Blog
Last Fresh Pork Day
We dropped the news that we’re scaling back the farm a few months ago. And ever since, I’ve wondered how this moment - our last fresh pork day - would feel. Would it feel sad, knowing that we’re nearing the end of something that’s been so beautifully rich and deeply...
This profession
Farming can certainly be taxing on the body and mind, but no one can say that there aren’t incredible benefits to this profession. One of them, which I’d argue might be the greatest of all, is the peace of mind that comes from knowing that whatever happens, we...
Left turn
It’s strange to take a sharp left turn when you’re feeling content bumping along on the road you’re on. But as you know, there are a lot of left turns happening outside on the farm these days. And what we haven’t talked about yet is that it’s happening here on the...
This One Was Tough
Before last week, we could say that we’d never been to a livestock auction. We don’t judge farmers who rely on auctions to supply meat to their customers. It’s just that even if we could ignore the potential animal welfare concerns, sourcing animals this way is a risk...
My worst nightmare
It’s the stuff of my worst nightmares. The thing that periodically wakes me up in the middle of the night, hyperalert, listening out the window: animals on the loose. It’s happened to us before. Years ago, a sow found her way out of the electric fence - I’m still...
Fresh Pork Days
You know how some of our pigs are reserved for retail cuts at the Farm Store, and others are reserved for our Half Pig customers? Well, at the start of this week, we had just four more pigs reserved for cuts at the Farm Store. Two of those pigs went to the butcher...
Same question
I’ve learned that when 10 people ask me the same thing, there are usually a LOT more folks out there who have the same question but are afraid to ask. When you catch a glimpse of that big timber structure slowly growing out of the side of the barn, I can absolutely...
Biggest expense
Can you guess what our biggest expense is? It turns out it’s not the monthly mortgage payments or some big fancy piece of equipment… Nope, the biggest expense we have year after year is grains - think little shards of barley, wheat, and triticale that are ground...
Quality time
A message from Greg: My brother visited from overseas a couple of weeks ago, and whenever he’s here, we always try to walk the farm together. It’s a great opportunity to get some quality time with just the two of us since my parents live down the road, and most of his...
Anniversaries
I don’t really like celebrating my birthday. Don’t get me wrong, I love cake and will happily accept a gifted piece of that sweet, yummy goodness any day of the week. It’s just that birthdays aren’t my thing, and they’re not Greg’s either. Anniversaries, on the...
Fall
Fall is usually the season on the farm when, for better or for worse, it feels like the wheels might actually come off the wagon. It’s the feeling of being stretched in too many directions – turkeys, pigs, and chickens all needing to be rotationally grazed every few...
The butcher schedule
I’d like to share about what’s known in the farming world as “the butcher schedule.” But before I go there, I must share a little background first. If you don’t already know this, there aren’t enough butcher facilities in the US anymore. They are so few and far...
Rehoming all our pigs
I’ve never seen Greg cry so hard as the day a guy from Craigslist showed up a few years back to pick up our pet goose. Naturally, when we decided to scale back the farm, I worried about how we’d manage rehoming all our breeding pigs. After all, these are the ones...
Thank you for waiting so patiently!
Thank you for waiting so patiently! We’re ready to fill you in on the soul searching that’s been happening behind the scenes that ultimately led us to make the decision to downsize the farm. It comes back to something we’ve been sharing about right here for years...
Downsizing
We’re downsizing the farm, and since we shared the news last week, the changes are really accelerating now! It’s been a shock to everyone, even to ourselves at times. But it’s really happening! We have lots more updates to share with you in the coming weeks and...