Caledonia Farms
Blending produce, pasture and helping horses
Barre, Massachussetts
"We pride ourselves at living and doing things outside of the box,"
explains David Petrovick of Caledonia Farm, outside Barre,
Massachusetts. For David, this means blending historic farming
traditions such as draft horses with hot agriculture marketing trends
like the growth of grassfed meats, always keeping an eye on his bottom
line of creating a sustainable, healthy lifestyle for his family.
After growing up on a small, diversified farm in Connecticut, David
worked in the scientific field for ten years. "My goal was to save
enough money to buy a farm while I was young enough to work it and
enjoy it while my wife, Martha, and I raise our now eleven- -year-old
daughter," David comments. "I grew up in a family with a large garden
and livestock business and that self-sufficient lifestyle was very
important to me. I want the flexibility of how I spend my time and
doing things on my own terms."
Named after a similar landscape found in Scotland, Caledonia Farm
consists of 60 mostly wooded acres, leading him to rent about 170 acres
of pasture nearby. David and his family moved to Caledonia farm in 1997
when he was thirty-two years old. Since 1999, David has run a small
organically certified market garden on about two acres, growing for six
to twenty CSA (Community Supported Agriculture), a weekly seasonal
farmers markets, and on-farm sales. Increasing business stems from the
grassfed meat operation and David supplements farm income utilizing his
science background doing environmental consulting. Martha works
full-time with an off-farm job as a research biologist. Currently,
Caledonia Farm provides approximately twenty percent of the family's
household income as well as providing the family's food needs.
Rising demand for local grassfed meat prompted David to focus
Caledonia Farm more on this side of the business. "An increasing number
of articles have been written about the dark side of conventional
livestock processing, particularly Michael Pollan's writing for the New
York Times and Eric Schlossor's book "Fast Food Nation," explains
David. "These provocative writings motivate customers to start seeking
local meat suppliers sensitive to these issues. The day after one of
Michael Pollan's articles run in the New York Times, our phone starts
ringing, with most customers finding us through the EatWild website."
David keeps about eight beef cattle at any given time. "I buy young
calves called feeders, which are typically six to ten months old, and
the cows are then processed when they are about twenty to twenty-five
months old," explains David. "By buying feeders and not getting into
breeding, this give me the flexibility to process only when needed and
enable me to spread inventory throughout the year."
David raises an Angus-based herd with a small to medium frame that
performs well on grass and takes them to a USDA-approved processing
facility 38 miles away for butchering. "The selection of a processing
facility remains an important part of the business," comments David.
"Things I look for in a facility remain cleanliness, consistency of
product, ability to answer my questions, low employee turnover and a
gentle handling and respect for the animals."
A 100 cubic feet of on-farm freezer provides storage space for the
meat, with some meat sold fresh at market. "I got into fresh meat sales
partly because no one else was doing it and have seen this grow to a
strong niche market," explains David. "There is a higher quality
associated with fresh meat as the cellular structure of meat starts to
break down when it freezes, which also enables me to charge a premium
for the product."
A unique aspect of Caledonia Farm's market garden is the use of
draft horses. While David admits there is a pure fun and enjoyable
hobby aspect of draft horses, there are serious aspects that help his
overall production and efficiency and increase his connection to the
land, just as draft horses have for farmers generations ago. "In
addition to eliminating dependence on fossil fuels, draft horses force
you to think about how you work and relate to the land," explains
David. "Given the snow and ice in our area, I can do some plantings
earlier as a draft horse team will not compact the soil and get stuck
as a tractor would." Any horse breed can typically be used as draft
horses and David utilizes a plow attachment for cultivation, bed
formation and harvesting. Amish and Mennonite groups keeping the draft
horse tradition as well as The Draft Horse Journal proved to be good
sources of information for David.
Prior to shifting on the CSA side of the business, David focused on
the wholesale market for about three years, selling organic garden
produce to upscale Boston restaurants. "I had some friends in
wholesaling to restaurants so I had a foot in the door to get started,"
explains David. "However, the business grew very unpredictable because
restaurants couldn't commit to regular supplies and I had to cut my
prices extremely low to compete with large West Coast organic
suppliers. Wholesaling grew stressful for me so I shifted to all retail
sales through the CSA and markets."
As with increasing numbers of small farms affected by urban sprawl,
land development challenges the future of Caledonia Farm. "Our farm
falls within Boston commuting distance," explains David. "Much of the
pasture land I rent is potentially going into subdivisions because of
the market value of land for development. This is an issue we're
wrestling with, particularly as our business has been focusing on the
grass-fed meats which require access greater pasture lands."
David, however, remains an optimist, placing quality of life and
caring for the land as his key criteria in managing Caledonia Farm.
"We're trying to develop a self-sustaining and sustainable whole farm
system that benefits all concerned: animals, customers, neighbors,
environment and the economy," concludes David.
David Petrovick
Regions:
MassachussettsOrganization type:
Business - familyBusiness - small (<20 employees)


Stories 