Great news from Berry’s Naturally! You asked, and we listened. We now offer our 100% grass fed beef in two different options for your dining delight.
The beef is now available in individual packages of steak and ground beef. The ground beef is in one pound packages. The steaks are 1 inch thick. PRICES ARE AS FOLLOWS
Quarter, half, and whole beef options are still available for those who enjoy larger portions for the freezer. We also offer lamb and chicken. The lambs are finishing nicely, and should be ready for processing at the end of October. The chickens are frozen and available for purchase now. Thank you for taking an active part in your overall health by partnering with Berry’s Naturally. We look forward to hearing from you and helping you achieve the healthy diet that you are so gloriously conscientious about. To place an order, please call at 517.283.2873 or email us at [email protected]. We always enjoy talking to you and answering any questions you may have.
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We took soil samples last year, before we started our compost tea program, and yesterday we took samples after applying compost tea on our pastures for 12 months. Our goal is to increase the percentage of plant available nutrients in the soil. We monitor this by sending in soil samples (last year and again this year) to be analyzed and see what was available in our soil before and after compost tea was applied. Compost tea is just as it sounds, a "brewed" mixture of composted manure and water, blended with super energy nutrients of fish and molasses, then spread on the pastures. This tea stimulates the biological organisms in the soil. More biology releases more nutrients into the soil for he plant roots to take up. More nutrients produce a thick luscious pasture. A thick luscious pasture makes for happy cattle and sheep!
Spring is a flurry of activity on the farm right now! We LOVE this time of year - so very rewarding, and total uninhibited joy. 9 days ago our ewes started lambing. At this point 27 ewes have had 44 lambs. We have a total of 56 ewes, so we are expecting around 80 or 90 lambs. Here is a fast, crash course on lambs: The gestation period is 5 months for a sheep. Under ideal circumstances the first time ewe will have a single lamb. (She is not experienced enough to nurture more than that.) Older ewes will have twins, or in some cases triplets. During the lambing season Bill and I go out to the pasture to "check" for newborns about 4-5 times a day; 6 am, 3 pm, 5 pm, and evening. More if needed. We try to "catch" the lambs before they are around 2 hours old, because after that it is a real challenge to run fast enough to catch them. (Well, it's a challenge for Bill because he does the running, it's quite entertaining for me because I watch him!) We do a few basic care maintenance items to the newborn lambs; we tag the ear with a number so we know which lamb(s) go with which ewe, we iodine the naval cord, we immunize them with CD & T (fights enterotoxemia and T = tetanus) and BO-SE (has vitamin E. Selenium, and prevents white muscle disease.) There you have it - the very basics. Spring has Sprung!
We are looking forward to hosting a class of Hillsdale College students who will be coming out to our farm this week, to learn more of how we operate and our way of thinking and living. Their class, "Food, Society and Culture" addresses, in part, the topic of sustainable farming. We are always thrilled to open our farm to tours and help inquiring minds learn something new and different that they haven't necessarily been introduced to before. The wonderfully marvelous thing is that we always seem to learn something too when our farm is looked at from a different and new perspective. We encourage the interaction, discussion and inquisitive minds.
Mercy, it sure seems like it has been an extremely long winter for us here on our farm in Michigan! The livestock have all "weathered" the weather well (te he, get it) and are thriving and doing well. They actually enjoy the cool winter weather and love to play in the snow! The old saying goes "March is in like a lion and out like a lamb." Well, the in part was correct with the winter storms, so we are anxiously awaiting the nice spring weather with out like a lamb. We know for certain spring IS coming because we have gotten spring seed catalogs in the mail that we are sure you are familiar with. For us one of the joys of farm life, and the first sign of spring, is also getting hatchery catalogs in the mail! We love to browse through the selections and breeds of chickens, look at the new varieties, then pick and choose what will work well for us. We dream of warmer days to come, place our order, and wait for our first chics to arrive in mid April. Yes, spring is indeed on the way!
Here you will learn about the current happenings at Berry's Naturally Farm! We will share news, farm updates, photos, and anything else we might find beneficial to share here on our website. Please check back for updates, and thanks for stopping by!
Best, Bill & Angie Berry |