We are rested and ready for the growing season and hopefully with a little help, I can get back into a regular "blogging" of all that is going on here...there is so much going on, that it is hard to know where to start.
We are vegetable farmers first and foremost. The cows help us to manage the land that is not suitable for vegetable production, and they are beautiful to look at grazing the verdant pastures at sunset; but when they get out of their pastures and are running over neghbors heirloom lawn balls, or tramping through the neighbors alfalfa field in the middle of our busiest time of year...well, Chris was ready to throw in the towel.."What are we doing this for?", "Do we even make any money on this beef operation?" "Wouldn't it be nice to only grow vegetables. imagine how much better we would be at it if that was really all that we did." These are all words straight from my husbands mouth, during the height of the season
The answers to many of the questions left little reason to keep them, no they do not make us a lot of money, yes, it would be nice to focus on only the vegetable production, but the answer to"What we are doing this for?" brought us slowly to the realization that we could not let them go.
Diversity is good for land, for the economy, for our diets.
Our farm is a diverse landscape of hills, lowlands, water ways, gravel and trees. Keeping this diversity in balance is our job.
Our farm business is heavily slanted toward vegetable production (albeit mixed vegetables) and selling beef and plants supports the vegetable operation while giving us added income.
We like to eat meat that has been raised here on our farm. As a former vegetarian, I only started eating meat when we began raising it.
And so the beef herd stays, in their new barn with their automatic waterer and when the grass greens up they will wander up the hill to graze to their hearts content.
The new barn is the beginning of a long term vision of more efficient and permanent systems. With better infrastructure and sytems we look forward to many more years of certified organic grassfed beef here on our farm.!!!!
Soooo...we will start with our new barn.
After having spent a good part of the 2009 season trying to sell our herd of cows, we had a change of heart.
We did not want to split the herd, and we wanted them to end up at the right place, so...we came full circle and decided not to sell.
You may wonder why we wanted to sell them in the first place???
We did not want to split the herd, and we wanted them to end up at the right place, so...we came full circle and decided not to sell.
You may wonder why we wanted to sell them in the first place???
We are vegetable farmers first and foremost. The cows help us to manage the land that is not suitable for vegetable production, and they are beautiful to look at grazing the verdant pastures at sunset; but when they get out of their pastures and are running over neghbors heirloom lawn balls, or tramping through the neighbors alfalfa field in the middle of our busiest time of year...well, Chris was ready to throw in the towel.."What are we doing this for?", "Do we even make any money on this beef operation?" "Wouldn't it be nice to only grow vegetables. imagine how much better we would be at it if that was really all that we did." These are all words straight from my husbands mouth, during the height of the season
The answers to many of the questions left little reason to keep them, no they do not make us a lot of money, yes, it would be nice to focus on only the vegetable production, but the answer to"What we are doing this for?" brought us slowly to the realization that we could not let them go.
Diversity is good for land, for the economy, for our diets.
Our farm is a diverse landscape of hills, lowlands, water ways, gravel and trees. Keeping this diversity in balance is our job.
Our farm business is heavily slanted toward vegetable production (albeit mixed vegetables) and selling beef and plants supports the vegetable operation while giving us added income.
We like to eat meat that has been raised here on our farm. As a former vegetarian, I only started eating meat when we began raising it.
And so the beef herd stays, in their new barn with their automatic waterer and when the grass greens up they will wander up the hill to graze to their hearts content.
Is the barn finished? It would be nice if you share some photos of it! I'm into farm animals a lot! I like it when I hear the sound they make altogether... Hmm. I suddenly miss our old place. =(
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