by Patricia Measer
Sherman, NY – Many of you are familiar with the Great Blue Heron Music Festival. For over thirty years, it has been held annually in Sherman, New York, featuring a variety of live music acts spanning genres from bluegrass to rock to Celtic music. But did you know that a portion of The Heron is actually a working farm, providing meat and produce locally? The farm offers a variety of vegetables depending on the season, along with mushrooms, chicken and beef.
You can shop at the store on the premises, which is open 8am-8pm daily, year-round. You can also purchase their products at various outdoor markets. From Spring through Fall, the owners can be found at the Fredonia farmers’ market as well as the Williamsville farmers’ market near Buffalo. They also have a table at the Chautauqua Institution market in Bestor Plaza during the 9-week season. If you are not sure what to buy or how much, and just want to sample their products, you can buy sample packs online at ShopLocalCHQ (https://chq.shopwhereilive.com/). The Heron Farm seems to be represented just about everywhere! But they didn’t get there overnight.
The land on which the farm sits was originally purchased for use as overflow event parking. It was essentially an investment toward the festival. Then the owner, Julie Erickson, married Steve Rockcastle in 2005. The couple realized they needed more income than what the festival provided to support two people. They were already managing an organic garden for themselves, and they wondered whether they could build on that. Julie and Steve wanted to do something that resulted in healthy, good food, while still being conscientious about the environment.
“We are very careful about what we do on our land,” Julie noted. “We manage over 400 acres and want it to be as pure and clean as it can be.” The Rockcastles began expanding the garden, and the following year started growing shiitake mushrooms on the lot that was previously earmarked for overflow parking.
The next step was to add livestock. They researched different ways to care for livestock, read a lot of books and attended lectures. One such lecture, led by a well-known farming educator named Joel Salatin, turned their lives around. Salatin spoke about regenerative farming practices, i.e., putting the health of the soil first to gain both better crops for people and better feed for livestock.
For example, adult chickens can be housed in “chicken tractors.” A chicken tractor is basically a portable coop that you put your chickens in and you move around the farm. It allows the chickens to forage in a new spot every day as well as fertilize the ground as they go. By using this natural fertilizer, you eliminate the need for chemical nutrients for crops and at the same time build up the water retention capability of the soil.
Another regenerative practice regards how cows are used on the farm. The cows graze on the land, so no one has to mow and use fossil fuel. And, the cows can be sold for meat, creating another income stream. The Rockcastles thought that all this sounded simple enough, so they decided to raise chickens and cows for meat. They found out that it was far from simple.
“It is quite a challenge raising animals,” says Steve. “You have to take certain health precautions. Also, cows are 100% grass fed, which is totally different. And then having calves, just managing the animals comes with a lot of ins and outs.” They continued to do a lot of reading, going through hundreds of books, and experienced a lot of trial and error before they got to the point at which they felt they had a smoothly running farm with organic food and ethically treated animals. “If I was a cow, I’d want to live on my farm,” Steve quips. “Our animals have a wonderful life and one vary bad day.”
Julie and Steve have grown their farm quite a bit since they started the project 18 years ago. They pick between 1500 and 1800 lbs. of mushrooms each year. They have about 3000 logs in production for that purpose, and have several different kinds of shiitakes, so can keep picking mushrooms almost all year. The couple butcher around 600 chickens annually, and the chickens are certified organic. The cows are fed on certified organic pastures. In addition to the beef they sell at their store and online, they also sell between 50 and 100 lbs. of ground beef to Beltline Brewing, a restaurant in Buffalo, every month.
Future plans include expanding on their regenerative farming techniques. According to Steve, traditional western farming is killing the land with herbicides and oozing carbon. Regenerative practices put carbon back in the ground and build up the microbes in the soil. But building the biology of the soil, says Steve, takes time. Their motivation to do all this is they care about what they eat: clean food without chemicals, antibiotics, or hormones. And, they say it just tastes better.
The one thing that the Rockcastles want people to know most about their farm: “We are here and we are available!” states Julie. “There are lots of ways to reach us. We would love to help anyone we can to eat better and find delicious food.” For more information, see https://theheron.org/