Detour Ranch

My husband (Jerry) and I started this farm about 3 years ago out of nothing. Over the last few years, God has really been showing us what we need to be doing. Whether we have been doing it or not, is debatable. Over the past couple years we have experimented with a few different types of animals, from horses to rabbits, you name it, if it was a farm animal, we had it. We had horses for awhile, and that was not cutting it, as soon as the novelty of having a new ‘pet’ wore off, nobody wanted anything to do with them.

We did end up getting some goats, and that was probably the first ‘best’ investment (animal wise) that we got. During the past couple of years we have really expanded the goat herd, well, the whole animal picture for that matter. Along with the commercial goats that we have, you can now include some registered Boers, a registered Berkshire sow, quite a few Rhode Island Red chickens, and some Great Pyrenees livestock guardian dogs. Along in that mess we also have a cow (not for milk, she will be in the freezer by July 2010, hopefully), a Hampshire gilt, and a couple of feeder pigs.

Along the way, we decided to open a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) program. This is a big step for us, but we really feel like God is telling us this is what we are supposed to be doing. We are offering pig, goat, chicken and vegetable shares at this time. We would like to offer even more vegetable shares next year (2011) but we need input from people if they would like to participate in the program next year.

Understand that we grow our animals and food as naturally and healthily as possible. We do not use hormones on any animal, and we do not use antibiotics on our animals meant for meat. We eat the food that we grow, and we offer our customers the same quality of meat and vegetables that we would put on our own table.

We also do not pen, or lot feed our animals at all. They are raised on pasture, all of them together. The pigs have the run of the pastures to root to their hearts content, just like the goats and chickens. Our chickens are truly range raised, they eat the grass, and weeds and the bugs around the farm.

If you are interested please email or call, you can find our contact information here.

So I decided, with the help of a couple friends, that I should start a blog about all the stuff that goes on around here, life at Detour Ranch is never boring, there is always something going on. Sometimes you would think it is a zoo (or at least a petting zoo, anyway).

If you want more information, or more pictures, check out our website at Detour Ranch.