Mid-Summer Highlights

written by

posted on

July 16, 2025

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!

Hei Hei’s delicious pop-up at West End Ciderhouse featuring our pork belly.

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.

Cattle grazing tall warm season grasses at Woodcock.

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.

The word that best defines 2025...

is community. And our community shows up in the pages of our newly released 2025 Annual Report — from photos of our events to this year’s Customers of the Year to our families who support our farming endeavors wholeheartedly.

Welcoming quiet & new life in the New Year

We’ve been absent from your inbox lately as the December holidays brought a flurry of travel and events to many of our lives. There’s something wonderful about January’s contrast to December, when the decorations come down and the weather gets colder and the world seems to stand a little more still. We are embracing this quieter pace of life, in a literal and figurative sense.

Mid-Summer Highlights

More from the blog

Expanding to Greener Pastures

The word that best defines 2025...

Welcoming quiet & new life in the New Year

Follow Us

Join Our Newsletter

MoSo Farm