Let me introduce you to three of our beautiful, bred, saved heifers. Starting from the left, there is Holiday, then Spring, and lastly Flurry. All shiny, bright eyed, healthy, and agile. Each one was born here on the farm in the year 2020. Out of all the calves we had that year, these three were chosen along with 3 others not pictured, Milkseed, Trixy, and Sahara Wind, to be saved as breeding heifers. They have galloped, trotted, frisked, head butted and roamed freely up and down hillsides and bottoms. They have seen the sunrise and the sunset everyday since they were born. They were loved and cared for by their Mamma. They have lived only within our farm's cattle herds, which is only suiting as cattle are pack/herd animals and they do need each other. They have been loved and given the best management in terms of animal welfare. They have only rotationally eaten green grasses, clovers, and hays. They will never be forced to eat conventional, chemically grown grain feed mixes. They have never eaten out of pastures that have had chemical herbicides put on them, nor have they ever had chemical dewormers or fly controls injected into their bodies. They were allowed to naturally get pregnant within our roaming herd by means of one of our two Aberdeen Angus Bulls Sires. They will get to naturally give birth to their baby calves and will be able to raise them with all their loving instinctual know hows to be healthy and strong with their good milk. Their calves will stay here on the farm, shadowing the same type of wonderful cow life as they did and provide folk right here in the community with health and sustenance.
Assumably, all these practices seem natural, whole, and appropriate, right? We sure think so, contrarily though, every one of these practices has a polar opposite and unfortunately, in the conventional beef industry, these polar opposite protocols are the backbone. Furthermore, both us and the animals prefer not partaking in the conventional beef cattle model, where the calves get shipped off to a dull unfulfilling road of exchanges, forced grain eatings, and confinement, to then be slaughtered and dispersed throughout the countries non sustainable food system. Yes, you might call us idealistic, but there is no reason why local/regional farmers, cattle, and local/regional consumers cannot regain this beautiful functional farm to family interaction. Excitingly enough these type of interactions are taking place all throughout the country and are ever growing right here in the Tri-Cities Northeast TN region.
Holiday, Spring, and Flurry should give birth around mid March to early April this year and this will be the first of many, many calving seasons that they will get to be apart of here on Foothill Frolic Farm. These three heifer girls represent not only our farm's future, but humanities future, and we love, respect, and support them in as 'instinctual-nature-first' type of a way that we can, so they can live out as many long and happy years here doing exactly what regenerative, grassfed beef cattle should be doing and have been doing for 10,000 years...eating grass, regenerating the land with their rich manure, and providing beauty, spirit, and protein rich food sources for a local community. Cattle and humans are indeed made to live in symbiosis, but this can only occur fairly when we try not to tip the scales unfairly in the way beef cattle farming has been done in the last century. As my new favorite 479 page book I got for Christmas from my husband, titled, THE COW A TRIBUTE, states, "Cows have fed us, nursed us, clothed us and have been our companions. They have been a source of happiness, wealth, beauty, and security for us." When we can see them as the beautiful life giving animals that they are without objectifying them into just a product we can start to understand the symbiotic relationship. We as beef cattle farmers and human consumers owe it to theses beautiful animals to let them be respected, loved, and held high as a source of survival and wealth for a local community, not just a packaged product you purchase from a grocery store.
If you eat beef, please consider transitioning from whatever beef you are purchasing from a grocery store and become connected with the dear animals we are offering. And to those of you who already have been live animal custom beef shareholders, Foothill Frolic Farm thanks you so much and are very grateful for those of you that support a regenerative agriculture, because it does matter! Since our first live animal custom beef share offering in the summer of 2022 we have put high quality healthy sustenance on 46 shareholders' tables and this has only been with 4 beef animals. Most Foothill Frolic Farm shareholders are repeat supporters because they just love their live animal custom beef shares! Please continue to share your connection with friends, family, and colleagues.
Our most current Live Animal Custom Beef Share Cow is "Black Joy Mamma", G7, and thus far she is owned by 23 shareholders. All her roast shares, bone, and organ shares have SOLD OUT, and the only remaining custom beef shares are her ground beef shares, with only 15 remaining.
Her processing date is Friday January 27th, so there is only 12 days remaining to pre-order your live animal custom beef ground share. Please take a look at her Offering & Narrative and start your year off right with her high quality regenerative & grassfed sustenance. Black Joy Mamma's custom Beef Shares will be ready for On Farm Pick Up around mid February. Our next live animal custom beef share animals do not have a processing dates till April 21st, with shares not being ready for pick up till Early May, so it is a good time to get some while you can!
Also, the Fortnight Fundraiser is still going on, so 5% of every order will be donated to Seedkeepers Forest School Donation Fund.
Eat Well & Be Well and Until Next time,
Allie
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