Why corn & soy free? Here's an old fashioned standpoint.

In case you didn't know, over the past few years, we've transitioned all of our animals to be corn & soy free. Our dairy and beef and lamb have always been 100% grass fed. It's nothing new and simply the most natural way. I'm more talking about our animals that need supplemental feed in addition to what they forage for in the woods or at pasture - pigs, chickens, laying hens, and turkeys. There is just one exception: our GMO-free eggs. We're offering them now simply because we don't have enough corn & soy free eggs for everyone. They're the second best option around. Once our corn & soy free flock gets big enough, we'll likely discontinue the GMO-free eggs. But why? Why go corn & soy free? What's the big deal? Recently, I've heard a bunch of farms touting low PUFAs or having great omega 6/3 ratios. Well, that's all fine and well. It's always nice to have science back up what you're doing. But, it's not really about that for me and my brother Phil. Sometimes it's softer, sometimes just by doing things that are innately natural lead to better health. The scientific whys and hows seem to constantly be changing, but the fact that natural is better has been a constant for a loooong time. Forget PUFAs. Forget omegas. Going corn & soy free is honestly the most old fashioned, most natural way of doing things in our confusing modern world of agriculture. Here are 5 reasons why (as it mostly relates to chickens): Chickens naturally forage for small grains, not big ones like corn and soy. If we go back in time, chickens were scavengers. They'd live on a farm or homestead and mostly fend for themselves. They would find kitchen scraps in the compost pile (veggies and grain and even meat). They would find spilled feed from other animals and eat that. And of course they would forage for grasses and bugs and seeds. And when foraging, they'd usually go for smaller seeds. Think about how big a grass seed is. It's small, much smaller than a large corn kernel or soybean. A modern, unnatural diet of mainly corn & soy can lead to health issues in animals. Here are a few problems that can arise: It's hard for chickens to digest corn and soy. Trying to do it over and over again can lead to digestive issues. For example, corn is high in starch and ferments easily. Chickens eating too much corn can have intestinal distress. Or, another example is that soy is high in anti-nutrients like lectins. This can interfere with how well a bird digests protein and absorbs nutrients.It can also lead to nutritional imbalances. For example, soy is high in anti-nutrients like lectins. Overconsumption can interfere with how well a bird digests protein and absorbs nutrients.It can lead to gaining weight and growing too fast. It's just unnatural. It can lead to issues with muscles, bones, joints, and the heart. Birds that grow too quickly are more prone to broken bones and lameness. We can avoid modern GMOs with certainty. No risk of cross pollination. Sure, corn and soy have been around for thousands of years. But, today's versions are nothing like they used to be. They've been hybridized and genetically modified. And because of the ridiculous amount of fields filled with GMO corn & soy, there's a pretty good chance of cross pollination nowadays. Eliminating corn and soy also eliminates the risk of anything GMO being in your food. Corn & soy are, more often than not, farmed with modern conventional practices. Those are usually bad for the environment and the future of soil. Corn & soy are the top 2 crops in the US. 90%+ that's grown is GMO. And that means that the farming practices are uber conventional. Tilling, fertilizing with synthetic stuff, spraying lots of chemicals (including glyphosate), etc. These practices usually lead to some big problems environmentally: soil erosion, topsoil loss, loss of microbiology in the soil, loss of ecosystems, pollution in many forms, the list could go on and on! Feeding a natural diet means healthier animals and therefore more nutrition for you! This is just common sense, right? When you eat better, you are healthier. And when it comes to farming, when you have healthier animals, they produce nutrient-dense foods! We do our best to give our animals the most biologically appropriate, most digestible, most bioavailable foods we can. It's really for the health of everything! What do you choose corn & soy free? Is it the PUFA/omega thing or something else?

5 reasons we just love raw dairy. Why do you choose raw?

Happy Valentine's Day 💖 In honor of St. Valentine, I'd like to tell you about the one thing (other than my wife and family) that I love most - raw dairy! Truly, it's my passion in life. And, truly, not just any person wants to be a dairy farmer. You have to be committed. The cows need to be milked 2x a day, every day, no matter what (even when I'm feeling crappy). And, when you farm regeneratively, you need to move the cows every day (sometimes multiple times a day). To sum it up -- it's not an easy career! So why do I do it? As I said, I just love raw dairy. And while I'm doing it for myself, I might as well supply you with it, too. Here are the top 5 reasons I love raw dairy: 1-- Raw milk is a real, old fashioned food. I mean, humans have been drinking raw milk forever as their first food (AKA breast milk). Infant formula was invented in 1865, less than 200 years ago. Before then, all babies got breast milk and only breast milk. And, humans started drinking milk from animals thousands of years ago. Some people speculate that humans probably started taking milk from other animals out of desperation. In a foot shortage or drought, they may have noticed a calf nursing its mother. "Hmmm... maybe I can take some milk, too," they may have thought. Then, they realized it was delicious. And, it was an excellent extra food source, especially in winter or when migrating. It became a staple in cultures around the world and still is. 2-- Raw dairy is probiotic. That's right. Raw milk naturally comes with probiotic lactic acid bacteria. It can boost your immune system, improve digestion, and may even help prevent certain kinds of diseases including cancer. Did you know that your gut contains 80% of the immune cells in your body? It's so important to maintaining good health and having resilience when sick. Your gut works by being in balance. The probiotic bacteria defend you against invading potentially harmful bacteria. The probiotic bacteria in your gut also help you digest food. You can get max nutrition from every bite, have better bowel movements, and have less inflammation when your gut is in balance. 3-- Many people with lactose intolerance can handle raw dairy. A baby naturally produces lots of lactase enzymes to digest breast milk. Lactase is needed to digest lactose, a sugar in milk. Without it, you can experience stomach upset and other awful symptoms. But, as you get older, you naturally produce less and less lactase. People who are lactose intolerant either don't produce enough lactase or don't produce any at all. The "magic" of raw milk is that the living microbiology that it naturally contains can jumpstart your body to produce lactase. Amazing! 4-- Keeping it raw makes all the nutrition bioavailable. Pasteurization destroys or inactivates vitamins, minerals, amino acids, and enzymes. Raw milk, on the other hand, has max nutrition that it fully and easily available to your body. Here's a nice chart from the Raw Milk Institute that sums it up: It's it's no necessarily a matter of the vitamins disappearing or being destroyed altogether. It's more a matter of the milk being altered so your body cannot use vitamins in the milk. 5-- Raw milk can be made into so many yummy foods! Butter, yogurt, kefir, ice cream, pudding, cheese, paneer, sour cream. The list can go on and on. It's kinda amazing that one simple food - milk - can result in such an array of foods with different textures and flavors. As with most foods, all dairy items were invented accidentally. This is pretty amazing. For example, it's been said that cheese was invented when someone put milk in an animal stomach to go on a long journey. While walking in the hot sun, the enzymes from the stomach coagulated the milk and made cheese. It was delicious, so he did it again and again! Whoever invented ice cream definitely deserves a prize! Did you know that the same health benefits of raw dairy for humans applies to your furry family as well? Although it shouldn't be a staple food, feeding raw dairy to your cats & dogs has definite benefits. It add moisture, healthy fats, probiotics, and vitamins and minerals to their diet. It also enriches their life, giving them new flavors and textures to explore. That's why we offer as much raw dairy as we can! We have raw milk and cream for humans in WV, and raw dairy for cats & dogs everywhere. What's your #1 reason for loving raw dairy? I'd love to hear from you. Comment below or contact us 🥰 ----- Sources The Origins of Milk: Why Was the First Cow Milked in the First Place?Letter to Medical Professionals about Raw MilkThe Role of Probiotics in Maintaining Gut Health

What's in your natural chicken feed? Why do you have two egg options?

There are a couple questions about our pastured eggs that come up over and over again. I figured you might be wondering, too. So here are answers to the top 2 Triple E egg questions! What's the difference between the 2 pastured egg feeds? We have corn & soy free eggs as well as GMO-free eggs. The big difference is the type of feed the hens eat. One feed does NOT have corn or soy in it. The other feed has both. The ingredients of feed will affect both the nutrition of the egg as well as the price. Corn & Soy Free Feed Ingredients: Milo, Wheat, Barley, Peas, Alfalfa Meal, Calcium, Vitamins, and Minerals Eating eggs from chickens eating a corn & soy free feed results in higher omega 3s and lower omega 6s. Eating a better ratio of omega 6/3 can improve your health and prevent chronic illness. GMO-Free Feed Ingredients: Non-GMO Corn, Organic Non-GMO Soybean Meal, Rice Hulls, Calcium, Salt, Active Dry Yeast, Vitamins, Minerals, and Natural Flavors Since corn and soy are so cheap to grow, having them in chicken feed reduces the price of eggs. When GMO-free and pasture raised, this is a great option for price conscious natural consumers. You get the added nutrition of pasture raised eggs with a lower price tag. How are the farming practices different in the 2 "pasture raised" flocks? "Pasture raised" has become a confusing term nowadays. How each farmer raises their animals at pasture varies. And the requirements for having those words on a label are... well... lax. It's such a different food world compared to 200 years ago! When Triple E says "pasture raised", it's like you imagine it in your head. You know, like it was in the olden days when hens were outside on green pasture as much as the weather allowed, clucking and foraging for bugs and seeds and plants. The being said, there are slight differences in how each of our egg laying flocks is raised. Our corn & soy free flock lives in mobile coops. A mobile coop is an enclosure on wheels that gives the hens shade and shelter from rain (when needed). It has nesting boxes, water, and feed inside. And, it has a door that's always open when the sun is shining so the hens can go out. Around each coop is at least 1/2 acre of enclosed pasture. Then hens are kept in that spot (and protected from predators) with an electric fence. The coop and the fence are moved at least 3x per week to fresh pasture. This makes it easy for the hens to forage for bugs, seeds, and plants. This is what happens in the warmer months. In the winter, the hens are brought inside so they can stay warm. And, of course there's a door in the barn so the hens have free access to outside (although honestly if it's too cold they won't go outside). Our GMO-free flock is in a permanent coop. A permanent coop is a built structure with a foundation. It cannot be moved. Our GMO-free hens live in one of these. It has many doors that are always open, and it's surrounded by acres of pasture. In the warmer months, the hens will venture outside and forage for bugs, seeds, and plants. In the colder months, they tend to stay indoors where it's warm. Why have eggs been out of stock recently? Well the simple answer is that we don't have enough eggs! This is why we're offering two options -- so we have more eggs! There are a couple big reasons why: Basically all of our customers want eggs, and we can't keep up with supply.In the winter, our hens naturally lay less eggs. The lay rate is lower right now in January. It should pick up in the spring. Of course, we want to solve this problem. We don't just want to be a source for old fashioned farm food, we want to be a reliable source. We started a new flock of laying hens, and they just started laying! They will continue to lay more and more. And that means that... We're hoping to have eggs consistently in stock starting this spring! Keep in mind that eggs take time. There's no quick fix. A hen doesn't start laying until they're 5-6 months old. And they're not considered a full chicken producing regular eggs until their 1 year old. We're doing our best to plan ahead and keep eggs available for you. If you have any questions about our pastured eggs, comment below or contact us. I'm happy to help 😊

Mmmm... spring milk. Super special when you eat from a natural farmer.

**Back in the day when all farming was natural, spring was extra special.**

When the cows are eating the first growth of 100% fresh spring grass - yeehaw! That means spring milk - the best dairy of the year!

The yellowest color.

The creamiest texture.

The most flavor.

Have you noticed a difference in the milk or butter lately? Do you love the spring and spring dairy?

More from the blog

Why corn & soy free? Here's an old fashioned standpoint.

5 reasons we just love raw dairy. Why do you choose raw?

What's in your natural chicken feed? Why do you have two egg options?

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