OUR STORY

It all starts with a sprout….

Growing up, I (Krista) lived on a small homestead where my parents worked hard all summer to raise enough food for our family of six. My parents both came from agriculture backgrounds and know the value of hard work. My mom told stories of her and her sister riding bareback on their horses through the pastures, and the family's pet pig Petunia. My father told stories of when he was a young man, his family lived and worked on a large farm where they raised 100’s of hogs, poultry, and sheep. As a teenager and the oldest of 5, he & his brother were responsible for the care of the animals, while my Grandpa worked the fields and Grandma cared for the other kids. As a child, I never really respected or understood how hard they all worked for the modest things they had, until my own adulthood. After proclaiming I would never return to the country as a headstrong teenager, I headed off for the bright lights of the city.

My Grandparents, with my dad and 4 siblings. — My Grandparents, father and 4 siblings.

For the love of all things unhealthy…

After many years of fast-paced city life and two kids, I found myself struggling with serious chronic fatigue and chronic pain. In 2006, I was diagnosed with “Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis” an autoimmune condition. My doctor told me the only way to manage it would be with lifelong thyroid medication. Around the same time, my oldest daughter was diagnosed with ADHD. I began to feel like we were missing something, I wanted nothing more than to feel better and to help her. I began taking note of our lifestyle and the foods we were eating, learning about modern agriculture practices and the garbage in our Standard American Diet or the “SAD diet”. We slowly began changing our diets and eating more clean foods and cutting out processed junk. My daughter’s symptoms improved dramatically. For me, however, my symptoms got worse and I continued to struggle with my weight and fatigue. In 2008, my fatigue became such an issue that I feared driving after more than one occasion of dozing off behind the wheel. Fast forwarding 7 years, through a miscarriage and 3 more pregnancies, I was sick and tired of being sick and tired. The day I went into labor with our last son in 2015, I topped the scale at close to 250lbs. I knew I had to get serious about fixing myself and I was determined to use healthy quality foods and supplements as my medicine. My health journey made us realize what few convenient, affordable options for local clean food existed. Little did we know, at the beginning of this long quest, we would feel called to start a family farm of our own, for people like us that care deeply about their food.

Baby belly #5 was no joke! He came at 42 weeks 6 days.

Be the change we wanted to see in the world…

After much reading and research, in 2010 we started out with three little backyard city chickens, numerous raised garden beds and a few fruit trees. After 5 years of Urban farming, we finally found our small farm. In August of 2015, we moved from the suburbs of Columbus to Alexandria with our 5 kids (sprouts). Life with 5 kids is never dull, but adding 8.5 acres and lots of creatures, made that ring even truer! With the baby in a backpack carrier and a 2-year-old in tow, we trudged outside at every opportunity. We cut trees, we tilled garden beds, we built and worked and sweated! By the summer of 2018, we had already outgrown our first farm property and we picked up everyone, animals included and moved again to 14.5 acres a few miles from the first farm. We've come a long way from our 3 little backyard chickens in 2010, to over 350 chickens, 90 turkeys, 7 hogs, and a small herd of cattle summer 2018. Our family is adapting and thriving, my health is improving and I've found my life calling. Life on the farm is filled with exciting discoveries and challenges all the time. I wouldn't trade one crazy moment, even the hard ones. We hope you will join us in our adventures.

~Krista

He spent most of his first 2 years in that carrier!

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What Else We Do

As if running a small farm and a big family isn’t enough, we also offer a few other things we think you may enjoy

Sprouts & Petals

As a sideline to our meats in 2021 we began offering fresh cut flowers for sale. We have increased our selection for 2022 and offer them for sale in person at our weekly farmers markets and by online ordering for local pickup.

Sprouted Health

In fall of 2021 Krista took her passion for health and food and began a program to become a certified Integrative Nutrition Health Coach. If you are looking for more than just a diet and exercise program you have found the right place!

Why Non-GMO?

First of all, we love our family and our animals, and we’ve all heard “you are what you eat”. We are concerned with the high levels of pesticide and herbicide residue in conventional animal feed. We feel that this is a potential for the causes of disease in our society. For this reason, we have chosen to feed Certified Non-GMO feeds and are moving towards a soy-free chicken ration. Our belief is backed up by reports of scientists, consumer and environmental groups, that are concerned with health and environmental risks with foods containing GMOs. As a result of these findings, many more people like us, in our country are now demanding “non-GMO” foods. The most common GMO plants in the American diet are corn, soy and sugar beets which just so happen to be the main ingredients in most animal feed rations. Like people, animals are what they eat. If they are eating unhealthy, potentially hazardous feed, that has been dosed in chemicals, they will have poorer health and lead to a less nutritious food product.

what is non-gmo?

Let’s start with the easy one. Non-GMO means not genetically changed, or grown naturally without scientific engineering. Heirloom plants and most traditional hybrid vegetables are non-GMO. Some plant varieties, strains, and variations are achieved by cross-pollination and breeding for specific traits. This has been done by humans for thousands of years and how we have created many of the plant varieties we consume and grow year after year. Some examples would be corn, potatoes, and tomatoes. Corn was originally a wild grass called teosinte. “Teosinte looked very different from our corn today. The kernels were small and were not placed close together like kernels on the husked ear of modern corn.” But thousands of years of specific breeding and cultivation have created the crop we know today.

what are gmo’s?

This one is a lot more complicated. There are a few terms used in the defining living organisms whose genetic material has been artificially manipulated, in a laboratory, using genetic modification/engineering techniques. The terms you will find is a GMO - Genetically Modified Organism, GE - Genetically Engineered and GM - Genetically Modified. In a genetic modification (or engineering) of food plants, scientists remove one or more genes from the DNA of another organism. The gene could be taken from a bacteria, virus, animal, or other plant and added into the DNA of the plant they want to alter. By adding the new genes, genetic engineers hope the plant will express the traits associated with the non-native gene that was added. “For example, genetic engineers have transferred genes from a bacterium known as Bacillus thuringiensis or Bt into the DNA of corn. Bt genes express a protein that kills insects, and transferring the genes allows the corn to produce its own pesticide." This relatively new science sometimes creates unstable combinations in the plant and often needs to be tested many times to achieve the desired effect, Because these combinations of plant, animal, bacteria and viral genes do not occur in nature or through traditional crossbreeding methods there is no way to know the long term effects on human health through consumption. It is also important to note that virtually all commercial GM crops are engineered to withstand direct application of herbicide and/or to produce an insecticide which causes some concern in our opinion.

Consumer Reports Food Safety and Sustainability Center conducted a survey in 2014 that tested a number of products for GMO residue and researched how GMO, GE, and GM products are showing up in our food supply. Listed below are some interesting and alarming facts from their report.

“The overwhelming majority of corn and soy planted in the United States is genetically engineered (GE). Corn and soy are important building blocks in a wide variety of processed foods in the United States.”

“Consumers are concerned about GE ingredients in their food and believe that foods should be labeled. In fact, a recent national telephone survey conducted by Consumer Reports found that 72 percent of consumers say it is important to avoid GMOs when they shop, 40 percent of consumers are looking for non-GMO claims on food, and 92 percent of consumers think GE foods should be labeled. In addition, more than 60 percent of consumers think “natural” means GMOs were not used”

“The vast majority of commercialized GE crops have been engineered to be either herbicide tolerant (to glufosinate and/or glyphosate herbicides, i.e. RoundUp), or to manufacture their own pesticide (e.g. Bt toxin) (5)…. the herbicide-tolerant (HT) trait is in over 80% of all the engineered crop acreage in the US (5c) and the overwhelming majority of that acreage is in glyphosate tolerant crops (6). Two crops, corn, and soybean, make up the bulk of the acres planted to GE crops for food (around 159 million acres) (8). In 2013, 93% of soybeans were GE, most of them glyphosate tolerant (6) and 90% of corn was GE with 85% containing HT trait (7).”

“An animal-feeding study found that Bt corn might affect gut and peripheral immune cell responses (23). A meta-analysis of animal feeding studies involving GE crops suggests the crops have effects on the liver and kidneys and that longer-term studies are needed”.

**Want to know more?**

The NON GMO Project
2014 Consumer Reports GMO study
The Organic and NON GMO Report
GMO Awareness

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Why Not Certified Organic?

Our cattle enjoying lush untreated summer pastures.

We've been asked on numerous occasions why we aren’t Certified Organic or if we plan to Certify. I consider our growing methods and animal care to meet most of the standards of that of Certified Organic producers. There are a lot of variables in the regulations of Certified Organic that don’t make sense to our small operation at this time. The first obstacle for us is the hurdle that keeps most operations like ours from certifying; cost. In speaking with a rep from OEFFA, a non-profit company that helps Ohio farmers certify Organic, the rough annual cost for us to become and maintain Organic Certification would be $1500/industry annually. Yes, you read that correctly. So that’s $1500/eggs + $1500/chicken + $1500/turkey + $1500/pork + $1500/beef= $7500/year. We would have to have an Organic System Plan that would have to be submitted and updated annually, for each species of livestock we chose to certify. There is a cost-share program we can apply for but there is no guarantee how long into the future this will be available and the max award of $750 is only available after you pay to certify. At our current operation level, the cost of Organic Certification doesn’t work for our budget. We can, however, certify our pastures as organic for $1500/year and may do this someday.

The second obstacle in becoming Certified Organic for meat production is that to carry a USDA Organic sticker on any meat product the animals must be slaughtered and processed at a Certified Organic butcher. Those are few and far between. The closest Organic Certified poultry processor is King & Sons in Greenville, Ohio near the Ohio/Indiana border. We have traveled to King & Sons in the past, they are a very nice facility, however, it was a 3+ hour drive one way from our little farm and the ROI on that drive is negligible. There is currently no Organic pork and beef processors in the state of Ohio. As you can see from my brief description, certifying as an Organic livestock producer is not a very good fit for us. We may work with OEFFA on some transition work to help us know the ins & outs of Organic production, but for now, we are not planning to certify. We will still try to go above and beyond the standards.

If you are interested in knowing the full standards; National Organic Practices documentation

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We Value Animal Ethics

There are a couple of other certifications we are working towards that have more achievable standards for our little farm.

In early 2018 we were awarded a grant based on our commitment to the health and welfare of our animals that will help us meet some of the standards.

Certified Naturally Grown

“CNG farmers don’t use any synthetic herbicides, pesticides, fertilizers, or genetically modified organisms. CNG livestock is raised mostly on pasture and with space for freedom of movement. Feed must be grown without synthetic inputs or genetically modified seeds.”

If you are interested in reading more; CNG Livestock standards

Animal Welfare Approved

“Animal Welfare Approved (AWA) by A Greener World is a food label for meat and dairy products that come from farm animals raised to the highest animal welfare and environmental standards. The program was founded as a market-based solution to the growing consumer demand for meat, eggs and dairy products from animals treated with high welfare and managed with the environment in mind. As a program accredited to ISO guideline 17065, you can trust in the AWA label while making food choices when you can’t visit the farm yourself.”

If you are interested in reading more; AWA requirements

If you have any questions about the standards listed above or our current practices, please feel free to email us!

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