Our Favorite CSA Made the Paper

There was a really nice article in yesterday's Emporia Gazette about Shepherd's Valley, the CSA we joined last year. We are currently getting eggs from them, and are looking forward to spring and the beginning of a new CSA season.

Shepherd’s Valley is part of a growing Community-Supported Agriculture movement that brings members fresh foods that are free from the pesticides, herbicides and hormones that often are used to increase production and profits at larger operations.

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The laying hens are kept inside large portable chicken coops that Crisp and the apprentices who work there move by hand from the barn to a nearby pasture and back to the barn each day. The chickens eat both grass and grain and perform pest control duties while they’re at it.

“The chickens, they will take care of the grubs and the flies,” Crisp said. “The sheep will do the mowing ahead of them. They are the pasture sanitation crew.”

The symbiotic relationship between the animals is another example of following nature rather than working against it. And in the end, Crisp said, the products are better.