At the farm

Pacific Northwest rainy weather! We've got some beautiful shades of green out there!
Our surroundings are verdant and lush right now.  Spring is still here, with no crazy bursts of 87 degree earth baking summer like days.  Probably will slow down our tomatoes, cukes and squash a bit, but I think this lush spring weather is worth it!

   What! No Pictures? The trusty farm camera was not with us for the sheep move or hen move from one farm to the other, so no pictures were taken.  It seems like we have been moving so quickly lately that the camera is left behind every day!  The hen wagon with the layer hens and the flock of sheep have been moved to the summer grazing pastures, where they are doing a great job of chomping through grass!  

   Why do we do all of this "extra" work to take care of the animals on pastures?  We could tend to animals in a confinement barn.  No way!  Outdoors, our animals have fresh air, fresh pasture, and freedom of movement.  And the entire time we're taking care of sturdy, content, healthy animals who are enriching the soil, not depleting their surroundings.  Healthy animals are easy to take care of!  We let the animals be animals outdoors without much human intervention and just check on them everyday, add some water and food, offer new pasture..."How ya doin' animals?"  

Amber Waves of Grain 

Remember, we feed the pastured meat chickens and pastured pigs certified organic grains.  85% of the feed that we bring to the farm is for pigs and meat chickens and all of that feed is certified organic.   The pastured sheep eat a lot of grass and no-spray hay (winter food) with brewers grains and some certified organic grain treats in the winter.  The pastured layer hens are fed a non-medicated conventional grain feed and range all about from April-December. (read more about grain prices and switch back to conventional grain for layer hens at the blog.)  We also have a great source of local brewers grains from the brewery down the road...non-GMO, cooked barley- it's like a oatmeal treat for the animals.