Revolution Farms

Last week, we made our way down to Revolution Farms is Carthage. With the car thermometer reading 102, it was a hot one, but worth the trip.

Kelly and Matt McCaskill bought their property years ago with hopes of turning it into a family farm. There was one problem – it was an actual junk yard when they bought it. But they could see through all those rusty cars and parts into the natural beauty of the land and took the leap to transform it into their vision.

Once all the cars were gone, they realized all the topsoil was completely eradicated. That’s when the rebuilding process began.

Through Kelly’s former career as a N.C. Extension Livestock Agent and Matt’s as an Arborist, they knew the power of regenerative livestock farming – using the animals raised on the farm to improve the ecosystem, rather than degrade it.

By using mobile structures, they move their chickens daily. This gives the chickens new, clean ground to forage from and leaves their waste to fertilize the land behind them. This slow process has turned acres of their land from hard dirt to thick pasture.

Their pigs also help the land. They help clean up the area they are in, which allows Kelly and Matt to seed different cover crops to build the soil back up (although the extreme heat and draught has delayed that this year). They also fertilize the land and add organic matter to the soil when they smash and roll out their hay.

Side note – if you’ve ever wondered why pigs love mud so much, it’s because pigs don’t have sweat glands. They actually use pools of water to cool off and mud to protect their skin from sunburn.

The result of Revolution’s intentional focus on the soil health via their animals is inspiring to witness. The once decimated land is lush with green, the animals are able to roam on healthy land, and the quality of life of both the McCaskill family and their animals is very good.

Kelly and Matt are living proof that one man’s junk can literally be turned into everyone’s treasure.

Find them every weekend at the market selling pork, chicken, and eggs.