We began a LOT in 2017. Most of what we’re doing in 2018 is expanding what we already started. (You can read about last year’s highlights here
- Our pastured, organic chicken was incredibly popular. We’re going to expand that enterprise by 60%.
- We expected to go into the winter with 6 bred cows, to slowly increase our herd. We ended up buying another small grass-fed herd and currently have 15 bred cows. Because of the herd increase, we also need more pasture. Last fall we planted 12 acres in a pasture mix, and will be grazing a neighbor’s 15 acres, in addition to what we grazed last summer.
- In addition to the 4 restaurants we sourced our meat to last year, we just started providing pork to Cabalar Meat Company, which just opened up last week. To keep up with the growing demand, we increased our number of sows from 5 last year, to 8 sows this year. Follow us on Instagram and Facebook to help us name our new sows in the near future.
We are adding a NEW enterprise: Laying Hens! Free-range, organic eggs. Laying hens are powerful little animals. Think about it: Daily producing little packets of nutritious goodness, that would be the size equivalent of a human producing something the size of a small basketball! Every. Day. Chickens are rock-stars. They’re also amazing pest control. We’ve seen before that when we move free-range laying hens close to our cattle, the fly pressure goes down.
We’re contemplating adding an internship program (for people older than my nephews!). However after reading Joel Salatin’s book about farm mentor-ship, “Fields of Farmers,” I’m not sure if we’re ready to tackle it. Maybe if we can connect with the right person. So if you know someone who’s looking for an internship in sustainable agriculture, have them talk to us. To be clear, we’re not in the business of ‘teaching someone to work’; we’re looking for someone who already has a work ethic, and wants to take their work to the next level, and apply it to pasture-based farming.
How to buy our meat in 2018
There are 3 different ways to get your hands on Mirror Image Farms pastured and grass-fed meats.
- Bulk: This is the most economical way to purchase our meat. ‘Bulk’ means buying a whole, half, or quarter beef; a whole or half hog; or 10 or more chickens. In addition to the bulk price savings, you also get a 5% discount if you order your meat by March 31st , including putting a down payment of 25% of the estimated order.
- CSA: This option is for our customers who eat approximately 10-20lbs of meat a month. Our standard share includes all three types of meat: grass-fed beef; pastured pork; and organic, pastured poultry. In addition to our Standard 3-Meat Share, we also have the Red Meat Only share (pork and beef) and the Chicken share (chicken only). Shares are picked up monthly from one of our three pick-up points (Lancaster, Millersville, and Marietta). We have 3 seasons, beginning every 4 months. Our ‘official’ 2018 season starts in June, but we have a few shares available right now, for the February through April season. If you know you want our meat year-round, Sign-up for the whole year and get the last month free! Send only one check.
- Retail: We often have retail cuts available for individual sale. Send us a text and stop by. There is the possibility of us developing a self-serve farm store at the farm, but we anticipate not keeping enough meat in stock to make it worth it. If you’re in Lancaster, you can buy our pork fresh, at Cabalar Meat Co. on Queen Street. This new butchery opened up last week, and is sourcing our heritage pastured pork, along with grass-fed beef from other farms (and occasionally ours, too.)