production practices

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 Tuesday

  • Where: Throughout Ohio and most of the Midwest

  • What we ship: Nearly all products except eggs

  • How 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:

  • Eggs

  • Bulk 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:

  1. Click the "Change" button next to the current delivery location shown at the top of the website (like in the screenshot below).

  2. Enter your ZIP code when prompted.

  3. 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.


Curious about our pasture-raised meats?
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    Click Here for 2025 Meat Availability

    As pasture-based farmers, our products are often seasonal. And as a small family farm, we can only raise a limited number of beef steers, hogs, and chickens each year.

    I created this blog post to map out when we’ll have beef and hog shares available so you can mark your calendars and start budgeting for any larger stock ups.


    When you go to our Online Farm Store to reserve a share, you’ll be able to choose your estimated pickup date at checkout.

    The exact date will depend on the processors schedule for cutting and packaging the meat, but these dates give you a general idea when to plan for your beef or pork shares to be ready for pickup.

    I highly recommend that if you know you’ll want to stock your freezer with a beef or hog share in 2025, that you go ahead and reserve it. We have a limited number of beef and pork shares available.


    2025 Beef Shares - Estimated Pickup Dates

    Monthly - May, June, July, October, November, December

    2025 Thanksgiving Turkeys

    Processed in September - Can be picked up or delivered October or November before Thanksgiving.

    2025 Pasture-Raised Chicken

    June, July, August, September, October

    Chicken Cuts by the Box

    Purchasing chicken cuts by the box is the most economical way to stock your freezer with our pasture-raised chicken. By the box sales will be available as supplies last throughout the season.

    Monthly Meat CSA Shares

    We will continue to add new members to our Monthly Meat Share CSA as product availability allows. This is a great option if you prefer not to purchase in large quantities, but still want to keep your freezer stocked with our products year-round.

    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!

    A few other things I want to share about tallow balms and lard soaps…

    1. They allow us to use the entire animal and not waste the fat, which is so important to me.

    2. 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!

    3. 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.

    4. 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.

    5. 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.

    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


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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!

    - Dana

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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 local regenerative farmers is so 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 other methods of production or say my way of raising beef 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 in our head 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 in the beef world it means the cattle were not given a growth hormone implant or antibiotics. They’re typically fed conventional grain in a feedlot type setting. 

    If you're buying locally, this is still going to be far superior to anything you'll find at the grocery store, but ask your farmer questions so you know their production practices. 

    Pasture-Raised - this isn't a term I had seen applied to beef until recently, but what 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 lot with very little 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.

    Never hesitate to ask questions about any farmers feeding practices and if the beef you're buying has been fed grain. 

    Grass-Finished - 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 time 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 what I feel creates the quality of product 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. 

    Happy Beef Shopping Friends! 

    ~ Dana

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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!

    ~ Dana

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    Every Day is Earth Day for Farmers

    I was feeling a little guilty that I hadn't planned some sort of special Earth Day service project as a family today, but I realized that we live Earth Day every single day around here.

    While spending Earth Day picking up trash or planting trees definitely makes a positive difference in the health of our planet and are for sure important, raising animals the way we do and buying local foods on a regular basis makes a HUGE impact as well!

    Here are a few ways buying local, and especially purchasing locally raised grass-fed and pastured meats helps create a healthier planet:

    • Rotationally grazed pastures can sequester as much carbon as forest land. Sometimes you’ll hear that livestock negatively impact the atmosphere with their ahem “toots”, but the reality is that properly managed livestock raised on forage have a POSITIVE impact on the environment by helping to keep the carbon sequestration cycle of grasses moving.

    • Pasture land protects fresh water resources by reducing erosion of topsoil. Bare soil is extremely prone to water or wind erosion when it isn’t continually covered with growing plants. Topsoil is absolutely essential to growing any crops, whether it’s grain crops or pasture forages. It’s estimated that if we continue to lose topsoil at the same rate we have been for the last 10 years that we will not have enough topsoil to feed ourselves in only 60 years. We have to make changes now, there’s no more time to wait.

    • Buying local decreases the amount of fossil fuels needed to transport food products around the world. There is no reason to ship in beef from South America when we have plenty being raised in our own communities. The amount of travelling food does before it hits grocery store shelves is absolutely crazy.

    • When you purchase locally it encourages the continued growth of small grass-based farms like ours. As demand increases for grass-fed and pasture-raised meats, more and more farms like ours will begin popping up to meet the demand. We would love to see many more farms like ours feeding our communities!

    Thank you for being part of our mission to not only feed our community high quality food, but also to leave our little piece of the world even healthier than we found it.

    Happy Earth Day!

    ~ Dana

    Why Are You Always Out of Bacon?!

    If you’ve been shopping with us for very long, you have probably seen the dreaded line through the BACON category on our farmers market signage.

    Breakfast is ruined, emotions run high, panic ensues, it’s never fun… and I can assure you we hate it as much as you do!

    Our bacon is pretty much amazing. It’s sweet, it’s salty, it’s crunchy, it’s good for breakfast, in a BLT, on a salad, as a midnight snack, the list could go on. It’s basically what dreams are made of, I completely get it.

    In a perfect world, we would never run out of any cut, but it’s just not realistic for small farms operating at our scale. Each pig, steer and chicken only has so many body parts!

    Part of the bacon challenge is that on a 200+ pound hog, we only get somewhere around 16 packages of bacon. The belly and a little bit of meat from the jaw is the only meat from a hog that can be made into bacon. The majority of a pig is chops, hams, shoulders, ribs and sausage.

    As consumers, we are used to shopping the grocery store where every cut is stocked, at all times. We can shop any time of day or night and there will be bacon and pretty much anything else we could imagine, at any given moment, waiting for us to toss it into the cart.

    It’s different for small farms. We use and need to sell the entire animal so nothing goes to waste and so we can afford to raise the next batch of animals.

    The same concept of cut scarcity is true for beef and chickens too. We tend to run out of cuts like filet, ribeyes and rump roasts very quickly since each animal only has a small amount, but we can’t beef up (ha, get it!) beef production so we always have filet without balancing the demand for the other cuts.

    Sometimes we also run out of cuts simply because all of you are amazing and we sell out faster than expected!

    It takes 6-8 weeks to raise a batch of meat chickens, 5-6 months before a laying hen starts producing eggs consistently, 6+ months to raise a finished hog, and 2-2.5 years to raise a finished beef steer. When we run out of things, it takes time for us to stock the freezers again.

    2019 will be our 4th year farming, and we are continuing to fine tune when we need to have animals processed, how many to raise, and what your favorite cuts are, but we always appreciate feedback about what you like or would like us to offer!

    So, my challenge to you is to try incorporating a wide variety of cuts into your meals. Branch out, try something new! And if you need ideas on how to cook it, send me an email and I would love to help. The end result will be more bacon for everyone! :)

    ~Dana

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