Our Mission:
Through the use of regenerative practices and holistic management, we provide our animals with the best lives possible while simultaneously healing and improving the land that we steward. It is our hope that every stratum of the natural world, both wild and domestic, benefits from our presence. The end result is an improving ecosystem, healthy and happy animals, and some unbelievably delicious meat.
Our story
Crow Fly Farms is located in the foothills of Western North Carolina just outside the mountain town of Marion. We started our journey with a couple of backyard chickens and a lust for good clean food. Little did we know that a few chickens would grow into what is now Crow Fly Farms. A love for animals, concern for the environment, and an affinity for great food started us down the path that got us here today. We now raise cattle, hogs, and sheep but still have most of those “back yard” chickens.
As an Accredited Professional with the Savory Institute, Jake has been able to apply the intricacies of holistic management to all aspects of the enterprise. This ensures that the entirety of the farm is benefitting and regenerating from the day-to-day decisions that are made. The ecological health of the farm, the animals, and the wildlife within it is all monitored. The animals are able to express themselves, soil is regenerating, water and mineral cycles are improving, and carbon is being sequestered.
Crow Fly Farms is dedicated to the improvement of the land and the environment. Fortunately, the biproduct is some of the best meat you have ever tasted. Anything we are willing to put our name on we stand behind. That means that only the finest products leave our farm and make it to your table.
Our animals
The heart of our farm and the regeneration that is happening is our animals. They are what makes this whole system work. We are focused on using heritage breeds that operate well within our context. These are breeds that were on farms a hundred years ago, long before the concrete floors and feed lots that so many animals are raised on today. We are helping to preserve breeds that were at the brink of extinction by putting them in an environment where they thrive.
We raise Red Wattle and GOS hogs because they produce an excellent tasting well marbled meat but most importantly, they excel outdoors in pasture and forest. The breed of sheep we chose are Katahdin/ Gulf Coast Native crosses. They perform best on pasture and have a natural parasite resistance. They also happen to be renowned for their flavorful delicate meat. We raise primarily Pineywoods cattle. These cows are the oldest breed of cattle in the US. They were brought over by the Spaniards over 400 years ago and evolved out of the pine plantations in the deep south. They are a heat tolerant breed with proven resilience. Great tasting pasture raised beef and improving soils is the result.
Our cattle and sheep are 100% grass-fed and finished. They are rotated daily through our pastures to ensure that they always have access to fresh forage. This allows our pastures to recover, and with the fertilizer they provide, increase organic matter in the soil, sequester more carbon, and improve energy flow.
Our pigs are fed an entirely Soy-Free Organic feed, produced right here in NC by Reedy Fork Farms. They supplement their diet with acorns, grubs, grass, bugs, and whatever else they can root up. Their days are spent roaming under the canopy of our hardwood forest and most importantly being pigs.
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