The common definition of being self-sufficient are things like, growing your own food, milking your own cow and making your own stuff.
I know we do a lot of that, but during the experience of doing so I have realized that without the support of many people things would have been different. The dairy man down the road who helps out when we have a dairy cow problem, who also sells us hay (as we can’t grow our own), and the farmer friend who has been dealing with cattle since he was a boy.
Without people like them we couldn’t have made it this far without some MAJOR ISSUES and hemorrhaging money.
So, should we call it self-sufficiency or …. something else?
Like community resiliency OR maybe just old-time farming?
Without our communities trust we wouldn’t have a market to sell our beef to, without our communities support we couldn’t expand our customer base.
The government believes that it needs to have massive legislation and rules to stop sellers ripping off and sickening their customers. I say we need more community. More openness to let people see how we as farmers do things and how you as a community do things. More trust – not blind trust that a regulation has been followed. Learning off each other … how do we cook that unusual cut of meat … how would you like that cut prepared … how do we deal with the challenges that arise growing beef without chemicals and how that is a big PLUS for all our health.
We like to call what we do regenerative farming, a way to farm that not only sustains the land and all it entails, but regenerates it. Bringing MORE life, MORE water, MORE soil microbes and MORE resiliency.
But this also encompasses bringing life into the local community as without them we are a two legged milking stool – a really difficult tool to use which takes more effort to get a little done.
If we had to sell further afield, things would just be different, quality of life may go down and stress levels go up. And money would have been tighter. We have been so blessed that we started this business with some savings support behind us. But, it needs to make a profit for us to continue and grow it into a farm that feeds its community with chemical-free grass-fed and finished beef …. and in the future maybe lamb, chicken, pork, turkey, quail, eggs. milk … the options are far-reaching and various.
Or maybe not. Maybe Shingle Hut Creek Farm could become the go-to for quality, local, grass-fed and finished, chemical-free beef – from our family to yours.
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