Knowing where your food comes from matters. Putting good food into your body matters. We are doing our part to improve a very tiny portion of the food supply, and passing that along to you, our incredible customers.
HERITAGE PORK
When we ate our first homegrown pork chops, we were shocked by how different this pork was from any other pork we had ever eaten - flavorful, juicy, and tender. Heritage breeds (we happen to raise Large Black Hogs that we cross with Berkshire genetics) yields pork that is more red in color, naturally marbled, with a richer flavor compared to the standard pork. Most people don't realize that in the 1980s, the US took up a goal to breed out the fat across all conventional pork producers, yielding the 'other white meat' slogan. Pork from the grocery store is very lean, but is also void of color and flavor. Heritage pork tastes nothing like conventionally raised pork. Our customers tell us again and again how different our pork is from anything they've ever tried.
GRASSFED LAMB
We raise Icelandic sheep for a number of reasons. They are a triple-use breed, meaning that we can use them for meat, milk, and wool. Their meat is known to be tender, mild, and lean -- highly regarded by chefs around the world. Icelandic sheep are smaller than commercial breeds, which yields less meat per animal. Lambs that are raised on pasture get lots of exercise that develops their muscles creating a healthy animal. The fat in lamb does not get marbled into the meat like pork or beef, so most of the fat is easily trimmed off while eating. Many customers tell us that they have never tried lamb that they enjoy, but that is likely because the lamb was not prepared properly -- or for the simple fact that most of the lamb in the United States is in fact mutton, meaning the meat comes from an older animal, making it more tough and stronger in flavor.
HOW DO WE FEED OUR ANIMALS DIFFERENTLY?
When we first started raising hogs, we were determined to feed them differently from the mainstream pork suppliers by avoiding corn and soybeans. We found a local supplier where we could buy a premixed ration, but after a couple of years, they went out of business. In order to keep true to our promise, we began to source grains from local farmers to create our own ration. We now mix and grind a variety of rations based on the stage of growth using all non-GMO grains including wheat, oats, buckwheat, and field peas. You will be hard up to find another farm who takes on this challenge, but because we do, our pork stands out from all the rest.
Our feeder hogs have free access to their grain ration all day every day, but they also spend a lot of time rooting in their woodlot. They love to eat roots, branches, grasses, and grubs. Our hogs also benefit from all of our extra garden goodies, as well as lots of windfall apples from a local apple orchard! They live their best life in Hog Heaven!
Our sheep graze on our restored native prairie in the summer months, and eat a hay / alfalfa mix in the winter months, with just a few oats and garden treats now and then to bribe them. They have access to a high quality mineral supplement daily. The majority of sheep in the United States do not ever spend time in a pasture because of how much work is involved in rotating them into clean pastures every week. Again, this extra laborious step is worth it to us to yield happier animals, and better meat quality, in the end.
HERITAGE PORK
When we ate our first homegrown pork chops, we were shocked by how different this pork was from any other pork we had ever eaten - flavorful, juicy, and tender. Heritage breeds (we happen to raise Large Black Hogs that we cross with Berkshire genetics) yields pork that is more red in color, naturally marbled, with a richer flavor compared to the standard pork. Most people don't realize that in the 1980s, the US took up a goal to breed out the fat across all conventional pork producers, yielding the 'other white meat' slogan. Pork from the grocery store is very lean, but is also void of color and flavor. Heritage pork tastes nothing like conventionally raised pork. Our customers tell us again and again how different our pork is from anything they've ever tried.
GRASSFED LAMB
We raise Icelandic sheep for a number of reasons. They are a triple-use breed, meaning that we can use them for meat, milk, and wool. Their meat is known to be tender, mild, and lean -- highly regarded by chefs around the world. Icelandic sheep are smaller than commercial breeds, which yields less meat per animal. Lambs that are raised on pasture get lots of exercise that develops their muscles creating a healthy animal. The fat in lamb does not get marbled into the meat like pork or beef, so most of the fat is easily trimmed off while eating. Many customers tell us that they have never tried lamb that they enjoy, but that is likely because the lamb was not prepared properly -- or for the simple fact that most of the lamb in the United States is in fact mutton, meaning the meat comes from an older animal, making it more tough and stronger in flavor.
HOW DO WE FEED OUR ANIMALS DIFFERENTLY?
When we first started raising hogs, we were determined to feed them differently from the mainstream pork suppliers by avoiding corn and soybeans. We found a local supplier where we could buy a premixed ration, but after a couple of years, they went out of business. In order to keep true to our promise, we began to source grains from local farmers to create our own ration. We now mix and grind a variety of rations based on the stage of growth using all non-GMO grains including wheat, oats, buckwheat, and field peas. You will be hard up to find another farm who takes on this challenge, but because we do, our pork stands out from all the rest.
Our feeder hogs have free access to their grain ration all day every day, but they also spend a lot of time rooting in their woodlot. They love to eat roots, branches, grasses, and grubs. Our hogs also benefit from all of our extra garden goodies, as well as lots of windfall apples from a local apple orchard! They live their best life in Hog Heaven!
Our sheep graze on our restored native prairie in the summer months, and eat a hay / alfalfa mix in the winter months, with just a few oats and garden treats now and then to bribe them. They have access to a high quality mineral supplement daily. The majority of sheep in the United States do not ever spend time in a pasture because of how much work is involved in rotating them into clean pastures every week. Again, this extra laborious step is worth it to us to yield happier animals, and better meat quality, in the end.
