Harmony Hill Farm

Farming in harmony with nature

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Farming in Harmony with Nature Blog

Things we Love About the Animals

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We love all of the different personalities of the animals, their intelligence and their God given characteristics.  For instance, the pigs’ snouts are much like plows which they use to turn the soil while rooting for food. All of this rooting aerates and loosens the soil. When they sleep, they sleep deeply. 

The roosters protect the hens and if they find food, they call the hens over for them to come eat first. The chickens do such a great job following behind the cows, scratching and pecking for the bugs and thoroughly cleaning up after the cows. 

The cows have learned when we are coming to move them and they begin serenading us until they are moved into a fresh paddock of grass. Overall, we can say our animals live in harmony with nature, one another, and us.


The Benefits of Farming as a Family

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Family is such a gift from God. Working together as a family on our farm, gives us lots of opportunities to work hard with one another, get to know each other in a way different than just living together and making special life long memories.  Whether it is the daily chores of feeding and watering, herding to fresh pasture, working on farm equipment, or washing eggs at night, we are doing it together.

Jesse enjoys caring for the pigs and loves to run all the farm equipment. You’ll find Rachael usually barefoot while she’s working in the fields.  Jake does a great job at the farmer’s market educating customers about our products. Robert helps manage the website as he’s away at college, and lends a helping hand when he’s home. Robin does so much including working the family garden, canning, and overall keeping everyone fed.  Earl rises and shines everyday before the sun, feeding and moving animals and overseeing the general management of the farm.

Why do we use non-GMO feed?

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We believe that our animals as well as our customers who eat our products deserve to have food that has  not been genetically modified but instead to consume foods that are as close to how God made them as possible.  For this reason, the feed that we give our pigs and chickens to supplement what they are getting from the pasture is non-gmo.  We purchase it from Sunrise Farms in Stuarts Draft, Virginia.

The Non-GMO Shopping Guide website is a great resource for understanding more about this topic. Below is excerpts from their website.

What is “Non-GMO” and Why is it Important to Your Family?

GMOs, or “genetically modified organisms,” are plants or animals created through the gene splicing techniques of genetic engineering. This experimental technology merges DNA from different species, creating unstable and unnatural combinations of plant, animal, bacterial and viral genes.  Most commercial GMOs are engineered to withstand direct application of herbicide and/or to produce an insecticide.

A growing body of evidence connects GMOs with health problems, environmental damage and violation of farmers’ and consumers’ rights.  Most developed nations do not consider GMOs to be safe. While nearly 50 countries have restricted or banned the production and sale of GMOs, the United States government has approved GMOs based on studies conducted by the same corporations that created them and profit from their sale. Many products that contain GMOs are not labeled as such and have been found to be in as much as 80% of conventional processed food in the U.S.

Because a majority of GMOs grown worldwide have been engineered for herbicide tolerance, use of toxic herbicides has increased. GMO crops are also responsible for the emergence of “super weeds” and “super bugs” which can only be killed with ever more toxic poisons. The long-term impacts of GMOs are unknown, and once released into the environment these organisms cannot be recalled.

At Sunrise Farms, we manufacture our own feeds using all-natural, non-GMO grains.  We raise our own beef, poultry, eggs and pork and none of our meats contain GMOs or added hormones.

Data courtesy of the Non-GMO Project at nongmoproject.org.