Our Blog

While sometimes sustainable farming means organic farming, there are many ways of farming sustainably. Sustainability means doing something that doesn’t cause long term harm to the environment, and allows for long term replication of that action. Ways that we and our family use sustainable practices without hurting ourselves economically:1)We practice no-till farming where applicable. This allows for better organic content reduction and improves soil health, while also preventing harmful runoffs and erosion. 2) We source food for our animals locally, and sell locally. Unsustainable infrastructure development is a contributor to the long term harm of our country, and farming and...

The sister farm to our pigs and pumpkins operations is Thistledown Farms. Thistledown Farms raises great-tasting heritage beef, and is affiliated with the American British White Park Association . We love our cattle as well, and are continuing to expand the operation. Please reach out if you are looking for locally-raised, prime beef in the Iowa City, Cedar Rapids, or Quad Cities area. You can contact Thistledown Farms by calling (319)728-2712 M-Fri and asking for Dr. Todd regarding beef. We typically sell quarters, halves, and whole, rather than individual cuts. By selling whole cuts, you get steak, etc for the...

Vegetable oil. That’s what most people cook with today. Obesity, heart disease, diabetes, and other ailments are on the rise. While there are many contributors to the rise of the unhealthy American (sugar chief among them) the switch to vegetable oils rather than traditional lard may be a contributor. Vegetable oil is not something our bodies historically processed. Vegetable Oil has a lower boiling point than Lard, meaning it is cooked into our foods at an increasing rate, full of bad fats, and also harmful to the natural taste of whatever you are cooking.     By contrast, lard has...

We decided to forgo hog confinements, and commercial genetics, instead relying on ancient genetics and farming techniques. Learn why in this post.