So it’s official, we are certified organic by NOFA-NY Certified Organic, LLC! This means that we can proudly say that our chicken, turkey, produce, and eggs are all certified organic.
Now that we’ve reached the end of June, Jenney and I are finally coming up for air and marveling at everything we’ve been working on: building animal housing, planting ginger/potatoes/tomatoes/peppers, setting up our animals’ watering systems, figuring out how best to load our pigs on a livestock trailer to go to the butcher… For the first time since May, it feels like there aren’t critical tasks that MUST be completed right away. We’re still super busy, but the sense of urgency has subsided and in the meantime, we continue to enjoy working outdoors, raising our animals, and sharing the food we produce with our community.
We’ve brought in new groups of piglets over the past 2 months, taking us up to 17 pigs at Stonecrop Farm. Most of the newest piglets are Gloucesteshire Old Spot/Duroc Cross piglets that will be raised for slaughter in the fall. They will be a nice mix of a heritage breed (Old Spot) that excels at foraging with a modern breed (Duroc) known for good growth and meat quality.
We’ve also brought in some breeding stock to grow our herd and allow us to have certified organic piglets in the spring. We are excited to focus on heritage breeds. Our boar is a purebred Tamworth, while our females are Berkshire/Hampshire Crosses, purebred Tamworth (amazing foragers), Old Spot/Mulefoot Crosses (awesome mothers), and Ossabaw (descended from the pigs used for Jamon Iberico). Though slower growing, these breeds have the foraging ability, mothering instinct and exceptional meat quality that will guarantee great pigs and pork for years to come.
As the summer moves on, we’ll continue raising our summer flocks of pastured meat chickens and ducks, managing our laying hens with our two Buff Orpington roosters, and preparing for our turkeys to arrive at the farm in July.
We hope everyone is enjoying these warm summer days and has a great 4th of July!
Greg and Jenney