Weaver Meadow Farm

A Tiny Homestead

Today I'm talking with Megan at Weaver Meadow Farm. You can also follow on Facebook.

If you'd like to support me in growing this podcast, like, share, subscribe or leave a comment. Or just buy me a coffee -

https://buymeacoffee.com/lewismaryes

00:00
This is Mary Lewis at A Tiny Homestead, the podcast comprised entirely of conversations with homesteaders, cottage food producers, and crafters. If you're enjoying this podcast, please like, subscribe, share it with a friend, or leave a comment. Thank you. Today I'm talking with Megan and a couple other people at Weaver Meadow Farm, and Megan can tell me the other two people's names. We are here with Rye, my office administrator, and Bree, my sales rep. Oh my.

00:29
You got the business end happening with you today. Yes, we've got all three of us here. Good. That's awesome. All right. So tell me about your farm. So I am Megan Weaver of Weaver Meadow Farm. We primarily raise a rare breed of pig called mason. They originated in China and they've only been available in the US since 2016.

00:57
And I am one of the largest breeders here in the U S with registered stock. And then we also, uh, raise sheep as well. Okay. I literally not even our, an hour ago got done interviewing with a lady who raises hair sheep, so I would much rather talk about this special pig than sheep for another half an hour. So can we talk about the special sheep? I mean, special pig, sorry. Yeah.

01:24
Not a problem. I love my sheep, but I really adore my pigs. Okay, good. So is it is it kind of like the wagyu beef that people are so fond of? Is that the same kind of level of special for the pig? Yeah, quite similar. We're still restructuring our grain program to create that similar marbling that the wagyu has. We are getting close to that and it is a red

01:53
deep red pork that is super flavorful. The fat has a lower melting temperature and so a lot of it will melt during the cooking process and reabsorb into the meat, just creating something wonderful to eat.

02:11
Oh, you're, you're, you're barking up the right tree here because I'm not really a fan of pork, but that sounds wonderful. That's pretty delicious actually. Yeah. Uh, Brie here has been, uh, taking photos and playing with recipes in ways that you don't traditionally see pork being used. And she's come up with some really creative recipes. Nice. Are they on your website? They're getting there. Okay. Good. Yes.

02:40
Good because no one's going to cook with the the mason pork. But right now we're just taking photos and then trying dishes and posting them on the Facebook page for people to view. Awesome, because no one's going to know how to cook this to the best of their ability without recipes. Believe it or not, this pork is actually really quick to cook. It's not, you don't take your time. It'll dry out. It's very fast.

03:10
Easy meat to cook.

03:13
Awesome. So how did you get into this? Um, when I wanted to get into farming after I was a farm sitter, I didn't want to just get traditional breeds. I wanted something more unique. And so I was doing a lot of research. Um, and I finally came across the Mason pig, but at the time there was only roughly 200 registered in the whole U S and they weren't cheap.

03:42
So I decided to go with a mixed breed, half mason and half herford, because it was a lot more budget friendly at the time to give it a try, see if the meat was any different. And even with it being a crossbreed like that, it was a big difference to any other pork that I've ever had. And so then we took the dive and we actually moved to a different location that was more suited for farms. And we

04:11
delved into the sheep and the registered mason. And that took a little bit of time to grow them and then breed. And it just took off from there. I think I was a couple of litters in and I was number 300 on the registry. Peg registered number 300 for the whole registry there.

04:36
And so that was pretty exciting and now the breed has really taken off. So it's just been fun because I love this breed. The look of them is like crossing Eeyore with a Shar-Pei. I think they're super adorable. Other people say they're an ugly cute. But they're just they're very docile breed. They're very easy to be around. They're not.

05:05
aggressive or dangerous. I've had little kids supervised around my boars. There's just certain ones that capture your heart here on the farm that are just like well mannered little puppy dogs. They follow you around. They just want, you know, to be scratched on. And so they've been a lot of fun. And the piglets when they're born, their ears are really big, but they're flat against their neck and they look like miniature elephants.

05:35
It's the cutest thing ever. That sounds adorable. How big did the the male pigs get? Um, unfortunately, my scale is for sheep and my pigs are a little too long for it. Okay. I would say they're around three to 400 pounds. And I think my biggest style that I have and she's really big for this breed. She's probably around 500 pounds. Try it for me. Yeah.

06:04
But a sweetheart. Okay, so they're not small pigs. Nope. They're considered a medium size in the pig world. But if you really haven't been around pigs very much, they appear to be very large. Yep. So how hard is it? Like I want to know how hard is it to raise pigs? Like what do you need?

06:34
to have to acquire a piglet and raise it to butcher? This breed is a little different because they are more lazy than your typical pig. So they just need a basic shelter to get out the wind and the rain. If you're in a very snowy area, then they need extra hay in their shelter to kind of burrow into. My pigs, they stay contained in a two-foot.

07:03
mesh fencing. They're just very easy about that. So, you know, obviously the more room you can give them the better. This pig does like to graze and they do minimal rooting. So they're more of a surface rooter. So you may see some dirt patches where they've, you know, messed with the ground a bit, but come next season after the rain, it'll actually regrow grass in that spot because they don't damage the roots of your plant.

07:33
Yeah. Um, and so some people who want to get into pigs for the meat side also want a pig that can rotate for the garden area. Um, this pig is not ideal for that. They are more ideal for a pasture rotation program. Um, unless you just have a lot of room, you don't have to rotate them, but they do find in a smaller area too, if you just want to raise them for meat. Um, they are going to take on

08:03
some flavors of what you feed them. So you don't want to just feed them garbage because then you're just going to make a garbage meat. But if you eat them clean food, even some of your scraps and stuff is fine. But your basic grains, they do really well in that. They do love some alfalfa. Didn't you once tell me they're picky? They can be picky. And that's back when I used to get these massive amounts of fresh produce from Costco.

08:33
And so they were so used to getting good produce that they would turn their noses up at spinach, lettuce, broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage. They're just like, no, we don't want that. But they do love a lot of veggies. And then, I mean, if you really push these pigs on their feed, you can butcher at eight months. But I feel

09:01
I mean, at six months you can, but I feel 10 to 12 months is the best, best time to wait until butchering.

09:13
Alright, cool. So I don't want specifics because I don't want to be nosy and rude. But on average, how much does it cost you to raise a pig? Unfortunately, we, my grain supplier went out of business and so we have had to restructure our grain program. But you're, you're about,

09:43
up to one ton of feed if you're going to butcher at 12 months without a pasture program. And so here that can cost anywhere from $530 to $700 depending on your feed and what you're feeding them. But with the pasture program, you can cut that down by half. Nice. Okay.

10:10
So you're looking anywhere from 500 bucks to 1200 bucks in food to feed a pig from piglet through to butcher. Yeah, and that again just depends on your goal for your pig, you know, but it should not cost 1200 for this pig. Probably roughly $300 to $500. Okay.

10:36
Mm-hmm. Yeah, I always I always overestimate because we have chickens and you would not believe how much feed these little crappers Eat. Oh my god My husband feels fills their their container with food every night and by morning It's three quarters gone. I'm like don't feed them at night feed them in the morning That way they get some and then they go out and eat the bugs and stuff. He's like, yeah, but they're hungry night I'm like no feed them in the morning, please

11:06
It's crazy. Chickens do not know how to self-regulate. It's terrible. It's awful. I hate it. It's a meat chicken. Yeah, so. We'll be getting meat and egg layers. Yep. And milk and pot. Uh-huh. Yeah. It's... If you can't let them free range, be prepared to be feeding them lots of feed. Yeah. It's ridiculous. I wish...

11:34
I wish that I didn't love having eggs at my disposal any time of the day, because we just wouldn't have eggs. We wouldn't have chickens, period. So yeah, we're looking at getting the 50 egg layers mill this month and then each year getting 50 more and keeping a proper rotation with the layers. And we'll actually be providing eggs to the pigs in their diet.

12:04
Yeah, that makes sense. Are you going to sell any eggs to your community at all? Um, probably not, but we will be supplying it to like the employees and stuff like that. Cool. Good. Okay. So that's awesome about the pigs. I'm really excited for you that you have some different kind of breed that is not common. That's, that's unusual. So that's really fun. I saw that you guys have Anatolian Shepherds. Yes.

12:33
Yes, we do. Um, yes, you're my favorite kind of people. I am.

12:44
I was going to say I'm madly in love with my dog. So anytime people are raising dogs, all I want to do is talk about that too. And don't blame me there. We got some puppies on the farm that are learning the trade. Quite entertaining. So how many litters do you let your female dogs have a year?

13:06
We've only just recently gotten to the breeding side of it. And so we've only had one litter so far, but we only plan to do one litter per female a year. And only probably two litters out of that female. So we have another breeding pair that we'll have coming up here soon. She is a brindle.

13:33
And he is three quarter Anatolian and one quarter Akvash, but he is big, gorgeous and takes his job very seriously. Um, with people, he's like a giant puppy and he has become the farm favorite for the dogs. Everybody loves Milo.

13:57
Okay. So how many pups do they have? Like, do they have eight? Do they have 12? Does it just depend? Yeah, it's going to depend on the dogs and their genetics. Zaya, for her first lawyer, she had 12. Was pretty large. How do they handle that? Because they only have eight teats. How do they handle feeding 12 puppies?

14:27
Um, you know, they just kind of rotate. She was such a good mom. She would lay there and let the pups figure it out. So when, you know, one got its fill and started to fall asleep, a pup would come and shove it off and take its place. Um, she was an excellent mother, just an excellent mother.

14:47
And that's kind of similar with the pigs too, because I do try to breed for lots of teats with my pigs, but sometimes they have more piglets than they have teats, and it's the exact same thing. Piglets will fall asleep while nursing, and so another piglet just comes in and shoves them off. Yeah, just like human babies, they fall asleep while they're nursing. I can remember having to like poke my daughter's cheek to get her to wake up to continue eating.

15:16
I can't imagine feeding that many kids. I have no idea. No, me either. But she would just, her head would fall back and she'd be asleep. And I'm like, um, you're not done yet. I felt the same way. I know you're not done yet. Wake up. Okay. So, I had more questions about the dogs. So the Anatolian Shepherds.

15:42
I know a little bit about the Great Pyrenees dogs. Are Anatolian Shepherds sort of the same kind of dog? Are they a whole different animal? Their purpose is the same. It's to live out with your stock and protect them. Some of the differences are the coat. That's a big one. The Anatolians have a shorter coat. They don't get mats and burrs and stuff come out a lot easier than the Great Pyrenees.

16:12
I also find that the great Pyrenees bark more than the Anatolians. My Anatolians only bark if there's a reason to. A lot of times I won't even see a predator out there at night, but some is out there and they know it. During the day, it's very quiet on the farm. They're like, okay, there's people out and about. They've got this. I can go and sleep now.

16:40
you don't really hear the dogs unless it's for a reason, like a predator or a new person coming onto the farm. But at night, I can tell when we have predators around because all the guardian dogs will be upset. And then there'll be nights where I don't hear a peep out of them. So they're not out there barking just to bark.

17:04
Well, that's good because sleep is important for you guys. Um, our dog is a mini Australian shepherd and she just got house privileges like a couple months ago, like at night. Now she can just be in the house. She's not stuck in our room with us because we were afraid she was going to eat the house if we let her have the run of the house at night. And, uh, she's, she's been, she's kind of had the run of the house for a few months now and, um, one night, like three, four weeks ago.

17:33
At two in the morning, I woke up to her barking her head off. And I was like, um, that's not good. Cause there's no reason for her to bark in the middle of the night. And I poked my husband because that's what we do. We poke our husbands if we have one. And I said, Maggie's barking. And he was like, what? And I said, Maggie's barking. He's like, Oh, he got up and grabbed his robe, went downstairs. And he said, what's up, Maggie. And she just looked at him and stopped barking.

18:00
So he looked outside and stepped outside and nothing. And he said the only thing he could think of is that a big truck rolled by startled her awake and she was dreaming about something and was barking. So even our little house pet who's 35 pounds is a really good protector and watchdog for the house. So pets can be that too. Absolutely, yes. Zaya, the mom to the puppies.

18:27
During the day when people are coming and going, she's quiet. But once everybody leaves for the day and goes home, if a vehicle pulls up the driveway, she alerts just to let me know, hey, somebody's coming up the driveway. And it's really nice, because I do have Belgian Malinois and they're gray alert dogs, but sometimes they're in the house with me. And so they're kind of my comfort in my house while my Anatolians are my comfort outside.

18:56
It makes me feel a lot more comfortable to be out on my farm with them around because we do have coyotes, bobcats, cougars, and possibly bears out here too. Where are you guys again? Brownsville, Oregon. Yeah, okay. I didn't think that that got said at the beginning and I was like, I don't know where she is. We have 177 acres and it backs up to forest land. Wow.

19:25
So we're kind of out here. Yeah, we have 3.1 acres and the only reason we have a dog is because we wanted to know when somebody rolled into the driveway who wasn't supposed to be here. And I mean, obviously we love her. She's great. We got her when she was eight weeks old and fell in love immediately. But the main reason we have a dog is because we wanted to have a watchdog. That was her only job and she does it way too well sometimes.

19:55
The Belgian Malinois, really hard to say. They look like a German Shepherd, but they're a bigger dog, right? They don't have the same markings as the German Shepherds. They're generally a tan body with the black face markings and some black on their legs, but they can go out to darker colors in their body. But they don't have that same pattern that you think of when you think German Shepherd.

20:24
Yeah, they have the long nose and they have the pointy sticky up ears, right? Yes. Sticky up ears. They do. And they are very intense, intelligent, high-energy dog. Yeah. And they're gorgeous. Yes. I've got one of the lighter ones and a darker one. My five-year-old, she actually is a great herding dog and personal protection, property protection.

20:53
Rodent control. I mean, she kind of does it all. So we recently moved sheep and she hadn't worked in that field yet. And I wanted them to go in an area that was very difficult. Well, she basically put them away all by herself. I didn't have to do anything. We just kind of stood back and watched. That's impressive. That's really impressive. She's never done it before.

21:21
Oh no, she's done the herding. I've worked with her since she was six months old on it. She just hadn't worked in that big field yet. And so it's, you know, a hundred acre field and we were trying to get them into this little pen. Okay. Yeah. And she got them all into that little pen by herself. Is that breed a herding dog? Uh, originally they were bred for herding. Um, but.

21:48
You know, it was just noticed how well they did at protection. And so anymore that's traditionally what they're bred for is personal protection or police work. Okay. Yeah. I didn't know they had been bred originally for herding. I learned something new today. I love this podcast. I learned something new every single episode. It makes me so incredibly happy. Every day you got to learn something new.

22:18
Oh, I don't have any choice. I am a lifelong reader and learner and I am so curious about everything. So every day I learn something new, but sometimes I learn something that I didn't even know that I wanted to learn. Does that make sense? Yeah, I know exactly what you mean. So, okay, since you have your business team there, how's business? How is this going for you?

22:47
I enjoy working on the farm and working with my animals and I hate doing office work. So when Rye stepped in and started working on the farm, it just made such a big difference for me. It took a lot of stress off of me and a lot of tasks off my plate so I could focus more on my animals and the development of the farm.

23:12
And then recently, Brie has come on and she has just been doing amazing work with her photos and putting up the flyers, like making our pamphlets and information sheets. We're finally getting our nice proper farm sign put up now that we have an official logo that she has worked with and created and she has gotten us into another store.

23:42
Yeah, production is getting up there and now we're starting to branch off and meet other needs. Hopefully by next year we'll be able to do Saturday markets in Lane and hopefully Marion County. Crossing fingers, trying to branch, get people into the Maison community. So before I only had two little stores and

24:11
Bri has made the connection to get us into a big grocery store here nearby, which is really, really exciting. And now that we have transitioned to a new package company, we are going to be able to sell jerky and meat sticks and summer sausage. And some of that will actually be shelf stable that we can ship and put on Amazon. Nice. So you're growing. You're growing a lot.

24:41
bigger than you probably thought you would be. Yes, so it's very, very exciting. And then we also have a new product, because we have a connection over from India, and we are now selling coconut peat. Oh, yeah. Okay. It's not as easy to sell as it is meat, by the way, if you're wondering. Is that because people don't know what it is? That and it's end of season for gardening and

25:11
Even though it could be used for other sources, like I use it for my reptile. I have a bearded dragon and he loves to nestle in it. It's, it's, it's just unknown. People don't know much about it. So trying to educate the community and the public about it, and then trying to sell it for the price that we have is not always the easiest. I really think the biggest difference will be here soon. It's going to be on Amazon.

25:40
Uh-huh. And a lot of people assume that it's coconut core because that's what you see for sale. Is coconut core? Well, it's actually completely different. Coconut core is more of the long strands off the coconut and it's not absorbent. It's great for aeration in the root system, but it really doesn't add to anything. There's no absorption of moisture to it. With the coconut peat, however...

26:10
It's a much finer ground and it's a different part off the coconut and it has huge absorption rate for water without choking out the root system of your plants. It makes it the perfect medium for starting seeds in or to reduce your water needs in your plants. Because I was having to water my sunchokes morning and night and after just even adding a layer to the top of it.

26:40
I was only having to water every other day. Nice. So, is this available anywhere besides you or is this another unique thing to your business? It's pretty unique. I personally haven't been able to find it online like on Amazon or anywhere here of coconut peat. It's always coconut core or it's a mix of the core and the peat.

27:09
you're impossible to find just the pure peat alone. Okay. So is your farm your only job? Yep. This is all I do. Very nice. And how long have you been doing this again? It's been about five years now. Five or six. I think we're going on six now. Wow. So...

27:35
It's not like you've been doing this for 20 years. I mean, I'm not, I'm assuming you're not even 30, so.

27:43
just over 30. Yeah. Yeah, you've accomplished a ton in a very short time. Yeah, when you add it all up, it is actually a lot. But all I see is, you know, how much more I can still do, you know, and how much further we can go. You have the heart of an entrepreneur and the energy of someone who's not 40 yet. So

28:12
Ride that wave as long as you can. Unfortunately, my body feels like it's 70 though. Oh honey, you tell me. Tell me about that. I understand completely. I'm going to be 55 in November and I wake up every morning and I'm like, thank God I do a podcast because if I actually had to go do anything that required bodily work, I would just go back to sleep.

28:37
Roll over, not today. Yeah, not happening. I'm going back to sleep. I'm more comfortable in my bed than I am in the world. We're good. But I chose podcasting because it's something that I can do no matter what kind of day I'm having because it always makes me feel good and I don't have to look a certain way and I don't have to be a certain way. I just have to show up and ask questions. It's fantastic. That sounds amazing. It is. And then I get to talk to people like you.

29:05
who are doing things that no one else is doing. And I'm like, oh my God, how cool is that? So how did you find us? Cause at first we've been getting so many random scams lately and I think a lot of other places are. And so Bri's like, oh my gosh, somebody wants to interview us. And I was like, well, first make sure they're legit before you message her back. Make sure it's not a bot. Yeah. Yep. No, I think I saw you on Facebook

29:35
thing that Facebook is really good for is feeding me more of the things that I'm interested in. And right now I'm interested in homesteaders and farmers and people who cook or bake and people who make things. So as long as I keep looking at that stuff, Facebook sends me people like you through my feed all the time. Nice. Yeah, and that's fine because I need an easy way to connect.

30:03
with people who are doing the things that I want to ask them about. I feel the same way. It's great.

30:11
I have an unending stream of people who are like, oh, this is what we do. And I go, oh, there's more to that story. I need to talk to them. Yeah, I'm thankful I've got, you know, Rai and Bree because I do not like technology. It was a chore to keep up with the Facebook and I just didn't even do that very well.

30:36
Now with rerunning that show primarily, it's just, it's been awesome. We've got so much more views going now and it just, it feels a lot, a lot nicer to be able to post, you know, what's going on on the farm and have people. Enjoy it. Yeah. And it's always better to have someone who likes the job do the job. You know, if she.

31:03
If Brie likes doing that and she's good at that, fantastic. If you don't like doing it, you have Brie to do it. I like taking pictures. Yeah. I'm a picture person. Yep, my husband takes beautiful photos and he has always got his phone on him and he'll see something that I don't even think about and he's got his phone out to take a photo and I'm like, what are you doing? He's like, look at this, it's beautiful. I'm like, oh yeah, cameras.

31:33
Huh, weird, because it's not the first thing I think of. I'm so in the moment that I don't think that, oh, we should take a photo so we can remember this 10 years from now. I'm the exact same way. I see so much happen on my farm that I just, I sit there and I enjoy watching it and I'm like, dang it. I should have had my camera out. But again, it's not the first thing I think of. Yeah. Yep, and I used to, like years ago, I had a camera.

32:03
like a camera, a digital camera, that I would take places with me. And I was always pulling out of my pocket and taking photos because it was super easy. And now I'm like, my phone's in the house. Usually if I step outside, my phone's in the house. So I'm going to miss the moment because I had to go back in and get my phone. So I don't take photos, but his is always on him. So he's always taking photos. And we had barn kittens this spring.

32:29
And he got some of the most adorable photos of barn kittens for about six weeks. And he would send me these adorable pictures of barn kittens. And after about the second week, I was like, yes, they're cute. You don't have to send me anymore. It's okay. And yeah, and we have a new batch coming here sometime in the next two weeks. So, uh, I'm going to be deluged with another round of kitten pictures again. So prepare yourself. Yeah. And.

32:59
They're super cute. The problem is that barn kittens don't always survive being barn kittens. So I have to remind myself that it's, it's right now. Like there's this moment with them because there may not be the next moment with them. So it's a mindset thing. And the first batch, Oh my God, we lost. I think we lost two right off the bat. I think they were like two weeks old. Gone just disappeared. And.

33:27
I was so sad. I was like, where'd those babies go? Yeah. Yeah, I can relate because with the pigs, you know, things happen. You know, they're such a big pig and the babies are so tiny when they're born that, you know, you do sometimes have them get squished. And so it was really hard at first when I started breeding pigs, you know, and come into the barn and you see, you know, a dead piglet.

33:56
Mm-hmm. Um, you know, and it's still not pleasant at all to find them, but it does happen. And so those moms though that have, you know, 12 to 19 piglets and they don't squish a single one, those are very, very good mothers that I want to keep in my breeding program, you know, and focus on that.

34:21
Yep, I feel like loss is the cost of doing business if you're going to be raising any living creature. Yep, absolutely. And we don't sell the barn cats. I mean, we let mama have a couple of litters a year because like I said, they don't all survive and the adult cats don't always survive either and they're barn cats, they're not pets. So.

34:46
We don't mind if she has a couple of litters a year because we keep a couple, we have friends that take them and have them for their barns and it's fine. And sometimes I feel real bad about this because we really should get her fixed because, you know, the world doesn't need more kittens. But I also don't want to be spending $50 on barn cats four times a year because we've lost one. So it's just...

35:15
I think it takes a real specific kind of person to live a farming or home setting life. You really have to be able to manage your feelings and your emotions about your life.

35:33
Yeah. Yeah. And so as bad as it sounds, like, you know, I do raise animals for me, you know. And so those from a young age, if I know they're going to be for me, like I take very good care of them. I make sure that they have clean, fresh water, drink, proper shelter, food, but I don't socialize with them. Yes. You know, because each one of these pigs has a personality. Each one of my sheep has a personality.

36:02
I don't want to get attached when I have to take them to the butcher. Now with my breeding stock, I make those my pets. Yes. Yeah. And you can't get attached to the ones that are going to be food because it hurts to let them go. Yep. But the breeding stock, you don't have to let go so you can love them as much as you want to. Yes. And it makes handling them so much easier when you need to, you know, move them around or...

36:28
they have the piglets, you have a better bond. You know, some of these sows are more protective of their babies. And so you want at least a bond to be able to go in there and still clean the stall and, you know, give water and food without her coming after you. And then I have some of my sows where you can just cuddle with them while they're giving birth and hold the piglets, you know, anytime and just be in the nest with her.

36:56
You know, she has no problems with it. And then there's some who are just like, you know what, you can be in here. Just don't touch the babies. Yep. My dad would call that a good mom. I would call that a pain in the butt mom. I would have to concur with that. Yep. So anyway, um, we're at 37 minutes and 10 seconds, and I try to keep these 30 minutes, so I'm going to let you guys go. Thank you so much for your time today. I appreciate it.

37:26
Yeah, and feel free, you know, to find us on Facebook or the website and get on our newsletter. All right. I will put the links to all that in the show notes. Okay. Awesome. Thank you so much. Thank you, Megan. Have a great day. It was a pleasure.