014 Regenerating the Northern Plains with Curtis Brown

For the past decade, two families have settled on a rolling 120 acre property in Henry County, KY under the name “Valley Spirit Farm”. Together the the Fiechters and Monroes have partnered in the care of the land, and the building of a business that sustains their way of life. In this conversation we discuss their unique partnership, the ways they’ve integrated their pork and beef with mushrooms and vegetables, plus marketing, business structure, and much more.   Valley Spirit Farm Valley Spirit Farm Instagram.com/valleyspiritfarm Facebook.com/valleyspiritfarm   My links [email protected] Grocefamilyfarm.com Instagram.com/grocefamilyfarm Pasture-Raised Podcast (libsyn.com)  

Ginger shields of Pastured Life Farm joined me to discuss her extensive knowledge and experience in farm marketing.   Ginger's Links: pasturedlifefarm.com Pastured Life Farm (facebook.com) instagram.com/pasturedlifefarms APPPA.org My Links: grocefamilyfarm.com info@grocefamilyfarm instagram.com/grocefamilyfarm

When done thoughtfully, farms can provide a great context for raising kids; especially when education is seen as life-long, and as wide as the real world around us. Dave and Ginger rely on their children to run their successful farm business with them. And they rely on their farm to provide the context for learning about the world around them: how to work and learn, or at least to fan the flames of the curiosity we are all born with. This episode is part one of two from a great interview I did with Ginger. Look for Episode 22 to see our discussion on farm marketing. Ginger's Links: pasturedlifefarm.com (2) Pastured Life Farm | Facebook Pastured Life (@pasturedlifefarms) • Instagram photos and videos APPPA.org My Links: grocefamilyfarm.com info@grocefamilyfarm instagram.com/grocefamilyfarm

I talked to Joelle Wood about her path towards guiding her farm as she took on a lot in 2020, feeding her community and seizing on great opportunities to grow her farm; all while holding to her aspirational values.  https://www.theoldfashionedfarmstead.com/ The Old Fashioned Farmstead (@theoldfashionedfarmstead) • Instagram photos and videos My Links: [email protected] grocefamilyfarm.com instagram.com/grocefamilyfarm

Cliff Davis spent much of his adult life, and became known across the region as a permaculture educator, helping people learn how to apply ecological literacy and system thinking to their footprint on the land. But in this episode we talk about his new act: farming and breeding pigs, and selling food to his community in central Tennessee. This episode explores much of this transition, as well as going deep into Cliff's business, hog genetics, and the application of his principles to his livelihood on his particular piece of land. pigandleaf.com facebook.com/PigandLeafFarm [email protected] I'm Luke Groce, a pasture-based farmer in southern Indiana. For more about me, see the following links: grocefamilyfarm.com [email protected] instagram.com/grocefamilyfarm facebook.com/grocefamilyfarm  

After Jesse sharing about their business and sales models on episode 17, Matthew joins the conversation to share more about the ins and outs of their operation; but especially hiring and managing employees, and navigating USDA inspected slaughter and processing with both poultry and mammals. They are doing a lot, and quite impressively so. See the links below to learn more about them. https://marblecitymeats.com/ https://marblecreekfarmstead.com/ https://www.facebook.com/marblecreekfarmstead The Pasture Raised Podcast is produced by Luke Groce of Groce Family Farm. To learn more about me, my farm, or to connect, see the links below: grocefamilyfarm.com [email protected] instagram.com/grocefamilyfarm facebook.com/grocefamilyfarm

I had the pleasure of speaking with Jesie and Matthew Lawrence about the many sides of their diverse business, including farming, marketing, selling, and processing on a growing farm. In this episode Jesie helped me wrap my brain around all they do, their infrastructure, staff, and the ways they get their products to their customers. Check them out at the links below! marblecreekfarmstead.com marblecitymeats.com

I asked some of our past guests to share their answers to seven questions, so that we could hear some unique perspectives on how different farms and farmers across the country are faring during the wild year that is 2020. Joe Koopsen, Jordan Green, and Ben Grimes all shared their answers to the following questions: 1. What kind of changes came in March within each of your market streams? (Percentages or other way of describing it are fine) 2. When was the peak of pandemic buying for your farm business? Where are you now in relationship to the peak and the pre-pandemic status quo? 3. What strategies have you been using to hold onto your new customers? 4. What have you done to adapt in order to meet the demand in production, distribution and marketing? 5. What are your guesses for what the future might look like? 6. How are you, your family doing, adapting? 7. Anything else you want to add? Thanks again for everyone participating. Good luck out there with any and all future fluctuations! 

Curtis Brown is back for part two of our interview, where we talk all about how he has, and will continue to, get his meat into his customers' hands. We talk CSA logistics, marketing ideas, and streamlining through a cooperative distribution network.  Curtis and Ashley's Links: foodethosfarm.com instagram.com/foodethosfarm facebook.com/foodethosfarm For more about me: grocefamilyfarm.com instagram.com/grocefamilyfarm facebook.com/grocefamilyfarm

Curtis and Ashley started out, like me, raising vegetables on a small plot about a decade ago. Now they are regenerating a large section of prairie, selling Meat CSA's, and taking names. In this first episode of a two-part series, Curtis and I discuss their farm, its history and his history on it: as well as his pig operation and marketing strategy. Stay tuned for episode 15, where we go deeper into all this and more!