Good bye goats!

in #permaculture7 years ago

virginia side good.jpg
Quality over quantity. That is the new mantra we’ve adopted around here at Atitlan Organics. Guatemala is such a an amazing agricultural paradise, we can’t help but get excited about the vast diversity of abundant and nutritious foods we can grow.

That said...we don’t want to just be great at everything we do. We want to be the absolute BEST. We strive to deliver the most delicious and nutritious salads organically grown salad mixes chock full mustard greens, fresh romaine, herbs, and vibrant edible flowers.

QL9A7392.jpg

And recently, we have realized that we were being spread too thin. Goat dairy, pork production, chicken meat and eggs, salads and cooking greens, honey from 8 bee colonies, coffee, and more. It was jut getting too crazy and some of the operations were suffering.

We realized we were devoting a lot of time and energy into caring for our goats which didn’t leave enough time for our delicious salads and free range, farm fresh eggs that our customers love. I’m not going to sugarcoat it; running a small-scale farm is hard. Not only do our customers depend on it, but the livelihood of our staff which is 95% comprised of local indigenous Mayans. We have decided to “cut the fat” and devote our time into just a select few product offerings.

We are converting the goat pen into another chicken coop which will house an additional 100 chickens, putting up to 200 total. This will not only increase our egg production by double, but will also double the amount of nutrient-rich compost we can create. Compost that then can be spread on our lettuce and herb gardens to help restore and revitalize the soil.
QL9A8177.jpg

As of tomorrow, we are sadly sending our goats to pasture but don’t worry, they’ll be back in 15 months! But the good
news is, salads and eggs will be more abundant and better than ever!

IMG_7525.jpg