Mid-Summer Highlights

Is it just me or is this summer flying by? I’ve been thinking about how to live in the moment amidst the busyness of the summer. We have been running and gunning — moving pigs until 10pm after a day of nonstop rain, leasing two new properties, integrating a bull with the herd for the first time, having a surprise calf, hosting on-farm events and converting a soybean field to perennial pasture. It may take me a lifetime to master the art of mindfulness, but here are some recent moments that captured my full and present attention…

• Eating wild blackberries in the pastures, warmed by the sun.
• Noticing tall green milkweed (asclepias hirtella) beginning to flower.
• Biting into Hei Hei’s mouthwatering pork belly sandwich.
• Witnessing a blood red moon rising over our neighbor’s corn field.
• Reading Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver.
• Carrying our calf to a new paddock after the herd moved without him.

If you want to share in some of these moments, we invite you to our Farm Tour & Grill Out on July 26th at 3pm. We will meet and greet the cattle and pigs, discuss our pastured livestock practices, visit the silvopasture tree plantings, and enjoy some grilled meats raised on the farm. Cost is $10/person suggested donation (kids are free). We will accept cash or check at the tour!

Surprise calf: This bull calf was born 5 days ago to a heifer that CJ was just beginning to notice was pregnant, as her udder was starting to bag up. We purchased the heifer from a family farm in Dayton that said a young bull had been running with the herd, but that he likely hadn’t “done the job” because he was too small. Well he did the job alright! When moving the herd one evening, we noticed a small black blob off at the far end of the paddock with the new mama. This is her first calf and she’s doing a great job of bonding with and taking care of him.

Grazing cattle to manage native grasslands: We are excited to be grazing our cattle at Woodcock Nature Preserve — a preserve that’s right around the corner from us which has been cultivating native warm season grasses for wildlife habitat. Very little remains of the native prairies, savannas, and grassland birds of the Midwest, so many people are working to restore them. Historically, grazing animals and fire were two good disturbance events that supported grassland ecosystems. Woodcock Nature Preserve employs prescribed fire and now, with MoSo Farm, has grazing livestock on the land in order to mimic these natural systems.

Rain, rain and more rain: When I asked CJ about which mid-summer updates he wanted to include in this newsletter, he said “Thank god it’s f***ing raining this year.” While all of this precipitation brings its own challenges, we are extremely grateful for the rain after last year’s 100 year drought. Overall, we feel much less stressed this season because the grass is growing beautifully and livestock are getting fat.