I have come to the realization that it is time to reboot the farm! Not that everything that we have been doing for the past twelve years has been bad, but rather there are some changes that I realize need to be made and in making them I think we are going to end up with Crooked Gap Farm v2.0. It's sort of like a Grand Re-Opening, or Church Re-Plant, or Version 2.0 of the farm.

The core of the farm is going to be the same. We are still going to be all about raising great pasture raised meats, but there will be changes on the farm. Changes with efficiencies. Changes with marketing. Changes with structures. Changes with mindset. And, all of this is going to be about taking our farm up a level in order to be better than we have been in the past.

It is going to be a long journey that will take time (and money, which means more time), but I think it is going to be an amazing journey. Follow along on the Podcast, Instagram, Facebook, and of course YouTube!

I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Don't forget you can find us in all of the places, most of all on YouTube (again)!

The Beginning Farmer YouTube Channel

The Beginning Farmer Instagram

The Beginning Farmer Facebook

Crooked Gap Farm has come a long ways in the roughly 12 years of it's existence! Sometimes I forget how far we have come from an empty 40 acre parcel in the middle of Iowa, but when I stop and take a look at it all I am very thankful! That doesn't mean that I have everything where it needs to be or that I'm ready to sit back and watch the farm roll along.

There are a lot of projects that are needed on the farm these days. Repair projects, building projects, upgrading projects, and plenty of cleaning projects! But, I have come up with three that have been at the forefront of my mind lately

1. Get the Walk-in Freezer up and running!
2. Building a "Farrowing Greenhouse"!
3. Rehab, Rejuvenate, Replace our Sheep Flock!

I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Don't forget you can find us in all of the places, most of all on YouTube (again)!

The Beginning Farmer YouTube Channel

The Beginning Farmer Instagram

The Beginning Farmer Facebook

Let's talk about chickens! We've raised meat chickens off and on for about 10 years now, and it has never really been our strong suit. But, the demand is there and I would really like to increase our meat chicken production ... like really increase it!

There is one problem though, well actually three problems. First of all we have settled on the Freedom Ranger breed for our meat chickens (although I'm open for suggestions because it still isn't my favorite ever). Secondly, I am totally committed to the "day range" system of raising the birds, but I'm not committed to a structure. And finally, processing is somewhat of a bottle neck for us. There is only one official processor in the state and we are pretty much all in on needing official processing!

I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Don't forget you can find us in all of the places, most of all on YouTube (again)!

The Beginning Farmer YouTube Channel

The Beginning Farmer Instagram

The Beginning Farmer Facebook

Hello Beginning Farmer Friends! We are back and better than ever. Well I'm not sure about better than ever, but we are back and I am getting pretty excited about being back (even though it is one episode)! I am excited to be able to "chat" about farming again, and share the happenings of Crooked Gap Farm and our plans for the future.

In this episode I end up talking about what our farm marketing world has looked at during the current pandemic of 2020. Sales have been good (I think for many protein farmers that has been true), but along with increased sales and demand there have been plenty of challenges. In the end I do think we are positioning ourselves in a good way for 2021 and beyond.

Don't forget you can find us in all of the places, most of all on YouTube (again)!

The Beginning Farmer YouTube Channel

The Beginning Farmer Instagram

The Beginning Farmer Facebook

In a time of unknown, I sit down and do what is needed: I have fun. Today I talk with my oldest son, Caleb, about his interests on the farm and where he goes and is wanting to go with them. He shares what his biggest interest on the farm is and what he does with it. With plenty of fun and laughter, tractors, a Hard Lesson Learned, and even rockets, this is sure to be a fun episode that you can't miss!

I am going to ignore the elephant in the room (this episode is being released during the 2020 Covid-19 pandemic) and attempt to pick-up where I left off about one year ago! On the last episode of The Beginning Farmer Show, that sounds like something you would hear at the beginning of a soap opera, I had outlined the equipment and infrastructure that we had accumulated on the farm. What I was realizing was that maybe the equipment I had wasn't "right-sized" to where our farm was at the moment. The big question that was discussed though was, what are we going to do in terms of the hay operation.

Well, much of the hay operation discussion changed in the weeks following the release of that last episode because I ended up selling some small square bale equipment, picking up more hay ground, and making more hay than I had even planned in 2019. Moving forward in 2020 we are expanding even more in the hay side of things and working to add it as a component of our over all farm business.

There are plenty of other things that have happened on the farm in the past 12 months, but the biggest thing had to be our return to the Downtown Des Moines Farmers' Market. This was something that popped up on our radar somewhat out of nowhere and in the end it seems like it was a good thing!

I hope you all are doing well out there as we deal with a world that seems to be changing by the moment. Maybe in the future I'll be able to take some time to talk about how our farm is adjusting through this pandemic.