Episode 57 - Sunrise Farm
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To talk about what we raise, and how we raise it
goes back to 1986 when I was diagnosed with Crohn's desease
And the herbalist that I went to see, he told me that
there's a pretty good chance that I could eat my way back to good health
by the way we farm and raise our animals, and he mentioned that omega-3 fatty acids
were critical to helping to heal Crohn's desease
So, I said, how do I get omega-3's out of chickens and turkeys
and eggs, and pork, and beef, etcetera
And he said, if you raise them on pasture, you are going to get that factor
Since 1997 we've been raising chickens, in shelters, broilers
Also turkeys, and laying hens, and our shelters are moved once a day
They have certified organic grain in the feeders
The density of birds per shelter is such that they have a good quality of life with their stay on our farm
They get fresh air, they get to eat dandelions, they get to eat bugs, grasshoppers
Because of the variety of grasses and legumes that we have
when they eat those grasses and legumes, the root systems from each of those
plants comes from different zones, so they are bringing up different minerals
which translate into different vitamins
and, when the consumer eats that, I believe that those health benefits transfer onward
The hogs are also raised on pasture, they're raised in shelters that have
two nipple waterers, a grain self feeder, and they're moved at about 6:30 in the morning
the pen is moved ahead, it's 16 feet wide by 32 feet long
it has a tarp over it, and pigs, not many people realize this but pigs
like to eat grasses, but one of their greatest joys I believe
is being able to root. And if you look at the industrial model of raising hogs
they're in a barn, and I don't think they get a chance to root
they're in concrete. So I really get a kick out of watching our pigs
after I move them in the morning because they just get right down into it with their snouts
and they push dirt and rocks, and also throw some grass seed in so
by the time we come around next year those varieties of legumes
whatever I put there, are growing, so it's quite a process
and the pigs are a real joy, they're quite a character
And the beef, we quit feeding our range cows grain during the winter
way back in 1998, and they're on a total grass/legume diet
in the months that they're grazing, and then in the winter time
they're on hay, and there again the omega-3 fatty acids
are very high, and we've had papers done by university students
on the health benefits of grass finished beef
and if you read just about any health magazine now
there's something in there almost monthly on the health benefits of grass finished beef
what motivated us to go this way was a change from industrial agriculture
which is very high input, high stress, to a different way of farming
we took a course in holistic management in the fall of 1995
and winter of 1996 and it changed our whole view of how the land should be farmed
and if I had to give a one sentence description of what holistic management is
I would say that it's taught us to farm in harmony with nature
what you see on our farm basically is looking at nature in a partnership
in the way that we farm, and I think that as most people know
when you have a partnership and if one of them is doing really really well
and the other one isn't, that partnership doesn't last
and right now we feel that we're getting back to nature
as much as nature needs to help us to make a living
I never tell people that we have a sustainable farm
I say that we are on a path to sustainability
because you can have the best of everything but if the consumer
in this market right now, this food market that we have, globalized I should say
where the cheapest price is the law, it's very hard to get people's attention
and say that we need to look after the land if future generations are going to
be able to live and eat, so we're putting a lot of energy
into creating more biodiversity in our farm and to do that we plant lots of trees
we've planted 60000 trees now since 2003
all of our wetlands are fenced off, approximately 85 acres
riparian areas are nature's convenient stores
migrating birds that come through in the spring stop here
to fuel up and when they're headed south they stop to fuel up again
the cattails that surround this riparian area, they're acting as a water treatment plant
cleaning the water up for somebody who lives downstream
and I think that one of the most important things that we should remember
as landowners is that somebody always lives downtream
some people say to me, you have to be financially sustainable
before you are environmentally sustainable
and I thought about that a lot
and I disagree
if you are trying to make the money first and then bring the land back to good health
there's always something you need, you need another piece of equipment
you need some more infrastructure
maybe you need a holiday, and the environment waits
and the environment waits
and with climate change, disappearance of pollinating insects
how much longer can we wait
so my best hope is that some of the things that Marie and I have learned
from biologists, people from organizations that we've worked with
that we've taken their ideas, put them into practice on the farm
we've taken some of Joel Salatin's model, put that into practice
we need our rural communities to start rebuilding
and we can't do that with 10000 acre farms
and it seems like in Alberta, after we got to 3000 acre farms it became
5000, and 10000, and they're making the equipment bigger and bigger
so that fewer people can operate huge huge grain farms
Unfortunately they haven't figured out that to keep our schools going
we need kids, we need small farmers
Volunteer organizations are starting to tremor a bit because
young families just aren't starting up, they don't want the debt load
and so those young people come and they visit us
sometimes they spend a day here, sometimes they stay in he cabin
and they spend a weekend, and they say
OK, how can we do this
We show them what we do, and we tell them that it's quite a commitment
Like planting trees is a commitment, looking after them is a commitment
But, most of them are really well read
They've got it figured out, they really know nutritional food
And they really know how important it is to care for the land
They know about climate change, global warming
they know about peak oil, and biodiversity
water quality and quantity
And so, they've already got that part of the package, which we didn't have
So, they're motivated and I think they are going to be motivated enough
to be able to do what we are doing
and they are going to be able to do it in I believe 40 acres
A lot of them come with the idea that they are going to need a minimum of 160 acres
well, of 9.35 acres in 2009 our poultry and pork brought us 49700 dolars
That's on 9.35 acres, that was gross income
and yes we did buy in all of our feed
but, when we brought that feed in that fertilized that 9.35 acres
so if they were to take that model and move it around on that 40 acres
in 4 years they could go around that whole 40 acres
and they are already saying to me, hey, my husband can stay home with the kids
and since I am a teacher or I am a nurse, or business person
So, they're excited, and some of them are already getting back to me
and saying, you know what, we are looking at some land, give us your opinion
So, yeah, I have great hope
It's still fun getting up in the morning
And these young people that email, or show up
or I meet them at a conference
We are going to win this one, we're going to win this one