Little Bacon Seeds

Usually when it comes to farming, you start to get into a rhythm, things slow down, and all the important farm projects are complete. It’s nice, but can get boring, so God usually makes things get absolutely crazy for a day or two, just to shake things up. Trev and I are highly adaptable, able to think on our feet quickly, and problem solve, and we actually really enjoy it. But the con to that is it also makes us poor planners. There are two adages that come to mind often: “If you wait until the last minute, it only takes a minute.” And the polar opposite of that is “poor planning leads to piss poor performance.” Both views are essential in life, and often times it’s wonderful if you can balance the two. But as for Trev & I, we do well under pressure, so we tend to lean a bit towards the former quote. Call it procrastination if you must, but Trev and I are true adrenaline junkies. 

All that to say, God definitely shook up our world this last weekend. We catered our first wedding AND our sow, Gordita, had her piglets. On a normal timeline, those two separate events are pretty easy to handle, but on God’s timeline, he decided to have them both happen within 24 hours of each other. 

On Thursday, the day before the wedding, our job as caterers was simple; show up that night after work, and prep most, if not, all the ingredients. The bride and groom chose to do breakfast for dinner for their wedding feast. So we provided all the proteins: scrambled eggs, sugar-cured-smoked bacon, and breakfast sausage-all products from our farm. Trev also threw together some seasoned breakfast potatoes, and we made waffles for a “waffle bar.” 

But, just as I was finishing up my work for the day, Trev called me and said “It’s time! Get over here!” 

Gordita was giving birth. 

We had expected this, luckily. Pigs have a gestation period of exactly three months, three weeks, and three days. And she was spot on. I won’t get into the story of her accidental & immaculate conception right now, because that would probably be worthy of its own newsletter. And I’ll probably title it “The Humble and yet Crazy Beginnings of Our Pig Ranch.” Lol. Stay tuned for that one. The week she was due, Trev had watched some YouTube videos to prep for the birth and we saw labor signs during our chores. Google it yourself if you’re curious. She even “farrowed,” and built a nest for herself amongst the tall grass in her pastured paddock. That day, as we worked, Trev went to check on her every couple of hours, until finally he called me. 

The fun thing about birthings is they are a fantastic way to excuse yourself from any obligations, but for good reason. We’d thought about just letting Gordita do her thing without us being present, but with this being our first year of farming, it was important to us to be involved in every part of the farming process. I absolutely loved calling my clients and letting them know that I was going to be out of office early for the rest of the day “because our pig is currently giving birth.” 

I scrambled to grab a couple of towels and drove down to the farm to meet Trev. When I got there, he was already taking action and was cutting the new babies’ umbilical cords. He handed me a limp one and told me to perform CPR on it because it wasn’t breathing. I started rubbing it with a towel, applied pressure to its chest, and I actually preformed a bit of mouth to mouth. (What the heck was I supposed to do??) After a while, I decided that it had been born dead and gave up. I laid him to rest and rejoined Trev. I started gathering each piglet up into my towel and applying pressure to where he’d cut their cord. We had no iodine and had decided to not buy gloves, so I drove to town to grab straw, gloves (we thought they’d be good to have on hand), and iodine. 

At that point, we had also let the wedding planner know that we wouldn’t be coming in that night to prep our food. We figured we could get it all done the next day, if we got there early enough… what were we thinking? But at the same time, we needed to be there for our pig.

I got back from town, and we sprayed each piglet’s tummy with iodine, and sat back in amazement at the little creatures. Six healthy babies nursing on their mom.

Neither Trev nor I had ever experienced a birth, so to see new life come into this world made me a bit emo. The biggest emotion that surfaced was the feeling of redemption. Let me explain:

Gordita and her four siblings did not come from the cheeriest of homes. Trev had gotten our second litter of feeder pigs off Craigslist, and when we came to pick them up, their home was a bit heart-breaking honestly. Their pen was small and nasty smelling/looking. The piglets were running for their lives, and screaming as we caught them to put in our Subaru Outback. (Lol.) I could tell that they had a fear of humans. They were pretty cheap piglets as well, if that tells you anything. We tell folks that we pretty much rescued those pigs. 

I’m sure some of the people reading this will think “that’s the normal pig experience though, just like the pigs they show in children’s books and some of the farms I’ve visited.” Truth be told, those people are correct, the living situation of that litter was indeed the normal pig experience. Pigs are viewed as dirty animals, and for good reason! They don’t sweat, so to keep themselves cool/protect their skin from the sun, they create wallows. Pigs will intentionally make mud by means of rainwater OR in some cases, they’ll take advantage of their automatic waterer and figure out a way to spill the water so they can churn it up into mud. For most pig farmers, the latter is an entirely frustrating way for them to go about wallowing. So typically, farmers will keep them in one small pen, in order to protect the rest of their farm land from being ravaged by the beasts. And MOST commercial operations who are distributing MOST of the pork products we see in the grocery store have taken it a step further and have pigs on concrete for their entire lives. I don’t blame them one bit, especially in today’s business world. 

At Simple Living Farms, we tend to do things a bit differently than most pig farmers. And we learned pretty early on that our farming practices should include unleashing the “pigness of pigs.” (Read the book by Joel Salatin) Simply put, unleashing the pigness of pigs involves letting pigs do what pigs do best and use that to your farming advantage. Pigs naturally root up the earth, so we use that to our advantage by rotating their half acre-paddocks every week to let them forage and dig up delicious roots and grubs to eat. Why that’s helpful to us is that they till up the dirt, aerating the soil, and in the process, they tend to trample down small brush and trees. This is where “brush hog” comes from. And as their final act of pigness, they fertilize their paddocks. And then we move them. This is what we’ve done every single week since they landed on our farm. We’ve had them in the woods, and more recently we’ve pasture-grazed them, too. And they love it-it’s what they were created for. And it seems as though they love us for it, as well. They are extremely friendly towards us, like pets. Our saying with our pigs is they only have one bad day and that’s the day they get sent to the butcher. 

So, the reason for this feeling of redemption? Gordita had a tough life on the farm she was born on, and to be able to raise her piglets amongst the trees and pasture, felt like a truly heart-melting sentiment to me. Her children will never know anything different from what they’re experiencing on this little farm. This is the start of our Regenified Pig Ranch. 

At this point you’re probably wondering how the catering went the very next day. That will have to be saved for the next newsletter, as it warrants its own! But I will tell you this, our biggest take away from last weekend is that we can definitely lean more towards being better planners. Lol. Luckily, Trev and I usually learn from our mistakes, and overall, it was a wonderfully exciting experience for us. I’ve said this in previous newsletters, but I’m excited for our farm’s future. I’m excited to host and feed people from our farm. I’m excited to get our community involved and teach folks about the food production process. And I’m excited for Trev & I, as we build out Simple Living Farms, keeping Godly values at the center of our business & farming practices.

PS. The next morning as we were checking on Gordita and her piglets, we noticed that there was an EXTRA piglet… The night before, she had birthed seven and we had lost one…so to see a SEVENTH piglet nursing with the rest was a miracle we weren’t expecting. But, that’s our God. He is indeed a God of the miraculous, and He is truly good. 

Shipped From Our Farm to Your Porch

We’re ecstatic to announce that this winter we’ll start shipping to the lower 48 states! Yes, you heard that right… From sea to shining sea (except you Alaska and Hawaii, sorry)

The best thing about Home Delivery is you can get our farm's pasture raised goodness anywhere in the country! We have a special box that keeps everything super cold and we even have a super special box for delivering eggs! Free delivery on orders of $150 or more!

Join the wait list here

How in the heck can you ship frozen meats across the country?!

Check out this video from our friend and farming compatriot, David. He’ll explain how your order shows up on your porch still cold.

How will ordering work?

It’s easy as 1, 2, 3!

1. Check out our “What’s in Stock” section of the newsletter below for what we’re currently offering and pricing.

2. Until our website is up and running order by calling or texting Trevor at (816) 310-9631 or by emailing him at [email protected]. During this step Trevor will coordinate payment with you.

3. Your order is on the way! As long as you’ve placed your order by Sunday night, your order will ship on Monday. Check out the map below to see how quick you’ll get your order!

What’s in Stock

• Eggs - Our hens are pasture raised, rotationally grazed, and non-gmo - $5/dozen

• Chicken - Like our hens, our chicken is pasture raised, rotationally grazed, and non-gmo - click here for price sheet. We’ve just gotten 70 more broilers butchered and have added them to our inventory. Price sheet for those to come soon (perhaps during this winter when farm projects and chores have simmered down a bit). just gotten 70 more broilers butchered and have added them to our inventory.

• Pork - Pigs were butchered on 7/18 - Our pigs are forest raised, rotationally grazed, non-gmo, and heritage breed (Red Wattle). More pork will be added to our inventory soon, as we are butchering 3 more hogs December 13th. These new pigs are Berkshire crosses.

  • Whole hogs (120 lbs of meat), half hogs (60 lbs of meat), and custom cuts (bacon, pork chops, ribs, sausage) available.

• Beef - 100% grass-fed, rotationally grazed Black Angus will be ready for butcher in 2026. Pre-ordering of halves and split-halves available upon request.

How It Works

• How do I order? Text Trevor @ (816) 310-9631 your order by Tuesday night

• When do I get it? Delivery day is every Wednesday - home delivery available or pickup in parking lot at 8:15 pm @ Zion KC (1800 W 69 Hwy Excelsior Springs, MO 64024)

• How do I pay? Payment is collected upon delivery. Usually folks pay with cash, Venmo, CashApp, Zelle, check, Grateful Dead vinyl record, or spicy ranch dressing. Okay, well maybe not the last two;)

-Blessings

Your Farmers,

Trevor & Vivian

Thank you for supporting regenerative agriculture and transforming the land future generations will inherit - one bite at a time!

How You Can Help In The World of Tech - Please Don't Skip This

#1 Add [email protected] to your email contacts. - This prevents our emails from going to spam and makes sure you get important information.

#2 Open Every Email - Even If You Don't Read Them :)
So this may seem small but it really really matters. Why?

Basically Google and other email providers track how often an email is opened to guess if it is important or not. If you don't open an email often enough than your inbox may stop showing it altogether. But it has a cumulative effect so if enough other people don't open theirs you might not see it too. 

We are trying to walk back this trend and we could really use your help. Even if you don't have time to read the email ( I totally get it - no hurt feelings) would you please open it first and then delete it?  Thank you for keeping our small farm from being erased by big tech email filters!

#3 Share about our farm with your friends!
It really really makes a huge difference when you share with others about where you get your pasture raised bounty from! Plus it can make a huge difference in their life as well.

#4 Like us on Facebook + Instagram and share kitchen creations, unboxing pics, and all things Simple Living Farms
When you share about our farm we try to repost if too our page. It's really pretty cool to see!

Thank you for going the extra mile to support our family farm and regenerative agriculture! It is an honor to be your farmers!