What is this ‘Real Tax’ you collect from your sales? Where does it go?

Beginning in 2020, we collect a 1% ‘Real Tax’ from all sales transactions. Modeled after the ‘Real Rent’ initiative of the Duwamish, as well as calls for reparations, we are collecting this revenue for local BIPOC-led organizations that are actively engaged in the struggle for human dignity and flourishing. We send an equal portion of this money to the Black Food Sovereignty Coalition, Many Nations Longhouse, and Pineros y Campesinos Unidos del Noroeste (PCUN), quarterly.

Structural racism and exploitation are embedded in every corner of our imperialist, capitalist society. The organic industry and local food movements have their own inequities and injustices. We recognize that we are stewarding land on Kalapuya territory. We acknowledge our settler-colonial heritage and the ways that we as farmers continue to benefit from white privilege.

Reparations are not charity or donations. They are payments against debts owed.

What does it mean for meat to be certified organic?

What a great question! We are thrilled to announce that as of Fall 2023, all our meat is certified organic through Oregon Tilth. This is a huge deal! For years our farm land has been organic, and this year we made the switch to organic feed. We secured both organic and Animal-Welfare-Approved certifications for the state-licensed poultry processing facility we rent with our stellar crew. There is no other organic poultry processor in Oregon, so we’re happy to make this option available for any other farmers who are thinking about going organic and need a place to bring their birds.

We are not aware of any other farms raising certified organic pork or poultry in Lane, Linn or Benton counties— or anywhere else in this state. There are farms who have certified their pasture organic. But since hogs and chickens are not ruminants and need to eat grains and other proteins, pork and poultry are not eligible under this certification unless those animals are also on organic feed, and the animals are processed in an organic facility. Additionally, meat animals must raised in keeping with organic standards after the 1st trimester of gestation. We maintain holistic farm systems plans and undergo annual independent third party audits for all our certifications.

Organic feed can be as much as twice the cost of conventional, non-GMO feed. Yowzers! This price jump can feel cost prohibitive for many small producers like us, but that didn’t feel like an adequate reason not to do the right thing- just like it’s not okay to underpay workers for their labor even though wages are a major expense. It’s important to us to farm our values, and integrity and unwavering dedication to responsible ecological stewardship are big ones. Feeding animals organically means we’re supporting other organic growers and production chains. It means our hogs, birds, and sheep aren’t consuming pesticides, herbicides, and other residues and creepy additives used in conventional agriculture. We have raised our prices this year to reflect the increased cost, and are committed to maintaining food justice and equity programs on the farm to help ensure that folks aren’t getting left behind. We welcome community feedback on this topic.

In addition to sourcing vegetables from our seed company neighbors, we partner with organic orchards to add certified organic apples and pomace to our animals’ diets. Finding wholesome foodstuffs like these helps keep our production costs down while helping to close the loop on ‘waste’ streams from the local food scene. Plus, nothing can beat the taste of apple-finished pork. The fruit lends a special sweetness that expresses itself in the fat cap and marbling on our chops and roasts. The more organic producers (dairies, breweries, cider mills, fruit and nut orchards, grain growers, bakeries, etc) in our foodshed, the less expensive it will be for us to feed the farm organically and the more opportunities there will be for mutually supportive partnerships. We look forward to a future when organic is the norm rather than the exception.

How does pastured livestock production fit in with regenerative agriculture?

Management intensive pastured livestock production is an important tool in mitigating climate chaos. Especially in farm systems that integrate trees (Silvopasture), raising animals on pasture can create carbon sinks, storing large amounts of biomass both below and above the soil surface. Perennial landscapes sequester carbon, and tilling releases carbon. By keeping the soil covered with trees, grasses, and other forage while also reducing reliance on annual grains that require heavy tillage, we can effectively drawdown carbon. See Eric Toensmeier’s The Carbon Farming Solution and Steve Gabriel’s Silvopasture for an extensive discussion of these principles.

Kait was a vegetarian and a vegan for many years. There is no doubt that industrial meat production in factory farms is an environmental disaster. The methane and effluent from large tier Confined Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs) pollutes our air and water, and like other forms of Big Ag they are a major contributor to global warming. Not only is it fossil fuel intensive to maintain these facilities and transport products to distant markets, but huge swaths of the Brazilian rain forest are destroyed to produce soy and other GMO commodity crops for US livestock. Large slaughterhouses are guilty of labor abuses and unsafe working conditions. It’s a bleak reality.

Manure should be a resource rather than a pollutant. Animals are a necessary part of every ecosystem. Plants are not vegetarians: most organic farms use some form of animal protein to feed their crops and maintain soil fertility- be it feather meal, blood meal, bone meal, or manure. In the United States these materials unfortunately come from large CAFOs, which can supply volume.

We’re working to create an agroecological farm organism based on rotational grazing. The best way we can ensure that the animals providing the nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium for the soil are treated humanely is to raise them here ourselves. By producing fertility on-farm we know that the nutrients that sustain our pastures, trees, and annual vegetable crops are from an environmentally-friendly source. Reintegrating animals with fruit and vegetable cropping systems is one aspect of the transformative changes we must make to the current agricultural paradigm.

Another way we’re moving towards a more regenerative farm model is by selecting for smaller hogs that can meet more of their nutritional requirements by foraging and grazing, and leaning into raising more ruminants now that our pastures are improving.

Hey, so. . . when will you have organic lamb?

Logical next question. Right now we have a limited quantity of merguez sausages and lamb chops each year. We began a small flock of Icelandic sheep in the Spring of 2019. It will take a few more years for us to build the herd up to a size that will feed our Pastured CSA members and have more inventory to bring to market regularly, but we’ll get there. We’re growing the flock apace with progress of the forage quality. In the meantime, these animals are helping to maintain the pasture and adding valuable fertility. Our land base is too small and our soils are too clayey to support cattle responsibly, so we’ll stick with sheep.

Do you sell eggs?

We do! Sometimes. Eggs are available at our online store and at farmers market when we’ve got them. We have a small laying flock duck hens. Because we farm in the Pacific Northwest, we feel ducks are a more appropriate bird for our wet winters. Chickens do not thrive if cold and wet, but our ducks love foraging free-range during the long rainy season. That’s why we only raise Freedom Ranger broilers seasonally from April-October, but keep laying ducks year round. Well, and because their eggs are rich and delicious. Eggs are a seasonal food, and our ladies lay most reliably from March to July and a bit through the winter.