Have you watched the Crystal Spring Hog Equipment legacy video yet? You really should. This project was a year-long labor of love for myself, the guys at Crystal Spring (and their awesome wives and sisters and kiddos), and the creative team at Jordan Green Productions,…
There are many benefits to eating food that’s grown locally – minimizing the impact to the environment, supporting your local economy, etc. I love a morning spent downtown at the Farmer’s Market, especially when accompanied by brunch with a Bloody Mary at a nearby restaurant….
I generally focus on the business end of this family business, but today, I’m sharing a personal family moment. “When [Almanzo] began to eat pie, he wished he had eaten nothing else. He ate a piece of pumpkin pie and a piece of custard pie, and…
We spent several days in a barn earlier this spring trying to help a farmer optimize his feeders. His pigs were sick, and they were running the feeders poorly – namely, wasting feed and making a general mess of things. (Have you ever tried to…
Ham and corn and potatoes and a jello salad and relishes and buns and angel food cake and jelly beans and WOW, I am full. Chad’s aunt knocked Easter dinner out of the park. Ham comes from the hind legs of the pig and is…
My ag blog feed was filled with tributes to Norman Borlaug yesterday in celebration of National Ag Day/Week. I’ll admit, I had no idea who Norman Borlaug was, so I got my Google on and started reading. Turns out, Norman Borlaug was the man who…
ABC News shared a story over the weekend about sow housing and the challenges created by group housing. The article featured Fair Oaks Farms in Indiana, which is home to The Pig Adventure, an interactive, educational open barn that offers tours and exhibits. The article…
We started distributing a new product recently – the EPI Air system. Basically, it distributes ions throughout the barn environment, which makes dust, germs and gases stick to each other and fall to the ground or cling to any other surface, taking them out of the…
It’s no secret that Chad and I love our pork products. Bacon, sausage, a thick and juicy chop…nom nom nom. We both really enjoy vegetables, but we also like beef and poultry and lamb and fish and eggs and alllll the cheeses. Suffice it to…
Most of my time at Crystal Spring colony is spent working with the guys in the Hog Equipment shop, so I relish opportunities to hang out with the ladies. The whiteboard in the dining room said that the kitchen crew needed help making pierogis for…