When the Flock Proves You Wrong

To everyone who supports good food, farmers like me, and the small farm community - and to those who care about stewarding the land in ways that benefit all of us: our livestock, our soils, and the planet - thank you. Your thoughtful choices about how and where your food is raised truly make a difference!

I debated what to share with you this week. There were so many options:

• 🕷️ Ticks and chiggers (nasty little biting bugs that can drive a person mad)
• 👨🌾 Chuck, our newest farmhand (and his creative effort to avoid becoming their next meal)
• 🐑 Our ragweed-eating sheep (which is more exciting than it sounds, especially if you’ve ever had a ragweed allergy!)

There’s also the ongoing dance of farming as both a way of life and a business. And our progress toward a vision of sharing profits with our team - inviting them to act like owners in this work and life we love, even when the chiggers are biting, the ragweed has us stuffed up, and poultry season is at full tilt.

But today, let’s talk about the sheep. And the ragweed. 🌱

Right now, we have a tiny starter flock of three: two ewes we got a year and a half ago to see if we were ready for something bigger, plus one of their lambs. Yesterday was moving day, but I was a day behind. They still had some forage, but it wasn’t as good as what was waiting just across the fence. (It never is, ask any grazer!)

They watched eagerly as I set up the new net, bleating at me to pick up the pace. They’re very vocal. When I finally opened the fence, I stood in the shade and watched them charge into their fresh green buffet.

They ran from one bushy, slightly darker green plant to another, tearing off the tops like kids at a candy store. I couldn’t believe how fast they were inhaling it. What had them so excited?

To my surprise, it was ragweed. Common ragweed.

To my surprise the flock was devouring the ragweed!

By most standards, just a weed. But to my sheep, it’s a delicacy.

I knew cattle sometimes eat giant ragweed. It's high in protein and fairly palatable. But common ragweed? I’d always been told nothing eats it. Too tough. Too stinky. Just something you deal with through trampling or bush hogging. No one ever mentioned sheep might love it.

Maybe mine are special. Maybe they’ll teach the new flock arriving soon. Maybe we’ve stumbled onto a secret that changes everything.
I doubt it, but a girl can dream. 🙏

Either way, it’s a good reminder:
What looks like a weed to us might be a treat to someone else.
And animals are often better than we are at knowing what they need. Give them options, and they’ll sort it out.

And I’ll be standing in the shade, still amazed.

There’s a lot of fencing and waterline to install over the next five weeks for 150 new sheep headed our way, so I’d better get off the computer and back to work!

Wishing you a beautiful day and many thanks for giving us the chance to do what we do: to feed you and your family with delicious, nutrient-dense protein that builds soil and increases plant diversity, one bite at a time.

Farmer Andrea
Falling Sky Farm, Arkansas