Welcome to our farm!

We're writing this blog to be a chronicle of our farming adventures, musings, techniques and interesting topics related to sustainable grass based farming, healthy food, and self sufficient living. We want to raise beef, chicken, eggs and are considering lamb too. We'll talk about the art of pasture rotation, the challenges of grass finishing livestock and about herd management and care. We try to live naturally without chemicals in our food or home so we'll write about tips and tricks we discover along the way. We garden, raise three boys, and like getting out into nature so there will be some of that too. We're also foodies, so there will be plenty of pictures and recipes of our creations.

This is a panoramic picture of most of the farm right now.

Lots O' Grass

What's missing? Fence, barn, animals? If you guessed all of the above, you'd be correct. We have a silo and a chicken coop, everything else needs to be built from scratch. We'd like to try and document the process in the hopes that it is informative or inspiring to others who would like to travel this road with us. We welcome your comments and questions, and look forward to the task ahead.

Tali and Scott

PASA Conference 2013, Day Two

As the north east coast woke up to 3 feet of snow, central PA was spared all but a sprinkle of snow and ice. Heading back to the conference I was able to reflect on what I learned on day one. I had read several books on rotational grazing but the concept of letting the grass fully recover, 20 to 60 days in non drought conditions is necessary to build biomass in the soil, did not really click until now. The animals need to be moved off the clipped grass before it starts to regrow, within 2 to 3 days. They shouldn't return until the grass is at least 12 inches long again. The top of the grass is reflective of the root depth, so the longer it grows the more energy it can store for regrowth and to weather drought. When animals are grazed quickly across a pasture in spring they bite the tastiest grasses and leave the unpalatable and weeds. When grass is bit it tries to reproduce itself from the root at the soil line, sending out tendrils that become new plants. Animal damage to these tendrils will defeat this form of reproduction. Let the weeds and undesirables go to seed before mowing the entire pasture, they will have used their energy to produce that seed, but the good grasses will have already reproduced. Cut hay 4 to 6 inches off the ground for faster recovery. Go into winter with good grass cover for faster spring start-up.

So on day two I learned some more things. Learn to read your land so you can utilize it most efficiently. Grey plants are a sign of poor soil, or brittle land. Conscientious debt that will build your business is ultimately more productive than no debt. Crowd-source, find investors, use Kickstarter for specific projects. A detailed grazing plan is the only way to maximize your greatest resource, grass. If you know in what pastures you have been, you can plot where you will go next. Get a weather station with a rain gauge and record weather data on the grazing plan so that you can make predictions about how the weather will affect your farm.

So I have a lot to process now. I met a lot of smart people I need to remember the names of the next time I see them. I have a grazing plan to layout, I think I'll create a spreadsheet. I have three more books to read. I have much to do, better get to it.

PASA Conferece 2013 - Day One

Today I went to my first PASA (Pennsylvania Association for Sustainable Agriculture) conference, and it was eye opening! I had no idea that there were so many people in the area that had the same crazy notions about food and farming as I do. The atmosphere was unlike any conference I have been to (and I have been to a lot over the years), flannel was the predominant fabric and patchouli drifted about the hallways; people smiled and were genuinely interested in meeting you, as knowledge flowed freely in an open exchange of ideas. I went to workshops on farm planning, business models, and rotational grazing. Some things I learned:

Find your niche; what sets your farms products apart from conventional products or other farms products?

Industrial agriculture does not pay for the damage it does to our planet and people. Sustainable ag repairs our environment, a service that benefits everyone, but we currently do not get adequately compensated for our efforts. Hopefully someday we will.

If you love what you do, it's okay that you may never get rich doing it.

It was a great day, with so much information and inspiration. But I think I'll have to properly digest it all later because right now, my brain is full.