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Unity's Nature's Grove Farm offers pasture-raised chicken through CSA | TribLIVE.com
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Unity's Nature's Grove Farm offers pasture-raised chicken through CSA

Dan Speicher
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Dan Speicher | Tribune-Review
Chickens stand inside their "chicken tractor", a portable pen, at Nature’s Grove Farm in Unity Township, on Thursday, June 6, 2019. The birds are kept in the pens to keep them from escaping and keep predators out, and are moved each day to fresh pasture to feed on the grass and the bugs in the new area.
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Dan Speicher | Tribune-Review
Andy Vlcek, 38, co owner of Nature’s Grove Farm carts chickens to the butcher station to be processed for their Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) clients, at their Farm in Unity Township, on Thursday, June 6, 2019.
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Dan Speicher | Tribune-Review
Carol Fischer, of Greensburg, prepares to slaughter a chicken, as they work on processing their pasture raised chickens for their Community Supported Agriculture program, at Nature’s Grove Farm in Unity Township, on Thursday, June 6, 2019.
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Dan Speicher | Tribune-Review
Andy Vlcek, co-owner of Nature’s Grove Farm, breaks down a chicken, separating the legs, breasts, wings, and tenderloins, while processing their pasture raised chickens for their Community Supported Agriculture program, at their farm in Unity Township, on Thursday, June 6, 2019.
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Dan Speicher | Tribune-Review
Carol Fischer, of Greensburg, weighs and bags freshly slaughtered chickens, while processing the pasture raised chickens for the Community Supported Agriculture program, at Nature’s Grove Farm in Unity Township, on Thursday, June 6, 2019.
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Dan Speicher | Tribune-Review
Carol Fischer, of Greensburg, bags up chicken pieces while processing their pasture raised chickens for the Community Supported Agriculture program that they have, at Nature’s Grove Farm in Unity Township, on Thursday, June 6, 2019.
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Dan Speicher | Tribune-Review
Andy Vlcek, co-owner of Nature’s Grove Farm, breaks down a chicken, separating the legs, breasts, wings, and tenderloins, while processing their pasture raised chickens for their Community Supported Agriculture program, at their farm in Unity Township, on Thursday, June 6, 2019.
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Dan Speicher | Tribune-Review
Freshly slaughtered chickens are weighed and packaged for sale at Ligonier Farmers Market, and for their Community Supported Agriculture program clients, at Nature’s Grove Farm in Unity Township, on Thursday, June 6, 2019.
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Dan Speicher | Tribune-Review
Andy Vlcek, co-owner of Nature’s Grove Farm, breaks down a chicken, separating the legs, breasts, wings, and tenderloins, while processing their pasture raised chickens for their Community Supported Agriculture program, at their farm in Unity Township, on Thursday, June 6, 2019.
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Dan Speicher | Tribune-Review
Lidie Gray, co-owner of Nature’s Grove Farm, wraps chicken in butcher paper, and tags it with the weight and cut, as the team processes 30 of their pasture raised chickens for their Community Supported Agriculture program, at their farm in Unity Township, on Thursday, June 6, 2019.
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Dan Speicher | Tribune-Review
A chicken that escaped their chicken tractor, stands on the pen watching the birds below, at Nature’s Grove Farm in Unity Township, on Thursday, June 6, 2019. The birds are kept in portable pens, and are moved each day to fresh pasture to feed on the grass and the bugs in the new area.
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Dan Speicher | Tribune-Review
Carol Fischer, of Greensburg, prepares to slaughter a chicken, as they work on processing their pasture raised chickens for their Community Supported Agriculture program, at Nature’s Grove Farm in Unity Township, on Thursday, June 6, 2019.
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Dan Speicher | Tribune-Review
Andy Vlcek, co-owner of Nature’s Grove Farm in Unity Township, poses for a portrait on Thursday, June 6, 2019. Vlcek works with his mom Nancy, and aunt Lidie Gray, to raise and slaughter pasture raised chickens for a CSA, or Community Supported Agriculture program, as well as raise chickens for eggs.

Andy Vlcek didn’t grow up planning on farming.

His father died in 2010. A few years after, around 2012, Vlcek moved home to help his mother maintain Nature’s Grove Farm, their small family operation in Unity. He and his mom, Nancy, spent the next few years selling eggs and micro-greens before the idea of raising chickens began to form.

In 2018, they turned the idea into action and began to sell pasture-raised chicken through a Community Supported Agriculture, or CSA, program. Now, they raise a few hundred chickens at a time.

They offer what they call “beyond organic,” birds that receive a non-GMO grain and spend their time outside scratching the ground eating bugs and grass.

“The grass really helps to add flavor to the meat that you won’t experience with a supermarket chicken,” Vlcek said. “When you eat our birds, you taste how nature intended for them to be.”

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Categories: Local | Westmoreland
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