Pasture Raised and Grass Fed on Stony Brook Farm

This blog is about the day-to-day life on and concerns of a recently established pasture-based livestock farm on a hillside of the Schoharie Valley in Schoharie, New York, USA. My name is Bob, and I am the principle farmer. My wife’s name is Jen, and she is the reluctant, occasional farmer, although I think she is not as reluctant as she pretends to be. We raise pigs, sheep, goats, and chickens on rotationally grazed pasture. We will be adding beef cows as soon as I can convince the reluctant farmer to agree to it, but in order to do so I may need to give up my four-year old standing veto of a Boston Terrier. I may not want cows that badly.

I am thirty-five years old. When I was eighteen, I was sure that it would be all down hill from there. I never would have believed that I would be entering the prime of my life at thirty-five. Farming, however, has improved not only my physical health and shape but also my mental health. I still struggle with depression, anxiety, anger, and frustration, but my vision of life and the world has been much improved by farming. The only thing that drags me down is needing to sit in front of the computer for eight hours a day, five days a week.

My dream, which I have made a goal, is to be able to quit my day job in 2013, the year of my fortieth birthday. It is going to take a lot of work and a probably a bunch of luck, but culturally-speaking, the time is right as the market for local, synthetic-chemical free, pasture-based meat, poultry, and eggs is booming and on the rise.