OUR STORY
The dream of starting a small farm began when Nicole and her husband, Eduardo, purchased a small 2 acre plot of land and 100 year old home, in 2017. With corrals and a chicken coop already in place, they knew they'd want to start raising some livestock as soon as possible! In the fall of 2017, Nicole started planning their first kitchen garden. Turning an unused side yard into a full-fledged vegetable, herb and flower garden was no easy task, but so rewarding; and Nicole realized how much she loved working with the soil, the plants and the seasons.
As time went by, new animals were added to the farm, food was grown and enjoyed, some crops failed, gophers got the best of many things in the garden, lambs were born, chicks were hatched, piggies joined us, and dreams of what this place could offer our community began to drift around in the heads of Nicole and Eduardo.
In the fall of 2018, Nicole started discussing ideas of starting a small CSA program and market garden with Eduardo and also her sister, Kala. Providing food for not only themselves, but their community started becoming a reality as they began to discuss ideas, plans and dreams. They believed that starting a smaller scale, ecologically responsible farm would be of great interest to their community, friends and family! That's how Nourish Farm was born.
As their family has grown, they have changed and adapted how and what they sell. With a third baby on the way in May 2022, we will see what the future holds for our farm.
OUR FARM
PHILOSOPHY
The name Nourish Farm was inspired by the idea that we are nourishing our land (regenerative, organic farming); nourishing our community (offering fresh, seasonal produce, meat, botanicals); and nourishing our souls (farming is hard work but therapeutic).
Nourish Farm is located in Turlock, California. We currently raise sheep, chickens, and pigs. We utilize our livestock for their meat and eggs, pasture management, regenerating our land and for their composting abilities. We have two garden locations on our property, one that has been in use since 2017 and one that we started in Spring 2019.
Our farming philosophy is pretty simple, we run things at the farm as similar to their natural process as possible. This means, instead of tilling the soil, we just continue to add compost and organic matter to it. There are many benefits to no-till farming, including better water retention; healthier soil because it is undisturbed; healthier plants because of healthier soil; less weeds; larger earthworm and beneficial fungi population; less work on our part!
We are not certified organic, but our practices reflect organic principles. We do not use pesticides or herbicides, we only use non-GMO seeds for our plants, many organic and many heirloom varieties; we are always working to make our soil healthier; and we don't add synthetic fertilizers to our soil.
If you have any questions about our practices or would like to visit our farm, please contact us. We're always open to having visitors and sharing how we do things here at Nourish Farm.
OUR FARM ANIMALS
Here at Nourish Farm, we raise chickens for eggs and composting, sheep for meat, milk, and soil regeneration and pigs for meat, garden cleanup and working the land. We believe that animals are a vital part of a farming operation. They have so many uses, and having them around is a lot of fun too!
Our sheep graze on our pastures daily and are always snacking on yummy garden scraps. We have a few different mixes of sheep breeds: Katahdin and Barbados for their meat quality and heat resistance, Dorper for their great meat quality, and East Fresian for their milk and wool! We have welcomed many lambs on our farm and the sheep are great mothers. We try our best to not disturb their natural lambing process and daily activities and this seems to be what's best for them. They don't receive any vaccinations or other shots. The lactating mothers are fed an organic grain mix for the first month or two after they lamb to help with their milk supply.
Our chickens are fed organic feed and have access to our full corral where they can scratch for bugs, eat green grass, and munch on our kitchen, garden and yard scraps.
Our Kune Kune pigs get a part of our pasture land all to themselves. They love digging in the dirt and eating fresh, green grass all day. We also supplement them with our kitchen and garden scraps.
OUR HEALING BOTANICAL PRODUCTS
We believe that our skin and our health can be fully nourished by what God has put on this earth, if only we reach out and pick it! Beautiful, nourishing, healing, wonderful smelling skin, hair, body, baby and health care is growing under the sun, right outside our door- and that's what we want to bottle up and share with you.
The products we make here started out as Nicole's business, Sunkissed Botanics, until we decided to merge the two and create "Nourish Farm Botanicals".
All our products are handcrafted here at our farm in Turlock, in small batches. We use these products on ourselves and our children on a daily basis and have been doing so for many years.
ALL OUR PRODUCTS CONTAIN //
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100% natural ingredients
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90% organic or homegrown ingredients
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100% recycled: packaging, labels, shipping materials, paper products
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High quality, organic essential oils
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High quality, first, cold pressed oils
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High quality, organic + ethically sourced herbs (some are wildharvested or from our garden)
ALL OUR PRODUCTS ARE //
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Created with love and a smile
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Paraben- free
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Chemical- free
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Without synthetic fragrances, dyes or preservatives
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Not tested on animals
