Are you from South Dakota or neighboring states? Are you looking for an easy way to find and connect with local growers and ranchers that are using regenerative practices to grow as sustainable as possible? Wanting to really connect with the people that are growing your food? South Dakota Fresh Connect is a site that allows small farmers and ranchers (like my family) to be listed in one place and connect with local people who are as passionate as we are about what our animals are eating and how our produce is grown.
This site is run by the South Dakota Soil Health Coalition. They are a great resource for farmers and ranchers on giving back to the land to make sure they are keeping their lands as healthy as possible for the best health of our native soil.
This is something my dad is very passionate about to make sure the native grasses in our family pastures are the best for both wild life and his cattle. If you ever have been to our farm site you will look around and see his bird houses. My dad is so passionate about natural ways of raising cattle he figured out a way to bring in a specific swallow bird to help with fly control on his cattle.
Can you believe it?? By being so passionate about not wanting to use chemicals on his beef for the amount of flies he was able to completely RID his cattle of fly and fly larvae issues. This may sound nerdy to some but this is a huge win for our homestead because it gives us piece of mind that our cattle won't suffer. Have you ever seen a horse fly bite? I have an they can be AWFUL! But determination and lots of research paid off, over time, and it is something so amazing to see.
You can truly tell the passion he has for his cattle and his farm when you speak to him and his want for many others to learn what he and any other farmers on SD Fresh connect have learned from the soil coalition.
If you are looking to learn more I urge you to visit their site and check out the many farms across SD that are listed and even reach out to the coalition themselves to see if there is a seminar near you!
https://sdfreshconnect.com
If you would like to learn more about my dad's birdhouse project drop us a comment or email and I will see if we can get an interview and maybe even a tutorial from him!
Until the next one friends,
Jena
