We try to farm in a way that gives back as much as it takes. That means caring for the soil, minimizing waste, respecting the lives of the animals in our care, and growing food for nutrition and flavor rather than simply for appearance or maximum production.
We don't think it makes sense to load otherwise healthy food with chemicals just to make it prettier, or force it to grow outside the season it is suited for, or to confine animals simply because doing so would make them cheaper to feed/manage. Sometimes our choices make the farm less efficient or less profitable. That's intentional. We want the food we sell and eat ourselves to reflect respect for the earth, the animals, our neighbors, and ourselves.
Growing here means frost, intense sun, cold nights, dry air and a short season. We lean toward managing those conditions rather than trying to completely control them.
That means choosing crops and varieties that belong here, paying attention to timing and plant health, and sometimes accepting a shorter season or deciding that a crop isn't a good fit. We use irrigation, protected growing and other tools where they make a meaningful difference, but we try not to automatically solve every problem with more plastic, energy or manufactured inputs.
The nitty-gritty of how we grow →
We want the animals in our care to have room to move and an environment worth living in. Pasture isn't just a source of food. It's a place where animals can forage, explore, socialize, rest in the sun or shade, and express themselves as individuals.
We minimize confinement because space, choice and an interesting environment matter to an animal's quality of life.
We don't raise animals because they're the most profitable part of the farm. Sometimes we effectively donate our time to make it work. We do it because we want animal products that we can feel good about eating, and we want our neighbors to have that option too. Every egg, bottle of milk or chicken we can produce this way is one less that needs to come from an industrial farming system.
How we raise our laying hens →
How we raise our goats →
How we raise our meat birds →
We try not to treat useful things as disposable. We reuse what we can, buy secondhand when it makes sense, compost farm waste, keep packaging simple, and try not to buy things we don't really need.
Plastic is sometimes unavoidable when growing food in the High Desert. When we do need it, we try to use as little as practical and choose materials that will last. We'd rather buy an irrigation line that can serve us for decades than cheaper drip tape that regularly becomes trash.
The same thinking carries into the farm stand, where we reuse grocery bags and egg cartons, use compostable produce bags, accept some of our jars back, and encourage customers to bring reusable containers.
More about plastic and waste on our farm →
What we can reuse and how returns work →