Starlight Hill Farm
Practicing Humane Husbandry
Our small family farm is tucked away in the hills of northwest Michigan. Our goal is, with God's help, to raise as much of our food as possible. In these uncertain times we hope to encourage others in growing food and frugal living. Much can be done on small acreage or even a backyard, especially high density gardening and small stock such as hens, quails and rabbits. Herbs are very expensive in the store, but not so hard to grow and dry. Sharing information with like minded people is a joy and on these pages are the practices that have worked well for us. Please tell us what works well for you through our Blog.
All of our animals are humanely raised with lots of room to roam and are not kept in small dirty pens. Fly predators and proper manure management keep flies under control. We don't dock tails, castrate or vaccinate. Sheep are wormed 5 times/year using natural wormers. In five years there has only been one ewe and one lamb that needed a course of antibiotics. The larger stock end their lives here on the farm without the fear and trauma of being loaded up and transported 60 miles to the processor. Custom processing is expertly handled by RRR Meat Processing in Buckley.
We are suspending custom poultry raising until there is a mobile processor who can come to the farm.
All of our feed for poultry and pigs is purchased in bulk from McCrimmon's, a family owned feed mill, in Marion, MI. Hay for the sheep is grown by Mackey Farm in Bear Lake. We buy from these folks because they are family operations that consistently deliver superior feed. It also cuts down on fossil fuel use since they bring in one delivery what would take us many trips in our truck.
A pair of English Shepherd farm dogs help things run smoothly.
We accept Bay Bucks, a local currency, for 10% of the cost. http://www.baybucks.org/
A price list/order form is available on this site or can be requested by email or snail mail.
Garlic Braids
Chet's Red Italian Garlic. This is a soft-neck variety, naturally raised without chemical fertilizer, pesticides or herbicides. There are 13 bulbs in a braid, $10. Sold out until August of 2011.
