Unkempt Farming; Dates for fresh chicken and beef parts; New date Farm Field Day

Chicken hoop houses on pasture. Notice the dark green where they have been before.

Unkempt Farming

Have you noticed the trend to spray RoundUp under fences and around other obstacles that people don’t want to weed-eat? Even the Missouri Department of Transportation sprays around the base of their signs. Whoever decided that bare ground is more pleasing to the eye than vegetation does not know the first thing about soil health. Bare soil will soon be dead soil with most of the organic matter and soil biology baked out of existence. I’ll admit that a shorn pasture recently hayed or clipped looks better than a pasture of varying heights with some “weeds” poking their heads above it all. But short grass lets in more sunlight that is detrimental to the beneficial critters and fungus/bacteria that thrive in the shade. Short grass also makes moving the chicken pens easier, so I am constantly fighting against the urge to trim the pastures. Compared to our neighbors’ fresh cut hayfields, our pastures look unkempt.

 I saw the same extremes in the boot heel yesterday. First I saw knee high soy beans that were dark green and not a single weed. The dirt had been tilled prior to planting and then stirred again to kill the weeds. In this pleasing-to-the-eye field the soil is suffering.

 Constant tillage reduces the soil biology and tilth to next to zero. Only by applying copious inputs can a crop be produced. Then I saw an unkempt field of soy that had been no-till planted. A clover cover crop grew above the rice straw stover from last year’s crop. This farmer is a herd quitter practicing regenerative agriculture. His goal is to rebuild the soil so it functions properly. Do not confuse regenerative agriculture with sustainable agriculture. You can sustain a dead system forever without re-building soil biology and soil tilth.

 If you plan to attend our farm field day on August 12th be prepared to encounter “unkempt pastures”, but understand that our goal is building up soil health, not competing in the neighborhood pasture beauty contest.

Fresh Chickens and Frozen Beef for sale Tuesday (farm) and Wednesday (Mansfield & Springfield), July 11-12.

We expect to get our beef in a few days! Our fresh chicken and frozen beef will be for sale again on Tuesday and Wednesday. Between our sale dates, you may purchase them frozen at the farm, or fresh or frozen chicken at one of the fine stores that carry our chicken products, (for stores, see the bottom of the Locations tab on our website: Location Link).

FRESH CHICKEN and FROZEN BEEF SCHEDULE:
Peace Valley: Tuesday, July 11, 3-6 p.m., on the farm
Mansfield: Wednesday, July 12, call for time and to let us know you are coming. 
Springfield: Wednesday, July 12, noon till 1 p.m. 
Rolla: July 5, 3:30 p.m. We hope to come again in about 6 weeks. Call or email for information. 

Farm Field Day, New Date

The new tentative date for the Farm Field Day, is August 12.
SAVE THE DATE!