A day at the P.A. Bowen Farmstead
A small working farmstead in Eastern Maryland not far from Washington DC . . .
We recently had an email exchange with Sally Fallon, and we wanted to share some news from the farm with you! Wilson had the pleasure of spending time on the farm firsthand and has full confidence in Sally and Geoffrey in regards to caring for the health of their animals. They have made some shifts in cow feed, finding a very creative alternative that provides the necessary nutrients for their optimal health. It was such an unusual solution, that we wanted to share it with you…dried coconut meal! They are having much success with it, and you can read more about their decision and the unfortunate event that led to finding this creative and natural, whole-foods solution.
Meanwhile, we wanted to share this post from 2013 to give you a feel for their operation!
Okay, so I am a sucker for farm tours. Some people collect decorative spoons, shot glasses or bumper stickers from places that they visit—me, I collect mud on my shoes because I want to see how other farmsteads do it.
Recently on a trip through Washington DC for business, I had the chance to stop by a particular farm in less than an hour south of the nation’s capitol called the P.A. Bowen farmstead in Brandywine, MD. It is a working farm and if you go by the Joel Salatin metric that “a farm should be aesthetically and aromatically, sensually romantic” then the P.A. Bowen farmstead is check, check and check. Some farms may stick out in your mind as special because they sell something that you really like:
Some farms are special because you got to hold your first baby livestock animal there or stepped in your first cow patty or maybe, like me, you got to milk your first cow (here I am doing just that for the first time prior to having to apologize to the cow):
For us at Pantry Paratus, this farm is VERY special because it is home to Chaya’s hero—Sally Fallon Morell, who is of course president of the Weston A. Price Foundation. It was kind of like the time I had the opportunity to visit Polyface Farms and to meet my hero, I could not pass up the opportunity to come to the farmstead on a day that Sally was giving the tour in person and was going to be signing books afterwards:
The farmstead is historic, beautiful, quaint, modern, awesome and a source for good eats all-in-one. Sally Fallon Morell and her husband Geoffrey run the farmstead as a for-profit dairy that makes pretty amazing cheese. So good in fact, that Chaya will not let me come back from any trips to DC in the future without it from now on I am sure. The whole dairy operation is amazing and very clean. The milking parlor is built as a New Zealand style where the cows are up on a flat platform and the person milking is in a sunken walkway behind the business end of the cow in a standing position as opposed to hunched over.
Afterwards, the whole thing is washed downhill out the door
All of the “waste” water is collected in that tank and sprayed onto the pasture as fertilizer.
The sign is from Geoffrey’s original dairy in New Zealand (this whole farm is so cool):
The milk is collected via a co-pulsation system into cans (which is not common in most dairies) to maintain the very hygienic standards that good cheese makers demand. I got to peak into the cheese making area which is amazingly clean; a necessity because making cheese is like making bread—it is a controlled experiment.
The farmstead produces (soy free) poultry and eggs, silviculture/pasture raised pork (nitrate and nitrite free!), pasture raised dairy products and pasture raised beef. Raw milk is not legal in MD, but cheese made with it can be sold after 60 days of aging—did I mention that it was amazing?
Napoleon the boar (I did not see Snowball anywhere):
Domingo, the Jersey Bull. All the cows are Jerseys and named after Opera stars:
You can watch this video to get more of a view of the farm:
The “waste” product called whey from the cheese making is pumped into this tank and fed to the pigs (much to their delight):
The chicken feed is soy free and ground on site. The chickens are raised on pasture for the best tasting eggs:
Sally, the greatest farmstead tour guide ever. Does anyone know what that is she is standing next to? Leave your guess in the comments section:
The small strawbale pig shelter is blocked on the prevailing wind side (open on the leeward side) which is a nice juxtaposition to the old tobacco barn which was built facing the exact same way for the same reason:
All farms are special, and I have gotten to visit some pretty cool ones in the past to which I can say that I have learned a lot from every time. Yet the P.A. Bowen farmstead is special because of what it produces and who produces it. Thank you Sally Fallon Morell for all that you do for real food!
Wilson
Pro Deo et Patria
Photo credits:
All photos by Pantry Paratus
Proviso:
Nothing in this blog constitutes medical advice. You should consult your own physician before making any dietary changes. Statements in this blog may or may not be congruent with current USDA or FDA guidance.