Farm Animal Extravaganza
Farm animals play an important role on a number of Ferry Plaza Farmers Market farms. We’ve compiled a collection of adorable photos from Massa Organics, Marin Sun Farms, and Bodega & Yerba Santa Goat Cheese, to give you a taste of farm life at these integrated operations. (Photos courtesy of their respective farms.)
Bottoms up! Rice farm Massa Organics picked up a drove of piglets to help scarf down the farm’s excess wheat, which is used as a rotation crop for rice.
These four piglets were born at Massa Organics in fall 2011.
The pigs are a critically endangered heritage breed called Gloucestershire Old Spots.
Feeding time.
Piglet patrol.
Kid-friendly farming.
The pigs have been especially adept at decimating cattails, a pernicious weed in rice fields. The pigs not only eat the green stems, Greg Massa explained, but also root out the underground rhizomes, which allow the plant to resprout.
The same spot, after two days of weeding by the pigs.
Pucker up.
Pig pile.
"We like having the pigs around,” says Greg Massa. “They’re kinda fun.”
Massa Organics keeps ducks in their rice fields to help with weed control.
Chickens are also kept to supply eggs to the Massa family.
Massa brought in a fold of 25 Dorper sheep for grazing weeds.
Lily communes with the sheep.
Springtime in the almond orchards. Through their grazing, sheep have helped Massa Organics make a dent in the thousands of dollars they spend on mowing and flaming, a costly method of organic weed control that involves using a propane burner to torch weeds.
Cody, the sheep guardian.
Hard at work.
Another crucial member of the Massa Organics ecosystem, the humble honeybee gathers pollen in the almond orchard.
Up in Point Reyes, Marin Sun Farms has welcomed 12 calves to their herd, with more on the way this spring. Marin Sun owner David Evans says that youngsters will be raised for four to five months, before they are brought to the market as veal.
In Lakeport, Bodega & Yerba Santa Goat Cheese has welcomed 96 kids (and counting) this spring, adding to the herd of 126 goats.
The kids will milk from their mothers for about 40 days, until the mothers kick them out because they are too big, and they must be separated.
The herd includes La Mancha and Nubian breeds, along with a mix of Saanen, Alpine, and Toggenburg.
Goat herder Javier Salmon said that the young herd is an ideal balance, with about two-thirds of the goats female. The females will stay on to become milking goats, while the male goats will go down the road to a neighboring farm to become weed grazers.
Being a guardian dog is a tough job, but somebody's gotta do it.
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CUESA (Center for Urban Education about Sustainable Agriculture) is dedicated to cultivating a sustainable food system through the operation of farmers markets and educational programs. Learn More »