In the past couple of years there has been a growing distrust among producers and consumers over USDA organic regulations. The latest unrest over the "access to pasture" clause in organic livestock operations has been splashed across many national newspapers. Underlying the debate over organic milk standards another question awaits the nation's organic poultry operations. Namely: "What is adequate access to pasture for chickens?"

The crew at Harmony Organics in Morristown, MN has answered that question with strict practices of their own, a dedication to flock comfort, and an omega-rich egg with luscious, canary-yellow yokes.

Four month olds in the warm dark quarter of the roost.

Which Came First?

The Morristown farm, where owners/operators Shawn, Jason, Michelle and Randy reside, is a former horse and dairy operation. The plot was purchased in 2004 from "Lenny", a neighboring dairy farmer, who has since befriended the newcomers.

"[Lenny] asked, 'What are you going to do with [the land]?'; We said, we're going to farm," says Shawn. "No one thought we'd make it this long. We're the talk of the town."

Harmony Organics was a mere dream when the four partners met at Winona State College. Back then, they discussed different, joint business ventures, especially ones with an organic and ecological slant. "I wanted to be proud of what I did. I don't feel like that with my day job," says Randy. After a period of intense research, they eventually landed on poultry, specifically eggs. They read the only two books on free range poultry operations and finding a helpful community practicing it across the country, and then the friends decided to make a go of it, through trial and error, in the world of organic, free-range poultry.

"We started off with 100 birds," says Shawn, "because we were like, let's not kill anything here."

After purchasing a few different breeds of chicken, they decided that the New Hampshire Red would be the staple from now on. "They don't fight, they're the best for this temperature, and the best overall for organic production," says Shawn. They've had nothing but success ever since.

The group has also tried different roosting and egg-laying contraptions to find the most efficient and functional set-ups. After purchasing expensive standardized equipment and finding little luck, they tried homemade models that the birds would find more comforting. "We read that [chickens] like dark places. Now seventy percent of our eggs come from this box system," says Randy, pointing to one of the four different set-ups.

But the chickens also like the recycled black Dairy Queen buckets for roosting, too.

All For One and One For All

Like other small and mid-size family farms across the country, the farm chore list is a prominent fixture on the refrigerator. All the hard work and education is shared equally among the four residents of the farm, since each has a full time job outside the poultry operation. One of their chores is the occasional barn cleaning, where all new cedar bedding is put down for the chickens. "It takes one day to remove everything, and one day to put the new bedding in," explains Shawn. They have a graphic, pungent name for this day on their calendar.

The Harmony gang's bottom line is about the chickens' comfort. There is a built-in capacity of 2,500 chickens for the farm due to the 3 - 5 sq. ft. per chicken space requirement that the Harmony crew decided to allocate to their chickens. The 1,200 birds that currently roam the area are rotationally grazed over 10 acres of open pasture separated into three different paddocks. While the acreage is separated into three sections, Harmony has recently opened up more perimeter fencing, giving the chickens an even larger run.

"Organic standards say free-range, [but] if we don't rotate, they'll burn it all," says Shawn, referring to the natural deterioration of vegetation from the feeding, scrathing, and defecation habits of pastured birds.

Aside from the smorgasbord of organic grass and grains, the birds at Harmony Organics also feast on classical music all day through the barn's stereo system. The sound has a great calming effect for the roosting and laying chickens and acts as a deterrent to predators. It seems to work. "As far as we know, we haven't had any predators outside of an owl," says Shawn.

Beyond Organics

Co-op shoppers and organic consumers should admire that Harmony Organics' animal husbandry practices exceed the standards of most organic poultry operations.

"Nationally speaking, the way the standards are, there is some gray area," says Randy, Harmony's resident expert on USDA organic regulations.

Because there are many loose ends in the National Organic Program regarding poultry where "access to pasture" and "free-range," producers dispute and interpret the national standards a number of different ways. Does having the barn door open mean the chickens are getting "access to pasture"? Or should rotational grazing be part of organic poultry rules? Such questions may be coming to a head in the near future, as the federal National Organic Program continues to debate its existing livestock standards. Harmony Organics could certainly act as a model farm for organic poultry production, as well as providing consumers with a window into what they should be expecting of their organic food purchases.

Harmony Organics is still a burgeoning operation, but the four partners are enjoying the ups and downs of life on the farm. "It's fun out here. It takes five hours to mow the lawn," says Shawn. "I even got into country [music] when I moved out here...it was really weird," admits Randy.

The pride and adoration they have for their work, coupled with the one-for-all-and-all-for-one relationship with their animals, has brought these farmers closer to the spirit of organic farming than adhering to the mere letter of the organic law ever could.

Here, the chickens truly roam free, and farming is a family affair.