Blog
The Price Was Just Right
There are these auctions that happen in the farming world. They take place in a field somewhere, way off the beaten track, in early spring when all the farmers are itching to get back to working in their fields. Usually, Greg goes to the auctions solo and gives me a...
What Happens When You Learn To Speak Pig ???
We don’t butcher our pigs ourselves. But we are tasked with moving them from our pastures to our incredible team of butchers in the FLX every few weeks. Pigs are larger than us. And they’re stronger. And quicker, too. Which is why moving them from one place to another...
This One Thing Has To Go
We made a decision recently. And I’m afraid that you won’t be happy to hear about it. But bear with me, because I promise that once I share the bad news, I’ll share a bit of good. This is usually the time of year when our ginger and turmeric seed shipment arrives and...
This Week’s 9° Weather Couldn’t Even Stop Them
If we’re not deliberate about it, left to our own devices, we won’t have much if any blank space in the schedule. This isn't what the cool kids call a "humble brag." This sticky habit of ours can be destructive and I mention it now because it was on full display when...
6 Just Became The New 2
It’s going to happen any day now. The sows are looking mighty round. Greg thinks their milk will start coming in soon. Which means that before we know it, the piglet explosion will be upon us. We have not 2, but 6 litters of piglets hitting the ground this month....
Guess what we just bought ?
I had a dream that I was walking around the farm with an old friend, introducing him to our pigs who miraculously just learned to fly, when Greg arrived on the scene, driving a tractor trailer with a cow on top. The very next morning, right after I told Greg about my...
Do you remember that one time we had a “piglet explosion”?
The "Piglet Explosion," as we so lovingly called it, is what happened back in 2019 when we made a planning error and accidentally had 3 pigs deliver in the same week. It was a challenging (ahem, stressful) situation, but it made us wise up and learn to be meticulous...
The wild story I’ve been meaning to tell you
Almost exactly 4 months ago I was making my way into the house on crutches, having just had surgery to repair a tear in my hip. When I got home, still nauseous from the anesthesia, I got into bed and dozed off with just this one simple thought on my mind - I hope this...
Our Best Hack from 2020
In some ways, livestock animals are just like pets. Just like your dog or cat, our pigs and chickens need food and clean water each day to survive. Feeding isn’t too taxing. It helps that they all have 24/7 access to pasture and have things to munch on from the earth...
When You Want To Go Back
We once spent a week on a tiny Indonesian island just 2 miles around. There aren't any cars or trucks in this magical place. Just donkeys, sandy paths, ocean views, and little thatched roof huts scattered about. We love to travel with our taste buds and one of our...
Every Single Year We Do This
Anytime I doubt that Greg's chemistry background is even the least bit related to his work on the farm, he reminds me that when it comes down to it, farming is just a series of complicated year-long experiments. A year ago, in the dead of winter, we set our intention...
What It’s All For
Why is it that we call the living breathing animal one thing and then the physical cut of meat something else? Seeing the words "pig" and "pork" side by side makes me think about the general distancing that takes place between us (the eaters) and the animals (the...
What To Do With A Litter of Hypothermic Piglets
Remember last week when we shared about how things can go wrong with wintertime farrowing? Well, I’m afraid this is exactly what happened on the farm this week. We knew Vicky was getting close on Friday night. We checked on her right before bed around 9pm, and again...
27 Piglets and Counting
Did you know that with very rare exceptions, all our pigs are born right here on the farm with us? It’s true and it’s one of the reasons why we’re able to offer you pork year round. This week, we’re waiting on a pig named Vicky to deliver. She’s a “gilt,” which means...
Nature Just Gave Us Some Grace
In spite of the rip-roaring pandemic, life on the farm has been quiet and predictable this week. That’s not because we did something cool or invented some new way of doing things. But because nature gave us some grace for The Shift this week. The Shift, as we like to...