Walking shoes on: it's pasture time!

Hey, Farm Friend!

If you want a hat or some sunscreen, grab it now — because whoosh, you're currently standing in the pasture behind the farm store.

This is the same spot where Jordan filmed the "drought" video in June 2026. 

Only it's not 2026. 

👉 It's 2010.

You'll probably notice the laying hens that are one of the original animal operations on the farm. 

And you'll see the mobile hen coop...because Jordan and Laura's approach to stewarding this land has been different from conventional agriculture from the very start.

J&L just added to their farm this acreage you're seeing in front of you.

It joins the neighboring parcel with which they started the farm last year (late '09).

They've been working this new land for just a few months. 

Before Today

So what was here before they arrived??

The pasture you're standing in has been a hayfield for many years. 

Under the previous farmer, pasture grass was grown here. The grass has been continually mowed, dried, stored for winter, and grown again—a standard practice.

This cycle has been repeating without much variation for years, as it does on most conventional farms.

This will matter over the coming weeks as we tell more of this story: 

For practical reasons, such as not having water lines set up in this field to keep water troughs full for grazing cattle, the hayfields have been completely separate from the livestock grazing fields.

The Grazing Fields

And what about the livestock?

Prior to Jordan and Laura's arrival, the full property of which this field is a part was a single-species farm raising meat cows & calves. 

The livestock grazing fields were continuously grazed: this means the cows were fenced in to graze their assigned pasture for an extended period of time without moving to a new field. 

2010: State of the Pasture

So why does all of this matter?

As you look at this 2010 field, there are a couple of things to notice.

1. The Plants

First thing to notice is plant diversity. 

What you see here in 2010 is almost exclusively a perennial grass called fescue. (You know this grass! It's also known as "your front lawn" 😎). 

Fescue has grown and been harvested repeatedly on this spot for many years.

It's one of the few types of grasses that can handle frequent aggressive harvesting by grazing animals or farm machinery (or in your case, your lawn mower;)). 

Not much else is able to survive with that treatment. Maybe a little orchard grass or white clover.