Ordering for On Farm Pick Up
To order pastured pork for on farm pick up, start by filling out the google form above with your order. Once we receive it, we’ll send you an email confirming your order and getting you a total. After that, it’s as simple as arranging a time to pick-up your order on our farm located at 5977 Nelson Road, Longmont CO 80503. Any day during daylight hours works for picking up as long as we pre-arrange it via email before you show up. If we aren’t on the farm during the timeframe we arrange, your order will be bagged up in a cooler on the front porch.
Ordering a Whole or Half Hog
Once a year you have the option of ordering a whole or ½ hog from us to fill your freezer with. We’re currently accepting bulk orders until the end of December 2022 or until we sell out. This is a great option for families and those with deep freezers. There are several benefits to ordering pork this way. First and foremost, you’re saving several dollars a pound on your order. Shortly before the process date, you will also have the option to fill out a cut form for your order. This gives you total control over what types of sausage, cured meats, and size cuts you want included with your pork. You’ll be getting a taste of every cut available on a pig with your order allowing you to be adventurous in your cooking and explore new recipes.
Cut List
Shoulder Steaks———————– $8/#
Fresh Ham ————————— $10/#
Smoked and Cured Ham ————— $11/#
Shoulder or Rib Roast —————– $10/#
Fresh Cut Belly———————— $10/#
Bacon ——————————– $14/#
Ground Pork————————— $7/#
Chorizo——————————- $8/#
Hot Breakfast Sausage (not in links)—- $8/#
Green Chile Ground ——————- $8/#
Spare Ribs—————————- $8/#
Rack of Ribs ————————– $8/#
Loin Chops ————————— $10/#
Boneless Loin Chops —————— $10/#
Rib Chops —————————- $10/#
Sirloin Chops ————————- $10/#
Tenderloin —————————- $10/#
Fresh Ham Hocks———————- $7/#
Smoked and Cured Ham Hocks ——– $8/#
Neck Bones ————————— $6/#
Liver ——————————— $5/#
Jowls ——————————– $5/#
Heart ——————————– $5/#
Tongue ——————————- $5/#
Kidney ——————————- $5/#
Refined Lard ————————– $8/pint or $15/qt
How We Raise Pigs at Bluebird Sky
Our pigs live on pasture, under the sun 365 days of the year. We have several groups of pigs at any given time. Many times you’ll find our breeding group near the farmhouse on an unirrigated section of land. This is our pastured pork operation’s home base. The breeders will live there most of the year and the mamas will all farrow (give birth) in this pasture as well. This group consists of Mandu, our boar, as well as Nanka, Bianca, Petunia, and Autumn, our sowes. We typically have 2 different feeder groups of pigs who are rotated around our hayfields, moving to fresh pasture daily. They change where they are on the farm very frequently, but one thing is always consistent: they’re always on fresh pasture! These are the pigs who will eventually be sustainably processed and available for sale.
We’re adamant about having our pigs on fresh pasture every day because of the breed of pig we raise. We raise American Guinea Hogs at Bluebird Sky Farmstead. This is one of the original heritage breeds of pigs in North America. They are a landrace breed developed in the southeastern United States. We love them for their excellent foraging capabilities and gentle demeanor. They are truly pastured pigs because instead of rooting up the ground, like many breeds of pigs are known to do, they prefer to gently graze the grasses and weeds found in the paddocks we give them. With most breeds of pigs, farmers struggle to develop systems to make raising pastured pork regenerative. With American Guinea Hogs, creating a regenerative, rotational grazing system is simple and enjoyable. That’s why we consider our pork truly pastured.
All of our groups of pigs are supplied with fresh water, access to shade structures and a maintenance ration of grain daily. The feeder groups are supplied with spent brewer’s grain, apples and pumpkins in the fall, garden waste throughout the year, and any other delicious treats as they’re available to us.
We love our pigs and strive to give them the best life possible. We encourage any prospective customers to visit the farm and meet us and our pigs for yourselves. Knowing your farmers and knowing how the animals you eat are raised is, in our mind, an essential piece of the human experience.
What Our Pigs Do For Us
Interestingly enough, we don’t raise pigs exclusively for pork. They’re actually an essential piece of our overall mission to fight climate change with farming. Currently, American Guinea Hogs are the main workhorses of our regenerative system. By moving their pasture daily or every two days, we’re attempting to mimic herd grazing. They graze the area hard and trample the ground, loosening the soil. Their manure and urine is also concentrated in this area. After we move them, the grass is able to heal and recover stronger than before and it has a healthy dose of fertilizer to get it going again.
Due to the nature of grass and them being a natural carbon cycling machine, this helps sequester carbon indefinitely. The way it works is complex but we’ll do our best to simplify it. As grass grows, it pulls CO2 out of the air and puts it into its root system. Then we bring our pigs across it to mob graze it. The grass stops putting as much energy into its roots and starts to redirect energy to growing the above ground plant again. In response about half of the roots will slough off into the soil and decompose, storing the carbon indefinitely while feeding the millions of microbes under the soil.
There are two key steps for this system to be successful. First we have to get our pigs off pasture before they totally kill the grass they’re on. The goal is to take about half of the plant matter in each paddock before moving them. The second key step is to get the animals off the pasture before they do irreparable damage. It’s a minimum of 3 months before we’ll run animals on that same pasture again. The goal is to give the grass a chance to heal and regrow its root system before repeating the process. As long as the soil isn’t tilled, this is a very effective way to store CO2 in the soil, allowing us to continue to pursue our goal of fighting climate change with farming.
Bluebird Sky Farmstead 