Our Story

Hi!  Thanks for stopping by our home on the web!

We are Evan & Sarah Rowland, and we would love to tell you a little about us...

We believe in the freedom to know what you are eating, where it was grown, how it was grown, and who grew it. Our goal is to produce the tastiest food from the healthiest soil, harvested at the peak of nutrition, and consumed by our community. This farm promotes transparency, and we would love the opportunity to show you where your food is growing.

Though our farm is relatively new, and always a work in progress, our roots run deep in Bryan County, Oklahoma. Evan went to school at Durant, and Sarah at Rock Creek, before heading off for degrees at Oklahoma State University. The partnership was made official on June 11, 2005. Both of us were raised on small farms and could not wait to get back on an Oklahoma farm after exploring the ranching possibilities in northern Oklahoma, New Mexico, and Colorado. In 2011, we started raising kids, cows, vegetables, fruits, chickens, hogs, and our own philosophy of what sustainable agriculture should be on our farm/ranch in Clarita, Oklahoma. The desire to be closer to family led us to purchase a farm just east of Durant, and we moved from Clarita in early 2018.

Getting into agriculture for ourselves began in the traditional way for southeast Oklahoma – we bought a little land, a herd of black cows, several loads of hay, and a feed bin. However, as the price for cattle fluctuated greatly over the years, we studied options for improving the sustainability of our farm, both economically and ecologically. What emerged is the realization that a broader, diversified, natural approach to farming would not only provide more consistent income, but would improve the health of our animals and our soil while allowing us to provide a healthier food supply to our community. With that realization began a transition to genetics better suited for our location, animal feeds better suited to the biological uniqueness of each species, and soil management better suited to producing healthy plants and produce. 

Gardening has always been something we have done to provide food for ourselves, but in 2013, Evan took vegetable production to a new level and began selling produce at Farmers Markets and the Clarita Greenhouse & Market. In summer 2015, we recognized the benefits of stacking enterprises. First came the free-ranging chickens, who assist us in getting rid of untold numbers of insects, larva, and the like, and convert this “bug problem” into tasty, nutritious eggs. Then came the hogs, our co-laborers who graze cover crops rooting out pigweed, nutsedge, Johnson grass, Bermuda grass, grub worms, and other common garden difficulties, and are happy to do it. The pigs also convert grass, grains, and culled produce to delicious pork.  

The animals on our farm are all consuming grass. However, hogs and chickens, like people, would starve on salad, but need forage in their diet to maintain their optimum health. This forage is responsible for the high levels of beta carotene, riboflavin, folic acid, and omega-3 fatty acids in the meat and eggs from pastured animals. 

Today, we are a small, family-operated farm producing pasture-based beef and pork, and organic fruits and vegetables. Since early 2016, our beef herd has been free of antibiotics and grain – our herbivores only eat plants. Also in 2016, we began feeding only non-GMO grains to our pastured poultry and butcher hogs and growing only non-GMO crops. Since moving to our new farm in 2018, our farming practices have completely transitioned away from chemical fertilizers to a natural and biological approach to soil fertility, creating healthier soils and healthier plants.  The food produced is sold in the surrounding community. Because food is local, it ripens naturally on the vine, is picked at the peak nutrition, and travels a minimum number of miles to consumers.