Why buy from Little Sprouts Farm?

There are many reasons to do business with Little Sprouts Farm. We do our best to cover all of the many different concerns that you might have about your food production, not just one or two. Check this list, you may find that whatever concerns you have about food, it is addressed here.

• Nutrition

When you are seeking the best possible nutrition from your foods, it is vitally important to know the source. We have learned that there is a huge difference in nutritional value of foods based on the breed, living conditions and feed of the animals, and also the soil management practices and source of seeds for plants. This is why we only raise heritage animals and heirloom seeds. Modern breeds and seeds have been altered either through genetic engineering or careful selection and breeding to provide benefit for the producer, the shipper, the grocer, everyone except the consumer. Ever hear of a plant or animal food that was produced specifically for increased nutritional value? Out of the thousands of times that foodstuffs have been altered, there may be a tiny handful done for nutritional reasons.

In addition to breed, we do extensive research into feed for animals and soil management for plants, specifically with a desire to increase nutritional value. I challenge you to go to the average food producer today and ask them "what are you doing to provide higher nutrition for my family?" Their answer should be concise and contain several elements of production intended to increase nutritional value.

Our answer is : we do careful heritage breed selection and heirloom seed selection. We  provide animals with a variety of their natural foods living on open pastures as much as possible. We limit soy and corn, supplement with fresh fruits, veggies, sprouted grains, all organic. We provide fresh air and sunshine, never use chemicals of any kind, and allow for low stress lifestyles. For plants we build soil through natural means of composting, never use any chemicals nor chemical fertilizers and we plant ripen everything, We encourage soil microbes, worms, and grubs to add nutrients to the soil where the plants can use them. Every week we are learning more about how to increase nutrients in the foods we produce for you as a goal.

• Taste

Many people first turn to farm fresh products purely because "it just tastes better". This is absolutely true. Fruits and vegetables are ripened in the field to build in a full complement of flavors, unlike store bought that are picked in stages of "greenness" so that shipping time and sitting time are increased. Think for a second what a tomato must look like when picked from a plant overseas, packaged and shipped to America, distributed cross country, and shelved at the grocery store. Its not the same thing at all as a tomato plucked ripe from a vine in a local field just today.

Animal products benefit from this approach. Our heritage breeds produce meat and eggs that are true to nature in their flavors. While selective breeding and genetic alteration may bring specific benefits to the producer, you don't get something for nothing... there is always a negative effect. In food items, the negative effect is often flavor, which degrades with each subsequent alteration.  In addition, what an animal eats does greatly affect the flavor of the end product. We strive to provide both a natural feed and a variety of food sources to create a more balanced flavor. Which sounds better to you... a pig raised on exact quantities of corn and soy their entire life, or one fed a balance of corn, grains both  sprouted and not, thousands of pounds of pears, acorns, garden produce, and greens and proteins from open pasture grazing.  Trust me when I say there is no comparison in flavor!

• Local

Many people are realizing today that our nation benefits from people like you and I buying local. Good things happen on multiple levels when dollars are kept local. The environment is improved from less shipping, your community improves by keeping more money local instead of sending it out to far off states and cities, the entire food supply system is improved by buying what grows local and in season. Buying local reverses the factory production mentality that brought us pesticides and herbicides and their consequences to you and your children and grandchildren.

Another aspect of buying local is that you can have a personal relationship with the people that provide the most precious thing you will ever buy, your food. That is more important than what we eat? It is so much more secure for you to know the person responsible for your food rather than trusting in a government inspector you never met keeping watch on a large corporate factory producing "food" behind closed doors. The bottom line is that YOU are your family's best protector. You can walk onto a farm or a food factory and your instincts will tell you if something is right or not. But, alas, you can't walk into a food factory usually.. they don't allow customers to see what they do.

• Organic

Little Sporuts Farms is not certified organic. Lets state that up front. HOWEVER, we follow all organic practices and then some. The organic label costs money, time, and freedom that we are not willing to give up at this point. That is why we call our products "organically produced, fed, raised..etc" instead of certified. This means that we do not use any chemicals for fertilizers, pesticides, herbicides, antibiotics, hormones, etc. We don't use any products that are man made. Overall, we consider ourselves "beyond organic"

For pest control on animals, we have diatamaceous earth and orange oil. For pest control on plants we use the d earth, orange oil, natural wood ashes, and biological control (ladybugs and praying mantis). But mostly... we recognize that pests some usually when something isn't right, so we strive to fix the reason for the pests to thrive and thereby eliminate them. Think of this in the example of mosquito control through removal of standing water instead of spraying poisons. That's the idea we follow.

We don't use antibiotics at all, even for mild illnesses (which we have not had yet). Our plan is to allow nature to selectively improve the genetics of our herds and flocks so that illness is rare to non-existent. Towards this goal we breed all our own animals now instead of buying eggs or babies form elsewhere and raising them. This gives us full control over the end product.

Beyond organic means that, not only do we eliminate the bad, but we concentrate on the good. For example we don't just avoid chemical fertilizers in the garden, we work constantly to add compost and decaying biological material to the soil to improve its content. We don't just buy organic feed for the animals, we strive to find the best combination of feed, grown under the best conditions, to improve their health and nutrition. Beyond organic means the focus is on using natural methods to improve the land and animals, instead of just focusing on avoiding the bad stuff.

• Humane

In short - animals matter to us. We firmly believe that man was commissioned by God himself to rule over the animals, as their protector, shepherd, protector, and watchman. We are in charge of the earth and all that is within it. With that as a guiding principle, we are very careful to treat all animals and the land itself with respect. Nature is not a commodity or resource to be consumed, it is a partner in our lives.

We know each and every one of our animals. We know which ones are strongest, and weakest, we know their personalities. We treat them as our guests, not our tools. The chickens that lay eggs are treated as any other employee in most respects. The hogs, turkeys, horses, sheep, llama, are all given the best life possible through natural group living. Virtually every other farm separates animals for a variety of purposes... we have chosen to allow them to live together as much as is possible and safe. The hogs all live in a family group from birth, with the male boar to protect the little ones, moms able to teach and guide them through life, choosing when to wean and when to push them to real food. We don't control every aspect of their lives, we partner with them and nature.

Sure, at the end there is the reality that the animals are produced for meat. That in itself is done as humanely as possible also. God also said we are allowed to eat meat when done properly, so personally we have no problem with ending their lives when its time, as long as they have had a pleasant and healthy life. This is the balance that we have found.

• Sustainable

Sustainable is the core buzzword to describe the overall approach to farming that we use. It simply means that the way we do things improves the earth, and can continue through time without running out of resources. We don't rely heavily on oil based chemicals or fuel. We work hard to make the soil we own better year after year instead of depleting it. We strive to find methods that do not require influx of resources from outside. If we achieve this goal fully, we produce more "energy" than we consume as a farm.

Think of the sun as the ultimate energy provider. A sustainable farm captures the energy of the sun and converts it into food, which is energy for people. A sustainable farm would capture more energy than it purchases from outside. A sustainable farm can be held and run in similar fashion through generations with profits increasing through increased fertility without purchasing fertilizer or feeds. The sun and clean water is all that should be required for a fully sustainable farm to produce food.

We aren't fully there yet, but our goal is to be there someday. My point here is that this is our goal. What is the goal of the corporation that produces factory eggs for the grocery store? What is the goal of the feed lot that smells for miles around, contaminating water and food, and trucking in loads of corn constantly. What is the goal of the large factory farm purchasing and dropping constantly larger amounts of chemical based fertilizer on the soil to make up for diminishing returns? Our goal is to produce better food for you while improving the planet we share.

• Open

We firmly believe in the right and the ability of the consumer to be the ultimate inspector of their own food production. You are the one that cares most about your children's diet, not an unknown government inspector. You will go to great lengths to ensure that your children's food is as good as it can be. For this reason we invite anyone to visit the farm and see what we do, explore our approaches, see for yourself where your food comes from.  Can the factory production facility say the same? Most are completely closed to the public for a  variety of reasons.

Some will claim that closing to visitors is to protect the animals, our answer to that is that if the animals are so fragile that a casual human visitor can cause illness, something is horribly wrong at the core. Do you really want to feed your family animal products from animals too weak to fight off common germs?

We will remain open for any customers to come, inspect, enjoy, or even work along side us. If you want to experience what life on a farm is, just come and join us for a day.

• Working for you

As a small local farm, we have no one to impress but you, our customer.There are no shareholders no large staff, no other stakeholders to consider. We are here for one reason, to provide the best product for you and your family. That gives us a singular purpose that no larger operation can duplicate. For us its a personal matter, you are our friends and neighbors. Your children have chased our chickens, played in our grass, and watched the animals grow. We are committed to providing nothing but the best.

This is one reason we hesitate to sell through stores. Being a "label" on the shelf is not the same as being a friend.  Once we sell through stores, the game changes. Then we would be concerned with brand acceptance, brand labeling, marketing, packaging, etc... all those things that are quickly stripped away when you sit down at your table to eat.  We might add store front sales at some point, but we are committed to never letting that be our primary distribution method. We desire to be your friends, your partners, your place of refuge and peace from the city.

• Family Friendly

Everything that we do at Little Sprouts is family friendly, meaning if I can't take my children with me to do a task, it needs to be changed or eliminated. Farming is historically a family event and career, and that means children. Once the place of our food production became dangerous to children, it also became unfit to be food production, in our opinion. I don't want to eat things that are so dangerous that children must be kept away from for fear of poisoning, cancer, etc.

Our farm is also friendly to your children. We welcome families to come out and watch the animals, interact with them. We want to pass along the joy and love of nature to the next generation whenever possible. Theres not much more heartwarming than watching a young child hold a newly hatched chick in their hands, eyes wide, heart beating with excitement. That, in our humble opinion, beats a new video game any day.

• Variety

This speaks to our overall design of the farm. We are committed to providing a variety of products, instead of a single speciality. This approach is fundamental to sustainable farming. You can't be sustainable unless you are multi species. Nothing healthy in nature lives in isolation. Isolation creates problems that must be solved through unnatural means. It is variety itself in plants and animals, that keeps things sustainable and healthy. Each species or plant taking part in the great balance of nature, providing one thing, taking another in a circle of life.

Variety also makes sense from a business standpoint. We can be more of a "one stop shop" for our customers. As we continue to expand into new ventures you will be able to come to the farm and pick up whatever you need that is in season. That is more convenient for you, makes purchases more practical for busy people, and provides diversification for us. If one venture fails one year, it doesn't hurt us as badly. We can rely on other ventures to cover the loss.

Modern agriculture preaches that benefits of single crop or single product production, being efficient on one thing and doing lots of it. The problem with that is that this is one of the driving factors in pesticide requirements and herbicide requirement, as well as manure contamination and ultimately people poisoning and infection. It is the mono crop and mono species approach that requires modern "advances" because they are fundamentally flawed in  approach.  The system itself is at fault. Nature doesn't work that way, and neither should our food production.

Overall, variety is what nature is all about. just look at the rain forest, a wealth of life. There you will find endless varieties of life, species, circles, balance, etc. It is variety that makes things work.


So there you have it.. 10 reasons to join us as a customer in this mission we are on. We are doing our best to be everything that we need to be, not just choose one buzzword and play to it. We want to do everything right. Are we there today ? No, but we are striving to improve on a daily basis. I do not claim to be doing everything right, nor know how to do everything right... but I promise you that we are working towards that as fast as we can. Won't you join us through your support as a customer?