Couple works to share the bounty of the farm

Healthy Soil and Healthy Animals: The Natur al Way

ProbioticS Plus LLC

N-ZYME Proven in the fi elds and pastures for more than 30 years at a cost of $10.95 per acre

LARRY SUTTON 918-261-7704 or 800-443-0960 proenergyfeeds@yahoo.com Jason Villines • Seligman, MO 479-270-3822 Patrick Graves • Clifty, AR 479-737-5078

Before - 2018 After - 2021

We put in a mailbox in 2018 at our home. I dug a posthole and put all the dirt in a bucket; many years of chemicals had taken much life from the soil. Nothing but weeds could grow But after three years of aggressively treating with N-ZYME I dug another posthole within 6 inches of the fi rst one. We had a full 12 inches of topsoil! Today our yard is the talk of the neighborhood. The onions are from the same Arkansas garden the same day. The big one was grown on soil treated with N-ZYME. N-ZYME is a compilation of ingredients designed to give nutrients and energy to existing soil and microbial population. We have applied one quart per acre in spring and one in fall on our pastures for many years. Earthworms are very active in those pastures today. N-ZYME can be picked up at your nearest Probiotics Plus distributor or delivered to you. Five-gallons costs $219 (plus freight when applicable) and treats 20 acres with added water.

meet yourneighbors Sharing With Others

By Julie Turner-Crawford Pasture-based poultry operation wants to share more than eggs and meat with customers

Growing up outside of Fair Grove, Mo., Ian Gehris was sent on many errands to the farm across the road, where he would pick up tomatoes, cantaloupe and other items grown by Don and Betty Fesperman.

As the saying goes, time marches on. Ian went to college, got married, started a family, and settled on 3 acres in the Marshfield, Mo., area, where they raised a few chickens.

After Don and Betty passed away, the farm went up for auction. Ian and his wife Ariel decided to try to buy it, never expecting they would be the highest bidder.

When the gavel fell, however, the Gehrises were the new owners of the 35-acre farm and the beginning of Gehris Farms.

The family is making the most of the added land by incorporating multi-species in their operation, focusing primarily on pasture-raised poultry.

“We wanted to take control of our food that was economically viable and something we could handle,” Ian said. “Like most people, the gateway animal is always a couple of egg layers.”

“If told me we needed 20 chickens, then 40 it is,” Ariel added with a laugh.

There are several parts to the poultry side of the farm.

“Ariel has her goals with her flock and her funny chickens,” Ian explained. “I’m more of a data and numbers guy, and also how I can best manage it. I think Joel Salatin said if you are going out to feed 10

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Ian and Ariel Gehris have a pasture-based poultry operation at their farm near Fair Grove, Mo., Pictured with couple are their children Thomas and Phoebe.

If you sell meat, vegetables, fruit, dairy products, eggs or any other farm to table products, be sure your Fro the Farm to your family farm is listed on FromTheFarmToYou.com The listing is completely free. Just visit FromTheFarmToYou.com and click on “Submit Your Farm” at the top of the page.

Fro the Farm

www.FromTheFarmToYou.com

Photo by Julie Turner-Crawford

Fair Grove, Mo.