Lone Pine Farm-field trip to a "vertical farm" 10-25-13

Lone Pine Farm-field trip to a "vertical farm" 10-25-13

in process

It is going to take a while to type out how this farm works b/c Adam Moody; the owner and tour guide did such an amazing job at telling us how everything worked.  He filled my brain with TOO much information!!  It is going to be hard to edit it all down for this post.  After I spent 30 minutes rambling to my husband about this tour, he said, "that's how my grandfather ran his farm too!"  To put it very simply-- this farm does things the 'old fashioned way'.  They use seeds that are NOT genetically modified; they don't use fertilizers and pesticides (except a 'safer' pesticide once every 7 years), they use the animals and the animal by products to farm with....for example the cow poop and saw dust from the barns gets worked back into the soil for fertilizer; etc.

This barn houses the youngest of the cows---we got to bottle feed the calves warm water.  We also got a good lesson in chemistry and how cow poop is an acid and needs a neutralizer like leaves or saw dust to attach to it to combine----and a whole lot that went over my head!  We also found out that all the unpasteurized milk that we and others around here have been buying is ILLEGAL!!  Who knew?  I sure didn't!  Adam Moody and his family own chickens, cows, sheep, and fields of crops in and integrated farming lifestyle.  They sell the eggs; and meat.  They own the meat butchering company, the meat shops that sell their meat as well as a few other farmers meats that they endorse.  They have 2 meat stores open now; and are preparing to open a 3rd store soon.  His son; Isaac and his wife and their 2 children were on the tour too.  They own a lot of the livestock and have started farming the fields too--next door on their own farm.

 

 

These are the oldest, biggest cows they own.
 

We got a ride on hay bales behind a tractor to the various areas around the farm to see.  Here we are seeing the Picker- Pick corn--they keep it on the cob, so the kernels stay attached to the cob and can take in or give off moisture and stay the right humidity.  Adam compared the kernels attaching to the cob like an embryo chord between a baby and it's mother--passing nutrients.  Then when it is time to feed the corn to cows or chickens they put the WHOLE cob and corn in a machine that grinds it all together into bits and they feed all the pieces combined to the animals.  Adam says the animals need the fiber as much as the kernel.  He went on for some length about how fiber is very important--and eating grass--access to fields; etc.  He discussed what things to look for in determining how a cow should look to be considered healthy---for example; a "fuzzy" coat.  

They grow the corn and grain to feed the chickens and cows.  They run their fields in 7 year cycles.  Each swatch grows for 6 years, then gets a year to rest.

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