Winstead Farm has Successful First Year Farming

Winstead Farm has Successful First Year Farming
by Gwen Roach, New Farmer
photos provided by Winstead Farm

Editor’s Note: This is our third in a series of blog posts featuring current CFSA members during our Winter Membership Drive.

Food has always been a central and growing passion in our family.  In 2008-09, while facing significant health challenges, we began to understand the huge connection between the quality of our food and our health. We read Michael Pollan’s In Defense of Food, Adelle Davis’ Let’s Have Healthy Children, and watched the documentary Food, Inc.  All of these thoroughly convinced us we needed change.

Gwen, Graham & Ephraim at the Cobblestone Market

We started to change our patterns of food consumption from buying and eating all commercially-produced supermarket food to sourcing larger portions of our diet from local farmers producing whole foods naturally.  Gwen started to learn about and experiment with cooking truly wholesome, scratch-made, traditional foods without processed ingredients.

 
On New Years Day 2010, we looked forward to a new decade and found ourselves dreaming about a different life direction. The dream that was born in us that day was to raise our family close to Graham’s in NC, and to become producers of good, clean, high-quality food.  We also wanted to share our passion for healthy living with our community.  We spent the year researching small-scale sustainable farming. Reading Joel Salatin’s books, You Can Farm and Pastured Poultry Profits, got our wheels spinning and we were excited to get started. We felt like starting with pastured poultry and a bit of gardening before adding other ventures would be a good way to learn without taking on too much risk.

In early 2011, we purchased our farm and in June we packed up and left good work and friends in Houston, TX to become NC farmers. We spent summer and fall growing chicken and produce for ourselves and gearing up for business. We also shopped regularly at the CFSA’s Cobblestone Farmers Market open on Tuesdays in downtown Winston-Salem. We got to know other farmers and the local food scene that way.

We joined CFSA and attended their 2011 Sustainable Agriculture Conference in Durham.  We made significant contacts there and gained a lot of encouragement and excitement about getting our farm business off-the-ground.

We found out at the perfect time that CFSA was helping to establish a Saturday Cobblestone Market at Old Salem for the 2011-12 season. This market would be producers-only, just like the Tuesday market downtown.  We applied and were invited to participate as vendors.  This was the best thing that happened to us.  Being at this market just one day a week during our first season allowed us to build a solid customer base and maintain very good sales. We couldn’t have asked for a better outlet. The managers and other vendors have been marvelous.  This new market was hugely supported by shoppers in the city and was amazingly recognized as the #11 Farmers Market in the nation by US News and World Report!  

This season we sold pastured-meat chickens, eggs from pastured hens, and fresh-ground whole-grain treats baked at home.  In the beginning, we struggled to meet demand for chicken.  We were dealing with a learning curve and losing our birds to predators.  On several early batches, we processed only 50% of the chickens we bought as chicks.  After a good bit of research and some trial and error, we found a  better way to secure our mobile coops from predators.  With the last few batches of broilers, we were able to process almost the entire batch.  We ended the season strongly with a great survival rate, a strong customer base, and excitement for the next year.

Winstead Farm chickens on pasture

This fall, we both attended the Sustainable Agriculture Conference again, and the value of the conference was magnified significantly after having a year of experience under our belt. We knew what questions to ask, and who to hear from and talk with. Graham went on the livestock tour, had significant discussions with experienced livestock farmers, and gained a wealth of great advice from the pastured poultry workshop. We were thankful to receive scholarships through CFSA and the Forsyth County Extension Office to attend.

CFSA has been a key resource in our first year farming by helping us make significant connections, get our product to market, and learn new skills to help us be successful.   We’re thankful for those who support CFSA, and in turn, support farmers like us working to produce high-quality food for our local community.

 Ephraim and his chicks

Gwen, Graham, Ephraim believe that humanely and naturally raised food is the tastiest and healthiest food.  They are also excited to be welcoming a baby girl, due in March.  Find out more about their story and farm-fresh products, visit their website: http://winsteadfarm.com/.