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Your online farmers market baskets

EAT BETTER LIVE BETTER NEWSLETTER / May 30-31, 2017

Tips, hacks, recipes, stories, and the weekly special all help you eat better live better with fresh local food!

When you go to your online farmers market to shop this coming weekend, you’ll see something new: Updated basket options that will offer better choices to you and better support to local farmers…

Continue reading about your updated basket options, below, or view this issue as a PDF with clickable links.

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Eat local food on a budget

EAT BETTER LIVE BETTER NEWSLETTER / May 23-24, 2017

Tips, hacks, recipes, stories, and the weekly special all help you eat better live better with fresh local food!

Eating local food creates jobs and boosts the economy, promotes health and well-being, and supports a healthy environment with thriving communities. If each Virginia household spent just $10 of their total weekly food budget on local food and farm products, $1.65 billion would be generated annually, directly impacting Virginia’s economy…

Continue reading about how to eat local food on a budget, below, or view this issue as a PDF with clickable links.

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know your farmer - Westmoreland Farms

Know your farmer for reliable good food

EAT BETTER LIVE BETTER NEWSLETTER / May 17-18, 2017

Tips, hacks, recipes, stories, and the weekly special all help you eat better live better with fresh local food!

The news has been full of headlines lately about the unreliability of organic labels. Is your food as good as it claims to be? The best way to know is to know your farmer. At Seasonal Roots, we know our local farmers! We know they use sustainable practices, which means you know it, too…

Continue reading about how to know your farmers, below, or view this issue as a PDF with clickable links.

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easy ordering at your online farmers market

Easy ordering at your online farmers market

EAT BETTER LIVE BETTER NEWSLETTER / May 10-11, 2017

Tips, hacks, recipes, stories, and the weekly special all help you eat better live better with fresh local food!

Our website just got a makeover! Not only does it have a new look, but it’s also got new information. As you know, we make it easy for you to eat better and live better with our network of local, sustainable family farmers, plus online ordering, home-delivery, recipes, and tips. Now our website makes it just as easy for newcomers to get what we’re all about…

Continue reading about easy ordering at your online farmers market, below, or view this issue as a PDF with clickable links.

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Grassfed: Why these “ka-razy” local farmers made the switch

EAT BETTER LIVE BETTER NEWSLETTER / May 3-4, 2017

Tips, hacks, recipes, stories, and the weekly special all help you eat better live better with fresh local food!

Meet our newest farmer partners! When Brooks and Jil Davis decided to switch from conventional farming and go grassfed and sustainable, they were pretty much alone. Many of their fellow farmers didn’t like the idea. The couple’s decision cost them one friendship and affected their farm networking. They were labeled, “Ka-razy!” So why switch…?

Continue reading below or view this issue as a PDF with clickable links.

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grassfed local food from family farmers

Grassfed and sustainable Thornebook Farms

Grassfed: Why these “ka-razy” local farmers made the switch

Grassfed: Why these “ka-razy” local farmers made the switch


By Kristin Henderson, chief veggie conversationalist:

When Brooks and Jil Davis decided to switch from conventional farming and go grassfed and sustainable, they were pretty much alone. Many of their fellow farmers didn’t like the idea. The couple’s decision cost them one friendship and affected their farm networking. They were labeled, “Ka-razy!”

So why make the switch? Research. Like everything else with their farm, Jil and Brooks did the research and went where the facts led them.

In our last post, we explored organic vs sustainable vs local, and explained why the best way to ensure your food is nutritious and eco-friendly is to know the farmer. So in this post we’d like you to get to know one of our newest farmer partners.

Starting out


Jil and Brooks built ThorneBrook Farms from the ground up. They’re first generation farmers. They didn’t inherit their farm. Jil grew up on a small hobby farm with horses, goats, and chickens that, along with the dogs, were pets, not food. Brooks didn’t grow up on a farm at all.

Still, he had the farming bug. He studied agricultural business at Virginia Tech, while Jil studied accounting and business at a local college. In 2006, they got married and started planning their cattle, sheep, and chicken farm.

“We researched, researched, researched,” Jil recalls. They bought some land near Goochland, Va., prepared it, saved money, and got their financial ducks in a row for the initial herd purchase. They bought their first herd in 2007.

At the time, they were conventional farmers and called themselves “grass-based”. That means they raised their cattle on pasture but still used medicines, vaccines, conventional feeds, and hay grown with fertilizers and sprays. “We were far from organic and definitely not sustainable,” according to Jil.

They were also working really long hours and running a landscaping business on the side. They wanted to do more than just break even financially. They needed their farm to be self-sufficient and were eager to find ways to streamline their operation and reduce their costs.

Their research turned up a sustainable farming practice called intensive and rotational grazing where the animals are moved from pasture to pasture. They were intrigued by both the business end of things and the science that showed how this model supported the health of the land and animals, while also improving the meat quality. Studies show that a truly grassfed process results in more nutritional and tasty meat.

They’d done their research and they had their answer. Sustainable farming practices, including rotational grazing, were the way to go.

Making the switch


In 2009, they shifted their business model 180 degrees: They switched from conventional practices to a sustainable, natural approach. Grass-based herd management not only fit their lifestyle and goals, it had the potential to maximize their profits — the natural grassfed movement was gaining momentum and they were ready to meet the demand.

Today, their sustainable practices extend throughout their farm operation. They even rely on solar power for the water and electric fencing in their pastures. Watch how well it works!

At first, after they went sustainable, they continued to sell through wholesalers and middlemen. But it wasn’t long before they saw that selling direct to local consumers was a great opportunity. Their sustainable practices were making their farm more financially sustainable, too.

Jil and Brooks sacrificed the comfortable old conventional way of doing things. But by going sustainable, Jil explains, “Our business increased and our foundation grew stronger. We also grew as a couple and business partners. I can say that we are 100% at peace with our model and the quality it produces.”

Here at Seasonal Roots, we love supporting local, sustainable farmers like Jil and Brooks of ThorneBrook Farms! Our members are helping ensure they have an economically viable way to feed us all delicious, nutritious food. We’re excited to make their grassfed lamb sausage the first item we offer to our members. There’s more to come from this farming couple whom we’re getting to know so well!

ABOUT SEASONAL ROOTS


Since 2011, Seasonal Roots’ online farmers market has connected Virginia families with local family farmers who use sustainable, humane practices. Our veggie fairies – mostly moms who believe in living better through scrumptious, healthy eating, being kind to animals, protecting the environment, and spreading joy – home-deliver freshly harvested produce, eggs, grassfed dairy and meat, plus artisan fare. We empower our members to eat better and live better with more nutritious, flavorful food that’s good for us and good for the planet. More info at seasonalroots.com.