Stillpoint Farm:
What’s in a name? “…at the Stillpoint there the dance is…. T.S. Eliot”
When we first acquired the farm we knew it would be an adventure – a work in progress. As Tom described it, “the Stillpoint is that moment of stillness that then facilitates movement; a chance to reset, recharge, and renew before the next steppingstone of life’s journey.” And a journey it has been!
We knew from the beginning that we were committed to being responsible stewards of the land entrusted to us, to helping build community, and to finding ways to make small scale farming sustainable. While Tom had some experience with a family farm in WV and Carol grew up with horses this was a far cry from the halls of education or courtrooms. We knew we wanted to start raising sheep as they produce a variety of products and can really enhance the land quality. After considering many breeds we decided on the Leicester Longwool heritage breed (see that part of the website). Initially the thought was to plant grapes, however considering the turn around time for productivity and initial cost we thought about growing hops. One thing led to another. While we originally sold hops to local brewers such as Flying Dog and Clipper City the idea then emerged about starting our own brewery with our hops.
As the farm has evolved we have really become grass farmers. Previous crop fields have been converted to hay which we sell and feed to our livestock. The grass and forbes provide year-round grazing, protection to the soil and habitat for beneficial organisms The sheep and cows help to convert the energy in the grass to protein (meat and fiber) while also returning a hefty amount of organic material back to the soil. We are also able to use the sheep in the hop fields to add organic matter, nutrients, help with weed control, and ‘prune’ the bines to reduce disease pressure and minimize the need for chemicals. The cows are also fed the spent grain from the brewing process. All of this helps us to raise “responsible meat” and farm “regeneratively” – trying to leave the soil, water, and air better off each year and reduce Bay pollutants. We do not have the cheapest meat. This is not the fastest / cheapest production method nor do we get any of the $40 billion in subsidies that big agriculture gets. However, we believe it is an important trade-off for us and our customers who are looking for responsibly sourced food and fiber.