A true free range layer experience...

Little by little the layers have been coming closer to the house and barn. That must mean they have expired all the bugs in their region of the field. Now chickens will only go so far when “grazing”. I decided to introduce the pullets to the mature flock of layers and move them all to a new area. Sounds easy enough……certainly they will love the new section of field with all the tasty bug morsels right? After an hour of moving the pen and getting stuck I found out that is just not so. I sat on the four-wheeler as group by group those birds ran all the way back to where I had just worked so hard to get them from. At that particular moment, I could have run them over. They were going to be moved to the east side of the pond, coyotes or not. I have to break them from seeing an area as “home” and start seeing their tractor as “home”. At this point their tractor was just a place to roost at night. Not to mention, some of those ladies are hiding eggs in various places other than their nice new nest boxes. Jacob and I brought the layer house back to the original spot. We waited for nightfall, rounded all the new pullets back up and moved the pen to the east side of the east pond. Hay was just cut out there so the grass is short, bugs are plenteous and the hedge row is far enough away to keep some of the predators at bay during the daylight. Tomorrow morning we will know if we made the right move!.....

Success with the layers! Their move worked. When they were let out I watched to see what they did. The group that heads up the wandering thought they knew where to go. After they reached the first terrace, they slowed down and started to look confused. A little further they realized they didn’t know where they were at all. Back to their tractor they came. They have stayed around it since! Score 1 for me, 0 for the layers……

Farming our way...

Our way of raising livestock is a lot of learning, growing and learning some more. Farming will teach so much more that just how to farm. The animals will make you laugh such as when the pigs bite the hose and belly flop in the fresh water. They will frustrate you when certain breeds are not easily restrained by your tireless fencing system. They will bring out the calm strength in you when you’re assisting a kidding mother goat during a tornado. Sometimes they make you cry when you lose a young baby due to the order of nature or unforeseen circumstances. Other times they amaze you at their instinct to protect and raise their young right in the midst of preditors. All of these things have been a part of our experiences in the last four years.

We have learned to “dance the dance” but quickly realize we cannot orchestrate the dance. That is not ours to control. We just learn to work in harmony with our Creator and give the best we can. I guess you could say it's nature working naturally!

Be committed to buying local to keep our community farms alive. There are so many unsung heros....farmers are one of them. I can now appreciate the work of real food.

Until next post.....

How it all began....

Four years ago this summer we made the decision to leave the suburban life of Denver for a slower, quieter, back to basics lifestyle. We had an option to return to the family farm here in Fort Scott. Purchased back in the 40's, it has remained in the Gannon family ever since. We came here on a shoestring.....and we are still on a shoestring! Our experience has taught us many lessons. It all seemed easy enough until we did it. We had never raised livestock or lived in an old house. We were the epitome of middleclass suburban America. The ones who grew up thinking we needed to use the credit card system. The ones who thought go big or go home. We had been there with the nice houses, the new cars, the fast, entertained lifestyle. But there was still the desire to live close to nature. We wanted to know where our food came from. Who says a city girl can't learn to milk a cow? or goats? or butcher chickens? Who doesn't like to walk out to the hens in the evening and gather the fruits of their day with the kids? We didn't know how to do those things but we were determined to learn. I made it a personal goal to not just be sustainable but to be able to make a living at it. Others have...why couldn't we?? Well....we are still reaching for that goal one small step at a time. Some days it seems like we are just silly for trying, other days we are just so thankful to have the chance to try. But those days that keep us going are when a customer tells us thank you. Those connections we make...the people who cherish our honest effort to provide them the best we have...that is the part of all this work that keeps us going.

Until next post.......

Gannon Family Farm

50 years ago family farms were common. People knew who grew their produce and raised their meats; there was a relationship between the family sitting down to eat a meal and the family who grew the meal. We at Gannon Family Farm want that back, not only for the health of our family, but for the health of our community. We hope you will join in this vision.
We believe what we eat has a great influence on our health. We truly believe that by producing all natural products, we can help improve people's health and lives by providing them with a healthy alternative to the factory raised products you find at most grocery stores.
We are not a "certified organic" farm although we feed all our animals grains and minerals that are certified organic. Our goal is to offer you a choice of selecting food that you will feel safe eating and know that it is better for your health.
We welcome questions about our way of raising our animals. We want your confidence.

Join us in our journey to discover what has been lost as a way of life.

WG