Local Farmers Mark and Matt Cooley are farming forty acres for us of adjacent land that we have leased. They have all the 'big boys toys' to plant wheat on this scale. This is the first crop on a three year journey to this land being certified organic. It is owned by Gary Irwin and his family in Dixon. Gary approached us about turning this organic, growing feed for our chickens is a way to achieve this.
The previous crop was alfalfa for the past four years. The ground has fertility but the big unknown is how many weed seeds are present in the soil. We will see after the winter rains germinate the crop and any weeds present.
Growing our own chicken feed is a result of us finding out that 65% our organic feed is coming from China. This we find a waste of energy and a little ridiculous. So we decided that it was important to grow our own. It will not be organic but we think it is better to be local. You cannot get more local than the field right next door. Once we start using this wheat next June for our chicken feed the eggs will be taken out of organic certification. You comments are appreciated.