he who has health, has hope.
and he who has hope, has everything.
New to the Schlangen Family Farm?
We can figure out the best way to get food to you. We look forward to hearing from you at
mnorganiceggs@yahoo.com.
Many healthy food items are available from the Schlangen Family Farm. We do hope that you will make a grocery purchase each month as you commit to support the weekly delivery program from local farms.
In order to place an order on our new online store, you must first register with us in order to specify the local community pickup location that best fits you (ship-to-address). Plan your order for the upcoming month and leave payment at site (or mail) the first week. If you plan for $100 or more of groceries, leave payment for 1/2 in advance at the site with the balance due at mid-month. Ordering items like whole chicken, steak, etc or salmon on the first week of each month allows us to adjust the pricing for variable weights of these items. We can then update your order totals for the second half of each month.
Many healthy food items are available from us at Schlangen Organic Family Farm. We do hope that you will make a grocery purchase each month as you commit to support the weekly delivery program from local farms. We've recently added a minimum $5 per month delivery/service fee to cover rising fuel costs and to keep product cost low. If you'd like further information, feel free to ask additional questions.
Our Delivery Sites Include:
TUESDAYS
Plymouth Area (494/394)
Northwestern Health Sciences Univ. (Bloomington)
Traditional Foods MN Warehouse (South Minneapolis)
Macalester College
St. Paul (South of MM Selby)
Woodbury
Eagan
Albertville
Monticello
THURSDAYS
Traditional Foods MN Warehouse (South Minneapolis)
Nokomis (Near The Lake)
Maplewood
Lino Lakes/Hugo
Ham Lake
Andover
St. Cloud (Good Earth Food Coop)
Note: Delivery/PickUp is available at the
Traditional Foods Minnesota Warehouse.
(South Minneapolis)
Food Co-Ops Served:
Good Earth; St. Cloud
Mississippi Markets; Selby and Randolph
Lakewinds; Minnetonka
Schlangen Family Farm. Freeport, Minnesota. Since 1986.
2009 Schlangen Family Farm. All Rights Reserved.
THE SCHLANGEN
FAMILY FARM
originated in 1986 when Alvin and Alice Schlangen decided to look for a country home to raise my sister and me. They found a five-acre parcel with a farmhouse and operational henhouse of 15,000 hens near New Munich, Minnesota. Alvin and Alice Schlangen continued to work full-time, off-farm in order to support the farm until 1990 when they got serious about the business and were able to construct and equip a costly agribusiness egg-layer facility for 80,000 hens.
After only ten years of operation in a system unsuited for Minnesota winters, the equipment had become scrap. Over the course of those ten years, new insights into the nature of farming with its biodynamic relationship to health (of body, mind, spirit and nature) resulted in the recycling (if I recall correctly, over many freezing finger, winter days) of some 50 tons of steel from cages and feeders. The beginning of the task of remodeled half of the length of the henhouse to accommodate healthy organic hens and their subsequently healthy eggs soon followed.
The process towards sustainable farming continues, but already the farm has seen dramatic changes. Sunlight is crucial to the health of the birds as pathogens happily dwell in wet and shaded environments. At the Schlangen Family Farm, hens now have full access to green pastures and direct sunlight from spring to fall. In winter they bask in sun shining through recycled glass windows facing the southern skies while scratching away in unlimited recycled paper bedding.
The food distribution program was established specifically to get our organic eggs and meat directly to the consumer. In order to make the delivery a more sustainable process, environmentally and economically, we decided to deliver a variety of food products from local business such as Sno-Pac, Gourmet Parlor Pizza, and North Star. As of January 2009, ordering is available through an online store that decreases our order processing time.
We have begun and annual series of seasonal events including a Summer Solstice Festival and also have weekend farm tours (RSVP via Online Store or Email). Our efforts at direct food delivery and farm tours are a step we are taking to connect people with food. Contact us if you would like to visit the farm.
We are thrilled to offer our products directly to our members and invite you to join us in the quest for healthier food grown in healthier environments.
FARMER'S MARKET
Look for us at the Midtown Farmers' Market (Minneapolis), May through October, as we represent the sustainable family farms of the region.
ABOUT OUR EGGS & HENS:
The feed ration with added flax meal, wheat and peas promotes higher levels of Omega-3 and Vitamin E. The hens will live a longer, healthier life as they remain full feathered and deliver the jumbo eggs that our market consumers love!
Winter-market customers love our stewing hens as they make the tastiest and healthiest chicken soup imaginable! We also raise grass-fed broiler (raised for meat) chickens during the summer (available in the fall).
SUSTAINABLE
PRACTICES:
We recycle discarded paper from various sources to use as bedding for our chickens. The paper is shredded, used for bedding on the barn floor and, like most everything we give to the chickens, eventually turned into compost after being cleared form the barn floor. Paper bedding helps to keep our birds and eggs clean and healthy.
