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July 11, 2016 By Whitney Belprez Leave a Comment

The {always} unpredictable life on the farm…

a threatening storm but no rain
a threatening storm but no rain

Life on the farm is so much more unpredictable than one could imagine.

It’s unpredictable on a daily basis, of course.

Last Friday we finished up our morning chores early, just in time for a farm tour and walked out to find a newborn calf in our pasture! Our plans that day were promptly reorganized to include supervising mom & baby, waiting for her placenta, making sure baby was nursing colostrum, bringing them in for their first milking, etc. Once we thought the day was finally wrapped up around midnight, we walked out and noticed a sow in labor. Up until 4:00 am with the safe delivery of 12 piglets…and right into the next day’s morning chores.

But, life (especially on a farm) is unpredictable in the long term. I never dreamed, or even wanted to milk on our farm. Now, it’s the cornerstone of our business and I’m content with that. I never imagined we would have our own Berkshire pig breeding stock, either – but here we are, farrowing 75+ piglets every year and finishing almost 50 annually for our customers. Unthinkable to me just a few years ago.

I never could’ve imagined that within 5 years of purchasing our farm we would have all of the property fenced, electric & water run in outbuildings, a new wood stove in our house, free stalls and a milking parlor in our barn…the list goes on. Now, in just one season we can add a farm store AND a new steel roof for our barn to that list!

Beau is less than pleased with the lack of rain around here...
Beau is less than pleased with the lack of rain around here…

For the past 6 weeks we have been working in all our “free time” to renovate what was originally a hog & chicken house, and tool shed, into a working building with purpose. The first task was to dig about 70 years (literally) worth of composted manure, dust and cobwebs from the inside…by hand.

Next, Dan power washed the interior to reveal stunning original wood boards. We had to rent a diamond saw and use a sledge hammer to knock out two cement curbs that had been added over the years…and then shovel that out by hand.

Next, we measured and had 5 yards of new cement poured, leveled and cured. Then, we replaced the windows and fitted a new door, cleaned the inside again and ran all new electrical which included digging a 2 foot deep trench to the nearest building.

We were then able to move clean fridges and freezers in, and add new landscaping around the outside. We touched up paint, moved in a decorative wood stove and still have a few shelves and decorations to add.

After all this work, a mama sparrow decided to move in, build a nest and lay some eggs. Instead of pitching the nest and keeping our new cement clean, we decided to let her hatch her babies and once they leave the nest we’ll remove it…and thus, the name: The Sparrow’s Nest Farm Store.

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Currently, we have our on-farm milk pickup in the store and it’s open 9:00 am – 10:00 pm. Everything is self-serve and honor system. We have whole chickens and pork stocked in the freezers and eggs on the counter. We are working to have maple syrup, honey, natural soaps/lotions, jams and granola available, as well.

Adding a layer of unpredictability to our lives this year has been the current drought we’re dealing with. While the local meteorologists are saying that our region is abnormally dry, the National Weather Service has categorized it as an agricultural drought. That means the water table hasn’t dropped yet but the top soil has little to no moisture left to grow the grass. The longer it is dry, the more difficult it becomes for the soil and plants’ root systems to recover.

grazing our drought reserve in June
grazing our drought reserve in June

As we drive around our area, hay fields are brown and dead, not growing an inch in the heat without rain and the corn leaves are curling from the lack of moisture. The cows have already eaten their way through our drought reserve after just 6 weeks of grazing – this is ground that doesn’t normally get touched until the last week of July and into August.

The best grass growth of the year is from mid-May through mid-June but our pastures have died after being grazed just once. During that period of time we normally receive around 7″ of precipitation – this season we have received just 1″ of rain.

We are planning to add water lines for some irrigation, although it is impossible to irrigate all of our land, and we are already back to feeding hay to the cows. We have to account for the additional expenses of time and money to add irrigation lines and begin buying hay again (the drought is already driving these price up dramatically). Which brings us to our barn roof raiser.

We are in a difficult place – choosing to replace the barn roof that protects our hay during the winter or purchasing the hay itself to feed our animals. The roof cannot wait another year without risking structural damage to the building from leaks that cause floorboards and joists to rot, and the foundation to crack. Yet, we also need the funds to buy hay for the animals during the drought and run irrigation so we have a shot at fall grazing before winter feeding.

Dan kissing a baby piglet...in front of our sad barn with burned grass
Dan kissing a baby piglet…in front of our sad barn with burned grass

All of this is to say that we budgeted for a barn roof but are now having to divert funds to more pressing issues. Without the barn roof, though, we have no way to safely store the hay that we so desperately need to buy. This is where our community comes in. Unlike large farms with coop contracts or government-guaranteed assistance programs, small farms like ours do not have the credit (or subsidies) available that conventional farms do. We have a small line of credit but it’s not enough to help us survive.

We hate asking for help as much as anyone, but if you’re able to make a small donation to help us offset the cost of the new barn roof ($8,200), this enables us to run some irrigation lines (and help our pastures rebound) and cover the expense of feeding hay in the meantime.

Of course, the best way to support our farm is to patronize our business – feeding your family healthy, sustainable, happy food. You’ll find links below for purchasing chicken, turkey, pork and a herd share for your family. But many of you have expressed the desire to go above and beyond in your generosity, or maybe you live a little farther away and can’t buy from our business.

Cecilia and her chicken...
Cecilia and her chicken…

Either way, we are so incredibly grateful for you! If you feel you’re able to spare a little bit, we have some great rewards organized for donors and hope you’ll consider helping a little. As I said, we hate asking for help and try to minimize doing so, saving it for times that we really truly need it. We have been overwhelmed with the generosity of our community already and are so incredibly grateful for that.

Thank you for your continued support, business & generosity!

-the Two Sparrows Farm crew

{Dan, Whit, Cecilia, Beau + the animals}

Ordering for Pastured Chickens & Turkeys

Information for Fresh, Unprocessed, Whole Milk

Farrow-to-Fork Pastured Berkshire Pork

Filed Under: Farm & Family Life, News & Updates, Production Systems Tagged With: Business, Chicken, Dairy, Eggs, Farm Life, Grassfed, Local, non-GMO, Pork, Raw Milk, Simplicity, Sustainability, Turkey

February 24, 2016 By Whitney Belprez 2 Comments

Spring Ordering is Here!

berkshire-pigs-twos-sparrows-farmYesterday was one of those days that you just don’t want to end – the warmer temperature, the gentle breeze and the sunshine! It’s hard not to soak in those first few days of feeling the warmth of the sun again. We found all kinds of reasons to work outside as much as we could – yard cleanup, stacking firewood, cleaning barns, and even a visit to the Lake Odessa Live Stock Auction! It was the perfect day to stand in the sun, bid on hay to refill our supply for the calves and then enjoy the best burger and fries at the auction lunch house. It’s one of our favorite family outings!

We aren’t so excited today looking down the barrel of the winter weather returning today but we’re taking the opportunity to have a “snow day” and slow it down around here. Just the minimal chores, staying close to the fire with a cup of coffee, binge watching cartoons and napping with the kids. It’s a rare moment for us to have a slow, family day and we are soaking in every moment of it.

livestock-two-sparrows-farmWe are also celebrating the launch of our new website! Thanks to the amazing work of our friends at Come Alive Creative, we have completely updated the site, and even added forms to make our ordering and communications more efficient. As any small business owner knows, your business can grow and evolve in such a short amount of time and keeping up with that change can be challenging. Our website is one way we try to progress with the ever-changing demands of our customers (& fans!)

If you are a current customer (of any product) and really love us, we are always looking for feedback and reviews. Its great to share them on Facebook and Local Harvest but you can also email them over to us to be featured on our website! If you weren’t completely satisfied as a customer we need to hear from you too – our goal is to always be improving and better serving you.

farm-kids-two-sparrows-farmWe are beginning our fourth season on this little piece of land we call a farm, and are happy to start the ordering cycle for our seasonal pastured broiler chickens, turkey and now rabbits! Our farm hands, Ethan & Elliott, provide us with much-needed help around the farm – from milking cows and doing chores if we need a night off, to helping with fencing projects and stacking hay bales. We love having these two involved in what we’re doing. For the 4H fair this year they decided to try raising some non-GMO meat rabbits! We are so excited to support them in this endeavor and will be offering them as part of our chicken pick-ups this summer.

If you’ve never tried rabbit, here’s your chance! Dan actually enjoys rabbit more than chicken for deep, moist flavor. You can cook them in any way that you can cook a chicken – from pot pies to the slow cooker and stews…you won’t be disappointed!

Head over to our Eggs & Meats on Pasture page for more information to fill out our order form for pastured chickens, rabbits, and holiday turkeys! You can also reserve your half or whole pig (ready in July) and check out our newly updated Raw Milk Herd Share page!

-the Two Sparrows Farm crew

Filed Under: Farm & Family Life, News & Updates, Production Systems Tagged With: Business, Chicken, Farm Life, Local, non-GMO, Turkey, Winter

May 28, 2015 By Whitney Belprez 5 Comments

Label Confusion

rooster-two-sparrows-farmWe totally missed the Farm Week in Review this Sunday but I promise we have lots of great blogs coming your way! As the season ramps up our “inside” time decreases – we are still awaiting the arrival of piglets any day now and another calf in another week or so. Lots of projects are underway (function + beauty) on the farm and we are excited to share our progress soon! [Read more…]

Filed Under: Philosophy, Production Systems Tagged With: Beef, Chicken, Dairy, Food, Grassfed, Local, non-GMO, Raw Milk, Sustainability

May 17, 2015 By Whitney Belprez 1 Comment

Farm Week in Review: Girl Cows Don’t Have Horns, Right?!

dehorning-fern-two-sparrows-farm

This week’s blog post is “guest written” by Dan, our resident herdsman! After delivering over 350 calves at his previous job, he has some strong opinions on how our prenatal, birth and post-partum care should be on a farm. Be sure to send us any “ask the herdsman” questions you may have for future blogs! [Read more…]

Filed Under: Farm in Week Review, News & Updates, Production Systems Tagged With: Chicken, Dairy, Eggs, Farm Life, Grassfed, non-GMO, Raw Milk

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9370 Columbia Hwy Eaton Rapids MI 48827
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