Okay, here goes!

Greetings to all our relatives all over the world. (Stole that opening from someone I admire.) I’ve just landed the honor of creating our inaugural blog and must admit to feeling quite daunted at this awesome opportunity! Please bear with me, as I tend to get carried away if anything to do with pastures arises in conversation. . . . . If you want to send me questions or critique (never done a blog before!), please do, to shannon@lickskillet.farm.

I feel it’s important to start at the beginning, so you’re about to get more than your fill of history, and I’m using some bits from our website and past newsletters, so I hope it’s not too much repetition. Here goes:

In 1919, our founder bought land in Jefferson County, near the Holston River.  The hillside was badly eroded, with much of its life and resources depleted. Neighbors warned that the land was "done wore out" and speculated he would "never make a go of it," and would be forced to "lick the skillet."

Instead, he raised up cattle, tobacco, corn, cereal grains, and ten children on this land; later, his son, my father-in-law, married and continued farming, expanding the property over the years.  Read more of the farm’s history on the “Our Story” page on this website.

My own father grew up farming in the mountains and taught me to love animals and that we are “nearer God’s heart in a garden than anywhere else on earth (Gurney),” and I internalized that from an early age.  When I met Alex in high school, the chance to marry someone with amazing blue eyes, and hands like my dad’s, and be part of an actual FARM was a no-brainer!

We spent a lot of years keeping the farm going with everyone else in our extended family’s working outside full-time jobs, and my staying home with four kids; farming was done mostly evenings and weekends, basically just a very expensive hobby.  Alex insisted the kids work from early on, supposing this would teach them the value of a good education that offered easier ways to make a living.  The kids, grown now, all wink and agree that he accomplished his goal. . . . .

But lots is changing on the planet, in our nation, and on our land, a hundred years after this family arrived. 

After making their own separate ways in the world, our kids are returning to this place in different capacities.  They came together and decided the farm must continue somehow, with an eye toward the health and welfare of both the livestock and the environment, and with a vision of educating our community, even when Alex and I are gone. 

But, with today’s economics of corporate agriculture, instant gratification, and consumer disinformation, and facing severe threats posed by widespread environmental degradation and climate change, family farms are less and less sustainable.  With multiple families to support, how were they to manage keeping this place alive?

Here’s where you come into the story, dear reader (and potential customer!).  Farming has always been and should always be about feeding communities.  We had fallen prey to the notion that our farm’s survival required participation in the conventional industry of markets, shipping great distances, and feedlots; however, for so many farmers today, that can be a losing proposition. 

Now, our family hopes to beat the odds with a rebirth of sorts, by moving into a new chapter of our story with direct marketing. Can we make a go of it and sustain a business that supports multiple families on this land?  We need you to be a part of our journey.  Will y’all visit our website and check out some of our offerings?   :~)   It’s that simple:  we’re making big changes in how we steward our land and our animals, and we are asking your support, as we preserve the air, water, and soil on which you and your family depend, and will for years to come.

What are our “big changes”?  We were caught up the cycle of fertilizing and “haying” every field level enough on which to drive a tractor safely (and some that aren’t).  We carefully overgrazed every field, so as to not “waste” a single inch of grass.  And because we care about our animals, we bought into Big Pharma’s lessons about how worming cattle (with pesticides) makes them healthier (it can) and hormones make them eat more and grow more (they do) and how myriad vaccinations are needed to keep them well (they are, if you offer only a monoculture diet, overgraze, and don’t manage their living conditions properly).  But is this really sustainable?

This family has always valued education, innovation, and peer-reviewed science.  As the kids grew, so did our understanding of the systems at work here, both above and below ground. 

We joined a national movement of graziers who recognize how biodiversity is the check and balance of soil, plant, and animal health; how animals evolved to make correct choices for their own diets; how pollinators are essential; how carbon is sequestered; how to focus on encouraging what’s desirable, rather than killing what’s not; how very much we still have to learn about this planet’s systems; and that no matter how hard we fight against it, nature always wins out in the end. 

Now, we stress environmental responsibility.  We finish our animals on lively, bio-diverse pastures, rich in organic matter:  infiltrating water, sequestering carbon, and supporting a host of buzzing, flying, and hopping wildlife.  We choose to steward this land with conservation practices, regenerative grazing techniques, appropriate technology, pollinator support, and an eye to future generations that will rely even more heavily on the myriad ecosystem services it provides.

We’ve learned to value a blade of grass as the solar panel it is, converting energy to feed soil, plants, and us!  Although we say that we are selling meat, in reality, we are harvesting and selling the sun’s energy to you in edible form.

Take a moment and ponder this:  that burger or bacon you eat, that’s harvested sunlight.  Is that cool or what?  Recognize your role in the food chain with this extraordinary process of nutrient cycling.  Never eat without attending.  This Thanksgiving, when you consume, celebrate with a healthy serving of gratitude:  cherish your right to participate in this amazing system in the most intimate way.  Be still.  Be reverent.  Choose to make diet and lifestyle choices worthy of such an honor.

If you made it this far, thanks for your attention.  They probably won’t let me write any more blog articles, but if they do, I promise not to get so preachy next time.  Our best wishes to all of you for a wonderful solstice holiday season.

Thanks again for listening,
Shannon