Good news, duck fans: Freshly dressed, never frozen, Pekin ducks from Farrar Out Farm will be at The Harvest Market in Kirkwood Saturdays in October. Even the farmer is anticipating the new experience: “I’m excited to taste the difference between conventional frozen duck and our pastured duck,” said Bryan Truemper. Based on the superior taste of his pastured broiler chickens and turkeys versus conventionally raised fowl, he said, “I’m expecting a fuller flavor of duck.”
The ducks’ journey from hatchery to market began when the U.S. Postal Service called Truemper to pick up a ventilated cardboard carton of 50 1-day-old ducks. Ducklings can be shipped because they can live a few days after they hatch without food or water, he said. The ducklings spent two weeks in a brooder, basking in 90-degree temperatures the first few days. Then Truemper steadily lowered the temperature to ready the ducks for their move to pasture and carefully protected the ducks from predators. (Hawks are a problem for the ducklings, but even grown ducks aren’t safe from possums, raccoons and owls.)
After two weeks, the ducks were ready for the great outdoors. Twice a day, Truemper moved the ducks to new grass inside a mobile chicken fence. Ducks eat grass almost exclusively, unlike chickens and turkeys, which eat insects as well. Pekin ducks are the most commonly grown commercial breed in America, and they reach maturity quickly: At seven to eight weeks, ducks are fully grown (about 4 to 6 pounds) and ready for market. Not a long lifespan, but at Farrar Out Farm, every day of a duck’s short life is the best a duck could have.
Truemper and his wife, Christina, run their small farm in Frohna, Mo., in a time of mega-farms and corporate agriculture. They work nine acres with conscious intent for the good of the land, the well-being of the animals and the health of the people who will eat the naturally grown food they raise.
The Truempers decided to come back to Missouri from Maine five years ago. Back then he had a job as a chef; she worked on a small farm. When the twin towers of the World Trade Center collapsed, the knowledge they were far from family and friends caused the young couple to reorder priorities.
It’s no accident Truemper ended up on the farm in Frohna. In 1964, his grandfather, Gilbert Mueller, bought the farm next door to his brother’s dairy farm. Truemper, who was raised in South County, loved to visit the farm, where his grandparents kept a large garden and a few animals. His 90-year-old grandmother, Adelma Mueller, still lives there.
Farm life rewards Truemper in ways no city existence could match. “I spend so much time with my wife and my son,” he said. “I’m able to work outdoors. I notice when the days are shorter or longer, how the light looks in different seasons. Most people don’t pay attention.” He admits there are drawbacks. “Farm life is isolated,” he said. “You spend 40 minutes driving to get anywhere. You have to plan way ahead when you only go to town once a week.”
On Saturdays, the Truempers wake at 3:30 a.m. to fill coolers and pack the truck for market. With their 21-month-old son in tow, they head to Kirkwood. Grandmother Mueller checks on the baby chicks while they’re away, typically all day. But this is how they make a living. It’s been a conscious choice for two people who returned to be close to family, to live a life that works for them.
Don’t look for the Truempers at their regular summer stand in the Kirkwood Farmers’ Market, you’ll just get lost in a maze of pumpkins, gourds and mums known as the Pumpkin Patch. Instead, travel a block west of the permanent market to a tent city of farmers and vendors set up on a grassy area in front of the parking lot. The Truempers will have about 17 ducks each Saturday. Come early.
This article appears in Sep 1-30, 2006.