Recognizing a Win
Recognizing a Win

TI have completely lost faith in our governmental institutions, but It’s important to acknowledge (and celebrate) victories when they happen.

Early last week, Tom Vilsack, our Secretary of Agriculture, announced a new policy mandating that all meat, poultry, and egg products bearing the “Product of U.S.A.” label must originate from animals born, raised, slaughtered, and processed within the United States. Gee what a novel concept – who would have thought that we needed the government to require packing companies to state the obvious (sarcasm).
This move comes as a corrective step since the government previously permitted meat to carry the “Product of the U.S.A.” label simply if it was packaged in the U.S., regardless of where the animal was born or slaughtered. Essentially, meat from animals not actually raised in the U.S. could masquerade as a domestic product just because it was wrapped up stateside.

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Rain on the Scarecrow
Rain on the Scarecrow

Last week I received my monthly copy of The Stockman Grass Farmer. This is a print publication started in 1947 dedicated to the art and science of grassland agriculture. The pages are loaded with great tips and techniques from authors like Greg Judy, Allan Nation, and Jim Gerrish to name a few. I typically put the paper aside, saving it for when I have time to read it cover to cover. But this month my attention was drawn to a cover page article, “Relational Harmony” by Joel Salatin (currently the Editor).

In the second paragraph I was confronted with this profound revelation – “Per capita farm suicides are higher than highly publicized suicide rates among war veterans. What’s going on here.”

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Try & Try Again
Try & Try Again

Much to Molly’s chagrin, I operate life through a sequence of experiments. Call it the Scientific Method if you will. I have an idea, then I test it to see if it works. Sometimes this results in huge gains, and other times in colossal failures. But experiments offer valuable lessons that I use to refine my understanding. Like any good scientist, I study what other people do and I adapt their strategies for my own unique needs and circumstances.

While studying permaculture, I was exposed to three concepts that seemed to have perfect harmony with one another: 1) using greywater (household water from sinks and showers) to irrigate plants and trees and 2) building swales (a ditch and berm on contour) to capture runoff, and 3) planting trees on those swales to maximize water uptake. When we built our home in 2016, it seemed natural to combine all three – piping our greywater system to a swale and planting peach trees along the crest. I still believe this is a great idea, but for our circumstances, it required too much maintenance and didn’t integrate well with our animals.

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The Fragrance of Fertility
The Fragrance of Fertility

It’s Molly’s favorite time of the year – chicken manure time. It’s not the fragrant aroma of spring she’s been eager for, but it’s a necessary part of our long-term plan to regenerate our soil.

It’s really hard to describe the smell of being down wind of 100 tons of chicken manure.  It’s an acrid stench that assaults your senses, almost like sticking your tongue on a nine-volt battery. You may be too young to know this sensation but trust me when I say it’s shocking.

Those who joined us on our Farm Tour last year, you might remember the memorable scent that accompanied our hayride. Unfortunately, due to a breakdown in the spreader, we couldn’t distribute the manure before the event. This hiccup is just a glimpse into the realities of farming – real challenges, real smells, and real solutions as we address our soil restoration needs.

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New Year – New Market
New Year – New Market

The Pflugerville Pfarmers Market holds a special place in our hearts as not only one of our first market ventures but also as our most successful market. Our introduction to the market in 2018 came through our friend Norma, who would later establish the Taylor Farmers Market. At that time, we were novices in the vendor scene, with just a handful of pop-up markets to our name. The Pflugerville market, with its sizeable weekday crowd, diverse array of vendors, live music, and array of special events, offered us a promising platform.

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Sustainably Yours
Sustainably Yours

For almost a year, we have been offering milk from our partners at Sowers Sustainable Farms. Since I believe in the free association of consenting adults, we were doing this outside the bounds of permissible regulations. I was comfortable with the risk since everyone was a long time customers. But as the diary is growing,

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A SNAP Decision
A SNAP Decision

Texas offers a helping hand to low-income families through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), enabling participants to use their SNAP cards at many of the Farmers Markets we frequent. I must admit, I was doubtful we’d have a customer use SNAP benefits to purchase our meat. After all, it’s no secret that the cost of factory-farmed proteins at grocery stores is significantly cheaper than our pricing. Now when I say cheaper, I mean dollars per pound. I contend our proteins offer greater nutritional value – but I’m getting off topic.

Well, imagine my surprise when a young couple with a newborn baby started counting up their tokens to purchase some of our chicken (tokens are used at the market to facilitate vendor reimbursement). My skepticism immediately turned to elation. I was so excited to see someone placing such a high priority on what they consume. This, to me, was a clear sign that our message is resonating.

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Baa-lancing Act:
Baa-lancing Act:

Lamb is my favorite protein. It’s hard to beat grilled lamb chops, and I really love doing lamb kabobs alongside tzatziki, kalamata olives, and tomatoes.

But raising lambs is another matter.
On the positive side, sheep are easy to handle, they don’t test fences, they come when you call, they are prolific propagators, and they complement our other livestock.

However, keeping them alive is a constant battle.

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Silver Lining
Silver Lining

September 2023 vol. 3 When it rains it pours, and this summer has showered us with its fair share of challenges. Ironically, just as a few welcome rain showers gave us a brief respite from the heat, we hit what we hope is the final snag in our string of “rainy” issues. Our home air

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Chew the Fat
Chew the Fat

This weekend I finally finished processing the deer I took at the end of December. You would think, with over a thousand pounds of meat in the freezer, that I wouldn’t need to hunt for more – and you’d be right. I don’t NEED more meat. Truth be told, I love venison! It has a very deep and rich flavor that I relish.

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Reaching Our Goal

John Pantalone September 18, 2019 I see it’s been a year since I’ve blogged so I thought I’d start by celebrating. Yesterday we reached one of our sales goals – $1,000 at a market. This is huge and we couldn’t have done it without our loyal customers. Over half of that came from pre-orders from

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Chicken Business
Chicken Business

Last week we started a batch of 100 Cornish Cross broiler (meat) chickens with the intent to raise on pasture and sell at the farmer’s market. We are prototyping the system with 100 birds, but hope to get up to batches of 300, as chicken is a high volume – low margin game. A chicken

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