Welcome to Healing Springs Farm!
What makes our meat superior to what you buy in the grocery store? Simple answer = how it is raised and what it eats.
We firmly believe that the environment that the animal is raised in and how naturally it eats makes a huge difference in the final product. We raise our cattle on pasture grass and hay for their entire life cycle. Our beef truly is "grass fed / grass finished" for the most flavorful tender beef you have ever tasted!
We raise our beef from "scratch" so to speak. We have a herd bull that we rotate out every 3 years as we keep most of the heifers born at Healing Springs. Our cows eat hay in the winter and are rotationally grazed on pasture during the warmer months. Once a week or so, they are given a treat of spent brewers grains from the great folks at New River Brewing. In the summertime, we like to bring them buckets of apples as a special treat.
Our heritage breed pigs are also raised on pasture with the same rotational pasture management. They have access to a fresh water wallow, and lots of great ground to root around and dig in . We think that because they have space to move and be active, and that they root around and eat acorns, grubs, vegetable garden scraps, etc. in addition to non-GMO feed. We feel that the flavor of the meat is so much better than what you traditionally find at the grocery store.
Another component that we feel strongly plays a huge part in the flavor of our pastured meats is how / where they are processed. We use Piedmont Custom Meats in Gibbsonville. They are an Animal Welfare Approved facility and we have been very pleased with how they handle the livestock we bring them. We feel that the integrity of the product that they produce from our meats is superior to the other local processing plants. Try our bacon! We think it is the best tasting bacon you have ever had :)
If you have been to Healing Springs, you will have seen our egg laying chickens. Our hens are always happy to take table scraps from guests and have a large area above the Lodge in which they can roam. We do have to contain them a bit to keep them safe from predators. We had a local hawk who was having chicken for lunch every couple of days :( Support our hens and try some of their farm fresh eggs today!
Our meat chickens are raised on our farm a few miles from Healing Springs. They really are pasture raised in a "chicken tractor". These are three sided shelters that keep them safe from predators, but that have an open bottom so the "tractor" is dragged (or pulled) to a fresh section of pasture every single day. This provides them with plenty of opportunities to eat as naturally as possible, and be in a safe, clean daily environment.
We are licensed by the North Carolina Department of Agriculture to on-farm process our chickens. We take great pride in the quality and sanitation practices that we employ when we process our chickens. We employ the most humane methods possible to bring you the freshest, best tasting chicken!
Our pastured meats are available in our Farm Store along with a selection of home made jams & jellies and artisan soaps made with water from the Healing Spring. Our products are also available at the High Country Food Hub in Boone.
Stop by and see us soon!