Fresh Valley Farms beef is on its way to being certified organic!

The big news this month is that we finally submitted our application for organic certification on the farm! This application applies to all of our land, as well as our herd of beef, while the pigs and chickens will continue to be raised on pasture and fed strictly GMO-free feed (with no soy, corn or antibiotics).

Getting this application submitted was top-of mind all fall and it feels great to finally have gotten it done! Now we are waiting to hear how long our transition period will be. We expect it to be the shortest wait possible as our land and herd have been managed according to organic standards since we moved on to this farm.

At the end of February we attended the Certified Organic Association of BC (COABC) annual conference in Vernon where we learned more about Management Intensive Grazing and renewed our excitement at becoming a part of the organic community of farmers in BC.The other big news for 2019 is that we'll be raising TURKEYS! It's an exciting prospect on the farm as the only poultry we have raised so far has been chicken. Turkeys have a lot more personality and are known to be much more voracious foragers, gaining a higher proportion of their feed from plants in their surroundings. They are active animals and while they still need some protection (electric fencing), they are much less appealing to predators because of their size and their more aggressive nature. 

As the days flip past we had our first calf born! Bright and early on February 18th, during the cold snap (but thankfully not the coldest snap) a little bull calf arrived. Since then two heifer calves have been born, but we are still waiting on 20 more mothers-to-be this season. 

A limited number of turkeys will be for sale both for Thanksgiving and Christmas this coming fall and winter.A delicious cut that is often overlooked is the pork hock, which is now on sale! Other great tid-bits for the cold weather are chicken backs for making soup stock. Add chicken feet, necks or pork or beef soup bones for a more collagen-rich broth!