Shepherd’s Hill Farm Jacksonville Pick up

Shepherd's Hill Farm is owned by Tom and Tarri Street. They and their daughter Tiare manage the farm. Our farming experience began about twenty-five years ago when the doctor told Mom, "If you don't change something, you will be dead in two years." The first steps taken were to remove white flour, white sugar, and processed foods from our diet. That helped some, but not enough. In 1988, we moved to five acres and started our farming expedition---with a few horses and a rabbit. A few years later, when we couldn't tolerate store bought meat, the doctor suggested we grow our own. So in 1993, we bought our first batch of laying hens. Oh how nice it was to have fresh eggs at your finger tips. Our next adventure was sheep. We fell in love with them, and in a few years the flock had grown from three to fifty. Next we bought a family cow. Fresh milk was a real treat after years of soy milk. Along with the dairy cow, came fresh beef. Wanting fresh chicken, we grew a batch of broilers.  Then we bought the all time farm favorite—turkeys, a very personable animal which makes every farm homey. By 1997, our five acres was busting at the seams with farm life. We then decided to make a move to 65 acres of rolling, open pasture land. Our first project was to plant a 500 tree chestnut orchard. Then we spent much time fencing. Once the fencing was up, and the house built, we moved in and expanded our livestock once again. Now over twenty-five years after the doctor predicted "Death", Mom is still alive. We give the greatest credit to Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, the Creator of the Universe, who is also the great Physician. Yet, we also realize that we have the responsibility to make wise choices about the food we eat. Living on a farm requires more than just good appetites, strong muscles, and great will power. It requires knowledge. The wisdom isn't always easily obtained, and many times it is learned through trial and error. We have faced many trials, but there is one ingredient that has been the down fall, and cure to every situation. We have learned that minerals are the essentials of quality health on a farm. Without minerals the trees produce no nuts, the grasses will not be nutritious, the animals die or are stunted in growth. We want quality and good nutrients for our farm, so that our food may be the most nutritious. We provide free choice minerals for our animals, which in turn nourishes the land. Plus, the animals are moved to new pastures daily which keep the grasses in optimal health and the animals less prone to get parasites. The animals have access to green grass and fresh water 24/7. Through most of the year the cows and sheep are rotated from pasture to pasture, giving them a constant supply of luscious, mineral rich, green grass. The milk cows are our gentle babies who come when called, and share their rich, creamy milk with us. We do not feed them corn or soy, but supplement their grass diet with alfalfa pellets when we milk them and hay in the winter—and always free choice minerals and salt. The broilers are raised on organic, corn and soy-free food, and are moved to fresh grass every day where they can eat bugs and feast on the green grass. Our turkeys are raised on organic corn and soy-free food, and allowed to roam free and eat the bugs and grass around them. The chickens make their residence in an 8' x 16' chicken coop where they lay their eggs, cool off from the heat, hide from the storms, and roost in protection from predators. They have a small opening on the front that allows them constant access to the bugs, grass, and manure around them. Their house resides on a trailer frame so that they can be moved from field to field. The chickens are fed an organic, corn-free and soy-free feed to supplement their diet of bugs and weed seeds. These are two separate email lists. If you want to get the Journal and the Larder—then sign up for both. If you only want one or the other—then just sign up for the one you wa