How it all started

We both grew up in rural Alberta but left rural life behind after high school to pursue education and careers in larger centres. While food and health were important to both of our families growing up, our desire to learn and practice farming was largely sparked by a chemical-related illness that caused us to examine our health, where our food comes from, the chemicals in our human environments, and the way that all of this impacts us, our family, and our world. Along the way, we began learning about factory farms, monocultures, all the stuff that goes into our food before it becomes our food. The deeper we dug in to what we were eating and how it got to our plates, the more we felt we needed to make changes. We wanted to be able to access ethically, sustainably raised meat, and buy produce that was grown without the health and social concerns attached to so much of what is available in grocery stores. Over time, it became clear that we did not have the resources available to us to be able to eat the way we felt was important for our health and our world, and so we decided to become producers. 

Our journey from urban-based consumers to farmers has been one of incredible learning and growth, and has been extremely satisfying and rewarding. It has also been a lot of work. We take great joy in eating the way we have long wanted to, and in being able to provide quality meat for others at a price that is affordable to them, and sustainable for us.  

Our philosophy for farming is largely based on the idea of relationship. It starts with the relationships within our family, then our relationship to place - our farm and land and soil. From there, it is about our relationship with our animals, most of whom are more like pets than livestock. We do our best to raise them in as natural a way as we can, allowing our pigs to dig and root and live outside, and raising our cows and sheep with plenty of room, raised and finished on grass. All of this culminates in a relationship with consumers, many of whom are our friends, and to whom we are able to offer ethically raised, naturally grown meat, and a chance to buy food from someone they know and trust. This whole relational web results in a quality product for consumers, a way of receiving a fair profit for our efforts, and, through holistic management, rotational grazing, and pasture raised animals, an improvement, year after year, of our pastures, forests, and natural environment.

Influences for our philosophy include Joel Salatin and Polyface Farms, The Weston A. Price Foundation, concepts from the fields of permaculture and holistic management, and elements from our professional work in education and health care.

Our objective in farming is health and wholeness for our land, our animals, ourselves, and our customers.