Who are we? We are first and foremost followers of Jesus (Christians). We are husband and wife (James and Erica) who have been married for over twenty years raising a host of animals. Our only children we have are our dogs and cats.
We never could have imagined when we were married that we'd live on a farm. We both have been city slickers most of our lives so living in the country and raising animals is a pleasant surprise and a huge blessing.
After many years of being ill with many auto immune diseases and being sick and tired of being sick and really tired we decided to try something different. After all doctors and drugs weren't working. Taking medication only created the need for more medication. After doing a bunch of research we decided that if we changed our diets and ate real food that wasn't laced with poisons and medications that perhaps we'd feel better and become healthy.
Not only did we feel better we both began to look better. Along with an organic diet and exercise leaving the traffic of the city, living next to noisy and inconsiderate neighbors we are a lot healthier and happier.
While having so many animals is a lot of work they bring us joy and we love taking care of them. All of our animals are just a huge healthy pack that get along with each other in spite of species or breeds.
God is good! We love Him and love what He has given us. And we want to share it with as many animals as He gives us. We also want to be a blessing to others.
What is organic farming?
I've heard many people say how the whole organic "thing" is just a gimmick. Well, let's understand the word organic. In a word organic simply means "Natural". When it comes to gardening and raising animals it just means that we leave it the way God made it. Simply unadulterated and in its natural form.
In short, we don't use chemicals or anything man-made on our farm. Our animals eat only organic feed and are never given medications.
So what happens if our animals get sick? We use nature, naturally (no pun intended). The same thing applies when it comes to our plants. If disease creeps in we use nature to deal with it. We use permaculture practices to keep our plants pest and disease-free.
So why do so many think that organic is a gimmick? Well, to be certified as an organic farm the government gets involved and that's where it can get a bit "tricky". How does one know if a farm simply hasn't paid some fee to have an organic stamp placed on their produce or meat? The answer is, honestly we don't. This is why it's a good idea to get to know your local organic farmer and see how they raise their livestock or grow their plants.
A lot of local small Organic Farms simply chose not to get the government involved so that they don't have to pay the huge cost of being "certified" organic. Most small-scale farms simply can't afford the cost anyway.
The only way to know if what you are getting is truly organic is to get to know your local organic farmer. Besides, at the end of the day, who do you think you can trust more the large-scale farms that you will never meet or see how they raise their meat or grow their vegetables and who have the money to simply pay for the organic certification or the small scale local farms that allow you to come to visit and see their animals and produce for yourself?
What's the big deal with Organic anyway? What's the difference? Well, the difference is good whole healthy food or highly medicated and chemically treated food that once it's all said and done has little to no real nutritional value which can make you sick.
We don't "really" know the long-term effects of eating food that has been sprayed with poisons or genetically modified to have the poison already in the seeds but what we do have is a sense of reasoning.
Before we genetically modified plants and sprayed our food with poison we had less cancer and less dementia, and until about thirty years ago we'd never even heard of autism. So, you figure it out.
I'm not saying (since I legally can't) that these things are causation but NO ONE can legally say they are not since NO ONE has tested it. You and your family are the tests. Right now you are the study. What are the results showing us? After all, isn't that how science is practiced?
We look at the long-term effects of things to determine whether or not it is causation. Well, all I know is that before we contaminated our food supply we didn't have these issues. At least not as much as we do now.
We didn't medicate our children to make them pay attention in class forty years ago. Children weren't obese and diabetic. And Alzheimer's, dementia, and autism weren't the "norm" as it is today.
So, it's up to you. All I can say is that since I've adopted an organic diet I don't go to the doctors as much and we are healthier and have way more energy than we did when we were younger and ate those things. You just have to decide what's best for your own family. Or as I like to tell people, "Sure, organic is more costly, but it's cheaper than copays, medications, and Cancer".
I also like to tell people who question the organic life, if you love how you look and like how you feel then keep doing what you're doing. It's working! But if you aren't praising God when you look in the mirror or you can't go a day without some sort of pain medication then perhaps you should try something different.
Not convinced? Read our blogs on the subject.
What is a CSA? CSA stands for Community Supported Agriculture. It's where people in the local community help to support their local small-scale farmers by purchasing memberships to share in the harvest.
Once the farm is ready to harvest the CSA members will receive a portion of what is harvested. Either weekly or biweekly members receive a box full of produce, meat, eggs, or a combination of the three.
On A Proper Farm, we hope to share all three items with our members in Florida. We are currently taking a small number of members for our pork once the hogs are ready for processing. If you are interested please contact us to learn more.