We have established a fully integrated livestock system here at Restoration Acres Farm with the goal of replicating this system in the form of education and partnerships with customers and other farmers.
There are many problems and challenges related to the complex concept we label as “farming.” These challenges are namely in regards to:
- Land Management
- Animal Husbandry
- Health
- Community
These categories are typically thought of as segregated from or exacerbated by today’s farming. However, our fully integrated livestock system is a farming practice that fulfills rather than depletes these systems.
Fundamental goals for all enterprises at Restoration Acres Farm
1. Land
Restoration Acres Farm’s foundation is to restore the land. All daily activities aim to accomplish this via direct land management using livestock. This is the foundation because without healthy, deep, rich soil none of our other core goals can be accomplished. The restoration of the land will foster an integrated landscape where wildlife habitat is improved, where the resources of the land will increase in abundance for humans, farm livestock and wildlife. We respect all levels of life from the worms in the ground to the song birds in the trees and everything in between.
2. Animal Husbandry
Because our focus is restoring the land and we are instituting systems that work with the template of creation instead of against it, the result is sound animal husbandry that is fulfilling to us and the beings under our care. The animals are given environments throughout their entire lives that give them the freedom of full expression. This full expression, orchestrated by the farmers, is the key to our soil-building, land-restoring endeavors.
3. Health
Our focus being on land restoration through orchestrated full animal expression in turn produces a superior end product. You are what you eat. If animals are stressed, sick, eating poorly, and kept alive with antibiotics without fresh air or exercise, then that’s exactly what goes into your own body. When the land and animals are respected, the end result is a product superior in taste, texture, and nutrition with a myriad of health benefits.
4. Community
When the land is being restored through the orchestrated full expression of animals, the people’s lives are enriched by nutrient dense food which ultimately allows for the healthy formation of community. Community is formed in many ways around this land, animal and people-respecting food:
- Face to face interaction with our customers through direct marketing
- Creating working opportunities within the farm community – we were never meant to do it all alone!
- Providing families with whole food that promotes health and sharing meals together.
Financially Sustainable Farm Business
All of these ingredients together promote a farm business that can and has to stand on its own two feet financially. There are no subsidies, no middle men (distributors, advertisers, etc.) and no corporate overhead costs. You, as the consumer, become an irreplaceable part of our success and every single food dollar you spend with us goes towards the accomplishment of all of our core goals!
