This year—with the help of our neighbors, community, and Steward—Studio Hill is expanding both our farm stays offerings and our holistic planned grazing program. We invite you to come enjoy our three new on-farm lodgings and two new abutting farm properties.
Last year, Cally and I made the decision to apply to become a Savory Influencer Hub. And so, with much hand-wringing, we submitted the video above—along with many other materials—to Savory's Global Network Coordinator.
As many of you know, we've been practicing some facsimile of Savory's holistic livestock management on our farm since 2012—to tremendous effect. Our yields are up. Our resiliency is up. The nutrition of our forage is up. Our sheep are incredibly healthy and now 100% grass-fed. Our dollars generated-per-acre is WAY up. And our inputs are...zero. None of this would have been possible had I not stumbled across Allan Savory's TED Talk at 3am one night while bouncing my colicky baby boy and panicking about the state of our farm. The chain of events (and research and experiments) that started that night have transformed our farm and my life in amazing ways. But, we can do better. I will admit...
Last season, the sheep grazed our South Meadow in mid June, and instead of mowing and baling the second growth in August or September, we let that grass stand and go into winter. About two weeks ago, we brought the sheep out of their winter paddocks and started them back on their grazing rotation in the South Meadow. There was no hint of green growth yet—the snow had just melted and the grasses were all brown and dormant looking. But the sheep were eager to leave their winter digs and start foraging, and they happily dove into their work. This before and after image shows the dense, stockpiled grass ahead of grazing, and the cleared grass afterward. The thick cover...
There are Very Few companies to which we’d lend our faces. We’ve been approached by a few companies over the years and we’ve said no. But, when Patagonia called, we leapt at the chance to help them promote their Worn Wear program.