We help busy families source local grass-based meats so they can have confidence in the protein they serve and eat.
Hey there, Catherine Kirchner over here <---
Are you like me; juggling kids, coffee, work and what's for dinner?
Does your intuition tell you that Big Ag, Big Gov, and Big Pharma maybe don't have you're best interest in mind?
Do you believe food is medicine?
Do you have a desire to be better connected to your community and the land that sustains us?
Welcome, you're in the right place! :)
Clean Food = Healthy Humans
When our first born arrived, everything changed. Can you relate?
We wanted to provide her the best and become the best versions of ourselves for her.
We started reading up on nutritional science and decided to dive head first into a Paleo diet. That was the beginning of a health and intellectual journey that woke up my life-long call to be closer to the land and where our food comes from.
The more I've learned, the less comfortable I feel about handing over my family's nutritional well-being to the grocery stores and the varied interests that are fighting for our attention there.
Burnt Out Educator Turns Regenerative Farmer
After years of the hustle and bustle of commuting to and from work dragging kids out of the house at 7:00am and getting home after 5:00pm, I was burnt out. For 10 years, I worked in education as a teacher and then principal. My commute in Montana was from Big Timber to Livingston, a beautiful drive. It became harder and harder to ignore that where I really wanted to be was in the fields I was driving by.
And, then a pandemic came. Truth be told, I handed in my resignation the week before our school closed due to covid having no inclination how 2020 would end up playing out. But, with my husband's support, I took out my retirement money and bought a starter herd of cows.
Food As Medicine
By this time, our family has grown and we now have 3 kids. Our middle kiddo is our only son. Starting around one year old, he got really sick every winter. It was his breathing mainly (but also his skin and gut health too) and he'd end up in the hospital way too often.
We've seen first hand how food can hurt or it can heal. Through detoxing our diet and home and buying the best food we can find and afford, we've all benefitted from it. But, none of us more so than our boy.
Small, Diverse, Regenerative Farming...
Why we farm?
I know a lot of farmers and ranchers are out there doing the best they can within the context they find themselves. And, at the same time I'd like to see the US adopt regenerative agriculture principles overnight.
- So, we could stop mono-cropping our fields which destroys biodiversity and depletes nutrient density.
- Stop over-grazing and over tilling, killing soil microbes and living roots which are needed to prevent erosion.
- Stop applying synthetic agri-chemicals which leach into our waterways.
- Stop pumping our animals intended for meat with antibiotics, hormones and other agri-pharmaceuticals.
- Stop feeding ruminant animals mono-crops and by-products they weren't designed to digest or live and be healthy on.
- Stop treating animals like a lifeless product designed to grow freakishly fast and take up as little space as possible before it is harvested for food.
There are a lot of things about the industrial food model we advocate for changing. But, in the immediate term...
We've decided to focus on what we can control.
We farm and work with other local producers of veggies, produce and meats that we don't currently produce because...
- We value biodiversity in plant and animal life, both wild and domestic as well as within the soil microbe populations.
- We believe in playing a part in building and supporting a healthy eco-system.
- We protect the soil with cover by not over-grazing. We practice planned rotational grazing. This allows for proper rest and recovery for the plants. This helps with temperature regulation and helps keep living roots in the ground as long as possible. This leads to increased water holding capacity and helps address top soil loss.
- We don't use any agri-chemicals or agri-pharmaceuticals because frankly we don't trust them. The exception would be if an animal was sick and required it. But, nothing preventative.
- We only feed our animals what they were designed to eat. We raise grass based proteins from animals that were designed to eat grass.
- We allow our animals to live in accord with their nature, outdoors and in their pastures.
What Does It Cost?
Let's talk about cheap food.
We'd love for truly good food to be accessible to all. But, sadly what is currently subsidized and therefore more affordable is often not something we trust or feel good about serving our family.
It's not the sticker price on the food that is the issue. Not really, not in the long term anyway. But, what does it cost us to habitually, year after year eat a standard American, industrialized and highly processed diet? You might envision a particular answer to this question, or maybe you'd rather not think about it.
I know for us, and our customers, it's a reality we'd rather not experience first hand. So, the consequence is to make sacrifices in the present to be able to afford the kind of food we value. For us, that's the sacrifice of our time and resources including the financial capital we pour into our farming operation.
It brings us a deep sense of purpose to raise animals for food and heal the land and ourselves through this process. It is an honor to be able to extend the fruits of our harvest to our friends and local community.
Thank you for looking to us to help put wholesome food on your tables too.