Welcoming a new helping family on the farm

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September 11, 2020

Farmer Aaron and his family needed help. Completing all the farm chores, running a business, holding down a household, and being active with their church and community was getting to be too much to handle with sporadic help here and there.

The Miller’s needed some relief. They needed some freedom. They needed some more sleep.

So, farmer Aaron put an ad in the Busy Beaver (a local Amish newspaper) a few months ago looking for full-time farm help. He got a big response with about 10 people from his local Amish community interested! After a hefty interview process, Aaron hired Daniel to help on the farm.

Daniel, his wife Rebecca, and their four young children moved into one half of the farmer’s house a few weeks ago. Welcome to the farm Daniel and family!

Daniel previously worked in construction. Then, his family got into farming. They worked a conventional farm for about 2 years, but he soon got tired of it and quit.

Conventional farming didn’t work financially, and he realized that the chemicals weren’t good. Daniel started reading lots of farming and grazing magazines, and his eyes were opened to the world of natural and regenerative farming. When he saw Aaron’s ad, he knew he had to go for it.

Daniel has been training with Aaron for a couple months now.

His main responsibilities are moving and feeding the cows, milking the cows, seeding and making hay, taking care of the pigs, and record keeping. He also helps a bit with the chickens and turkeys.

At Miller’s Bio Farm, it’s all about the details. This is why training and double checking is really important.

Are the cows moved to the right place? Is the right amount of feed being given to the pigs? Is the hay harvested at the right time? Is the equipment spotlessly clean?

The first three are pretty easy to monitor. But that last one needs some precise measuring.

Luckily, Miller’s has a pretty easy way to tell if Daniel and his family are cleaning the equipment properly - on farm testing! Every batch of milk is tested on the farm. If there’s ever a high reading… well, Aaron knows he needs to quickly diagnose the issue and provide guidance in solving the problem.

The Miller’s team is so happy to have Daniel, Rebecca, and family on board. As the team grows, so does our ability to inspire healthy generations.

Opinion

Ugh greenwashed labels. What does it take to get ___ on a label anyway?

Not a fan of the confusing, greenwashed labels in store? Yea, me too! And it's especially real for me, because I'm responsible for getting our labels approved with the "powers that be". Here's a little story with a big inside scoop... I made new labels for our bone broth a little while ago. It didn't go as smoothly as planned. Why? I put the little icons about our farming practices on them. They look like this: Yup, despite being 100% accurate and true, they were denied!! We're not allowed to put those statements on our food labels. So, I asked the USDA guy, "What would it take to get those claims on the labels, anyway?" The answer was kinda shocking. First off, there's some guidance on wording. Silly technicalities in my opinion. For example, you can't use the term "No Spray" but you can say "Produced without the use of synthetic pesticides." Or another example is that you can't say "No Routine Antibiotics or Vaccines" but you can say "Raised without routine use of antibiotics or vaccines." Second, the processor needs to update their documents to provide traceability. In other words, they need to document how they make sure the bones for our bone broth don't get mixed up with bones from other farms. I mean, this is pretty simple, especially with small batch foods like ours. But the documentation needs to be meticulous. Drafting it in government-approved language can be time consuming and/or costly. And lastly, once you get the wording and process right, you need proof. This was the real shocker for me: Want to know what proof would suffice for all the claims above? A 2-3 sentence affidavit (AKA a super short letter) signed by all farmers that supply us. That's it!? This lead me to a bunch of questions: What if a company submits a letter from one farmer but actually has other farmers that supply them, too? What if a company changes farmers? Will they submit new letters?What if a company's farmers change their practices in the future? Will they immediately update their labels?Are the "powers that be" checking on this? Is anyone checking on this?Is this why most farms and food facilities don't allow outside people coming in? It seems to me that, if a business isn't doing what the label says, the only way to find out is via a whistleblower. And the only way to make them stop is to take them to court. You know, like what's happening with Vital Farms and their pasture raised egg claim right now. It seems to me that, all that good natural stuff on labels - grass fed, pasture raised, antibiotic free, etc - doesn't mean it's true. Certifications are a little better, but the same kinda thing can be said about those, too. This is why, at Miller's, we choose to NOT sell in stores. No wholesale for us. In fact, we don't even have an on farm store. We only sell directly to our customers via our website. And, we choose to only get certified for what's required. This way, we can make our own natural standards. And, we can provide you will all the info and proof you need. Descriptions, photos, blog posts, test results, and more. So, what do you think? Should we do the affidavit thing to get claims on our bone broth labels? What proof do you need to feel confident in your food choices? I'd love to hear from you. Comment below (no account required - just start typing) or contact us 😊

Should I choose animal rennet or vegetable rennet in my natural cheese?

Let’s take a look at what rennet is and why it’s used in cheesemaking, compare the different types of animal and vegetable rennets, check out the labeling requirements for rennet, and consider the potential health consequences. Keeping all this in mind, Miller’s Bio Farm aims to produce the most nutrient-dense, natural, A2/A2 cheese we can and gives you all the info you need to make the choice that’s best for your body!

Is yolk color is no longer a great indicator of the egg's nutrition?

It used to be true that, if your egg yolks were darker in color, then the better the egg's nutrition. Conscious consumers of the past would look for that deep orange yolk and stray away from lighter yellow yolks. It's sad, but this simply isn't the case anymore. Here's why you can't trust cheap store-bought eggs with orange yolks and need to know your farmer instead.

Welcoming a new helping family on the farm

More from the blog

Ugh greenwashed labels. What does it take to get ___ on a label anyway?

Should I choose animal rennet or vegetable rennet in my natural cheese?

Is yolk color is no longer a great indicator of the egg's nutrition?

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Miller's Bio Farm, 523 Valley Road, Quarryville, PA 17566