I’m skipping my “Eight Things” today in order to share a heart-warming story I read today. If you have a minute, I know you won’t regret reading this amazing story! I need to do so much better in investing in people! Please click her to read Joel Salatin’s blog post Inmate to Love here.

We enjoyed moving the sheep and cows to pasture last week and excitment was high as the new lambs started to be born yesterday. Sugar was the first proud mother of two lambs. We love this time of year and the work it brings! Do you love spring? Click to see these two cute lambs.

If you are working toward a more traditional diet and would like to take small steps to get there, then you are at the right place. Week one was get your salt right, week 2 was get your sleep right, and week 3, 4, 5, and 6 are get your fats right.  Another fat that our family has added in the last several years is coconut oil. We started using coconut oil more for the health benefits than as replacement for a different fat.

Week 4: Learn about the benefits of coconut oil and start incorporating it into the diet.

Continue reading “Fun Farm Fact” →

I shared eight things I wish people would have told me when I was in high school in a recent presentation. I will be sharing number five today.

We are so thankful and undeserving to be expanding our little beyond organic farm to an extra 22 acres this spring. We have not been able to meet the needs of all of our customers, and we are looking forward to growing our sheep, milk cows, pigs, and chickens to serve more people with beyond organic, pasture raised food. Praise the Lord! We are purchasing this land from Cory’s mom and dad, and it is located just north of our house. We are planting cool season cover crops in most of the area and doing an experiment of oats and peas together on the rest. The cover crop mix we are using contains several varieties of plants with our hope of suppressing weeds and improving soil health at the same time. We will mob graze the area to add even more fertility naturally.  We would love to have you out for a farm tour!

I shared eight things I wish people would have told me when I was in high school in a recent presentation. In this fourth tip, I think I need to say that I did hear this, and I wish I would have listened sooner to this wisdom. I will be sharing number four today.

We discovered that there is a real need for soy free, beyond organic, truly pastured chickens on Saturday and will be doing another round for sale in the fall. Our newsletter subscribers will be the first to hear about reserving our fall birds. You can sign up for our newsletter by going to our website and putting your email address into our pop-up menu or simply sending us a message through Facebook, giving us a call, or sending us an email. We would love to hear from you!! I figured a very high loss for our chickens in the spring, so Lord willing if all goes well, we may have a few extra in June. We will also use our newsletter first to let you know. ? Email: mentinkfamilyfarms@gmail.com and phone number: 402-764-2212. Have you tried chickens that were raised outside on green grass? What did you think? You can learn more about our practices at this link.

Yesterday Annika asked if they could play on the sledding hill. This is the worst pasture area on the farm for weeds. When I went to check on them, I found them very excited and proud. They happily reported that they were “weeding” the hill!

Fun Farm Fact: It takes 40 gallons of sap to produce 1 gallon of syrup. It can actually take even more with silver maples, compared to sugar maples, which are more common in our area.