Our Free-Range Meat Program

Meadow Creek Farms was born out of the desire to connect Northern Alberta consumers directly with quality meat and field-grown vegetables. Mandy Melnyk farms on her parents' land near Waskatenau, Alberta. From an early age, she learned the value of hard work and the importance of family farms and local food systems. Mandy has been learning how to make things work with her operation since 2011.

What We Value: We feed our animals slowly. They are fed wheat, barley, peas; our feed DOES NOT contain soya, canola, or corn. When accessible, we try to purchase grain from local neighbours and our sausage is all gluten free. We work with local abattoirs.

Our Real Outdoor Farm-Raised Chickens: We purchase our chicks and raise them from babies. Our Chickens have access to shelter but generally spend all their time outside with easy access to food and water. They graze on lots of grass and are given many greens from our vegetables. All our Chickens are raised without antibiotics. Production of chickens take place between May and September and we deliver frozen chicken to you through out the year as most people do not have the freezer space to take all their chickens at once. Bulk Whole Chickens work out to $6.65 per lbs!

Slow raised, outdoor raised chickens take about 75-85 days, depending if they are a rooster or a hen and how large a person wants them. By comparison, Hutterite and other industrial birds are done in about 40 days. Mandy's farm-raised chickens eat grasshoppers, earthworms, natural grit and anything green. The sun is helpful for birds outside as well.

Predators of our free-range chickens require managing. We have a radio on at night to keep the predators away and our birds have shelter to run into if a bunch of ravens fly nearby. We do lose some but have learned over the years how to try to reduce loss.

Our birds are raised slow therefore they need to be slow-cooked. Use moist heat for best results.