Description
Clay Yapp is originally from Madison, Wisconsin. He is the Garden Manager and a general intern at Hoch Orchards and Gardens. Clay was initially interested in the orchard when he attended a field day with Foxtail Farm last year. After the field day, he inquired about an intern position at Hoch Orchard because he was curious and wanted to gain more knowledge on fruit production. Clay has worked with mostly vegetable farming in the past, so he is using his previous experience to organize and maintain the gardens at Hoch Orchards this year. Working with a group of culturally diverse interns is one of Clay’s most appreciated aspects of the orchard.
This is all done to verify the integrity of our organic system and make sure we have the ability to trace back and document how the food was produced. Our customers can be sure that our products are truly organic. You don’t have to take our word on it. We have MOSA working with us to confirm that we are truly organic according to the National Organic Standards.
We are also working with MOSA in a pilot project to create a certification process for a domestic fair trade program. MOSA is currently working with the Agricultural Justice Project (AJP) to develop standards that verify a farm is getting fair prices for its products and providing a living wage and healthy working conditions for its employees.
Yavittha (Road) Phitakwatchara is a MESA student from Ubon-Ratchatani, Thailand with a degree in Agroindustry. Road came to the United States as an intern to gain experience in the field, because in Thailand she was more of a scientific researcher. Road came to Hoch Orchards and Gardens because she heard good reviews from a previous intern, Kamolpatara (Pookie) Kasikam. Road’s favorite things about Hoch Orchard and Gardens are working with her new friends and eating fresh, healthy foods from the orchard.
Our Freedom Rangers were grown for a little over three months to a nice roaster size. The meat from these birds is of the highest quality. Unlike the hybrid birds grown indoors and butchered at nine weeks, our birds have firm flavorful meat. The white meat is a creamy tan color and the dark meat is light brown. Given the amount of exercise these birds get you will find there is more leg and thigh meat than breast.