UPS Shipping vs Home & Office Delivery: What's the Difference & How to Choose What's Best for You!

UPS Shipping vs. Home & Office Delivery: What’s the Difference & How to Choose What’s Best for You Along with multiple local pickup locations, we offer two ways to get our pasture-raised meats to your doorstep - UPS shipping AND our once-a-month local delivery routes. Here’s how each works so you can pick the best option for your family! UPS Shipping (Weekly) When: Every TuesdayWhere: Throughout Ohio and most of the MidwestWhat we ship: Nearly all products except eggsHow we pack it: Orders are packed in compostable insulated boxes (the liners are made of corn!) with ice packs and picked up directly from our farm freezers by UPS on Tuesday evenings.Delivery timeframe: Most customers receive their order on Wednesday, some farther locations may see it arrive on Thursday.Shipping fee: $10 or Free on orders over $250 Shop for UPS shipping here! Home & Office Delivery (Monthly) When: First week of every month (adjusted if there’s a holiday)How: Delivered in a temperature-controlled van by another trusted local farmer. If you’re not home, we’ll leave your order in an insulated box or recycled styrofoam cooler to keep it safe and frozen.Delivery timeframe: Varies depending on number of stops and other pickups/deliveries, typically between 8-3pm. Delivery fee: $6.95 or Free on orders over $250 Local delivery allows us to deliver ALL our products, plus: EggsBulk meat shares like whole and half hogs or beef Southwest Ohio Route (Wednesdays): Hillsboro, Wilmington, Mason, Montgomery, Cincinnati, Batavia, Fayetteville, Mt. Orab & Surrounding Communities South Central Ohio Route (Thursdays): Leesburg, Greenfield, Frankfort, Circleville, Kingston, Chillicothe, Waverly, Bainbridge & Surrounding Communities Shop for Home & Office Delivery here! We also deliver to these pickup spots during local delivery week: Two Roasting Joes (Chillicothe)Twisted Violet Homestead (Hillsboro)Way Farms (Waverly) Shop for local pickup or delivery here. Need to Change Your Delivery Option? No problem—here’s how: Click the "Change" button next to the current delivery location shown at the top of the website (like in the screenshot below).Enter your ZIP code when prompted.Select your preferred option—whether that’s home delivery, a local pickup spot, or UPS shipping. Common Questions Can I have eggs delivered if I choose UPS shipping? Unfortunately, no. We don’t currently ship eggs, they’re too fragile! What if I won’t be home for my delivery?No problem! Just unpack your order into the freezer as soon as you get home from work. Your order will be an in insulated box or cooler with ice packs as needed to keep it safe. Can I subscribe or schedule repeat deliveries?Yes! Choose to subscribe at checkout, or check out our Monthly Meat Box program. Subscribe to your favorites, make any changes before the order deadline each month, then we’ll take care of the rest! We send plenty of order reminders ahead of time so you know when your delivery will arrive. Sustainability Matters I know sometimes the environmental aspect of shipping and delivery is controversial, but here’s my opinion - the UPS truck is already in my neighborhood every Tuesday and traveling through most neighborhoods every week too. Adding our boxes to their existing routes keeps A LOT of individual cars from needing to drive out to the farm. We only ship within the UPS 2 day ground zone, I have chosen not to put meats on a plane to deliver all the way to the west coast. Same with our local delivery routes - we can load up orders for many many families instead of everyone needing to make a trip to the farm. Plus, we’re very mindful of coordinating multi-purpose trips, working with other farms who need product moved around, and making sure we route in the most efficient way possible. Our insulated shipping boxes are recyclable and compostable. They can be reused multiple times if you’re able to drop them off to us at the farm or ship back to us! To ship back to us - remove all ice packs and perishable stickers from the outside, place a small book inside, and mail back using media mail shipping rates with USPS. Reach out if you have other questions about any of our pickup or delivery options! We know you’re busy so we want to make shopping for local food as easy and convenient as possible.

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Zero Waste Skincare - Why Tallow Balms & Lard Soaps are Worth All the Hype

What were soaps and beauty products made out of before we had highly processed seed oils and mineral oils? Animal fats. It’s really only been in the last 100 years or so that these processed oils were available and in EVERYTHING. And it’s not because they’re better for us… it’s because they’re cheaper. I know we want to believe that if a product is on store shelves it’s safe, but unfortunately that’s just not the case. Most soaps and lotions available today are made with cheap oils + chemical colors and toxic fragrances. These products don’t just sit on top of our skin, our bodies absorb and circulate them. We’ve been making Old Fashioned Lard Soaps from our pastured pork fat for years. It’s all we use for hand soap, body wash, face wash, and if we didn’t have such hard well water I think it would be great as a toxin free shampoo too! I hadn’t found a good alternative for lotion until tried my first tallow balm a couple years ago at a homesteading conference. The conference room was so dry that my hands and lips were cracking and bleeding, so I went to check out the tallow vendor. I reluctantly handed over my credit card when she said the little jar was $45, but I quickly realized it was worth every penny. It felt incredible, and only took the tiniest amount to rehydrate my dried cracking hands and lips. Plus, it healed my skin instead of just temporarily making it feel better then needing to keep applying more lotion and chapstick. You know how once you use chapstick you seem to never be able to stop using it?! That doesn’t happen with tallow. The little jar I bought at the conference lasted me almost a year. I decided then I wanted to make tallow lotions and lip balm out of the suet from our beef cattle, but like most other projects it kept being put on the backburner, until…. I was introduced to Alyse Lewis from ButterHide - a woman owned startup business located near us in Southern, Ohio. Alyse takes the suet from our beef cattle, and turns it into all these nourishing tallow products! As we’ve released these products, it’s brought up lots of questions about what is tallow, what is a tallow balm, how do you use it, and what’s all the hype about tallow balms anyway? So First - What Is Tallow? Tallow is made from beef suet, a specific kind of fat that protects the organs inside a beef animal. To make tallow the fat is rendered, aka gently melted down. The final product is tallow! Tallow is great to use for cooking oil, but it’s also AMAZING for our skin. It’s full of vitamins and minerals including A, B12, D, E and K, which are all so so nourishing. Unlike seed oils, the nutrient profile of tallow is very similar to our own skin so it absorbs easily. Tallow also helps boost our skins ability to fight free radicals, plus increases collagen levels and skin elasticity. Next Question - What Is Tallow Balm? Tallow balm is rendered tallow that has been mixed up to create a lotion type skincare product. Our tallow balm includes our tallow + organic cold pressed extra virgin olive oil, raw honey, beeswax and organic essential oils. Click here to see all our options. How Do You Use Tallow Balm? Just like you’d use any face moisturizer, lotion or lip balm! Our whipped tallow balm can replace all your body lotions, hand lotions and facial moisturizers. We recommend our unscented tallow balm for young children. Any of our other scents can be used for hands, body, or face, but each essential oil also has a specific healing property. Lavender: Anti-inflammatory, best for soothing skin ailments such as eczema and psoriasis. Calming effect on mood, anxiety, stress and depression. Vanilla Bean: High in antioxidants that combat free radicals to reduce the signs of aging. Frankincense: rejuvenates mature skin while helping soreness and pain Peppermint: cools and soothes irritated skin, and can help reduce tension due to headaches or upset stomach. Honey Rose Includes: Rose Absolute: rejuvenates mature skin, reduces the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles Indian Sandalwood: Helps Balance skin tone Rosalina: Anti-bacterial while reducing the appearance of wrinkles Neroli: Reduces the appearance of scarring and blemishes Palmarosa: Provides skin-balancing effects for all skin types Harvest Spice Includes: Bergamot: Cleansing properties that are best for acne and skin rashes Lime: Invigorating, Cleansing and purifying properties and can reduce stress and anxiety Clove: Anti Inflammatory and antimicrobial properties Copaiba: promotes a clear, smooth skin complexion and well as having anti-inflammatory properties Tallow Man Balm Includes: Cedarwood: soothes irritation, redness, inflammation and itchiness Juniper Berry: Cleansing and purifying properties to treat acne and dermatitis Fir Needle: used to combat body odors and can improve respiratory conditions. Patchouli: Augments skin and hair health while relaxing the mind And as far as what all the hype is about… that’s because tallow really is fantastic. Alyse, the owner of Butterhide, started making tallow balms to heal her sons eczema. Now even when he has a flare, it’s calmed down quickly by tallow balm. Jesse uses it on his hands and they went from literally cracking and bleeding this Winter to healed within a day. My Mom loves it for her hands and face. I threw away all the other lotions and chapsticks I owned. I also use it on both of my girls when their lips and faces get windburnt from being out free-ranging. Between our lard soaps and tallow lotions, our skincare is super simple around here - wash with lard soap, moisturize with tallow balm, put on tallow lip balm. Done! Shop Tallow Balms Here A few other things I want to share about tallow balms and lard soaps… They allow us to use the entire animal and not waste the fat, which is so important to me. I value things more when I know how hard we worked to raise the beef steer or hog, that the butcher took the time to save the fat for us, and I value the time involved to render the fats and make soaps and tallow balms, plus the mess to clean up afterwards! The less I buy from big name companies, the better I feel. It’s satisfying to break free of the societal norms and be more community sufficient. It bothers me that most body care products are so full of toxins. I’m proud to be part of providing my family and community with safe alternatives.I love collaborating with and supporting women owned business in rural Ohio! Alyse from Butterhide makes our tallow balms and Heather from Twisted Violet Homestead makes our soaps using the beef and pork fat from our animals. If you’d like to check out the tallow balms and lard soaps we have available, this link will take you into our Online Farm Store. **Our online store has a minimum order size of $125. If you’d like to order just tallow balms or soaps, please order for Farm Pickup and let me know in the comments you’d like your order shipped. I will adjust to order to include the $10 shipping fee. Shop Tallow Balms Here A couple of our favorite clean products that we don’t make ourselves: Tallow based deodorant from Primally Pure - this is the only one we’ve found that doesn’t burn our armpits! I love the bug spray and dry shampoo from Root & Clay - use code DANA at checkout for a discount. If you’d like to stay in the know about all farm happenings, special offers, restocks, and just connect to our farm and family - our email list is the place for that. Add your name and email address below to join us!

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When I Almost Gave Up on the Farm Dream

If you've been reading my emails for awhile you may have heard this story before, and I’m not sure why I never made it a blog post before now! In August of 2019 I pretty abruptly left my off-farm job. I had reached a point of burnout and childcare struggles that I couldn't do it anymore. It was a risky decision. That job paid our bills, provided our health insurance, the vehicle I drove every day, my cell phone plan, retirement account, all of it. It hadn't even been a year since we had our second baby and took out 2 mortgages to buy our farm, but somehow I knew it would be ok. I knew the farm wouldn't be replacing my income anytime soon, but I had a specific financial goal for the year. One of our mortgage payments is due as a lump sum on January 1st every year. I wanted the farm to make that payment 100% on it's own without having to put any of our personal off-farm earnings towards it. So I'm at the last winter farmers market of the 2019 season. The market closes in 20 minutes. The farm payment is due the following week. I was SO CLOSE, but hadn't sold enough to cover the rest of the mortgage payment. We had the money in personal savings thankfully, but not hitting that goal was leaving me with so much doubt about whether I made the right decision and if I should give up and go find another job. ​ What happened next still brings me to tears every time I think about it. One of our customers showed up 15 minutes before the market closes, picks out a few items, then hands me her credit card and asks me to also load 12 gift cards. Those gift cards added up to almost exactly the amount I still needed to make the mortgage payment.​​ There was only $11 left in the farm bank account after the check cleared, but I made the mortgage payment with 100% farm income dollars. I took this as a sign I was exactly where I needed to be, doing exactly what I was meant to be doing, and that I needed to keep going.​ We can't thank you enough for being a supporter of our farm and family. You're not just another order number or sale to us. We see you, we appreciate you, and we would not exist without people like you who value the work we do and go out of your way to shop with us. ​ We are honored that you choose to help us keep a roof over our heads, farmland under our feet, and give our girls the opportunity to grow up this way. Join our email community below for more behind the scenes stories like this, plus recipes and restock alerts on customer favorites!

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Grass-Fed Beef Fed Corn? Deciphering Beef Labels

As a consumer looking for the healthiest beef options to feed your family, labels can make this so confusing. You have Organic, All-Natural, Pasture-Raised, Grass-Fed, Grass-Finished, and it's been so long since I've had to shop the grocery store for meat I'm probably missing some but I think I'll start with these. It wasn't very many years ago I was a grocery store shopper who looked for the cheapest ground beef and would bring the giant package home, split it all up into smaller chunks and refreeze. You know, being thrifty.  Cheap food has its place. I've been peanut butter sandwich poor, and I know inexpensive commodity goods help keep bellies full. I judge no one for making that decision for their family, especially when the choices are cheap ground beef or a box of Twinkies.  What does bother me though, is when large corporations market themselves as having quality products, and charge a premium price, when it’s the same as the cheap stuff next to it on the shelf. The meats and eggs you get from farms like ours are far superior to what you’ll find in any grocery store or delivery service - even if the cute labels, certifications and “creative” marketing campaigns try to convince you otherwise. This blog post is simply to help decode some of the labels you'll see and hear as you're shopping for beef, and also so you know what questions you'll want to ask to be sure you're getting the product you want.  It's not my style to criticize conventional beef production or say my way of raising beef (100% grass-fed with zero grain) is the way everyone should be doing it. What we prefer and what works for our farm doesn't work for everyone. What's most important to me is that you know what you're buying and that you make efforts to buy it locally.  Ok, let's dive into the labels. Organic - I think we all have this vision that organic cattle are grass-fed on lush green pastures and live a superior life to those raised conventionally. The reality is, if you're buying organic beef from any grocery store the animal was more than likely raised in confinement just like a conventional steer. The only difference was they were fed organic grain and no antibiotics or growth hormones. All-Natural - This is a super vague term that really doesn't mean a whole lot when you see it on any food label. Typically, this means the cattle were not given a growth hormone implant or antibiotics but are fed conventional GMO grain in a feedlot type setting.  If you're buying locally, this is still going to be better than what you'll find at the grocery store, but ask your farmer questions so you know their production practices.  Pasture-Raised - this usually means is that cattle were given access to pasture while being fed grain. I've known some farms that have lots of pasture acreage and a significant portion of the animals diet came from forage, but I've also seen others where they are basically on a dirt lot with no grass and the majority of their diet came from grain. Ask questions and go visit the farm!  Grass-Fed - here's the big shocker - the label "Grass-Fed" can be applied to cattle that ate grass for part of their life but then were "finished" on grain.  The reason this matters is because once a steer starts eating grain, the ratio of Omega 3's to Omega 6's immediately begins to change along with the concentration of CLA's, vitamins and minerals that come straight from the forage diet the cattle are consuming. I think it’s misleading to allow beef that ate grain to be labeled as grass-fed, but they don’t let me make the rules. Grass-Finished - How we raise our beef! These cattle have been fed and finished on nothing but grass and forage. If you're searching for grass-fed beef, this is probably the product you're looking for. You'll still want to ask questions about feeding and management practices such as growth hormone and antibiotic use if that's important to you, although usually that's not something farmers producing this type of beef are into.  Another question I've gotten is - can you really raise 100% grass-fed and finished beef in Ohio? What happens in winter when the grass isn't growing?  The answer is yes - it is possible and here's how we do it! In the Spring/Summer/Fall they are out on pasture grazing and in the Winter we feed them hay, which is just dried and baled forage. Our cattle are never fed grain. Finishing beef on forage alone does take more management from the farmer and longer for the animal to grow, but it's the quality beef I want to feed my family, and what works well for our farm.  No matter which type of beef you buy or the farm it comes from, it's important to seek out local options.  Buying locally supports profitable family farms and rural economies, it keeps beef from traveling across the country and world to get to store shelves, it tastes better, and it allows you as a consumer to have a connection to your farmer and food.  Shop our collection of 100% Grass-Fed & Finished Beef Here Want more randomness straight from the farm? The best way to connect with us is our email farm community! Plus, you’ll get a free recipe book too.

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Deciphering Chicken Labels - Because Free Range Doesn't Always Mean What You Think!

So you're at the grocery store, standing in front of the chicken display. Feeding your family high quality, nutrient dense food, free from chemicals, antibiotics, hormones, GMO's, etc. is all important to you. But there are so many choices! Organic, Free Range, All Natural, Vegetarian-Fed, Hormone and Antibiotic Free, Pasture-Raised, even Amish Raised are words you'll see on labels.   I've been there, it's overwhelming, which is why I wanted to talk through some of the claims and what they mean, or don't mean.  Hormone and Antibiotic Free - It's illegal to feed hormones to any type of poultry, in any production system in the United States. Some integrators will still use antibiotics in their birds, others are moving away from the practice. Either way, if proper withdrawal periods are met there should be no antibiotic residue in the meat. Are there other big issues with feeding animals antibiotics and are there probably instances where withdrawal periods aren't met? Yes to both. There was a Whole Foods turkey scandal a few years ago when USDA inspectors found traces of an illegal growth hormone and antibiotics among other substances in turkey labeled as being raised without either, so I can't say it doesn’t happen.  All Natural - just like I talked about in my blog post about beef production, this means nothing. Chickens are fed a typical conventional feed, raised in the typical confinement barns, they probably weren't fed antibiotics or hormones (which again, is illegal to feed any poultry produced in the United States anyway), but otherwise are no different than the other products on the shelf without the all natural sticker.  Free Range - this is a super confusing one. So back in the day when the term free range first started to be used it meant literally, the chickens were free to roam about the farm eating bugs and worms and doing chicken stuff. Then the chicken industry latched onto this and USDA ruled that the "free-range" label can be used when chickens are raised in conventional broiler barns, on conventional feed, but given "access to the outdoors" at some point in their lives. This typically takes the form of a little fenced, concrete lot with a little door that is opened when the chickens are 5-6 weeks old. Broiler chickens are processed around that age, and after spending that much time indoors they likely don't venture outside at all. And there's nothing to do out there anyway.  Free-Range doesn't mean anything unless you visit the farm and can see that the chickens are actually roaming about in pasture! Organic - these chickens are raised in the same confinement barns as “free-range” birds with minimal outdoor access (not raised on pasture). The only difference is they are fed a certified organic feed. A note - the organic corn used to create these feeds is often imported in from around the world. Along with a strong possibility it wasn’t actually raised organically, the environmental impact of moving grain across the world just to be able to put an organic label on the end product is incredibly wasteful. These birds will not be nutritionally superior to a conventionally raised chicken, and in my opinion, are an even less environmentally friendly option than conventionally raised birds that are fed grains produced near where they are raised. Vegetarian Fed - chickens are not herbivores, they are omnivores which means they prefer to eat both plants and animal proteins to meet their dietary needs. If your label says the chickens were vegetarian fed, they were more than likely not given access to the outdoors at all because they might eat a bug and not be vegetarians anymore!  It could just mean their feed was 100% vegetarian, but you'll need to ask your farmer. Amish Raised - I didn't know this was a thing until I was in Chicago for a work conference and every restaurant had "Amish Chicken" on their menu. Now I know some great pasture-based Amish farmers, but I also can tell you with certainty that this Amish chicken was raised in a conventional confinement barn. Depending on what the specific Amish community allows as far as utilities, sometimes barns have to be retrofitted to run off natural gas or propane, but they operate in the same manner, work with the same few poultry integrators, feed the same feed, etc. as a typical "English" conventional broiler barn.  Don't be fooled by a buggy on the label, it's the same chicken as the cheaper stuff sitting next to it on the shelf. Pasture-Raised - Finally, I can go full scale pastured poultry nerd and tell you why I am so passionate about how we raise our chickens and turkeys! True pasture-raised poultry is night and day different in quality of product, nutritional benefits, quality of life for the birds, and quality of life for the farmers raising them. They also create so many positive benefits to our soils, pastures and communities. One thing I do want to note is even though our chickens and turkeys eat plenty of greens and forage for proteins, the birds do still need to be supplemented with grain. Their nutritional needs cannot be met by pasture alone. All pasture-raised poultry will be supplemented with an additional feed source. We feed a specialized non-GMO feed ration mixed using grains raised by our local farmers. The American Pastured Poultry Producers Association (APPPA for short) created this video showing pastured poultry production in action and talks about why pasture-raised poultry is so far superior to any other product on the market. How chicken is raised and what they eat really does make a difference!   We’re proud to be part of the APPPA organization and the growing group of farmers across the country raising pastured poultry for our communities. We’re proud of the quality products we raise, that we raise our animals in a sustainable and humane way, and we’re extremely proud to be your farmers. If you’re ready to taste truly pasture-raised chicken or need a freezer restock, here’s all the chicken options we have to offer! Want more information, recipes and stories from the farm delivered to your inbox? Sign up below to become part of our farm community! 

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Strong Local Food Systems Create Food Security

Rapidly rising food prices, fuel prices, interest rates, inflation, talk of food shortages. Friends, I’m sure I don’t need to tell you things are kind of a mess out there right now. I feel our global food system is absolutely unstable and like we saw during COVID, is easily broken with any little interruption. I think the price of food will continue to rise. I don’t think we will see widespread extreme food shortages where there’s no food at all, but I do believe we will continue to see more supply chain interruptions with items out of stock more than we’re used to and for longer periods of time. All the usual advice like stocking up on food if you’re able is useful, but I believe the absolute best ways to protect ourselves against food shortages in the long term is to build a strong local food system and learn to cook with real food. Our local farmers are already raising all the basics we need from meats, eggs, fruits, vegetables, grains, dairy products. We may not have the wide variety of food we’re used to, and we’ll have to cook more from scratch, but the essentials are here. When our food is being raised, processed, sold, and eaten all within our communities, we are much better protected against outside supply chain interruptions or extra costs for transportation. When the initial COVID lockdowns caused empty grocery store shelves, most local farms saw a huge demand for their products. That is AMAZING and we were all thrilled to be serving our communities, but we quickly sold through months worth of inventory in weeks. It’s important to remember that farms like ours can’t flip a switch and quickly have more beef steers, hogs or chickens ready to process, more acres of produce ready to eat, or more milk to bottle. As demand for local products increases, more local food will be grown, but it realistically takes months or years for all the infrastructure and systems to catch up to a giant increase in local food demand. If you’ve ever read my post on The Bigger Impacts of Buying Local, there are so many other businesses that need to grow right along with us as our farm and others start raising more food and selling it to our community. That takes time, which means now is the time to start supporting local farms and businesses to give all of us a chance to grow and be ready to feed more people. Please don’t wait until we’re in another empty grocery store shelves scenario. Small farms need your support now so we’re ready for whatever comes next. Every time we shop from local farms we support a stronger and more abundant local food system. When we shop the grocery store, we tell the dangerously fragile global food system that’s how we want our food produced and sold. I know it’s cliche, but we truly do vote for the type of food system and world we want every single time we shop for food. I’ll be real that in times of emergency or shortages - farms like ours will prioritize making sure the families we’ve built relationships with have what they need before we open up sales to the public. It’s not because I don’t want to feed our entire community, I would love to be able to do that, but we raise meat and eggs based on demand. I feel strongly that my first responsibility is to feed the families who have supported and believed in us in all times, not just when grocery store shelves are empty. I obviously can't forsee the future, who knows what curveball could be thrown at us next, but whatever happens my solution is the same - food security comes from strong local food systems and communities. Whether you live in a rural area and shop directly from farmer neighbors or you live in the city and have local foods shipped to your door, building relationships and supporting small farms makes our food more secure. If you’d like to shop directly from our farm - here’s a link directly into our Online Farm Store. We ship meats across Ohio and most of the Midwest every Tuesday. Our Farm Store is open Saturdays from 9-Noon and Tuesdays from 5-6pm. And we deliver from Hillsboro to Cincinnati and Waverly, Chillicothe, Circleville, Kingston, Bainbridge, Greenfield areas once per month. If you’re not already part of our farm community, our email list is the best place to start to connect with your farmers and the source of your food! Watch your inbox for, recipes, first dibs on restocks, and to follow along with our farming journey.

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All About Eggs!

From shell color to label claims and how to peel farm fresh hard boiled eggs - all your egg questions are answered here! And maybe some you didn’t even know you wanted to ask. :) Are brown eggs more nutritious than white eggs? Nope! Shell color doesn’t matter, what’s inside the egg is the same. What does matter is how the hen that laid the egg was raised and fed! Our flock has a mix of all different breeds that lay lots of egg colors including chocolately brown eggs, brown eggs with speckles, a sort of pink egg, a few that lay blue and green eggs, and we do have quite a few white egg layers right now too. Our hens live on pasture in a giant moveable hoop house, year-round. They are supplemented with a local non-GMO feed to make sure they have the right balance of nutrition. This gives them lots of access to pasture, sunlight and fresh air while protecting them from predators. It also keeps them from destroying our garden, pooping on our porch, and laying eggs in weird spots all over the farm. What do all the label claims on egg cartons mean? Just like with buying chickens for meat (here’s a blog post I wrote about that), you’ll see so many label claims on grocery store egg cartons. I’ll do a whole blog post about egg label claims someday, but here’s what you need to know: Cage Free = chickens raised in crowded confinement barns but outside of cages. Free-Range = chickens raised in confinement barns with “access to the outdoors”, which is usually a small fenced lot without forage. They ARE NOT out roaming about in pastures foraging like the name implies. Organic = chickens raised in confinement barns and given “access to the outdoors” like free-range birds. They are not raised on pasture, they are not foraging, the only difference is they are fed an organic feed. Vegetarian Fed = chickens are not vegetarians, they’re omnivores. Vegetarian fed chickens were not likely to have access to the outdoors since they might eat a bug and not be vegetarians anymore. Pasture-Raised = this could be anything unless you know your farmer and how the chickens are being raised! There is no regulation of this term, so grocery store eggs labeled as pasture-raised are typically living in free-range style confinement barns with limited outdoor access. True pasture-raised eggs are from hens rotated around the farm on pasture in moveable shelters. How long will farm fresh eggs last? Fresh eggs will last a month or more in the refrigerator. I recommend having them eaten within a month or so for the best quality, but they’re still safe to eat beyond that. Do eggs need to be refrigerated? Once eggs have been washed or refrigerated, they do need to remain refrigerated. We wash our eggs and have them refrigerated before sending them home with you, so they will need to be stored in your refrigerator. How do you peel farm fresh hard boiled eggs? There are lots of tips and tricks for peeling fresh from the farm eggs without mangling them, but what I’ve had the best success with is using eggs that are at least a week or two old. I’ve also had good luck with this method: Bring your eggs, enough cool water to cover them, and about 2 tablespoons of sugar to a rolling boil. Once it’s reached boiling, turn off the heat, cover the pan, and let sit for 10 minutes. After the 10 minutes is up, drain off the hot water and place the eggs into an ice water bath to chill quickly. It also helps if you shake the eggs around in the pan or give them a quick tap to break the shells a bit before placing them in the ice bath. Are eggs healthy for me? I’ve heard they increase cholesterol levels. That’s been proven to be false. The biggest culprits with increased cholesterol levels are carbs, sugar and processed foods. Eggs are an amazing source of protein, vitamins and minerals - especially truly pasture-raised eggs! Always consult your doctor, but I also highly recommend doing some reading about the health benefits of animal proteins and dangers of some of the “heart healthy” diets. Why is your egg supply always low in Winter? How many eggs a chicken lays is related to the hours of sunlight they’re experiencing. During times of the year when the days are getting shorter, their egg laying naturally slows down. After the Winter solstice when days start to get a little longer, they kick the egg laying into high gear again. Chickens will also slow down laying when the weather is super hot, super cold, or they’re stressed for any reason. Commercial egg operations will use artificial light in Winter to trick the birds into laying more eggs. We choose not to do that. This allows the hen to live a longer, productive egg laying life. Why are the yolks of some eggs more orange than others? Are orange egg yolks more nutritious? Vibrant orange yolks are associated with pasture-raised chickens, but it’s important to know that many commercially available feeds include things like marigold extract which give the yolks an artificially orange color. So no, orange yolk does not always = nutrient dense egg. True pasture-raised eggs will usually have orange yolks, but will also likely show some color variation throughout the year depending on the season, what the birds are foraging for, and there’s even some variation between individual birds. Our feed does not include marigold or anything else that artificially creates bright orange yolks, the color comes from whatever they’re foraging for! Are you worried about Avian Influenza? Not really. It’s mainly a concern in barns with large populations of birds. It has been detected in backyard flocks, but it’s not common. If you have chickens at home and come to visit our farm, please let us know. We will limit contact with our chickens or take extra precautions, just to be proactive about any possible spread of the virus. We will continue monitoring the situation and the health of our chickens, but otherwise we’re continuing business as usual here. If anything changes, we’ll let you know! What chicken questions didn’t I answer? Did any of this chicken knowledge surprise you? If you ever have questions about farming, food, or anything we do here please feel free to leave a comment below or reach out via email. We love being a resource for you! And if you’d like to pick up our eggs here at the farm or Chillicothe Farmers Market, you can order them here in our Online Farm Store!

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It's Never Happened Unless by Conquest - And Never Peacefully

Earlier this month, I spent two days at a Homesteaders of America conference and it was WONDERFUL. When you gather people who are passionate about raising quality food and saving family farms, there’s an energy in the room that’s indescribable. Within our sessions about all things farming and homestead, there was one piece that stuck out. I could feel the entire room almost stop breathing for a second while we absorbed the reality of what this could look like. ​ In the next 15 years, 50% of America’s farmland will transfer as farmers retire or pass away. ​ This kind of massive land transfer has never happened in our civilization. ​ It has never happened unless seized by conquest. ​ And it has never happened peacefully. ​ How this might impact family farms, our communities, and our food security, is honestly pretty scary. ​ Even in rural areas right now, farmers often can’t afford to buy the land. What can be earned from raising crops or livestock on the farm isn't enough to pay the mortgage and taxes anymore. ​ Millions of acres of farmland are being bought by developers and investors, including foreign investment companies. What they are willing to pay for the land is much higher than farmers can afford. This is causing the price of farmland to rise rapidly. ​ Unless we find ways to stop it from happening, when half of America's farmland transfers in the next 15 years, much of it will be purchased by people who are not our farmers, neighbors, or people who care anything about the land, our community, or making sure we have enough to eat. ​ I'm not going to pretend to have all the answers for solving this, but I do know that supporting our local farmers and getting more young people into farming is part of what’s going to keep land in the hands of family farms like ours instead of developers and investors. ​ If farms like ours are strong and well supported, we can purchase land when property around us comes up for sale, and hopefully our family will be raising food on it for generations. ​ Lots of demand for locally raised products also opens up opportunities for more families to get started farming and make their living from the land, which will hopefully stay in their family for generations. ​ I know that buying from local farms isn't always the most convenient or cheapest option, but please know you are making such a huge difference for the farm families you support and you're shaping the future of family farms with every purchase. ​ Thank you for being part of keeping farmers like us on the land. Thank you for being part of keeping our food supply secure now and in the future. Thank you for believing in what we do and supporting us on this journey! ~ Dana Have stories like this, recipes, and anything special delivered straight to your inbox. Add your email address to join us below!

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Winter Hibernation Reading List

I’m not going to come right out and say that I dislike Winter, but there are a few things about it I don’t love. I don’t love when it’s so cold I feel like my contacts have frozen to my eyeballs. I strongly dislike wearing Carhartt bibs or a real coat because I feel like I can’t move (#shortchunkypeopleproblems) so I just wear a bunch of inadequate layers and half freeze because somehow that’s actually more comfortable. I do have to say that I am so thankful to whoever created toboggan hats with the hole for a messy bun at the top though. Those are a game changer. One thing I do love about Winter is curling up on cold evenings with a good book. Sometimes a mediocre book. If it’s really bad I move on though because there’s no sense wasting valuable reading time on a boring book. There are so many great things out there to read, but I picked out a few that have found their way into my home library that I’ve really enjoyed. Some I’ve owned for a while, some I acquired this year and instantly loved them. My Christmas present to myself this year was a used book shopping spree (I love the bargain bin at Better World Books), so hopefully after this Winter I’ll have some new titles to add to my favorites list for you! A few of my current favorite books: Present Over Perfect by Shauna Niequist Better Off by Eric Brende - if I had to pick a favorite of the favorites, this would be it! Redefining Rich by Shannon Hayes Backyard Pharmacy by Rachel Weaver The Homesteader’s Herbal Companion by Amy Fewell From Scratch by Shaye Elliot The Prairie Homestead Cookbook by Jill Winger Long Way on a Little by Shannon Hayes No Risk Ranching by Greg Judy The Lean Farm by Ben Hartman Balanced and Barefoot by Angela Newscom – I don’t own this one yet, but when I find it used or on sale, I’m for sure adding it to my collection! And yes, I included cookbooks in my favorite books list, but these aren’t just any cookbooks. They’re full of stories and info along with homestead and kitchen inspiration. They’ve been a huge part of teaching me to cook, and are just relaxing to flip through!   Have you read any of these or do any sound interesting? I’d also love to know if there’s an amazing book you love that I should read! Hope you’re warm, cozy and getting time to curl up with a good book too. Join the farm community and receive stories and updates from the farm, straight to your inbox!

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