Beasty Box: About the Farms
We source our meat from hard-working, passionate farmers who care so deeply for their animals. We are committed to bringing you the highest quality meat from local farms that practice sustainable agriculture and ethical animal welfare. Because we buy directly from farmers, we are able to get to know them and ask questions about how they are raising their animals AND we are able to keep more money in the farmers pockets. This is key because the most beautiful sustainable agricultural model in the world isn't really sustainable if it isn't economically sustainable too. We go out to visit the farms we source from and work closely with our farmers to ensure that we have all the bases covered.
Urban Digs Farm: chicken, pork, duck
Located in South Burnaby's "Big Bend" agricultural land reserve surrounded by strip malls & industrial parks, Julia & Ludo are raising chickens, ducks & pigs along with a wide range of vegetables. Seems like a strange place for a farm but being so close to the city has its advantages! After discovering that much of the ingredients in organic animal feed are grown in China, and considering the resources required to produce animal feed generally, Julia & Ludo started looking for a more sustainable solution. Urban Digs now makes use of city food waste streams (mostly non-GMO spent brewery grains & certified organic fruits & veggies) to provide a nutritionally superior, sustainable diet to their animals that results in the highest quality meat on your plate.
Located in South Burnaby's "Big Bend" agricultural land reserve surrounded by strip malls & industrial parks, Julia & Ludo are raising chickens, ducks & pigs along with a wide range of vegetables. Seems like a strange place for a farm but being so close to the city has its advantages! After discovering that much of the ingredients in organic animal feed are grown in China, and considering the resources required to produce animal feed generally, Julia & Ludo started looking for a more sustainable solution. Urban Digs now makes use of city food waste streams (mostly non-GMO spent brewery grains & certified organic fruits & veggies) to provide a nutritionally superior, sustainable diet to their animals that results in the highest quality meat on your plate.
Rehoboth Farm: pork
Situated in the heart of Yarrow, Rehoboth Farm is a small, family operated farm specializing in pastured laying hens, beef & heritage pigs. Willy Driesen, grew up on her family's dairy farm in Holland where they also had chickens and mini goats. The family immigrated to Canada in 1982 to start over, and in 2004, Willy's parents Lieuwe and Anne, Willy, her husband John and their children, began working towards their dream to build up a family farm again. They started with a flock of 20 free range laying hens. Demand for their great tasting eggs grew quickly and in the summer of 2011 they moved to their current 6 acre farm and expanded their operation.
Situated in the heart of Yarrow, Rehoboth Farm is a small, family operated farm specializing in pastured laying hens, beef & heritage pigs. Willy Driesen, grew up on her family's dairy farm in Holland where they also had chickens and mini goats. The family immigrated to Canada in 1982 to start over, and in 2004, Willy's parents Lieuwe and Anne, Willy, her husband John and their children, began working towards their dream to build up a family farm again. They started with a flock of 20 free range laying hens. Demand for their great tasting eggs grew quickly and in the summer of 2011 they moved to their current 6 acre farm and expanded their operation.
Urban Digs Farm & Rehoboth Farm Pigs are pasture raised. We feed them a diet of fresh fruits and veggies and spent brewery grains supplemented heavily with back scratches & belly rubs. The pigs are helping to turn a fields full of invasive weeds into land suitable for vegetable production by doing what they like to do best.... rooting around in the dirt. They receive no commercial feed at all, are turning food waste into protein instead of trucking it out of the city and are doing a job that would otherwise require chemical herbicides and/or fossil fuel guzzling mechanization. By our calculations, this pork is BETTER than carbon neutral!
Urban Digs Ducks & Chickens are another sustainable success story. They are raised on a small ration of local, unmedicated, non-GMO, whole grain feed with the bulk of their diet made up of spent brewery grains and fresh fruits & veggies. Once they are old enough to live without supplemental heat, the birds are free to run around and play outside as much as they want. They have a safe, cozy shelter to sleep in at night if they want to but The ducks in particular seem happiest outside even in weather than sends us naked apes running for cover.
Empire Valley Ranch: beef
Joyce & John have been raising premium, quality beef in the majestic open Chilcotin grassland benches along the Fraser River since 1998. Through rotational grazing practices & the natural grazing patterns of their cattle, they have been able to restore natural grassland species & enhance native grass production. In 2008 they were awarded the BC Rangelands Management Award from the Society for Range Management. Their beef is 100% grass fed which means that they never receive any sort of grain crop.
Joyce & John have been raising premium, quality beef in the majestic open Chilcotin grassland benches along the Fraser River since 1998. Through rotational grazing practices & the natural grazing patterns of their cattle, they have been able to restore natural grassland species & enhance native grass production. In 2008 they were awarded the BC Rangelands Management Award from the Society for Range Management. Their beef is 100% grass fed which means that they never receive any sort of grain crop.
K & M Farm: chicken
Mark Robbins, his wife Kathy & daughter Jill operate K&M Farms together in Abbotsford. Their goal is to raise poultry in their natural habitate - outside on pasture where the birds can graze & forage for insects & grubs. They also receive a balanced grain diet with no additives or animal byproducts. Their birds are truly "free-range" spending their whole lives outdoors (once they are old enough to not need supplemental heat of course) in a grassy pasture with moveable shelters to protect them from the elements & predators.
Mark Robbins, his wife Kathy & daughter Jill operate K&M Farms together in Abbotsford. Their goal is to raise poultry in their natural habitate - outside on pasture where the birds can graze & forage for insects & grubs. They also receive a balanced grain diet with no additives or animal byproducts. Their birds are truly "free-range" spending their whole lives outdoors (once they are old enough to not need supplemental heat of course) in a grassy pasture with moveable shelters to protect them from the elements & predators.
