Chicken – Lamb – Pork – Beef Coming Soon!
“We pride ourselves on humble beginnings and hard work to run Smart Growth Farms.”
-Josh
It Started Small…
After well over a decade of military moves, our family finally found a place to plant our roots. The ability to build a sustainable, comfortable life through tough work and determination is getting our family closer to our dream.
After our final relocation to Devine, Texas in 2019, we were able to settle into a piece of land to begin our adventure. The twelve-acre property gave us the ability to grow our own pasture-raised chicken and pork, with a specialty in lamb.
We quickly got to work with the goal of establishing a family farm to teach our kids and new community about ethics in food production.
While we are still growing and rehabilitating our twelve-acre farm, we have carefully designed what we call our “six-year plan”. With support from the San Antonio metro, by 2027 we will be full-time on-farm. We are now producing St Croix Sheep, pigs, and chicken. With our first lamb crop in late 2021, we were able to stay on target to produce pig and chicken crop throughout this year, 2022.
Infrastructure is very expensive, but as we build out, we will have increasingly more to offer. A sheep herd takes a long time to grow, especially with the “baby baking” part… but we’re getting there.
We lack the space for cattle at the moment, but with our expansion plan in the coming years, we anticipate adapting and developing to grow into the cattle realm by 2027.
Local Partnerships
We are the only farmers in the metro to grow pasture-raised lamb, pork & chicken, San Antonio needs more like us. Our friends at Smith Pastures are running chickens the same way, so we team up with them frequently to develop that same high-quality, ethically raised chicken and we also occasionally graze our St. Croix sheep on their ranch.
Improvements
From our first day on the farm, we had the goal of improving the soil. About a year later, we feel pretty good about the progress we’ve made.
Thanks to the rotational grazing of our grass-fed St. Croix sheep, the farm’s ecosystem is coming back to life.
While we’ll never get the rainfall Joel Salatin gets at Polyface Farms, we can do our best to mimic as much of his systems as possible and create a more robust ecological community.
What’s Next?
While we’re not currently ready for farm visits, you’re likely to see the sheep grazing next to the street. Our farm is situated in the middle of Devine, TX, which turns out to be perfect for spreading the good word of pasture-raised, sustainably grown meat.
In a time of empty store shelves and never-ending supply chain issues, we want to be here to help others learn to produce some of their own food. Allowing neighbors to see the animals, the mystery and perceived hurdles are taken out of the production model.
Our goal is to see every home in San Antonio grow a garden and sustainably produce its own chicken. We expect the greener grass will also be a pleasurable benefit.
Pasture-Raised Lamb, Pork & Chicken, San Antonio, come get some!
Check out our product availability today! *Please feel free to shoot us a line for any questions!
*Please allow twenty-four (24) to forty-eight (48) hours for a response.