Jacob Springs Farm

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Jacob Springs Farm is a beyond organic, "everything farm" (description) located near Boulder, Colorado on the southeast corner of Arapahoe road and 75th street just minutes from Boulder on the jump bus line. We specialize in grass fed proteins. We have eggs, beef, lamb, pork chicken, rabbit and duck as well as grass-based milk from four lovely cows; fruit and vegetables in season, apples, beets, garlic, leeks, greens and plenty more

We are passionate advocates of Regenerative Grazing and we are actively researching and developing techniques and technology for subsistence farmers worldwide. In close cooperation with Zambeezi, we created a co-op with nearly 1,200 small-scale farmers in Zambia, Africa to improve their productivity and sustainability. We are currently four families and four single people as well as four children. We enjoy sharing meals together a few times a week.

We are a Christian community and welcome all people, whatever their belief system.

Farm programs

As a diversified farm, Jacob Springs organizes it's production into various farm programs;

Currently the major farm programs for customers are the Jacob Springs Farm Meat CSA, the Raw Milk Shares, Honey and specialty vegetable crops as available, as well as our self-serve Organic layer feed for chickens and ducks Call or email us for more information. farmteam (at) Jacobsprings.com

A full list of current and past programs is found here:

History

Jacob Springs Farm was founded by André and Vanee Houssney in the spring of 2010 when they bought the Condon/Debaker property close to Boulder. Prior to the purchase, the farm, located at Jacob's Corner, had been named "Cottonwood Farm" after a row of giant cottonwood trees which had been planted along Arapahoe Road (originally called Valley Road) in the 1860's. Since the cottonwoods were now gone, having been cut down in 2005 when Arapahoe Road was widened, and since the Condon Family had chosen to continue using the name "Cottonwood Farm" on land they lease from the Jacobs family to the West of 75th street.

The name "Jacob Springs Farm" was chosen to recognize the farm's location at Jacob's Corner, the natural springs o the property - including the one at Jacob's corner and to recognize the New Testament book of John chapter 4.

The farm began as part-time, income generation work for Andre and grew into André and Vanee's primary activity.

  • Sheep and ducks were purchased in 2010 and work began in vegetable production and planting perennials,
  • Chickens and geese were added in 2011
  • Hogs and beef cattle were added in 2012
  • The first dairy cattle were purchased in 2013
  • In 2014 the farm was managing nearly 100 acres
  • In 2015 the farm began accepting WWOOFers

Daily Schedule

The farm schedule begins each day Monday through Saturday at dawn (see Jacob Springs dawn start times calendar) with a 15-20 minute meeting prior to chores. Volunteers, wwoofers, and farm team members are expected to attend. Chores follow the meeting. Workers are invited to join in a (typically) wonderful breakfast following chores. Over breakfast, we typically engage in an informal discussion topic. After breakfast, special projects continue until 11 or noon.

see also

Philosophy

Farming God's Way

We believe that the solutions for the problems in agriculture; from problems with profitability and production to problems with pollution and waste, are fundamentally ecological and not technological. But technological solutions, such as those developed in our farm maker-space can assist us in applying ecological solutions to local and global problems. We therefore look to solutions in nature, supported by technology. Natural systems are productive and balanced. As we observe the patterns in nature and seek to emulate them, we believe that we are learning to think the thoughts of the creator. This is what we mean by farming God's way. This principle prompts us to seek out solutions in farming principles such as Permaculture, Holistic Range Management, and others.

Values

We exist:

  • To live honestly and well, to make a living and care for ourselves.
  • To love and care for others; customers, fellow workers, local and global community
  • To love and care for God's creation

Goals

  • Education of young farmers through WWOOF and internships
  • Demonstration of a model of profitability in regenerative family farming
  • Production of high quality products that are healthy and nutrient dense
  • Ecological restoration of our property as well as adjacent and leased land
  • Achievement of a high level of animal well-being through reproducible animal husbandry practices
  • Refinement of our target market through CSA, direct sales, and other means
  • People care including health and safety, work satisfaction, spiritual well-being, team dynamics and morale
  • Demonstration of the Kingdom of God through Christian community, Ethics and service

Ethics>Principles>Strategies>Techniques

Labor

  • Dull work is not just for dull people. Many of the worlds best ideas came to people working dull jobs, lots of our labor is boring, it's true, but this frees our minds to contemplate deeper things for many more hours a week than the typical worker within an information economy. We strive to take pleasure in the routine and boring aspects of farming, just as in the exciting and stimulating ones.
  • Labor and rest - We believe that hard work is good. Work is a necessity, not only for survival but for people to reach their highest potential. At the same time we believe that rest is essential for humans to thrive (main article:Sabbath). The fourth commandment of the law of Moses, as recorded in the Bible reads "Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath." In farming, there is always more work to be done, it can therefore be easy for work to consume all your time. Although this may seem to be productive, there comes a point where constant work degrades the effectiveness of the worker and the discipline of rest must be observed to keep the worker sharp. More commonly perhaps, people are inclined to be unproductive, excessive rest or recreation is dulling to the senses and reduces the productive output of a life. We acknowledge the ancient wisdom of "Six days you shall labor" and "Remember the sabbath"

Current people

Pricing

The Jacob Springs price list is a reference for what things should cost in our market. Note that the list is not intended to be a list of what we sell or have in stock, is subject to change without notice and it does not constitute an offer but it is for reference only.

Infrastructure

See main article: Infrastructure

Administrative Stuff

  1. JacobSpringsFarm:Weekly agenda
  2. JacobSpringsFarm: to do lists
  3. JacobSpringsFarm:breeding records
  4. JacobSpringsFarm:Kolb bid
  5. JacobSpringsFarm:Food Inventories
  6. JacobSpringsFarm:Goals
  7. Andre log
  8. JacobSpringsFarm:Calendars
  9. Funny Quotes
  10. JacobSpringsFarm:Discussion Topics
  11. JacobSpringsFarm:Value added log