It started with a farm…
We got lucky, very lucky. On a hot June day a few years ago, we were stood in the shade of a big Oak tree bidding on a farm and land that a week before we had never heard of.
You see, when we had driven over the land it felt strongly to the both of us that we were “home.” This must have been true, as everything fell into place leaving us under that same tree bidding with our life’s savings. Quite the rush I can tell you, but I digress.
A scant month later, Lucy was born in our dining room very close to where you see me sitting with our first home produced sausage. There is something very special about small farm life; ours was a run down place in need of something…different. Sally and I are both old fashioned and we have always felt that we don’t quite fit into the modern world, we find it tasteless, quite literally! So we embarked on what many consider an insane path, to build an old farm back up with no modern chemicals and systems, to raise animals in their true environments, and to honor them by using all that they produce in the best way possible
Simple, Pure, Happy
Sunshine, Fresh Air, Wildlife…
The more we added to this place, the more it sprang to life. Sheep first, as the grass was long and we wanted to keep it tidy and fertilize it at the same time. Then came the pigs, Mulefoot as it happens. A grand old breed that are very friendly and perfectly suited to our slower way of doing things. It felt right to feed them on the best diet we could afford and it was nice to see small birds start to come back to the place to help clean up any spilled grains.
Harvest time came around and our content animals yielded us with the most glorious meat that, I think, either of us had ever tasted. Not only that, the people we shared meals with raved about it not just for the flavor but also because there were none of the digestive issues that they had experienced before.
It’s reassuring to know that the hard work and attention to detail is worthwhile because it’s very difficult to go against convention. We have taken a step back, back to a time when animals ate well and were cared for because they are part of the family. They are happy because they are given room to express their true nature whether its the pigs eating acorns in the woodlands or the sheep eating the wide array of different flowers and grasses on the pasture. This translates through the meat to our well being. We are what THEY eat, you see, and we believe that if their bodies are happy, so are ours.
We feed ourselves, our family, and we hope to feed yours too.