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Wednesday, September 14, 2016

Fort Kickass

I just knew I'd get your attention with this title:)
Welcome to Fort Kickass 
A neighborhood field trip arranged by Dotti, my lake neighbor, to Fort Kickass rates as one of my all time unusual and interesting trips. Fort Kickass is a farm located in a rural area of Pine River, MN. Here you will find goats, dogs, chickens, guineas and rescue cats.  Tiffany and Aaron, the owners since 2014, have a mission to work towards a more sustainable life, treat their land and animals with respect, and to support their neighbors working to build a strong local community. Their farm offers organic vegetables and within the next two years plan to offer goat meat locally. Fort Kickass soaps, lotions, lip balms and gift sets are currently available online and at Lakes Latte in Pequot Lakes and Stone Woman Herbals in Pine River as well as at various summer markets.
Some of Aaron and Tiffany's best farm practices include:  
  • All our crops are grown without pesticides or chemical fertilizers. We compost the contents of the goat barn and chicken coop, along with all our kitchen scraps. We use this to fertilize our gardens and crops. We use a combination of beneficial insects, guineas and chickens and a roll of tape to control pests.
  • Our chickens are pasture raised and supplemented with a commercial feed and kitchen scraps. We haven't been able to find an affordable organic feed option for the chickens yet, so we are working to start growing more of our own feed crops so that we can move the chickens off commercial feed in the future.
  • Our goats have lots of fresh browse on our land in the summer and are supplemented with a mix of grass/alfalfa hay year round. Does in late stage pregnancy and in milk receive a ration of commercial grain each day, although we will switch the goats to organic feed within the year
It's here our group met Lexie, Arya, Lucinda, Molly, Bunny, Rey, Circe and a few other goat friends.  














The goats moved faster than my camera which at times hampered photo taking. It was evident Tiffany is devoted to her animals and their well being. They are raised in what I call pristine conditions. I have never seen such a clean barn. 
Outside the goats have plenty of contained space to roam and are protected by Odin. He is  a livestock guardian dog, a mix of Maremma, Great Pyrenees and English Sheepdog. He lives in the barn with the goats and spends his nights patrolling the pasture and barking at anything that comes too close to his property.
As if running a goat farm wasn't enough Tiffany and Aaron sell farm fresh eggs and raw goat milk. Inside Tiffany's house we watched her demonstrate making goat milk soaps and lotions.








Lucky us, Tiffany made up little gift bags of her wonderful products for us to take home.
She can do it all!
If you want to know more about Tiffany and Aaron, their farm and products available for purchase check out  http://www.thisisfortkickass.com/home.html
there are high value benefits for owning guinea fowls on your farm? 
Check out this list http://www.guineafarm.com/guinea-farm-products/guinea-fowl/

2 comments:

  1. Oh my! We are SO going there this weekend! How exciting!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Now this would be fun. Goats are so entertaining.

    I noticed the Christmas lights hanging in the goat barn, too, adding a flare of ambiance.

    That's certainly a catchy name. Is there a story behind that?

    ReplyDelete

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