I think we can get in our own way when we become so purist that we can’t make strategic compromises for the wellbeing of the larger organism. - Joel Salatin
Excerpt from a recent interview with Joel Salatin by Daniel Griffith of the local Virginia Savory Hub, The Robinia Institute. And what perfect timing for a review of this conversation in light of some exciting farm business opportunities that have come our direction here at Riffle Farms.
As the new Region VIII representative for The National Bison Association, I am not only committed to promoting my own bison business, but also promoting the National bison business at large, which means this Mountain Mama is ready for some collaboration and sharing of ideas!
Here at Riffle Farms, we raise 100% grass-fed and grass finished bison, basically as Mother Nature intended, in a holistic framework that helps us to regenerate the land we are fortunate enough to live and work on. I’d like to see the bison industry do the same.
Wait, what—you ask? Yes, as much as all of us would like to think all commercial bison still roam the grasslands much like they did a century ago, they don’t…and actually a huge portion of them are grain fed in feedlot style operations. That bison you get at the grocery (even Wholefoods), it’s grain finished y‘all. Most of us think that when we eat bison, we are eating meat that came from a grass-fed and grass finished animal, that’s what all the pictures and songs show us…but it’s not all true.
Grain finishing animals, especially a semi-domesticated animal like the bison, is not sustainable; and it’s definitely not regenerative. Our loyal customers keep coming back for better tasting, healthier meat—meat they know is honestly raised and honestly harvested. And we can’t keep the meat in stock!
Since we are committed to holistically managing our bison herd and our land, as in we don’t want too many animals too fast, we have decided to partner with another like minded ranch in Wisconsin to keep the meat coming your way while we grow our herd to a healthy size. Why Wisconsin? They have more space to grass feed and grass-finish their animals, the bison love the cold, we are assisting the bison industry with bottlenecks, and we are promoting sustainable farm business practices. All wins in my book :)
Double J Bison and Crescent Meats will provide Riffle Farms with the highest quality bison meat intermittently while we continue to grow our herd and harvest our own animals. We will keep our freezers stocked to demand, YOU get more bison steak options, and Riffle Farms continues to lead by example as a holistically managed regenerative bison farm that will feed a growing community! WOW! But we couldn’t do any of it without Y-O-U, so thank you, with all of my heart.
My soul really is in these soils.
“Soul to soil” - D.F.Griffith
Commentaires