THE PERSON BEHIND THORCREST FARM!
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Thank you for taking to the time find out a little bit about Thorcrest farm! It is people like you who make a difference by supporting our goal to help mitigating climate change and safeguarding a secure source of nutritious, delicious locally grown food!
Who is behind the farm? My name is Zoe and I have always grown food, this passion started while growing up on small farm in the Cowichan valley. My mom was my inspiration to sustainable local regenerative food production. We always had goats, pigs, chickens, ponies, and a huge garden, but best of all was the experience in wildcrafting. Understanding and appreciating our local food sources is paramount to nutrient dense food along with food security. I am passionate about advocating for continuing education to promote animal health and welfare and plant and soil health! I have volunteered most of my life in various organizations: Volunteers are what make things happen and help others!
Not just experience but education I believe is also a key aspect of managing livestock and understating soils. Over the years the university of Guelph courses in soil science, sustainable soils, diploma in agriculture, and the list goes on have been a staple for my thirst for knowledge. Fast forward and master’s in animal science was another tick in the box in the education list!
How does experience and education come together in farming? Through Regenerative, Ethical, Sustainable methods. What does this mean, you might ask!?
Regenerative: This concept looks at improving soil biodiversity and increase soil microbes. Think of the soil as huge living area inhabited by billions of organisms (fungus, microbes, insects etc!). Certain methods of growing, such as no-till leaves roots in the ground so the organisms have food to eat all the time. Only using natural soil enhancers such as compost (which we make here on the farm with the help of the animals!), kelp, aragonite (natural form of calcium), glacial rock dust all promotes health living soil. This in turn promotes moisture retention, and bioavailable food for plants. This means plants are heathier! We never us pesticides, herbicides, or chemical fertilizers!
Ethical: We follow and go above and beyond the Canadian code of practise recommendation for our animals. No factory hatched chickens here! We raise all our own. Same with out goats and pigs. Lots of space, fresh air and fresh food and water. Did you know plants need care too? Many have friends they like to be planted with and many they don’t! Ensuring we just don’t plant acres of the same thing; we do companion planting along with no-till. As well we have a large permaculture area on our farm. Meaning these are perennials and do not need to be replanted every year.
Sustainable: Keeping soil, plants, and animals healthy through combining regenerative and ethical methods, we feel makes for a sustainable farming future!
Along with my academic background in animal management I have raised and cared for goats, pigs, chickens, cows, and horses since early childhood. It is not enough to just do the same thing year after year without knowing why, knowledge is key to progressing your herd and ensuring animal welfare.
Taking education seriously this is a short list of university level courses completed:
We adhere to the Five Freedoms:
Freedom thirst or hungry: by providing proper nutrition and plenty of feed, forage and fresh water.
Freedom from discomfort: by provide access to shelter from the elements and a comfortable resting area.
Freedom from pain, illness, or injury: by providing suitable prevention and/or rapid diagnosis and treatment.
Freedom to express normal behaviour's: by providing sufficient outdoor space, with sunshine and fresh air, proper facilities and the company of other animals of its kind.
Freedom from fear or distress: by providing conditions for normal biological function and behaviour to promote a positive emotional state. We work with our local vet and specialist vets to ensure our animals have the best care.
Why is genetic diversity important? For sustainability and welfare. Genetic diversity means higher health and fertility in both plants and animals! Example, all our chickens our hatched on our farm. We don't support breeding that over emphasizes just one specific trait (egg or meat). Our goals is for hens to lay for years., they may not produce mass amount of eggs like factory farm hens the first year but they keep on laying (unlike the factory hens), some go broody and we let them hatch out eggs.
Regenerative agriculture we promote, rebuilding soil organic matter, increasing soil biodiversity, utilizing carbon drawdown and improving the water cycle.
For our plants, we strive to grow as many perennial as possible. And the annuals are open pollinated. We save our own seeds and also support local seeds suppliers plus small seed suppliers across Canada.
We have always had a veggie garden and my family had goats long before I purchased my first registered Nubian in 1986. Decades of showing, milk test, classification and raising calves and pigs on goat milk fostered an appreciation for having effective management protocols in place.
Ensuring ethical management practices are a key goal. Examples: Our chickens, we only hatch our own, we never purchase chicks from factory hatcheries that dispose of male chicks. And we only have breeds of chickens that are sustainable. Our pigs enjoy pasture, wallows and lots of clean fresh air and sunshine. Our goats are dam raised we only supplement with bottle if needed. Many people ask if our dam raised kids are wild? Yes they are “wild” for attention!
Who is behind the farm? My name is Zoe and I have always grown food, this passion started while growing up on small farm in the Cowichan valley. My mom was my inspiration to sustainable local regenerative food production. We always had goats, pigs, chickens, ponies, and a huge garden, but best of all was the experience in wildcrafting. Understanding and appreciating our local food sources is paramount to nutrient dense food along with food security. I am passionate about advocating for continuing education to promote animal health and welfare and plant and soil health! I have volunteered most of my life in various organizations: Volunteers are what make things happen and help others!
Not just experience but education I believe is also a key aspect of managing livestock and understating soils. Over the years the university of Guelph courses in soil science, sustainable soils, diploma in agriculture, and the list goes on have been a staple for my thirst for knowledge. Fast forward and master’s in animal science was another tick in the box in the education list!
How does experience and education come together in farming? Through Regenerative, Ethical, Sustainable methods. What does this mean, you might ask!?
Regenerative: This concept looks at improving soil biodiversity and increase soil microbes. Think of the soil as huge living area inhabited by billions of organisms (fungus, microbes, insects etc!). Certain methods of growing, such as no-till leaves roots in the ground so the organisms have food to eat all the time. Only using natural soil enhancers such as compost (which we make here on the farm with the help of the animals!), kelp, aragonite (natural form of calcium), glacial rock dust all promotes health living soil. This in turn promotes moisture retention, and bioavailable food for plants. This means plants are heathier! We never us pesticides, herbicides, or chemical fertilizers!
Ethical: We follow and go above and beyond the Canadian code of practise recommendation for our animals. No factory hatched chickens here! We raise all our own. Same with out goats and pigs. Lots of space, fresh air and fresh food and water. Did you know plants need care too? Many have friends they like to be planted with and many they don’t! Ensuring we just don’t plant acres of the same thing; we do companion planting along with no-till. As well we have a large permaculture area on our farm. Meaning these are perennials and do not need to be replanted every year.
Sustainable: Keeping soil, plants, and animals healthy through combining regenerative and ethical methods, we feel makes for a sustainable farming future!
Along with my academic background in animal management I have raised and cared for goats, pigs, chickens, cows, and horses since early childhood. It is not enough to just do the same thing year after year without knowing why, knowledge is key to progressing your herd and ensuring animal welfare.
Taking education seriously this is a short list of university level courses completed:
- Master of Animal Science
- Diploma of Agriculture
- Diploma of Equine Studies
- Diploma of Equitation Science
- Certificate of Equine Science
- Certificate of Animal Care
- Certificate Animal Care Program
- Accredited Animal Health Certificate
- Certificate of Management for Sustainable Soils
- Feed Formulation
- Feed Technology
- Feed: Government Regulation
- Dairy Goat production
We adhere to the Five Freedoms:
Freedom thirst or hungry: by providing proper nutrition and plenty of feed, forage and fresh water.
Freedom from discomfort: by provide access to shelter from the elements and a comfortable resting area.
Freedom from pain, illness, or injury: by providing suitable prevention and/or rapid diagnosis and treatment.
Freedom to express normal behaviour's: by providing sufficient outdoor space, with sunshine and fresh air, proper facilities and the company of other animals of its kind.
Freedom from fear or distress: by providing conditions for normal biological function and behaviour to promote a positive emotional state. We work with our local vet and specialist vets to ensure our animals have the best care.
Why is genetic diversity important? For sustainability and welfare. Genetic diversity means higher health and fertility in both plants and animals! Example, all our chickens our hatched on our farm. We don't support breeding that over emphasizes just one specific trait (egg or meat). Our goals is for hens to lay for years., they may not produce mass amount of eggs like factory farm hens the first year but they keep on laying (unlike the factory hens), some go broody and we let them hatch out eggs.
Regenerative agriculture we promote, rebuilding soil organic matter, increasing soil biodiversity, utilizing carbon drawdown and improving the water cycle.
For our plants, we strive to grow as many perennial as possible. And the annuals are open pollinated. We save our own seeds and also support local seeds suppliers plus small seed suppliers across Canada.
We have always had a veggie garden and my family had goats long before I purchased my first registered Nubian in 1986. Decades of showing, milk test, classification and raising calves and pigs on goat milk fostered an appreciation for having effective management protocols in place.
Ensuring ethical management practices are a key goal. Examples: Our chickens, we only hatch our own, we never purchase chicks from factory hatcheries that dispose of male chicks. And we only have breeds of chickens that are sustainable. Our pigs enjoy pasture, wallows and lots of clean fresh air and sunshine. Our goats are dam raised we only supplement with bottle if needed. Many people ask if our dam raised kids are wild? Yes they are “wild” for attention!
Vanilla goat milk Ice Cream with our home grown peaches
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Our homemade dark chocolate goat milk
ice Cream (only milk no cream!) .
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Cheese curd for fresh Chevre!
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