Our Story
Our story begins in 1956 when Kevin’s parents made the decision to leave the big city and move to the country. They purchased a 160-acre farm located at 150 highway and 291 highway in rural Lee’s Summit, MO. Kevin was just 18 months old at the time and little did he know the impact that move to the country would have on his life! Growing up on the farm was the best possible life he could imagine. For his dad, it was a nice reprieve from the hustle and bustle of the city, where he worked at his car lot on Prospect in Kansas City, MO. Even Kevin’s mother, who was a “city girl” at heart, grew to love living out on the farm. Their days were filled with chores, and 4-H, cattle and chickens, peacock and kittens. Fixing up the century old home was a labor of love and its back door was always open to neighbors, family and friends. It was a wonderful life! The Farrar family lived there for almost 50 years. After his parents passed away, Kevin, his wife and young family were able to live at the farm for 10 more years. As time went on, the landscape began to quickly change around the old farm. Progress had taken over! It was harder to hear the birds sing and tranquility was transformed into traffic jams! It was time to leave. Sadly, the property was sold but Kevin’s passion for farming continued to grow.
In 2007, seven years after saying goodbye to the old farm he loved and grew up on, the Lord led the Farrar family to their new farm in Adrian, MO. God’s timing is always perfect! Our family worked hard over the next few years to reclaim and heal the land. During this time we became increasingly aware of what was happening to our food system in America. Although we already had our suspicions, documentaries such as Food Inc., Fresh, and Joel Salatin’s Polyface Farms confirmed our convictions and awakened a desire in us to get away from industrial farming and get back to basics. We wanted to produce quality food for our family.
An idea was born. In the fall of 2013 Farrar Family Farm was established. Fast forward a few years to January 2016. Gabe (Kevin's son) and his wife Katie had been working part time on the farm since 2013. During that time they were also commuting to their full time nine-to-five's in the city. The short term goal was to get the farm up and running so that Gabe & Katie could quit their jobs to work full time on the farm. In 2016 they decided it was time to leave their jobs and make the leap into full-time farming. As the years have gone on we've gained many new skills, embraced the ups and downs of farm life, tried new things, face some set backs, learned to work together, watched the land heal and improve as a result of using natural back-to-basics methods, and had a ton of fun! It's a lot of hard work but we get to do it together, as a family.
Our goal is to provide you with naturally raised wholesome food using sustainable farming methods that mimic the patterns found in nature. We raise grass-fed grass-finished beef, farm fresh eggs, pastured raised chicken & turkey, and forest raised pork without the use of chemicals, antibiotics or growth hormones. It is important to us to be good stewards of the land God has entrusted to us and raise animals humanely in their natural environment. The benefits of our methods are passed along to you, our customer, by providing a healthy alternative for your table. Thank you for choosing to support our local family farm & sustainable farming practices. We are grateful for the opportunity to raise clean and healthy food for your family!
In 2007, seven years after saying goodbye to the old farm he loved and grew up on, the Lord led the Farrar family to their new farm in Adrian, MO. God’s timing is always perfect! Our family worked hard over the next few years to reclaim and heal the land. During this time we became increasingly aware of what was happening to our food system in America. Although we already had our suspicions, documentaries such as Food Inc., Fresh, and Joel Salatin’s Polyface Farms confirmed our convictions and awakened a desire in us to get away from industrial farming and get back to basics. We wanted to produce quality food for our family.
An idea was born. In the fall of 2013 Farrar Family Farm was established. Fast forward a few years to January 2016. Gabe (Kevin's son) and his wife Katie had been working part time on the farm since 2013. During that time they were also commuting to their full time nine-to-five's in the city. The short term goal was to get the farm up and running so that Gabe & Katie could quit their jobs to work full time on the farm. In 2016 they decided it was time to leave their jobs and make the leap into full-time farming. As the years have gone on we've gained many new skills, embraced the ups and downs of farm life, tried new things, face some set backs, learned to work together, watched the land heal and improve as a result of using natural back-to-basics methods, and had a ton of fun! It's a lot of hard work but we get to do it together, as a family.
Our goal is to provide you with naturally raised wholesome food using sustainable farming methods that mimic the patterns found in nature. We raise grass-fed grass-finished beef, farm fresh eggs, pastured raised chicken & turkey, and forest raised pork without the use of chemicals, antibiotics or growth hormones. It is important to us to be good stewards of the land God has entrusted to us and raise animals humanely in their natural environment. The benefits of our methods are passed along to you, our customer, by providing a healthy alternative for your table. Thank you for choosing to support our local family farm & sustainable farming practices. We are grateful for the opportunity to raise clean and healthy food for your family!
Farm Lingo
- Grass Farming: We are first and foremost caretakers of the land: soil, pastures, woods, water, etc. Without healthy and active soil your grasses will not thrive. Without thriving and nutrient dense grasses for our animals to graze they cannot thrive. It's important for us to get our hands in the dirt, smell the soil, observe what nature does (naturally) when humans step back. First, observe the natural interactions of the land and animal, and then react and interact.
- Sustainable: A natural interaction that thrives and improves upon itself over time. One of our goals is to leave this land better than we found it. Interacting with our landscape in a meaningful and thoughtful way.
- Wholesome: Promoting good health and well-being. We want our products to not only taste good, but be good for you. Offering you a healthful alternative to mass produced and preservative-laden options.
- Farm Fresh: A product that has been raised on our farm and is delivered to the consumer in its purest form.
- GMO: (Genetically Modified Organism) A plant or animal whose genetic material has been altered using genetic engineering techniques in a lab. We do not use any GMO grains/feeds or products on our farm or animals.
- Rotational Grazing: A style of grazing management where the caretaker rotates the livestock onto fresh and clean paddocks/pastures every day, or on a set schedule. The animals are moved frequently to new areas with available forage and away from their waste. Not a static system. On our farm Gabe moves the cattle every day. This style of grazing is best for the cattle but it also helps the grasses preform their best. We're continually thinking about the grass and trying to leave things better than when we started.
- CSA: Community Supported Agriculture. This is a model of buying from local farms that is very typical for produce farmers. We love the concept of the veggie CSA's so we've modified it for our customers to have the option of a meat only CSA.
- Slow Food: "Slow Food is food that's good for us, good for our environment and good for the people who grow, pick and prepare it. In other words, food that is good, clean and fair. In many ways, Slow Food is the opposite of fast food. Slow Food is fresh and healthy, free of pesticides and chemicals, and produced and accessed in a way that's beneficial to all- from the farmer to the eater." (This definition is from the Slow Food USA website)-
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