https://linktr.ee/GrazeFreeFarms

Graze Free Farms, Valley Center, CA (2025)

04/25/2022

Another year of our family raised broiler chickens raised up to 8 weeks. Then as a family we processed all 125 together! That's a record for us. It is a commitment we take seriously each year as a family to care and raise these chicks up the best we can. Then come processing day it's all hands on deck.The entire family finishes what we started and boy does it feel good after a long day of processing to see a full freezer filled with food for our family.
Don't be afraid to dive in and try new things as a family. It's always a humbling and Blessed experience to reap what you sow when one starts and finishes a commitment.Especially as one as important as being able to raise and process food to provide for your own family.

02/07/2022

The feed has arrived just waiting for our baby chicks....Any Day Now!

01/17/2022

It's Meat Chicken Season!

08/27/2021

Well, it may not be a professional set up but we made due with what we had. Sam and I got to be guests on a small farmers meet live podcast hosted by our friend .dorpers . We were not new to the great community that this small farmers meet podcast draws, as we have been on the other side listening and commenting on other guests she has hosted. This evening was our first time sharing our story our whole story from start to finish with the usda and where we are today.
If you are curious about starting a small farm and would love to learn from others who are just starting or those who come from generational farm families this is a great place. There is a community of incredible people from all over that come together in this "small farmers chat" each month. We are honored to have been a guest and share our story. We have also found great inspiration from listening to other guests who share their experiences in agriculture at any and all stages.
Please check out our friend at .dorpers and join the monthly small farmers meet.
Thank you to everyone who has supported us and keeps supporting us as we take our journey to another location,possibly another state! Stay tuned.

08/03/2021

It's been awhile since we've made a post. We've had sometime in our family to think and make some choices. Somethings are in motion while other decisions have been put on hold,but we are not quiting the animal husbandry or the drive that makes us want to continue to be more self sufficient.
This mornings post is to just say,Hello! We haven't gone anywhere and don't plan to stop what we started months ago.
Wishing everyone a Blessed and productive week.

05/08/2021

Happy Mothers Day.
What's your weekend plans looking like?
This mom is baking some desserts for a family gathering this weekend. Family gatherings surrounded by loved ones is the best gift of all.

04/10/2021

Introducing Izzy ( queensland heeler) to the GFF family. She came home with us on thursday and its been a bundle of fun ever since. The kids and us have enjoyed the cuddles,puppy breath,running around tiring this little girl out.
We can't wait to watch izzy grow and love having her in the family.

04/06/2021

Update: Our latest situation dealing with a complaint filed on us anonymously to the USDA. Today we got the chance to meet with two very nice gentlemen from two different departments. Not having ever dealt with either of these departments before we had a pleasant encounter considering the circumstances. It was a chance for us to take someone's negative motivation and take it as a chance to learn more knowledge about what it takes to raise and process animals and the guidelines for which one can sell those animals they've raised and processed. We gained some connections with some nice and helpful people and for that we are grateful. It isn't always easy to take the high road especially when you feel attacked for doing something you feel passionate about and know others are doing it too. Our first reaction honestly was shock and anger, and what do we do now? Why would someone in our little country town call on a fellow 'neighbor' for wanting to raise healthy chickens for food? Learning what it takes to care for and raise meat birds in 8 weeks and learning the most humane butchering process and how to dress them when those 8 weeks are up is a labor of love. We've had a lot of firsts and a lot of learning experiences in this first year as a family. But raising meat birds was one of the more labor intensive experiences we've done yet as a family. With that being said however these past 9 weeks have been great for our kids and us. We have learned how to build different things and what it takes to feed, water and care for a lot of baby chicks all the way up to 8 weeks. Having this idea of raising our own food and following through with it by raising cornish cross birds was a humbling experience. So where do we go from here?
Well, at this point we are rethinking if the direction we want is a family farm that raises meat chickens year around for us and to possibly sell. Or if we just let all of this new information we've gained sink in and just enjoy some new projects, gardening, and other outdoor projects we've put off. This past year has been nothing short of new adventures and new lessons for us and we plan to continue to share what we do on our little family 'farm' with our friend's on here. We have enjoyed the networking amongst other farmers and homesteaders as we've just started this social media journey of sharing our beginning into the homesteading lifestyle. Thank you to everyone who has been so supportive and encouraging we appreciate you.

04/01/2021

When the heat turns up...
It's time for a day at the spa in the mud baths.
(Got my own mud facial,standing too close😂🐷💦).

03/30/2021

Hello,
Graze Free Farms Family here.
Just wanted to post how and why we got into small farming and why we decided to share or journey here creating a social media page.
Well a little over a year ago we got the notice that our kids would be spending more time at home and school would be virtual for awhile. At this point it all seemed a bit overwhelming and unsure of what was to be expected in the next few weeks, months?
However, instead of panicking we decided that weekend we should head to our local feed store and get our first ever batch of chicks. We had talked about wanting to have chickens for eggs for years, but always put it off as we wanted to ensure we had a safe and well built chicken coop ready. Well, getting baby chicks you have a few weeks until they are ready to be placed outside and to even start producing eggs. So with baby chicks in our living room loving every second of caring for them we also built one incredible looking chicken coupe. It was the best decision we made and as a family our weekends were filled with learning to built a solid coupe to house the chickens we loved so much.
Well, as much as we loved having our chickens and eggs that followed we wanted to try something new. We saw how meat prices in the market were rising and thought what if we tried our hands at getting a pig or two? So that lead to us finding our two girls who are American Guinea Hogs. No one could have prepared us for the adventures we have had with these two girls, sisters! First of all we had no idea they'd be as small as a chihuahua when we got them... adorable! and shocked. We made sure they had a safe and secure shelter from predators and checked on them a few times during the night(felt like we had a baby).The thought of raising pigs was a bit intimidating however we love those silly pigs and enjoy sitting outside with our free ranging chickens and rubbing those silly sweet piglets tummies. Again another great adventure and lesson gained.
Next for our family was really enjoying the youtube videos we'd watch on families starting to farm, or families that were farming on farms that'd be in families for generations. These families and their stories just seemed to speak to our hearts and pull at their strings. We felt compelled to keep going and try raising another new animals to us. That is when we started to dive into the rabbit hole of youtube videos and books of a man and his farm, Joel Salatin. He struck a strong cord with my husband and I on regenerative farming. The knowledge we gained and inspiration was powerful. My family was so excited to take this time we'd been handed in our societies chaos to make this a positive and productive time for our family. We dove into learning about how to raise meat birds, Cornish cross broilers to be exact. The simplicity and flexibility in scaling was one of those moments when you feel a light bulb go off in your head! like ah ha I can do this! That was when our family made the decision to expand our learning and take on raising meat birds as food for our family. What better way to use our time and teach our children and ourselves valuable lessons on how to care, tend to and raise animals that then will bless you with food in your freezer and provide meals on your families table. I can say that since the start of this virus and chaos in society our family has grown and learned so much. We have chosen to take this time to enrich our lives and teach our kids and ourselves what it is to raise your food and see it thru, to reap what you sow. It has been a powerful and wonderful Blessing as a family to use what means we have and learn to raise food for our family. We encourage anyone out there that may be considering doing the same on whatever scale that maybe. Since we've started over a year ago we've met some of the most amazing people who also started as we have small, but we are all here to support and share our experiences with one another. We have met other farmers who have lived on their farm passed down from generation to generation and what wisdom we have gained from them.
I hope that even though we are starting small and learning what to do and what not to do we can share those victories and failures so that maybe someone can learn something. Also, what an amazing feeling it is to know the food on your table comes from the hard work and love you put into it.
We humbly thank you for joining our page and look forward to networking with more and more amazing people out there.
God Bless from our Family to yours.

03/25/2021

💥 New News
Please read details in comments below.

03/18/2021

Look who is 7 weeks!
Batch #1 is now only a week out from being processed. I can't believe we are a week out from getting to process our first batch of chickens that started this whole journey.

03/17/2021

Today's project was bringing up more mulch into the pigs pen to give them a nice new clean layer. They were very curious and happy to help root around in the piles as we spread it all out. The finishing touch is left in the comments, a clean pen and two happy pigs getting their daily dose of piggie love.

03/16/2021

So with owning animals it does not come without some possible injuries or unforeseen booboos.We have placed these two in their own living space temporarily until we can tend to their issues and get them on their way to healing.
One bird we noticed had a cut on it's back area and we've been trying to keep it clean and allow it to heal.We do believe it may need a stitch or two which we plan to tend to ourselves and plan to keep everyone posted on how that goes.
Our second bird we noticed was limping possibly due to getting a foot or leg caught while moving the chicken tractor onto new ground.
We have chosen to keep these guys in their own warm Cozy space so they aren't getting pushed around all the other birds.Also to give them a good chance at healing and mending.
We are new at farming meat birds but we sure do love caring and tending to them.
We will continue to keep you all updated on our sweet birds that are working their way to healing.

03/13/2021

While doing our rounds this morning feeding and watering everyone it sure was nice to see some sun. The birds sure enjoyed laying where they could catch some sun to warm up. These cool rainy days have been nice but sure makes for cold nights and brisk mornings to do chores. Moved everyones houses today onto some new ground and new bugs and greens to snack on.

03/11/2021

Today it was celebrating our daughters birthday in the snow.We had a blast sledding and throwing snowballs and the occasional fall.
Love the fresh falling snow and the way it blankets everything.
Happy Thursday from the Graze Free Farm Family.

03/07/2021

Another weekend another project.
We're building a new house for the chickens that gives us 'humans' a bit of more head room. It's exciting to build new things and of course always learning things along the way.
Was inspired to build this particular hoop house from a fellow farmer we follow.
Looking forward to finishing this project up today and get the birds inside.

Graze Free Farms