. Almost everywhere she has lived, she's had a garden. After moving to Canton, her garden expanded and she started raising chickens for eggs. She butchered her first rooster with her father-in-law, ringing its neck and skinning it.

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"It was inedible," she said.

Her next effort was even less glamorous, eviscerating her next bird as she followed directions in the book Back to Basics. Three years ago, under the tutelage of an experienced friend, she raised some meat birds and butchered them. 

"I really enjoyed the results," she said. "After the real estate market turned south, my husband Chip, a realtor, had more time to invest in building chicken tractors and brooder boxes for me to get the pastured poultry business up and running. The demand for clean meat (animals raised without hormones or antibiotics and fed according to their natural diets) is large and no one was doing pastured poultry in this area. We saw a demand and eagerly filled it."

The tiny chicks spend a few weeks in a warmed brooding house her husband constructed, then are kept in a portable, bottomless pen on wheels. Mary Beth said the tractor is great because "it allows them to just be chickens—scratch, peck and take dust baths. They don't get that in the larger operations." It also protects them from predators, such as hawks. Hawks love chickens.

A few things surprised me as I watched her gather eggs. There are no nests. The chickens lay their eggs right on the grass.

Another was how pretty some of the chickens are. And the sounds chickens make are very calming. Someone should put the sound on one of those nature alarm clocks. The flock of chicks gently peep-peeping and the gravely brawk-brawk of hens are deceptively relaxing. It takes a lot of work to keep chickens.

This year is the second year Pastured Meats is open to the public. USDA regulations allow for on-farm poultry processing as long as the birds are for the individual family's use and not sold to the public. Once full-grown, the chickens are harvested in a Kosher manner by Mary Beth, her family and friends. They are chilled, then bagged for either pick up or the freezer.

Mary Beth is at the forefront of the more community-minded citizens, citizens who bring their children to the Farmer's Market in Canton on Saturdays to see where their food comes from. Some are drawn to eat cleaner food by health issues. Some want to support locally grown; some to be greener, organic, or a hundred other reasons they choose to pay a little more for real food.

"I love to meet my customers and talk about what we do even if they don't buy anything," she said. "I appreciate the support and that they value what we are doing. They know the time and energy it takes to get that product to them. They want to visit the farm. They want to see what we are doing and how it is being done. We have even had several vegetarians try our chickens because we are using a clean feed, no antibiotics or vaccines and raining the birds humanely. That appeals to them."

Mary Beth said she loves what she and her husband do.

"I have wanted to farm all my life, but not in the conventional way," she said. "I am happiest outside in my mukluk boots growing something or pulling weeds or harvesting chickens because I know in the end, I am going to feed someone a wonderful chicken or egg or vegetable that will bless their table and bodies—the way God intended."

And now, you've met Mary Beth.

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