Why are we doing this?

One of the first questions that everyone asks is "Why are you doing a CSA?"  We have operated a profitable beef operation for several years and with our careers our time is very limited.  So why would we want to start a production system that stands to be less profitable and more labor intensive.  The answer is very simple... our daughter.  

We have both been involved in production agriculture.  We have owned poultry houses where birds had one square foot a piece and we raised 110,000 birds every 60 days.  We have sold calves that were implanted with hormones and where antibiotics were routinely used.  

You look at the world a lot different when you have a young child who is about to face it.  We struggled with all of the production decisions we made, but it was "the way it was" and we had to follow traditional rules and guidelines if we were to be productive.  We both have degrees in Animal Science, this is how it was done and how we were taught so the cycle continued.  

We wanted better for her.  We wanted food that was raised in a humane way without the use of antibiotics and hormones.  We wanted to raise her with an appreciation of nature and the harmony that should exist between the farmer, animals and the land.  Sustainability is a catch phrase for some and a lifestyle for others.  We have committed ourselves to providing her with a sustainable operation that respects all life and the harmony that must exist between all living things.  

We don't know what her future holds, but we are sure that if she decides she wants to come back home to the farm she can come back to a farm where the land has been healed and meat is produced the way that mimics nature's plan as closely as possible.