May Farm Update

Tragedy hit our family recently when my father-in-law suddenly passed away. Although he wasn’t a physical working presence on this farm, he consistently influenced my husband, me, and our children, which connects back to our work ethic here. Ever since his passing, I’ve had a hard time writing and creating—including this newsletter. What once took minutes now takes hours, due to my scattered thoughts, grief-sickened days, and changing schedule. I am never quite sure how much of our personal life to share at times, but I knew I couldn’t write about the farm without acknowledging our loss. It helped to remind myself that this is your connection to your farmer, and our connection to you. Life on the farm shares similarities with every person’s journey on this earth—whether it is good, bad, or ugly. Sometimes, being real is all that is needed.

In the midst of tragedy, the farm trudges through Spring. Green grass blankets our hills, which ignites a whole lot of fire in our hearts. We’ve picked up rocks in the fields to prepare for planting, turned up some dirt, and planted seeds of alfalfa and our famous Silver Queen sweet corn. Piles of composted manure are stacked high, waiting to be spread on the land. During the colder months, when the cattle, sheep, and pigs sleep under shelter, we remove the soiled bedding and create large piles. When the ground thaws, we scoop the piles into a machine attached to our tractor and spread the natural fertilizer on our fields. Our animals’ manure carries a powerful purpose on the farm.

The first group of pasture-raised chickens went to harvest this month. Since making improvements to our brooder and mobile hoop houses, we’ve been able to add a couple of groups of chickens to the schedule. This will help keep popular items like boneless, skinless chicken breasts and breast tenders in stock regularly throughout the year. We can also add more wholesale connections that have been requesting our chicken due to its impressive flavor!

We’ve made some needed adjustments to our pastured turkey program. Instead of raising one large group of turkeys later in the year, we are raising multiple small groups. Smaller groups lessen the risk for illnesses and loss, allow us to better gauge inventory, eliminate the need for a semi-truck to transport to a processor, and allow us to schedule multiple harvest dates with a veteran Michigan processor. Baby turkeys were welcomed to the farm last week and are staying healthy and growing fast!

Our breeding programs are in full swing, with baby piglets and lambs being born. The lambs and piglets will be weaned from their mammas soon. The piglets, once weaned, move to the woodlands to forage. They’ll find nuts, mushrooms, berries—all sorts of nutrients from the woods. While the forest-fed pigs play in the woods, the grass-fed sheep take their first steps in the resting pastures.

Our grass-fed cattle like our sheep are loving the new growth in the grasslands.  My brothers’ family took on our grass-fed beef program last year, working to build the herd to support demand.  We are thankful to have a nice full selection of steaks heading into the beginning of market season - a rare occasion for us!  

Being fully committed to be a farm where the animals, people, and land work together helps us prepare and move through each season. We’re gearing up for all the farmers markets to open, meeting new people at the farm store, and sending packages to new people throughout the nation—and we look forward to continuing to trek through this Spring with you!