The Farm

Rosy Tomorrows is a sustainable farm using organic and holistic practices, where we raise animals as close to nature as possible.

Our livestock are from ‘heritage breeds’ — 100% grass-fed Longhorn cows, Red Wattle pigs, American Guinea Hogs, Australorp chickens, and Slate, Bronze, and Royal Palm turkeys. All are on the “Watch” and “Threatened” list from the American Livestock ConservancyFree to roam in the fresh air and graze our pastures, each animal remains naturally healthy. No hormones, no steroids and no antibiotics here. Our heritage breed chickens, pigs, and turkeys are fed an all organic diet free of soy and GMO’S.

What we do give them is lush, green, nourishing grass — lots of it. And unlike conventional farms, we don’t need to treat our pastures with chemical fertilizers, herbicides or pesticides — and it’s all down to the way we work in harmony with nature. Farming practices such as pasture rotation and increasing breed diversity (even of pasture grasses) play a key role, as do ongoing efforts to naturally enhance our soil’s fertility. It’s all about nurturing the environment around us.

And what’s best for the pasture and best for the animals is best for people too — healthier animals produce healthier meat. It’s lower in calories, has more ‘good fats’, and has more vitamins and minerals (read more about that here and here).

Cattle Pigs Chickens Garden Farm Ambassadors

 

Certified 100% Grass-Fed Beef

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Let’s talk about our certified 100% grass-fed beef. The American Grassfed Association, the organization that certifies us, defines grassfed products from ruminants, including cattle, bison, goats, and sheep, as “those food products from animals that have eaten nothing but their mother’s milk and fresh grass or grass-type hay from their birth until harvest.”

We use the term certified 100% grassfed” to make it clear that the cows on our farm are fed mother’s milk and grass, and only grass (or hay) for their entire lifetime.

Another term to confuse consumers is becoming more and more popular: “grass-finished” has gained traction and people ask us all the time is our beef grass-finished. Yes it is. The term, grass finished implies the same thing but grass-finished beef is not 100% grass-fed beef. Confused? Many industrial producers of beef finish their animals with grass after feeding corn or other grains for most of the cow’s life. Then they are sent to be processed, so they are grassfed at the end of their lives, but NOT grassfed for 100% of their lives.

When choosing beef, we hope you look for the AGA certification. Certified 100% Grass-fed Beef. That’s the best way to cut through the labeling confusion to choose the best and healthiest beef for your family.

 

Want to learn more about grass fed animals and heritage breeds? Read Grass-fed basics, Beyond factory farming, Heritage foods USA, Pacific Standard.

Why heritage breeds?

The livestock and poultry at Rosy Tomorrows are the same breeds found on farms of yesteryear — but, heart-warming as that may sound, choosing these ‘heritage breeds’ is not due to nostalgia. Heritage farming is less about looking backwards, and more about moving forwards. And it’s also about taste…

Savoring the past…

Heritage breeds taste better. Discerning food-lovers know that each different breed offers its own distinctive flavor, something you won’t get from their factory-farmed cousins. That’s because factory farming breeding programs are less ‘survival of the fittest’ and more ‘survival of the quickest … to market’. Unfortunately, this focus on breeding animals to fatten as fast as possible can mean losing other desirable traits along the way. Important characteristics such as flavorsome meat and disease resistance can inadvertently be bred out, leading to bland meat from livestock pumped full of antibiotics and steroids. Such farming strategies mean that only one main breed of chicken, cow or pig is generally farmed across the USA, while the diverse range of hardier, tastier, slower-growing heritage breeds have disappeared from pastures and started to appear on endangered animals lists. It’s hard to believe, but The Livestock Conservancy is working to protect almost 200 individual breeds from dying out and Slow Food has developed the Ark of Taste, to champion distinctive and delicious foods to stop them disappearing from our plates.

…and saving the future.

The good news is that Rosy Tomorrows Heritage Farm is the perfect place for our local breeds of heritage livestock to thrive and multiply. Their genetic traits have been developed over time to make them highly adapted to roam the fields and folds of Florida, safe behind our white picket fence. And, let’s say it again, these breeds taste good! We eat them to savor them, of course. But by doing so, by farming them, we also eat them to save them … for all our Rosy Tomorrows.

About us

Rosy Tomorrows Heritage Farm was founded by Rose O’Dell King. Her experiences as a former sheep farmer, French Culinary Institute trained chef, certified Sommelier, and food and wine columnist, have all taught Rose that good food depends on good ingredients — and it is only the very best ingredients with the very best provenance that make the very best dishes. Rose wanted healthy, good quality food for her family, produced in an honest, wholesome way that causes no harm. But when you trace many of today’s basic meal ingredients back to their source, and come to understand food production systems, then the compromises that are being made grow clear —  inhumane treatment of animals; routine use of antibiotics; decreasing breed diversity. And for what? Poor quality meat and bland flavor. But Rose also discovered a small group of local farmers quietly dedicated to growing the choicest selection of fresh produce and heirloom vegetables. She wanted to celebrate these small producers and connect them to local buyers. So, she founded and became the first president of Slow Food Southwest Florida, a local chapter of the worldwide organization dedicated to good, clean and fair food (and why we’re still members of Slow Food today). With local knowledge spreading, so did the desire for better food. With more flavor. Food that has been produced in harmony with nature, better for individuals, their community and the planet. After searching for nearly a year, Rose found the picturesque acreage here in North Fort Myers, with sprawling grandfather oaks draped in spanish moss, the beautiful vistas and the now iconic lines of white fencing – it was here, on just over 100 acres that she knew she could raise the very best food. Organically, holistically, sustainably, humanely, and as close to nature as possible. There’s been a lot of dreaming, a lot of planning, and of course a lot of hard work going on behind the white picket fencing to ensure Rosy Tomorrows Heritage Farm is the very best farm it can be.

Rosy Tomorrows Heritage Farm is proud to be a member of Slow Food USA, The Livestock Conservancy and Local Harvest, and work to support their aims through our farm.

Farm Ambassadors

Talking about our farm wouldn't be complete without mentioning some of our biggest characters. In addition to cattle, pigs, and chickens, we have a family of heritage breed miniature donkeys. Led by the matriarch of the family, Blossom, along with her two children Humphrey and Margaret, they graze in the cattle pastures - eating the coarse roughage and fibrous vegetation the cattle leave behind. The donkeys are incredibly friendly and have a soft spot for being groomed and the occasional treat.