Newest goats arrive

At the end of our deliveries last friday in the ashland area, we stopped by to pick up our newest goats.  This time we found a Nubian that had just given birth a week or two before (a christmas baby?)  The little girl goat was so cute we had to take her too.  This lady will be a nice addition to increase our milk production during the winter.

Here is a shot of the newly separated goat pen. If you look closely you can see the new  fence dividing the milkers from the non-milkers, who now live with george.  At the far right you can see the saneen we got a few weeks ago. She is HUGE compared to the Nigerian dwarfs. 

Here is Hunter holding hte new little baby under the heat light. How adorable are those huge ears??

These two little ones are the bunkmates for the new baby nubian. 

Mom and baby in their day stall nibbling on some leaves. 

Here is some footage of the little lady exploring some leaves with mom. 

Trees! ?

On our way to so delivereda today we passed a pickup loaded with Christmas trees where some had fallen out on the road.   We pulled around at our earliest convenience and raced back to catch them before they left. We did just in time.

Asking them where they were taking the trees,  and if  we could have them.. . they
said yes!

We pulled over and moved all the trees to our stock trailer. What a site we must have been!

Happy with our load of trees,  although my white little sprouts shirt did not fair  so well,  they agrees to bring a couple more loads by the farm .

Great way to start the day!

Delivery day!

<p>Today is a special day!&nbsp; We (the whole family) will spend the day with our customers by delivering eggs and feed. This is the first of many days to come. </p>
<p>We take the children along as a family event in part to share with the next generation the final side of farming.. . People.&nbsp; What we work for day after day is to deliver fresh healthy food to people.&nbsp; We think it is important to show the children this social side of farming. Let them also experience the final goal,&nbsp; delivering good and thereby improve the lives of real people. </p>
<p>Delivered will hopefully become a regular part of our m operation.&nbsp; We are searching for ways to make buying direct from farm as easy it easier than the grocery&nbsp; store. It remains to be seen if we can make the finances work out,&nbsp; especially with the high cost of fuel , but I strongly believe that small farmers must find ways to offer convenience. People are often too busy in their lives to make regular farm trips to buy&nbsp; food.&nbsp; So we are going to bring the food to you. </p>
<p>There is no charge for delivery, and no minimum order.&nbsp; We hope to form a route to each major area once or twice a month. </p>
<p>Toasts route covers Ashland,&nbsp; medford,&nbsp; talent,&nbsp; Phoenix </p>

  As time goes by we will offer more and more products on the delivery route . For now we are bringing pastures soy and corn free eggs and our soy free feed.

We hope o see you soon!  To get on the delivery route just call it email!

541.826.4345
Littlesprouts@salchfamily.Org

Christmas on the farm

Christmas,  also the darkest and shortest days of the year,  are rest time for us.  Everything except basic chores is put on hold.  This is the time to enjoy family and all the blessings our heavenly Father has provided. 
We wish the very best to all our readers and customers. ... to you.  No matter what your occupation,  your position,  your circumstances.. ... take a weekend to appreciate your own blessings.  As the old saying goes,  stop to smell the roses.

Life is full of good and bad . It is all too east to get out eyes set on the bad and the good fades away.  But the good of life is still there,  in the eyes of a loved one,  in the life of something green,  in the generosity of neighbors,  in the love of God.  Enjoy the good of life.... seek it out,  embrace it,  appreciate it,  cherish it. 
Next week all the unfinished projects will still be there,  waiting for attention.  This weekend,  they are traded to spread smiles and warmth to those we love and those we meet. 

Merry Christmas to you and yours. 
God bless.

Still Think Conventional Ag can feed the world? Think again

For years the buzzline of  agriculture used against organic practices was "organic can not feed the world".  Ironically, only now it seems that on the contrary, not only can organic feed the world, but conventional ag not only FAILS at feeding the world but is also corrupting the world to perhaps an unfixible level.

Here is a story about only one of the problems surfacing in the conventional ag world... superweeds. Years and years of increasing doses of Roundup has created weeds that are nothing short of incredible. "Growing several inches per day"  "unaffected by application of herbicides".  Statements like these should bring fear into any food producer's heart.

These superweeds are a form of permanent damage... weeds that have been genetically changed by years of Roundup usage to the point that they are practically invincible. These weeds cut production, raise moisture needs, and increase cleaning problems for the crops. And... They are here to stay.

So here again we see that ignoring the age old wisdom of working with nature has brought disaster.  I maintain that I have seen not one, not even one, advancement in food production of conventional agriculture that has not brought more damage than benefit. I challenge anyone to bring up an advancement of agriculture science that has helped more than hurt. Sure, it takes years for the damage to become apparent , but it is still there, and it is often permanent.

So.. we end up at a new buzzline... "only intense organic can save the world from conventional".

It is not our own world that will suffer the greatest, it is our children's world. the legacy we are leaving behind is actually a nightmare that they will have to suffer through.

One of the most important points of this article, in my humble opinion, is found towards the end. Monsanto's response to the problem is more "innovation" meaning higher doses of stronger poisons. Now lets look  at this. When a system has been proven to be the root cause of a problem, increasing htat system can only  increase the problem. If Monsanto brings to market stronger poisons, all that will do is provide some immediate relief, and then in 10 or 20 years we have even more invincible super weeds and super bugs. The poison level on our food supply will be even higher than it is today. If you follow this approach to it's logical conclusion... you end up with food unfit to eat, and worse weeds and bug than imaginable.  In short.. food becomes impossible to produce. THAT is what we are leaving to our children to resolve, if we don't return to organic principles today and stop this deadly cycle of using poison to grow food.