P.E.I. couple raising free-range ducks for Island restaurants

Free-range chickens have been on the market for several years, but they aren't the only ones that are free as a bird.

P.E.I. now has it's own free-range duck farm too.

A young couple is just starting their second season selling the specialty birds on the Papia Papa farm, on the Inkerman Road just north of Crapaud.

Papia Papa means Duck Papa in Greek.

"I come from Greek descendants and they farmed for their life back in Greece and did it with their hands so it's something that I'm after too," said Jordan Liantzakis.

He and Karine Arsenault feed and water almost 500 ducks, five times a day, from April to December.

The couple started the farm two years ago, with the first sales last fall.

'Tasty stuff'

Liantzkis is a chef, and trained at the Culinary Institute of Canada at Holland College.

He liked the idea of raising a breed of Peking duck.

"It can be a little bit tricky to cook, but in the right hands they're very good, they're very tasty stuff," he said.

Half a dozen Island restaurants and a Charlottetown butcher shop already order duck regularly, and people come to the farm gate to buy as well.

New ducklings arrive all the time, and Liantzakis wants them to have the best life possible.

"They do well," he said. "They're fed well, and they've got beautiful land to be raised on and some good pasture and whatnot so they're happy ducks."

The ducks are even slaughtered on site, to avoid the stress of transport.

Liantzakis uses a de-feathering machine to save water, and his next project is to add solar-powered ponds to save time watering, and cut down on wasted water.

All in the name of an all-Island, humanely raised, environmentally friendly food product, he promised.

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