Brrrr…this year sure has started off to be a cold one! Just ask any of our domestic animals as they are pushing through the door to curl up by the wood stove. As the wonderful 16-incher snowfall is slowly melting, we are pushing our way into the door as well!

The mornings begin with us donning our warmest layers – we’re talking long underwear, knee-high socks (‘Darn Tough’ socks as Noah so loves), thermal shirts under fleece under winter jackets, accessorized with neck warmers, hats, and waterproof gloves. Sometimes, I’m sure we could pass for marshmallow men and women. But, at least we’re warm and ready to face that brisk air on our cheeks. Primrose, our family milk cow, is now getting milked in the mornings which can be quite challenging when EVERYTHING is frozen. After milking and washing out supplies at the spigots because all of the hoses are frozen solid, a walk around the yard is necessary to break the ice for the ole girl to get some water. And she follows us around too, right at our tail to get some fresh water as it comes down to her water bowl. She drinks as the droplets are freezing on her whiskers. So cute….

Then after milking, breaking ice, feeding the goats and horses (who are so appreciative they seem like they’re going to burst through the gate), breaking ice for the laying hens, gathering eggs, and giving the yardbirds a little feed, it’s time to stock the freezer! As if being outside wasn’t cold enough! But, you know what? We’re ALIVE. Breathing cold, fresh, mountain air that we are so blessed to breathe.

We can’t help but know we are doing this for a reason – that reason being our loyal and new customers who search out local, healthy meats for their families and stumble upon us. We thank you. We look forward to seeing you on the farm this Spring and Summer, and look for our Spring mailing coming at ya in a couple of months. We do have fully stocked freezers of our beef, pork, and poultry (although we are out of ground beef at the moment), ready to be taken home to your families to fill bellies and warm hearts.

Hot off the press! We made it to the front page news! If you haven’t seen the wonderful article in the Lynchburg News & Advance “Lifestyle” section of the Sunday paper click here. Sarah and Kim came out last Thursday to join us in beginning our 3-day adventure of turkey processing, and they were troopers! The weather was chilly, rainy, and they showed great patience while we worked all of our kinks out. We would like to thank them for taking time to see for themselves what we do, in order to relay that truthfully to the public to increase awareness.

On that note, and with the season coming to a close, we’d like to thank all of our customers – stretching from days ago to years ago for their continuing and loyal support for us, our products, and our vision. We greatly value the effort you make to provide yourselves and your families with food raised with your health in mind, as well as respect for the animal that provided it.

We usually close the season with a Holiday Open House in December, but this year we are “rescheduling” this event for the early part of spring to kick the new 2010 season off. If you are on our mailing list, you will be receiving more information about this in our Spring newsletter coming out in a few months, so keep your eyes peeled for that.

Our saloon farm store will continue to be open throughout the winter with a full inventory of our grass-only beef, pastured pork, and whole pasture-raised chickens. Please don’t hesitate to come on out – we have all you need for those deliciously hearty soups to keep souls and hearts warm during the upcoming season. We look forward to seeing you on the farm. Have a wonderful Holiday season full of peace, love, and joy.

Take a look at our 2009 Turkey videos! The first video captures the turkeys moving into their space, followed by the turkeys continuing to move and enjoying their own all-you-can-eat salad bar, and then settling into their new area of the pasture munching on a little healthy feed.



The turkeys are thriving on multiple species of grasses, herbs, and legumes growing from balanced soil. They’ve been supplemented with special order Virginia-grown, nonGMO (look it up if you don’t know what that is) feed. Their water has been spiked with organic, raw apple cider vinegar every third day to balance the pH and ensure a healthy gut. We move them to new grass every third day as well.

We’re honored to have raised these turkeys for around one hundred families. We take our job very seriously and appreciate your trust and support. The turkeys will be hand-dressed and prepared to cook and share with the families who have reserved one for their holiday celebration(s) this year. All of the turkeys have been spoken for this year, but please check with us in the spring if you’d like to reserve one for next season.

Our freezers will remain stocked with grass-only beef, pastured pork, and whole chickens. Look for our Mobile Meat Market schedule coming soon. We will bring the meats to town this winter for those “too busy” to come to the farm…. Fresh air can do you a lot of good at times, and we’d love to see you on the farm breathing it in!

Hello everyone! We just wanted to send an announcement out that the farm store will be closed this Saturday, October 10th. So, unless you are willing to get tangled up in a wedding tent, please make arrangements to come out at another time. Thanks for your understanding, and we’ll see you soon!

It’s been a while since we’ve checked in, and we’ve got some exciting stuff going on!

Topping our list is something we have been talking about for some time now, and now we can stop talking and start eating! WE HAVE GRASS-ONLY, ALL BEEF HOT DOGS!! Yes, folks, it’s true. Come on out and see them for yourself. They are delicious! And, you won’t have to ask the question, “What ARE hot dogs really made of?” And the comedian at the table ALWAYS says something that will kill any appetite… With these dogs, you KNOW you’re eating something pure & trustworthy, and are actually good for you.

Also adding to our list of exciting stuff are new Pork products. We have added Mild & Hot Italian Sausage – sold in links and by the pound, our regular Pork Sausage link-style, Bone-In & Boneless Pork Loin Roasts, and Country-Style Ribs. These new cuts along with all of our previous products (beef & pork) are overflowing and ready for you and your families!

Now, as for our Freedom Ranger chickens…. We are still taking orders for fresh chickens for September 23 and October 15th. These will be our last two dates of the season. Please let us know if you would like to reserve a chicken or two or add to an order. We also have frozen chickens available for purchase as well. Here is what some of our customers have had to say about these chickens:

“This is the best chicken I have ever had – I roasted one with tarragon and garlic, and it was fabulous. I really can’t say enough good about it – the meat was tender and juicy, and had a wonderful flavor!”

“Last Friday we enjoyed an amazing Mountain Run Farm dinner! We roasted a chicken slathered with melted butter, Herbs de Provence, celtic sea salt, and fresh ground pepper – fantastic! – made a beautiful salad with your homemade greens topped with homemade parmesan-peppercorn dressing, and devoured an ENTIRE loaf of the bread y’all made with about a 1/4 pound of butter! DELICIOUS! Keep ‘em coming!”

“Our entire family agreed that our first chicken this year was THE BEST, even though we’ve always thought that they were all good.”

We have our next Free Pasture Walk on September 23rd from 1-3pm, and again on October 15th from 1-3pm as well.

RESERVE YOUR TURKEY FOR THANKSGIVING BEFORE THEY GET *GOBBLED* UP!!

And…last but not least, we will have a booth set up at the Sedalia Country Fair this Saturday from 10-5pm at the Sedalia Center. Here we will have our chicken and turkey sign-up sheets, a plethora of information, our smiling faces, and Primrose keeping everyone company. Come on out – it is quite a fun, community and family-oriented event loaded with a beautiful landscape. See ya there!

Please come out and join your family, friends, and community at Mountain Run Farm on August 8th from 9-1pm. Ben will be giving informative Pasture Walks at 9am and 11:30am; good for those interested in getting something going in their backyards or those folks just plain curious. On the walk, you will see our line-up of chicken brooders featuring our Freedom Ranger chickens, a few beef cows getting fattened up on luscious green grass, a family of pasture-ized hogs living it up in fresh air, our family milk cow Primrose with her new son Dukes, a couple of bee boxes, laying hens dining on kitchen scraps, and MANY other dynamic features of our farm. Don’t forget your taste of sirloin cooked over the fire pit!

Please see our Farm Field Day flyer for more information on this community-filled day. We will have lunch available throughout the event. Please dress accordingly for walking in grass (some of it may be a little taller than used to… it’s nutritious food around here). Our Saloon Farm Store will be open and ready to provide you with our full selection of grass-only beef, pastured pork, whole chickens, farm fresh eggs, and various other items. Please email with any questions about the event, and we look forward to seeing you there!!

Hey there folks! We hope everyone is enjoying the rain as much as our grass and garden are…even the animals are getting their baths! We just wanted to update you on our going-ons for the next month or so…

BEEF IS IN!! We have a fully stocked freezer of grass-only beef, as well as our pork; mix in a dozen eggs and our salad mix and you’ve got a meal! All of which are available in our Saloon Farm Store during the week, and on Saturdays from 9-4.

We are so excited about our new breed of pastured chickens for this year – the Freedom Rangers. This heritage bird is proving to be much more resilient to Mother Nature, and they are something to watch. At any given moment, you can see some grazing, a few are running and jumping at least 2 feet in the air, and a couple roosters are facing off with their neck feathers raised! They are quite entertaining! Their meat has been raved upon and will provide you with both white and dark meat – as well as being raised locally with proper space, care, and non-GMO feed. If you would like to find out more about this new breed of chicken we are offering, please check out www.jmhatchery.com and look up “colored range.” We are still taking orders for all chicken dates this summer, and you can find the order form under the “Products” tab on our homepage. Our first chicken pick-up date is May 27th from 9-6pm, where we will also have our frozen meat products, fresh eggs, gourmet salad mix, and freshly baked bread available for purchase. Carly will also be offering a class on “Getting the Most from Your Whole Chicken” that evening from 5:30-6pm. This should be a very informative way to get your money’s worth, as well as provide numerous meals for yourself or your family. Give us a call or email for more information if you’re interested.

For all you Lynchburgians in the area, the Mobile Meat Market will be rolling into the city on May 19th! We will be setup at Mike Cundiff’s Mind Body Studio at 311 Rivermont Avenue from 4-7pm, with our stock of frozen meats, fresh eggs, gourmet salad mix, and freshly baked breads. Come on out and see us! 

We also wanted to remind you of our free guided tour on May 21st from 1-3pm. Here you will get a firsthand look at our Freedom Ranger chickens, as well as getting to meet our other farm friends! Feel free to bring out your family and friends, and spread the word as well!

One more thing…. Ben has fulfilled a ten-year desire to work cows on horseback by adding Paul and Black Jack to his flock of mouths to feed – he is quite tickled about this….

It’s springtime, it’s springtime and we love the sunshine!!! The baby chicks are here and are as healthy as we’ve ever seen. We are so happy that we made the switch to this breed of pastured chickens, the vitality and health is visible and they look so cute in their new brooder, a hoophouse that lets the real sunlight in to bathe the babies. As a matter of fact, we have our second batch arriving this week as well! My, how time flies! Our garden is in action as well. We have planted lettuce, spinach, radishes, carrots and have plans to put in potatoes this week. On top of that, the tomatoes, peppers, and eggplant seeds have been started, and are already showing signs of life.

We have a free tour coming up TOMORROW, March 25th from 1 to 3 pm. Come see these cute little peeps, smell the fresh garden soil, and get your spring on here at the farm!

Also, we have added two more dates for our very popular Mobile Meat Market. Come see us beside Benjamins Restaurant on Rt. 221 on Forest on April 3rd and April 17th from 3 – 6 pm. Take note that we are starting an hour later these times. Looking forward to seeing everyone!

Hello and Happy March! Our first batch of baby chicks will be here this
week and we’re excited to begin our new season. Because of some questions
arising from our newsletter, we wanted to be sure and clarify that our
honor system is still a valid way of doing business with us, if that is
what you’re used to. We are growing with new customers contacting us
everyday, so we wanted to set some hours for those of you who want some
help with your meats and those who are new to us. That way you’ll know
we’ll be here on Saturdays. And always feel free to call us during the
week and let us know when you’re coming and we’ll be here. But, if you
like the honor system, by all means, please use it! And thanks to
everyone who came out to support the Mobile Meat Unit! It was a success
and we’ll be back on March 13th.

Howdy Folks! Mountain Run Farm is coming to you! For a couple of weeks, Mountain Run Farm is rolling into Forest, VA and parking it in the field beside Benjamin’s Restaurant from 2 ’til 6pm. We will be fully stocked with grass-only beef, pastured pork, pastured chickens, and fresh, free range eggs. We would love to see you there! Click here: Mobile Meat Market Flyer – for more information, and feel free to spread the news! We’re excited!!