June on the Farm

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June 15, 2024

Farmers Market Reflections

It’s been just over a month that we have been selling at our local Athens Farmers Market! This market is over 50 years old and has an amazing array of vendors offering their homegrown produce, sustainably raised meats, delicious baked goods, and artisanal crafts.

We have thoroughly enjoyed talking with people about our farming practices, discussing what cut of meat they might most enjoy, or hearing how customers have cooked our products from week to week. When we were selling only bulk shares of meat, we might sell a half beef to someone and only get to interact with them once per year when we deliver their order. The farmers market provides the opportunity to hang out with our customers more regularly. It’s incredibly rewarding to get to know the individuals who are being nourished by our pastured pork and grass-fed beef.

Another element to being at market weekly is seeing the other vendors and local farmers on a regular basis. Many of these vendors we already knew, but didn’t have the opportunity to see very often. After all, many times farming can be isolating or keep you on the farm day in and day out. But the market is a routine time when we get to catch up with the great folks at Attican Farms or Sugar Butte Farms or Creekside Farm or Blaney Family Farm, to name just a few!

Silvopasture Training on our Farm

We had the privilege of hosting 40 great minds and passionate land stewards who spent three days together learning about silvopasture — the integration of livestock, forages, and trees. We got to dive into just how to implement silvopasture by exploring planting trees into pasture, converting woodlots, best tree protection methods, and species selection.

This top agricultural climate solution has so much potential to benefit not only our shared resources but also farm health and viability. Shoutout to Mt. Folly Farm for dreaming this up and funding this, Trees for Graziers for sharing their expertise and drawing out the wisdom of the group, and Rural Action for putting it on. Folks came in from across Ohio, Indiana, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Kentucky and Pennsylvania for this wonderful event.

On top of it, we got to plant 10 mulberry trees into our silvopasture! The pigs are going to love those mulberries when they start falling.

Summer Solstice Show on June 29th

We welcome you to our third annual Summer Solstice Show to celebrate the summer season in community. We invite you to bring a lawn chair and listen to local bands who will perform from our front porch! We'll have food to share and invite you to bring sides and drinks, if you'd like. This is a free event, but donations will be encouraged to support the artists!

Where: 5373 Enlow Rd is between Athens and Albany, off of 50 (the opposite side of 50 from the livestock sale) but before you get to Baker Rd. We're at the top of a hill that's easy to drive past!
When: Saturday, June 29th. Doors open at 5pm.
Parking: Parking available in our neighbor's field just right of the driveway after you drive in.
What to bring: Lawn chairs, sides/snacks to share if you want, drinks, cash or venmo for donations. No pets please.
Weather: This is a weather permitting event. Should rain occur, we'll move the event to the following day, Sunday, June 30th.

Who will be performing?

Sowash Family Band: Music has been a core part of our family for generations. For this show, sisters Molly and Bryn, parents Susan and Bradley and uncle Jon come together to play some of our favorite folk and blues tunes from Bonnie Raitt, Brandi Carlile, James Taylor, as well as some jazz standards and a couple originals.
Moxahala: Moxahala plays a lot of Grateful Dead, Bob Dylan, Little Feat, Willie Nelson, John Prine and more. A scaled down band with big sound. Bob Collins lead guitar, Steve Heidtmann bass, Randy Shoup acoustic rythym, Kevin Morgan vocals, blues harp. Steve Heidtmann was a musical assistant to Jay Leno’s band his entire tenure on the Tonight Show before Jay retired and Steve moved back to Ohio. Kevin and Bob were original members of “Moxahala" back in the day and Kevin, Bob and Steve formed “Godchild” that were present on the Athens Scene and surrounding area.

Expanding to Greener Pastures

We’ve got some exciting news to share! We are transitioning into being the new owners of the Shew Family Farm. This winter, we have been discussing the possibilities of a farm transition — as Pete & Marjie sought to create a plan for retirement, in hopes that their farm could be stewarded in a similar manner, and as we sought to expand our beef operation on our current limited land base. With guidance from our Uncle Jon Sowash, we devised a land contract to purchase the farm over the next many years in installments. In December, we also purchased the Shew’s brood cows and young calves. It’s no small feat to pass a farm from one generation to the next, particularly when it’s not to children. According to the American Farmland Trust, 2,000 acres of farmland are lost to non-agricultural uses every day. This has been a full circle moment, as Pete has been a mentor to us for several years. When I first started our farm in 2020, I cold-called him to see if I could visit and learn from him. I remember visiting one day to learn about handling cattle and to “help” as Pete brought a few steers down to the barn and loaded them into the trailer for the butcher. Over lunch, Marjie shared how they weren’t sure who would take over the farm when they retired and remarked, “maybe you’ll buy this place one day!” My eyes grew wide and I laughed, thinking to myself — me?! I have no idea how to farm. What does this mean for us and the Shews? We will continue to live and farm here in Athens County where we’ll run our pastured pork operation. During the growing season, we will run the cattle at the Shew farm where we’ll have the space to increase the herd size and maintain a breeding operation for the first time. As winter approaches, we will bring the herd back to our Athens farm to graze stockpiled forages — reducing the amount of hay we need to feed and making winter chores easier. Pete & Marjie will continue living in their home. They will be raising their butcher-ready steers and selling beef at the Athens Farmers Market this season before retiring in the fall. We are grateful that they will be staying on the property and advising us, as we get to know the farm and continue to learn as first-generation farmers. How does this enable us to raise our own calves? Until now, we have been purchasing weaned calves in the spring from other grass-fed farms and raising them to butcher weight. But we are getting squeezed by the cattle market, making it difficult to run a profitable enterprise. In spring 2021, we were purchasing calves for $1.62/lb or $680 for a 420 lb animal. Right now, the average price for the same calves is $5.25/lb or $2,205. People have often asked us — why don’t we raise our own calves? But on just 50 acres of pasture that we lease from family, we don’t have the space to maintain a herd of brood cows without having to really reduce our production. After all, a mama cow needs about 2 acres of pasture to live, so we’d have to free up space by reducing the number of steers we raise for beef. Last year we tried to expand our land base by leasing smaller, noncontiguous land near us. This involved hauling cattle to a different property every month or so, trucking water, and setting up temporary fencing. This opportunity to expand to the Shew property’s 115 acres of pasture means we can now run a “birth to butcher” operation in one centralized place. Better soils mean more beef! This also means we can increase beef production, as the soils have been so improved by the Shew’s managed grazing that they can support nearly twice the number of animals per acre as our Athens pastures. Pete told us that when they moved there in 1984, the organic matter of their soils was around 2-3%. In 2024, soil samples showed organic matter ranging from 4-6%! That is incredible improvement in soil health in a short amount of time. These productive soils will allow us to sustainably meet the growing demand for our grass-fed beef. More than anything, we are excited about the opportunity to invest in soils that have been improved for 42 years by sustainable grazing practices. That’s the best farm insurance policy we could ask for. We are honored to carry on the legacy of Pete & Marjie. We’ve got big Shews to fill.

June on the Farm

Farmers Market Reflections

Silvopasture Training on our Farm

Summer Solstice Show on June 29th

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