Why we raise our own food

Today’s packaged food is loaded with chemicals throughout the product lifecycle.  Insecticides sprayed on the grains fed to animals; antibiotics given to animals because they live in overcrowded pens; fillers added to meat to change the weight, color and texture; bleach and radiation used to sanitize food due to improper processing.

Looking around at the way our food is handled – the recalls, the sickness, the chemicals coming in contact with our food – we decided we needed  to make a change.  After much research, we started our adventure in 2017 and began to take control over the food we eat.

Rotational Grazing

Have you ever been to a farm where flies are everywhere or visited the pig you ordered and found it in a stationary 20’x20′ pen?  An overabundance of feces and flies make for unhealthy living conditions for the pigs and require them to be treated with chemical dewormer and other toxins.

What if, instead of confinement, we used rotational grazing?  Imagine a conga line of mobile, electric net pens: the lead pen has the turkeys; the pen behind it the pasture raised meat chickens; behind that the pigs; and finally, the laying flock.  This works because turkeys like to forage for bugs. The meat birds are concerned with their feed and the grass the turkeys can’t finish.  The pigs will root and roll the soil over because they want the roots underneath.  The laying hens are wily and quick.  When they take over the pigs’ area the first thing they do is spread out the pig “leavings” in search of fly larva.  A sustainable solution that makes everyone happy and no flies!