The Farm
At Bowman Heritage, we believe that one of the key solutions to the failings of the modern food system is the small family farm. As communities, we need to create thriving local food economies and if possible, more families need to start raising a portion of their own food. We aren’t made to be solely consumers. We are made to work hard and eat with satisfaction the work of our hands. On our farm, we strive to work with and not against nature, to create diversified and non-fragile systems, to cut back our off-farm dependence, and to connect with others with similar goals.
Our Principles
Whenever we add something new to our farm, we use the following principles to guide our decisions:
1. Hardiness: We want animals that can handle the elements, resist diseases and parasites, and don’t need a lot of medication and vet visits to stay healthy.
2. Diversified: We believe there is strength in diversity and we want all aspects of our farm to add to a diversified eco-system. Every animal on our farm needs to serve multiple uses.
3. Low-Input: Animals that use low amounts of our resources (time, feed, infrastructure, etc.) and can generally thrive on less while still producing what we need.
4. Sustainable: We are always striving to become less dependent upon off-farm resources. Animals that can forage and live sustainably on what we grow here is a great benefit to us.
5. Temperament: We want the whole family to enjoy being a part of what we’re doing here on the homestead, and we want our children to be safe working with the animals. For this reason, good temperaments and handleability is a big priority.
6. Land Healing: One of our long-term generational goals is to grow each year at farming in a way that adds to the health of the land. Most modern industrial farming relies on heavy off-farm inputs in order to produce large mono-crops that have to be transported all over the country and world to keep the system going. This leads to less nutrient-dense food, depleted top soils, unstable farm economies, and a very fragile food system for all. We want to work towards a local food economy that is healthy for both the people and the land.
Our Animals
