The Beginning Farmer

The Journey of a Beginning Farmer :: As a child I spent most of my life in town living with my mom, but whenever I visited my Dad and his side of the family it was on the farm. From my earliest memories I have always wanted to be a farmer (except when I wanted to be a cowboy). Now, I am trying to fulfill that dream. This will be a journal of that journey :: my research, my joys, my frustrations, and all of the things that go along with the beginning farmer.

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Friday, November 30, 2012

Crazy Ideas :: The Perfect Processor/Butcher

I know that Joel Salatin bought one ... I know that Walter Jeffries is building one ... and I know that I would love to have my hands in...

Wednesday, November 28, 2012

Talking Turkey ...

Hopefully you realize that Thanksgiving day was just last week ... and with Thanksgiving comes a nationwide focus on the turkey. Which mea...

Wednesday, November 07, 2012

A Post Election Thank You

Tonight ... we stand before you ... with victory in our hands! (wait for applause to subside) The votes have been counted ... you and oth...

Thursday, October 25, 2012

Short Days :: Long Days

I know that I said a while back that I was back to blogging again, but then I sort of trickled off ... like I have done a lot lately. This...

Thursday, October 11, 2012

Building a Monopoly Style Monopoly

Lately I've been listening to podcasts while I'm driving to and from the farmers market, doctors appointments, and work. It seems ...

Thursday, October 04, 2012

An Open Letter to Uncle Loren

Over the past four years, since the very beginning of the farm, we have been helped by countless family members and friends. They have spe...

Thursday, September 27, 2012

Oh No :: No More Bacon!

Just the other day our local news station had this article on their website ... "Bacon, pork prices to increase next year" T...

Tuesday, September 25, 2012

Single Sport Athletes ... err ... Farmers

Before we started the farm (and during the first year of farming) I was a head girls varsity soccer coach in our community. I loved soccer...

Wednesday, September 19, 2012

Time For a New Boot

On September, 26th 2006 (wow ... almost exactly 6 years ago???) I wrote my second ever blog post . It is probably obvious from the post th...

Wednesday, September 12, 2012

Give & Take :: Nitrates, GMO, Local, Organic, Etc.

One of the greatest benefits of setting up at the Downtown Des Moines Farmers Market is that I have a chance to interact with customers. ...

Monday, September 10, 2012

Virtual Farm Tour :: The Farmer's Market

While not literally on the farm ... the Downtown Des Moines Farmers Market is a huge part of the farm. Last year we did twelve dates at t...

Wednesday, September 05, 2012

Outsmarting the Drought :: Dick Thompson

Dick Thompson is a man that I've never met, but he is one that I have often read about. Mr. Thompson was the founding force behind Pra...

Thursday, August 30, 2012

Virtual Farm Tour :: Katahdin Hair Sheep

Let me just say this ... our Katahdin Hair Sheep flock is really a work in progress ... but, with that in mind I do think that they will e...

Tuesday, August 28, 2012

Virtual Farm Tour :: Dexter Beef Cattle

The great thing about this year is that we have had an extremely severe drought which has led to grass that decided it didn't want to ...

Thursday, August 23, 2012

Reading & Listening :: Books & Podcasts

If you happen to follow Crooked Gap Farm on Facebook you may have already heard about my stupid leg, but if you don't ... let me just...

Monday, August 20, 2012

Virtual Farm Tour :: Pastured Poulet Rouge

Pastured Poulet Rouge Chickens A few people have asked about the possibility of a "virtual farm tour" that would catch peop...

Thursday, August 16, 2012

This is a Blog Post :: Not a Test

Lately it sure seems like “the beginning farmer” has become “the quitting farmer”. And although I did not quit farming, it is very much ...

Monday, October 24, 2011

Individual Cuts vs. The Whole/Half Hog

I thought I would expand a little on the cuts vs. whole/half animals post a little since there were a couple of comments on my previous post...

Friday, October 21, 2011

Sustainability :: The Whole Hog

Sustainability is a word that gets thrown around a lot these days. Every sort of agriculture from large-scale row crop operations to confine...

Tuesday, October 18, 2011

The Pigs :: The Good

A farm is a constant lesson in humility ... or at least my farm is. When one thing is going well that usually means that ten things aren...

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