Animals are a pain. Yup there you go, I said it. They require care 365.25 days out of the year, and they often reward you with getting into mischief. That’s what happened this week! All 78 sheep decided they didn’t like the pasture they were in and wanted to find a different shaded area and get a pre-sampling of the sweet corn on the way by. So why do we have these wily beasts and two legged pooping machines we call chickens? I would like to say that it’s because the yarn, meat, and eggs are very profitable, but I’m really not sure that’s the case.
When we look out in the field of growing vegetables we can directly notice the area where the sheep spent time compared with where we had grown vegetables last season. So, the reason we have these animals is for the soil - we feed them forage and they convert into nutrients. By properly managing the way these animals run through the acreage, we can maximize the nutrient retention in the soil and feed soil biology so that we are rewarded with beautiful crops in the future!
So, by buying eggs, yarn, or meat from a regenerative farmer you are actually helping to pay his fertilizer bill! I do enjoy the animals, but they can definitely be an added hassle when you’re trying to grow vegetables. When one enterprise benefits another we call it stacking and it appears as though that’s the way to make an organic farm work. There is some beautiful yarn in the farm store and to add to your box. Enjoy!
We shear our own sheep and have the wool processed just down the road from our farm at the Hoof to Hanger fiber mill.
