Treasures of Joy is a 75 acre family farm located near Syracuse, New York. We produce pastured proteins (meat and eggs) and fresh vegetables. We sell our proteins and vegetables on-farm. We also sell our vegetables and eggs at the Green Hills Farmer’s Market at Green Hills Store and Syracuse Eastside Neighborhood Farmers Market at Westcott Community Center.
Our
farming practices are based upon traditional organic
principles. This involves things like rotational grazing for our
animals and crop rotation in the garden. We amend our garden soils with
compost which we create on farm and fertilize with a mixture based on Steve Solomon's "Complete Organic
Fertilizer" as outlined in his book Gardening When It Counts.
(You can see a recipe online on page three of this article.)
Our cattle thrive on our rotational grazing program from May to November. During the winter they get locally produced grass hay almost exclusively. The only medications our cattle receive are on the advice of a veterinarian when we are dealing with major infections like mastitis in our family milk cow.
Our hogs are raised out-of-doors so that they have access to dirt and grass. We have not mastered rotating pastures large enough to keep up with their rooting tendencies, so when their paddocks are eaten down we provide fresh-cut comfrey, grass clippings, weeds or waste vegetables for them. They also get a variety of leftovers like waste milk or day-old bread to go with their ration of conventionally raised, locally ground grain. Even in the winter pigs do well outdoors with just a simple shelter. In the winter they appreciate their servings of hay in place of fresh geens. We do not medicate our pigs directly or through the use of medicated feeds.
Our hens produce hard-shelled, robust yolk, brown eggs through their free-range access to forage. They also get non-medicated, locally milled, commercial feed. During the winter our hens spend more time in their shelter but they always have access to the outdoors for fresh air and sunshine.
We raise meat chickens by brooding chicks indoors for three weeks, then moving them to a pasture area. Like the hens, they also receive a non-medicated, locally milled, commercial feed. They are guarded by a dog for free roaming during the daytime. At night we lock them into secure housing units to deter predators. Because we want them to range, they are only raised during the summer when we have a good supply of pasture.