Behind the scenes peek at our biggest spring project...

Spring is in full swing here on the farm - we have about 200 baby chickens in the brooder and 2 sows who are due to have piglets any day now. This is one of our favorite times of year because just like mother nature we are waking up from winter and getting energized about the upcoming warm weather season. Some highlights around the farm this time of year are the crocus popping up, baby animals being born and the sense of a fresh start.

The fresh start feeling is a great time for us to set goals for the farm to make the workload easier on us, to continue to provide our community with high quality pork and chicken and to give our animals the best lives possible. One of our big projects to help us achieve all these goals is pasture rebuilding. When we first moved onto the property there was a large horseback riding ring taking up a good portion of our pasture. The remainder of the pasture had not been actively maintained in years. Since the basis of good farming is soil and plant health we have been working on improving the pasture.

You may have seen on Instagram that we built a driveway a few weeks ago. This project was very important because it means we will be driving over the pasture less in order to get the tractor, truck, trailer and grain storage bin out to the pig house. Less driving on the pasture means less soil compaction and less squishing of plants.

We also tilled a few areas of the pasture that needed some organic material worked into it. This was mostly the old riding ring that was very sandy. By doing this we were able to get the ground ready to plant new pasture grass seed and forage mix for the pigs and chickens to munch on.

Lastly, we put in a pretty awesome perimeter fence last year so we don’t have to worry about the pigs escaping. Inside the perimeter we are able to use temporary fencing to section off different areas of the pasture so the pigs can spend a few days in one area and then move to another. This rotational practice helps the pasture grow and doesn’t allow the pigs to eat the ground bare or “moonscape” as we sometimes call it.

Do you have any springtime goals you are working towards? We would love to hear what you are working on now that the weather is warming up. Leave us a comment below!