About The French Family Farm
Our goal at French Family Farm is to produce high quality produce in a transparent, sustainable, and healthy manner. To be good stewards of the land and of the livestock we raise. (Proverbs 12:10)
High Quality - Much of the produce you can buy from the typical grocer lacks cleanliness and proper care. Even the products labeled "organic" often lacks the care it needs to be consumed (remember the salmonella outbreak in the organic spinach a few years ago?). Vegetables are not the only place that high quality is needed. Much of the meat we buy is not fit to eat. A few years ago Time magazine printed a story about meat processing on a factory scale. They wrote that 20% of the store bought chicken you buy is water weight. That water is contaminated with fecal matter from poor processing. Yuck! No wonder we spend so much of our hard earned money on medial care, we have been eating manure!
At French Family Farm we take great care with our produce and meat. We process our chicken on a small scale and use a top quality slaughter house for our beef. Plus, we have you to do our inspection. You can come by on slaughter day and watch us slaughter. You are the best inspectors we can have. Better than any government bureaucrat.
Transparent - We have an open door policy. Come to our farm any business day (Monday -Friday 9:00 am - 4:00 pm; please call and let us know you are coming, this is a working farm) You likely can't go and see your chicken in a confinement barn on a corporate farm. Or, watch your chicken be slaughtered at a corporate slaughter house. But you can on our farm.
Sustainable - At French Family Farm we believe in being good stewards of the land the Lord has given us. The Biblical word for steward is similar to our modern word manager. We believe we should manage the land in such a manner as to leave it as good or better than we received it. This is summed up in one word, sustainable.
Healthy - What good does it do us to eat food that may make us sick. We desire to produce food that you want to eat, not food that will cost you more in medical bills. Clean, healthy, nutritious food that will be good for you and your family. When you come you will find a happy farm, with happy people, with happy animals, and healthy produce.
High Quality - Much of the produce you can buy from the typical grocer lacks cleanliness and proper care. Even the products labeled "organic" often lacks the care it needs to be consumed (remember the salmonella outbreak in the organic spinach a few years ago?). Vegetables are not the only place that high quality is needed. Much of the meat we buy is not fit to eat. A few years ago Time magazine printed a story about meat processing on a factory scale. They wrote that 20% of the store bought chicken you buy is water weight. That water is contaminated with fecal matter from poor processing. Yuck! No wonder we spend so much of our hard earned money on medial care, we have been eating manure!
At French Family Farm we take great care with our produce and meat. We process our chicken on a small scale and use a top quality slaughter house for our beef. Plus, we have you to do our inspection. You can come by on slaughter day and watch us slaughter. You are the best inspectors we can have. Better than any government bureaucrat.
Transparent - We have an open door policy. Come to our farm any business day (Monday -Friday 9:00 am - 4:00 pm; please call and let us know you are coming, this is a working farm) You likely can't go and see your chicken in a confinement barn on a corporate farm. Or, watch your chicken be slaughtered at a corporate slaughter house. But you can on our farm.
Sustainable - At French Family Farm we believe in being good stewards of the land the Lord has given us. The Biblical word for steward is similar to our modern word manager. We believe we should manage the land in such a manner as to leave it as good or better than we received it. This is summed up in one word, sustainable.
Healthy - What good does it do us to eat food that may make us sick. We desire to produce food that you want to eat, not food that will cost you more in medical bills. Clean, healthy, nutritious food that will be good for you and your family. When you come you will find a happy farm, with happy people, with happy animals, and healthy produce.
About Matthew & Kristy French
Matthew was born and raised in on the French Family Farm. His days were spent working the cattle that has defined the farm for most of his thirty years of life. All through his school days the French Family Farm and the neighboring farms was where he spent his summers.
After high school Matthew entered construction work and remained there for the next fifteen years. But, always in the back of his mind was the farm. The love of working with the animals and working the land never left. They say, "you can take the boy out of the country, but you can never take the country out of the boy." I believe the same can be said of the farm boy.
But, during the time away from the farm Matthew met a hard working and beautiful woman. They began to see each other regularly and with in a short time they married. Though they did not live on the farm after marrying, they did spend almost every weekend on the farm help to catch up on the weekly chores. Kristy was always ready to help with what needed to be done.
After a few years of marriage Matthew wanted to go to college. So the family packed up and moved to Tennessee. It was during this time, while Matthew worked for a farmer as a handyman, that he came in to contact with the whole foods movement. This was something that he had heard about but never really looked into very deeply. Robert and Sherri, the farmers, taught him much while he worked there. This is where he came in contact with raising chicken on grass. He began to think about his family farm and cattle, which had always been grass based, and realized the chickens would fit nicely along side them.
After graduating college Matthew and his growing family moved back to Bland County, Virginia. After a few years of pastoring a church, Matthew decided it was time to try working the chickens in along side their cattle. Taking a section of the farm that had not been farmed in about twenty years Matthew built some pins and began moving the chickens around daily. The results were astounding. The chickens not only ate the grass but they worked the weeds down that the cattle wouldn't eat and fertilized the soil. Tall green grass now stands in the fields that were once mostly weeds.
Matthew, Kristy and their children work the farm on a daily basis now and have many customers buying many different products from the farm. One of the great experiences they have is meeting and interacting with their many customers. They are also very active with their children, church, and community.
After high school Matthew entered construction work and remained there for the next fifteen years. But, always in the back of his mind was the farm. The love of working with the animals and working the land never left. They say, "you can take the boy out of the country, but you can never take the country out of the boy." I believe the same can be said of the farm boy.
But, during the time away from the farm Matthew met a hard working and beautiful woman. They began to see each other regularly and with in a short time they married. Though they did not live on the farm after marrying, they did spend almost every weekend on the farm help to catch up on the weekly chores. Kristy was always ready to help with what needed to be done.
After a few years of marriage Matthew wanted to go to college. So the family packed up and moved to Tennessee. It was during this time, while Matthew worked for a farmer as a handyman, that he came in to contact with the whole foods movement. This was something that he had heard about but never really looked into very deeply. Robert and Sherri, the farmers, taught him much while he worked there. This is where he came in contact with raising chicken on grass. He began to think about his family farm and cattle, which had always been grass based, and realized the chickens would fit nicely along side them.
After graduating college Matthew and his growing family moved back to Bland County, Virginia. After a few years of pastoring a church, Matthew decided it was time to try working the chickens in along side their cattle. Taking a section of the farm that had not been farmed in about twenty years Matthew built some pins and began moving the chickens around daily. The results were astounding. The chickens not only ate the grass but they worked the weeds down that the cattle wouldn't eat and fertilized the soil. Tall green grass now stands in the fields that were once mostly weeds.
Matthew, Kristy and their children work the farm on a daily basis now and have many customers buying many different products from the farm. One of the great experiences they have is meeting and interacting with their many customers. They are also very active with their children, church, and community.