HOW WE CAN BE THE SOLUTION

written by

Sue King

posted on

May 1, 2020

Last week we were watching the creek rise to levels we have not seen in the thirty-four years we have lived here.  There was a point when we actually took our vehicles to the other side of the culvert because we didn’t know if the road would still be passable by morning. 

My question; if the land was being stewarded well would this flooding be so dramatic? 

Year one of the permaculture orchard Pond and swales in place waiting for trees.

Year one of the permaculture orchard Pond and swales in place waiting for trees.

When large tracts of land are cleared for monoculture cropping it seems that there is nothing to slow the movement of run-off water from the snow melt.  We see so much top soil being washed into the creeks. 

Our land is sloped so we have attempted to apply design that follows permaculture principles.  Our raised garden beds are formed to follow the contour of the land.  These raised rows serves three purposes:  1)  It allows us to gain more depth of topsoil for growing root crops, 2)  It slows the movement of water down the slope and 3) the pathways that are created when we form the beds help catch and store water that the plants can access when needed. 

Our farm is mostly covered in perennial pastures and treed forests.  Both of these elements help slow the flow of water that causes so much erosion on bare fields. 

The nature of a garden is that there will be some bare soil, but we look to nature to solve the erosion problem that happens to bare soil.  Nature is modest; she wants a covering.  That comes in many forms such as perennial plants and trees, leaf litter or deadfall all of which are present in a forest.


Year two in the permaculture orchard/garden. Harvesting garlic.

Year two in the permaculture orchard/garden. Harvesting garlic.

My grandparents farm was set up to work with nature.  The house and outbuildings were located on higher ground while the garden was on a bench above the creek.  Higher up the slope was forested. This placement of elements within the farm’s design worked to create abundance. By placing the house and outbuildings on the mid slopes the trees above would help capture excess water, then slowly release it downhill. This principle helps to keep flooding at bay. As excess water now slowly moves down to the bottom where the creeks are the garden is watered from the bottom up with no work on their part.  Because of this careful placement they were able to grow the food that they needed throughout the year without being dependent on the grocery stores.

As we find ourselves thrown into a world of uncertainty surround COVID 19, I am seeing a desire in people to get back to some kind of basic connection of shorter food supply chains. There has been a rush to purchase seeds. If any of you have tried to order garden seeds online you will know what I am talking about. The other day I went online to one of the company’s websites who I routinely purchase from. At 10 am they already had their online store closed. I was thankful I wasn’t there to purchase seeds, but just looking at planting guides.


A few of the many plants awaiting warmer weather to be moved outdoors to the permaculture orchard/garden.

A few of the many plants awaiting warmer weather to be moved outdoors to the permaculture orchard/garden.

We are also seeing a shortening of the food supply chain with an increase in people searching out local food producers. We know that resiliency is easier to achieve on a smaller scale. A saying I love is; land that feels the farmer is much better tended. I believe this is so true. As an example; when a gardener walks around the garden they will see what needs to be done. That weed that pops up and sucks up water and nutrients can be removed so the desirable plants will thrive.

Our goal is to grow enough food to last our family for a year. So far, we haven’t quite managed that, but we are getting closer. We are in the thick of starting plants inside to moved outside when the weather is conducive for them. I don’t have a greenhouse so my home turns into a jungle this time of year. It is warming enough during the days now that a lot of them can be moved outside for a few hours.

This is one way we cope with situations like COVID 19 and economic downturns that are outside our control. I would also like to say that we are debt-free, but we are not. Every year however, we do strive to live a more resilient life.

As many of you know our mission is to steward the land that has

been entrusted to our care in order to produce nutrient-dense foods that can

contribute to the health and well-being of the people we serve while earning a

right livelihood.      

As individuals and a community if we want the assurance of abundant food we need to choose locally grown and produced food.  When we shift our food reliance away from just-in-time grocery stores to local producers we will be in a much more resilient position to cope in a crisis.  There are many small farms that would love to serve those who don’t produce their own food.  We have food; nutrient-dense, high quality food that we have put our hearts into raising.   

Our modern food system is broken! You can be part of the solution. Your first step is to connect with us.


More from the blog

June

June

June Farm News and Updates!Where has June gone?  It feels like just yesterday we were rushing around trying to get the gardens planted, baby calves and lambs were being born and the grass was slow to start growing.  Now all that has passed and we have settled into summer routines.   At the beginning of June, we were concerned that we might face drought again this year.  But thankfully God opened the heavens and sent much-needed rain.  The cows and sheep are not able to keep up with the explosion of lush grass growth at this time of year. But that's ok.  We will be able to stockpile the extra grass for next winter. Our days on the farm are full.  We head out to the pasture every morning after breakfast to move the electric wire so the cows can have a fresh salad bar pasture for the next twenty-four hours. Then it's back to the barn to milk Gail, our Jersey Canadienne cow and feed the pigs before changing clothes and heading into the butcher shop or doing projects around the farm.  There are lots of fences to fix, machines to get ready for haying and daily upkeep of the farm and yard. Have you had a chance to try our NEW Bacon Infused Patties yet?  We love them and so do our customers who have tried them.  Be sure to order yours today at the link below.And, as a side note.  I will not be posting as much over the summer, but you can come on down to the Grande Prairie Farmers Market and we can have a little visit there.See you soon.FROM OUR FARM TO YOUR FAMILY,thank you for caring where your food comes from.  

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Pasture versus CAFO: Why Do We Raise Our Animals on Grass?

Pasture versus CAFO: Why Do We Raise Our Animals on Grass?

Why  Do We Raise Our Animals on Grass? I want to start to answer this question.  It all begins with our family's journey to regaining our health. In the late 1980's we started to experience varying degrees of health issues.  We sought medical help to no avail.  The doctors could not pinpoint the causes of persistent rashes, digestive problems and persistent weight gain to name a few of the difficulties we were experiencing.  It was during these challenging times that we were introduced to the concept of organic food.  We were very skeptical that switching to organic food would help these issues.  Part of our skepticism was because it would require us to spend additional money on groceries.  Another issue was that we were in a community of conventional farmers who thought there was no basis for organic claims. So, feeling like we had no alternatives left to explore, we started to make the shift to eating organic foods and pasture-based meat, milk and eggs.  To help alleviate some of the out-of-pocket expenses we started to grow a bigger garden and preserve its bounty to supply our produce.  A small improvement in our health was noticed, but the issues were not alleviated.  We then started to take some courses on raising animals mimicking nature.  We discovered the harmful effects that our conventional agricultural practices had on the animals and the people who consumed them.  In 1997 we turned our backs on conventional agricultural practices and started farming organically.  I want to add a disclaimer here:  We are not totally against the use of medications if an animal or human gets sick and could die without intervention.  We will however try every available natural alternative before resorting to pharmaceuticals.   We started to harvest meat, milk and eggs from our pasture-raised animals instead of selling them and then going to the store to purchase our meat, milk and eggs.  At this time we added pigs to our repertoire of animals that we were raising.  So now we had beef, milk, lamb, pigs, chicken and eggs that we were raising for ourselves.    We believe that our health has significantly improved because we changed our diet to consume "clean" meats, raw dairy, eggs from our healthy laying hens and veggies from our gardens.  Still, more health improvements were noticed, but there were still quite a few lingering issues.Through our connections with other organic producers, we were introduced to a wonderful naturopathic doctor who did some very detailed allergy testing.  These tests finally gave us a very clear picture of what we were dealing with.  So after eliminating the myriad of foods that triggered the allergic reactions daily life became much better.  By eating home-raised, organically grown foods that didn't produce the allergic reactions the health issues just seemed to fall away.  Every once in a while when we cheat and eat away from home the symptoms manifest themselves again.  We then quickly correct the behavior and our bodies go back to what is now normal.  I am not saying that this is a cure-all to whatever ails you.  There are still days that we struggle with health issues that seem to come out of nowhere, but we just backtrack to see if it is something that we can correct. The information that follows is from the website "Eat Wild".  It is very interesting and explains the important health benefits of grass-fed meats, eggs and dairy far better than I can. "Summary of Important Health Benefits of Grassfed Meats, Eggs and Dairy Lower in Fat and Calories. There are a number of nutritional differences between the meat of pasture-raised and feedlot-raised animals. To begin with, meat from grass-fed cattle, sheep, and bison is lower in total fat. If the meat is very lean, it can have one third as much fat as a similar cut from a grain-fed animal. In fact, as you can see by the graph below, grass-fed beef can have the same amount of fat as skinless chicken breast, wild deer, or elk.[1] Research shows that lean beef actually lowers your "bad" LDL cholesterol levels.[2] Data from J. Animal Sci 80(5):1202-11. Because meat from grass-fed animals is lower in fat than meat from grain-fed animals, it is also lower in calories. (Fat has 9 calories per gram, compared with only 4 calories for protein and carbohydrates. The greater the fat content, the greater the number of calories.) As an example, a 6-ounce steak from a grass-finished steer can have 100 fewer calories than a 6-ounce steak from a grain-fed steer. If you eat a typical amount of beef (66.5 pounds a year), switching to lean grassfed beef will save you 17,733 calories a year—without requiring any willpower or change in your eating habits. If everything else in your diet remains constant, you'll lose about six pounds a year. If all Americans switched to grassfed meat, our national epidemic of obesity might diminish. In the past few years, producers of grass-fed beef have been looking for ways to increase the amount of marbling in the meat so that consumers will have a more familiar product. But even these fatter cuts of grass-fed beef are lower in fat and calories than beef from grain-fed cattle. Extra Omega-3s. Meat from grass-fed animals has two to four times more omega-3 fatty acids than meat from grain- fed animals. Omega-3s are called "good fats" because they play a vital role in every cell and system in your body. For example, of all the fats, they are the most heart-friendly. People who have ample amounts of omega-3s in their diet are less likely to have high blood pressure or an irregular heartbeat. Remarkably, they are 50 percent less likely to suffer a heart attack.[3] Omega-3s are essential for your brain as well. People with a diet rich in omega-3s are less likely to suffer from depression, schizophrenia, attention deficit disorder (hyperactivity), or Alzheimer's disease.[4] Another benefit of omega-3s is that they may reduce your risk of cancer. In animal studies, these essential fats have slowed the growth of a wide array of cancers and also kept them from spreading.[5] Although the human research is in its infancy, researchers have shown that omega-3s can slow or even reverse the extreme weight loss that accompanies advanced cancer and also hasten recovery from surgery.[6,7] Omega-3s are most abundant in seafood and certain nuts and seeds such as flaxseeds and walnuts, but they are also found in animals raised on pasture. The reason is simple. Omega-3s are formed in the chloroplasts of green leaves and algae. Sixty percent of the fatty acids in grass are omega-3s. When cattle are taken off omega-3 rich grass and shipped to a feedlot to be fattened on omega-3 poor grain, they begin losing their store of this beneficial fat. Each day that an animal spends in the feedlot, its supply of omega-3s is diminished.[8] The graph below illustrates this steady decline. Data from: J Animal Sci (1993) 71(8):2079-88. When chickens are housed indoors and deprived of greens, their meat and eggs also become artificially low in omega-3s. Eggs from pastured hens can contain as much as 10 times more omega-3s than eggs from factory hens.[9] It has been estimated that only 40 percent of Americans consume an adequate supply of omega-3 fatty acids. Twenty percent have blood levels so low that they cannot be detected.[10] Switching to the meat, milk, and dairy products of grass-fed animals is one way to restore this vital nutrient to your diet. The CLA Bonus. Meat and dairy products from grass-fed ruminants are the richest known source of another type of good fat called "conjugated linoleic acid" or CLA. When ruminants are raised on fresh pasture alone, their products contain from three to five times more CLA than products from animals fed conventional diets.[11] (A steak from the most marbled grass-fed animals will have the most CLA ,as much of the CLA is stored in fat cells.) CLA may be one of our most potent defenses against cancer. In laboratory animals, a very small percentage of CLA—a mere 0.1 percent of total calories—greatly reduced tumor growth. [12] There is new evidence that CLA may also reduce cancer risk in humans. In a Finnish study, women who had the highest levels of CLA in their diet, had a 60 percent lower risk of breast cancer than those with the lowest levels. Switching from grain-fed to grassfed meat and dairy products places women in this lowest risk category.13 Researcher Tilak Dhiman from Utah State University estimates that you may be able to lower your risk of cancer simply by eating the following grassfed products each day: one glass of whole milk, one ounce of cheese, and one serving of meat. You would have to eat five times that amount of grain-fed meat and dairy products to get the same level of protection. Vitamin E. In addition to being higher in omega-3s and CLA, meat from grassfed animals is also higher in vitamin E. The graph below shows vitamin E levels in meat from: 1) feedlot cattle, 2) feedlot cattle given high doses of synthetic vitamin E (1,000 IU per day), and 3) cattle raised on fresh pasture with no added supplements. The meat from the pastured cattle is four times higher in vitamin E than the meat from the feedlot cattle and, interestingly, almost twice as high as the meat from the feedlot cattle given vitamin E supplements. [14#] In humans, vitamin E is linked with a lower risk of heart disease and cancer. This potent antioxidant may also have anti-aging properties. Most Americans are deficient in vitamin E. Data from: Smith, G.C. "Dietary supplementation of vitamin E to cattle to improve shelf life and case life of beef for domestic and international markets." Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado 80523-1171" Grab your copy of our free booklet, 6 SUPER SIMPLE COOKING METHODS TO ACHIEVE PERFECTION EVERY TIME FROM YOUR PASTURE-RAISED MEATS.  It is a great resource that you will turn to time after time.Join me next week to learn what "grass-fed" means to me.

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Making a Difference: Exploring Grassfed/Grass Finished Beef

Making a Difference: Exploring Grassfed/Grass Finished Beef

 Approximately thirty years ago many ranchers realized the adverse health effects that CAFOs were creating in their animals and the people who consumed the meat.  So instead of sending them away to a CAFO, they started keeping them on pasture until it was time to process them for food.  When animals are raised on pasture the animals grow at a natural pace, consuming only foods that were designed for their bodies.  This low-stress life came with the added benefit of virtually eliminating the use of antibiotics and many other routinely used drugs.  Pasture-based farming allows the animals to express their naturally design characteristics while being naturally healthy.  This means that the people who consume the meat benefit from the animal's health.  How can a sickly animal help us to stay healthy?  We don’t believe that it can.    There have been numerous studies done that compared CAFO meat to grass-fed and grass-finished meat.  They all found that the meat from grass-fed and grass-finished beef, lamb, bison and goats has less total fat including saturated fat, cholesterol and calories.  It also has more vitamin E, beta-carotene, vitamin C, and other health-promoting fats, including omega-3 fatty acids and conjugated linoleic acid.  Raising animals on pasture for meat also requires more intimate knowledge of your animal' needs than sending them away when they are weaned from their mothers.  Pastures must be managed so that the plants are always at their optimal growth stage.  This provides nutrient-dense forage.  The attention to pasture management details results in succulent and tender meat for you and our family. Well-stewarded animals raised on high-quality pasture provide the opportunity for us to consume the healthiest meat possible without being concerned about what they were fed and how they have been treated.  In 1998 we made the switch from raising our animals conventionally to raising them following organic principles.  In the coming weeks, we will explore the differences in more detail.  Plus I will have some tried and tested recipes you will be sure to love. If you have been searching for locally raised and processed grass-fed and grass-finished meat raised by caring farmers whom you can talk to in person, you have come to the right place.  Every day our family puts great effort into ensuring our animals are well taken care of.   It is simple to order our grass-fed/grass-finished beef and lamb or pasture-raised pork.   Visit our online store where you can browse our large selection of farm-raised products.  When you are ready to order create your very own personal account, fill your cart, and select your preferred pickup location.  We will notify you when your order is ready to pick up.  It is that easy.  What are you waiting for? To help you get started successfully cooking with our grass-fed, pasture-raised meat you can download our 6 SUPER SIMPLE COOKING METHODS TO ACHIEVE PERFECTION EVERY TIME FROM YOUR PASTURE-RAISED MEATS booklet absolutely free. It is a great resource that you will turn to time-after-time. I know I sure do!

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