Managing Our Woodland Assets
Woodland areas are a part of a farm that is far too often overlooked. We have determined that our woodlands are a long term sustainable asset. We now have the tools to put a high financial value on this asset.
Author: Dustin Schnabel
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The Firehouse Work Begins
Today marks exactly one year since Sierrah and Morgan's house caught fire. This week also marks a new beginning for this structure at the farm. Follow along and you will find out what it means for you too!
Sometimes it can go sideways - quickly.
It ain't always roses when it comes to dealing with livestock. Sometimes we encounter very dangerous situations - both for us and our animals.
Gladiators of the Farm
Lucy squares off against a hen protecting the egg she wants
Life of the Last Turkey
If the sight of blood bothers you - stop now. I'm sharing this video to share a broader thought. Look at me in the video. This is not a warm, fuzzy, picturesque view of a farmer and his beloved creatures.
The Only Two Reasons for Special Pricing
We believe in complete transparency when it comes to what we do. Since you are the only source of funding for our operation, you should know why we make certain critical decisions.
House Fire at Sierrah and Morgan's
When Sierrah got home from a friend's Super Bowl gathering, her plans for a quiet night's sleep changed.... (VIDEO)
A Symphony of Symbiosis
At first glance, you might think youâre going to be reading a story about music⌠that is, unless you already know what symbiosis is all about. If we take a look at Websterâs textbook definition of the term, we might simply believe that it applies to only some critters living together. Around here, though, we see it as the foundation of our farm's food production model.Textbooks are good and all, but they generally only describe a small portion of what we can really experience in the real world. I like to think of complex principles in simple terms. I get through my day a whole lot easier if I try not to wrap my head around too many complex things at once. The easiest way I can relate to the real-world benefits of a symbiotic relationship is to apply some fuzzy math. To me, symbiosis means 1+1=5! You read that correctly, itâs wrong math but in the real world it makes sense. Sure, peanut butter is great. Strawberry jam is yummy too. Slather them together on a piece of bread and voila â itâs better together! Letâs see how this relates to farm animals though.Our farm is whatâs known as a multi-species, or diversified operation. That means we have many different things going on at the same place and usually at the same time. Weâre not just âcattle farmersâ or âchicken farmersâ. The opposite of diversified is specialized. The opposite of a multi-species crop is a mono-crop. As a general rule of thumb, Mother Nature despises sameness. Letâs put that another way, she loves diversity. Iâm sure most are aware of the term biodiversity, but how many of us really know WHY this is important? Thereâs more to it than just the nice thought of âall the pretty little birdiesâ are just more colorful! Natural systems are highly complex and highly ordered. Everything has a function and provides a service for the overall well-being of an ecosystem. Mother nature doesnât use tractors, sprayers, seeders and harvesting machines to accomplish the tasks needed for a well-balanced, highly productive ecosystem. The right species are in the right place at the right time performing the right functions for the whole system to function smoothly. One could say itâs a âwell-oiled machineâ.When you look at a beautiful forest, have you ever wondered how it survives without fertilizers, pesticides and irrigation? It just works, doesn't it? Can we apply the lessons learned in this ecosystem to a farm? Oh my word â if we are to believe the doctrine coming from the high priests of our modern industrialized agriculture system, we canât possibly imagine a highly productive farming enterprise without the latest techno-glam, genetically modified, GPS precision-placed seeds and sprays. Who planted that forest? Who applies the fertilizers and pesticides? How in the world has it survived all these thousands of years without our tinkering? I highly recommend pondering that for a moment.Weâve asked ourselves these questions in our pursuit of an efficient, scalable food production operation. Rather than finding answers from all of the agricultural scientists with fancy titles, or fertilizer salesmen with the latest cides-concoctions (herbicides, pesticidesâŚ) we've listened to Mother Nature. Be careful however. Don't write this off as some whimsical, hippy-dippy tree-hugger strumming koombaya around a campfire with expectation of hearing natureâs secrets whispered through the tree leaves. Not hardly.Here at our farm, we study how these highly productive ecosystems actually work in nature, then set the stage for it to work on our farm with the end result being human food production. We study the types of animals in these natural systems performing major ecological functions, then try to mimic their actions with a commercially suitable analog (similar critter). Hereâs an example. A well-managed herd of cows (herbivores) can be used in a savanna environment in Ohio much the same way a wild herd of wildebeests functions in the Serengeti. A population of yellow-throated-sandgrouse serves the herbivores of the Serengeti by scraping through their dung piles to eat parasitic (harmful) larva. We use a flock of hens (chickens) to perform the same function in our pastures. Whatâs best is that they give us an egg every day! Think about it - they actually pay us for doing a job we would otherwise need to spend money to accomplish! 1 + 1 = 5! By closely studying symbiotic relationships in natural settings and mimicking those in our own production operation, we are able to operate a highly productive whole system. We donât have to use toxic fly sprays on our cows because the chickens ate all the fly larva before they could hatch. We donât have to fertilize our pastures or even spread manure because the cattle naturally do it every day as we move them through the system. The end result of it all is a food product raised in a way most closely mimicking its natural design. Just like the beautiful forest ecosystem, we can do it with zero chemicals of any kind⌠not even the âorganically approvedâ ones.Our experience with this type of operational mindset has proven to work quite well. To be honest, itâs performing better than we originally thought it would. Many of our traditional farmer friends (yes - we donât demonize our friends growing GMO corn. They are our neighbors and we love them) still think weâre hippy-dippy tree-huggers, but weâre fine with that. Theyâre amazed we donât vaccinate our cattle or inject them with de-wormer. Weâre OK with being the odd-balls on the block. To us, itâs far easier to just line up the right animals at the right time for the right job than it is to make a monthly payment on a quarter million-dollar machine.With all our talk about "eco" this and "mimic" that, whatâs the real bottom line? Eat an egg, a pork chop or a rib-eye steak from a critter thatâs lived its life in a setting doing exactly what itâs designed to do and youâll taste the difference immediately. Itâs the nutrient-dense, wholesome, amazing taste that can only come from a well-conducted symphony of symbiosis.