Located in beautiful historic Cumberland County, Painted Hand Farm is dedicated to practicing sustainable agriculture through rotationally grazed grass-fed livestock and pastured poultry raised in a caring and natural environment. Since 2000, we have been working hard to provide great tasting and healthy food for our customers. Thank you for visiting and please stop by again!
The History of Painted Hand Farm
In the spring of 2000, we loaded up the dogs, cat, horse & worldly belongings and headed to Newburg, Pennsylvania from Ojai, California. Ralph had retired from a twenty year career as a commercial seafood harvester diving for sea urchin, sea cucumbers and abalone due to a diving accident.
Sandy was moving from a hands-on career in information technology to writing about it. Similarly to Ralph, Sandy had also worked on the ocean--on many of the offshore oil rigs.
Waiting for us was a Civil War era farm that was locally referred to as the 'junk farm'. All the garbage inside the barn seemed like it was the only thing that kept the structure standing. Old mail Jeeps, broken toilets and mounds of box springs and bicycles with weeds growing through them greeted us upon our arrival. Sandra wanted a fixer-upper and she got it.
The first week we were here, most of the roof blew off the barn and the home-owners insurance threatened to cancel due to the dilapidated hog shed. We rolled up our sleeves and got to work.
By the end of the first year, the barn had been restored and the first round of fencing installed. Fortunately the 1949 Ford 8N tractor that came with the farm was able to be fixed and thus begun lots of clearing and mowing to renovate pastures that had not been touched in ten years.
The second year of the farm project, the goat herd begun with two percentage Boer does. With the arrival of kids, it was time for another pasture. Pasture projects have been carefully planned so that new sections can be easily added on the previously built pasture fences. This means the farm could be developed into a rotationally grazed grass-based operation. Due to the condition of the pastures, there has been lots of effort toward creating healthy, lush forage for our animals where there once was only briars, locust trees and multi-flora roses interspersed with little grass. Because goats are browsers (as opposed to grazers like cows and horses), they have been instrumental in restoring the condition of our pastures.
The third year brought the farm's first significant crop of kids--a dozen in all! We celebrated by roasting a goat for family & friends on Labor Day and have decided to continue the tradition each year. A 100% Boer buck herd sire purchased from Julie & Dave Maxwell, owners of MAX Boer Goats in Lykens, PA. has also been added to the herd. 'Petie' is out of the champion line DSM Cloud Dancing and RBBG Pistol Pete. By the end of the year, Painted Hand Farm had customers purchasing goats for both meat and show. The first flock of Black Jersey Giant chickens were now in full production and also providing farm fresh eggs for sale.
In May 2004, the Maxwells' six month old Dancing Redneck (same sire as Petie) won the National Grand Championship for Junior Bucks up to 1 year old. Several full blood Boer does and another buck were purchased from a local breeder whose stock regularly took the grand champion ribbons at 4H and FFA competitions. The quality of the herd became apparent when when Painted Hand Farm was mentioned in a July article of the Wall Street Journal about growing popularity of roasting whole animals.
In 2004, pasture-raised heritage turkeys for Thanksgiving were added to the quality livestock raised on Painted Hand Farm. Another addition to the farm that year was a young Tibetan Yak heifer. Sandra's ultimate goal is to make rich cheeses and butter from the yak milk when the heifer freshens (that's farm talk for having a calf).
Although meat animals have been the primary product of Painted Hand Farm, Sandra has met many local farmstead cheesemakers and decided to build an on-farm micro-creamery. In 2005, Sandra spent time traveling throughout the north east visiting micro-creameries and becoming involved with the Pennsylvania Farmstead and Artisan Cheese Alliance. Although the creamery is still in the future, plans are currently in the works for a small farmstead creamery--including an underground cheese cave. Late in the year, another heifer calf joined the farm--a Jersey for Jessica's long-term 4-H project. In addition to her goat cheeses, Sandra has been experimenting with cultured farmstead butter made from the rich cream of grass-fed Jersey cows belonging to a local dairy farm.
The goals for the future of Painted Hand Farm are to continue with sustainable agricultural practices in all our endeavors. We have no desire to be a mega-farm or produce more than our acreage can support. Many thanks to our customers who support our ventures. Our promise to you is to provide a premium product raised in a natural and healthy environment.
An article about Painted Hand Farm on the Rodale Institute's New Farm Web site.
