Only the Highest Quality Ingredients
In fact, we grow most of them ourselves on our 8 1/2 acre farm!
Health is no longer something we are entitled to. It requires discipline, wisdom, and discernment. A healthy lifestyle is not something most of us grew up in, and so many of us have to work hard to discover what health means for us as individuals.
At WhoopsyDaisy Farm, we are no strangers to the struggle of finding the healthy lifestyle that works for you. Neither are we experts - we are still discovering on a daily basis different ways to improve our health and quality of life. Some things that work for us will not work for you, and visa versa. Some of the things that work on our farm will not work on other farms, and visa versa.
We believe that we were Created by a loving God to be diverse human beings with individual needs, skills and lifestyles. We believe that a lifestyle curated to bring health and joy to fellow humans is something that Glorifies this loving Creator.
The Holy Bible has entire chapters dedicated to animal husbandry, diet, lifestyle, hygiene, and social interaction. How we treat our body, our environment, our animals, our community, and our Faith is very important. We believe that Christ has individual callings on each of our lives. Our particular calling is to steward the land and animals in a Biblically honoring way. By doing so we can make an impact on different people’s lives one at a time, and therefore impact a community.
Want to keep in touch?
Our email list includes vignettes from our farm life, some profound thoughts we occasionally have, new products available, animal husbandry tips, and announcements when we have breeding stock available.
We see our farm as an Ecosystem, and strive to encourage symbiotic relationships everywhere we can
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It all begins with an idea. Maybe you want to launch a business. Maybe you want to turn a hobby into something more.
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It all begins with an idea. Maybe you want to launch a business. Maybe you want to turn a hobby into something more.
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It all begins with an idea. Maybe you want to launch a business. Maybe you want to turn a hobby into something more.
We believe that our Creator Jesus Christ made this beautiful world with a plan for how it would thrive optimally. Since the Fall of Mankind into a sinful state, this created order has been broken. Therefore it is impossible to achieve perfection until He returns and makes all things new.
Despite our Fallen state, we believe that we can still glorify His Creation by striving to honor His Plan for how nature, agriculture, humans, animals and community was intended to interact.
Animals are not the same as humans, insects are not the same as animals, and plants are not the same as insects. However each being has a sentience and place in the ecosystem. As humans we were created to steward, guide, direct and lead the other beings towards thriving in those places.
Sometimes the best way an animal can serve its ecosystem is to happily live for a time before gracing our dinner tables and nourishing the humans in its community. Sometimes the best way an animal can serve is to provide milk, eggs, or clothing for their humans. Sometimes an animal can provide pest control for the plants or other animals in its ecosystem. Or provide waste cleanup. Or simply by guarding the other animals, as in the case of a Livestock Guardian Dog.
God created humans with a curiosity and desire to discover solutions. In the case of a homestead, these solutions can range from the best way to give access to nourishing forage, to what course of action must be taken in case of illness, to what breeds will be raised in a particular climate. While we will never claim perfection, we will always commit to search for the best solution that keeps in mind both short and long term for the whole farm.
A perfect example of this would be our attitude towards vaccinations and medications. We are not inherently opposed to either, but we have seen the cost of using both routinely. Therefore we resort to such measures as a last resort. Our first line of defense is choosing hardy animals. Next we rotate our pastures on a weekly basis during the parasite season. Many grass-fed farmers prefer to use a daily rotation and we definitely see the benefit of this. However our work schedules and infrastructure do not allow for that management method at this time. Our next line of defense is to use herbal and homeopathic remedies to address any health concerns that persist. Finally, if an animal is struggling, we will resort to medication to assist in overcoming the malady. If an animal needs such intervention multiple times however, we consider culling that animal.
Heritage Breeds
We’ve spent a lot of time researching which breeds will work for our farm. This includes our environment, microclimate, lifestyle, work schedules, and animal husbandry styles. We’ve found that heritage and rare breeds usually fit these criteria. While sometimes that leads to crossbreeds, our animals are stress resistant, friendly, and create beautiful products we are proud of.
There are so many different breeds of livestock in the world. How on earth is a brand new homesteader to decide what breeds to raise? We decided to start with looking at what kind of management systems we wanted to have in place. Since Kyle works in Emergency Services, we knew that the animals had to be hardy so that they could be flexible with his ever changing schedule. Since Rachel has health and back issues, the animals had to be smaller and with friendly temperaments so she could handle them when Kyle was at work. Since the acreage space was limited, the animals had to each offer multiple products thad added value both to our daily lives and to any farm product we wished to make in the future.
There are pros and cons to heritage breeds. One major con is that many of them are rare, difficult to find and expensive. However with extensive research we were able to find ways to still make this work for us.
McMurray Hatchery ships many rare breeds across the entire country at reasonable prices. Critically Endangered Gulf Coast Native sheep were developed as a landrace breed in the American South, where our farm is located. While we did have to drive quite a bit to develop our breeding stock, we built in micro vacations and developed friendships with many of the shepherds. With our dairy sheep, we learned that shepherds interested in Breeding Up programs would sell their crossbreeds for more affordable prices than purebreds.
It takes Moxy to run a homestead, and we learned to use that moxy by doing front end investigation and investing.
