2023 at the Ranch: 8 Highlights from Our Regenerative Farm
As another year comes to a close at the Deeply Rooted Ranch, our hearts are full with joy at everything we achieved in 2023. This year was packed with community events, important upgrades, and ambitious new farm initiatives. So before we step into the next chapter of our journey, let's take a moment to acknowledge eight milestones from 2023.
1 - Community Farm Events
From guided ranch tours and sold-out family farm days to open-air movie nights, our calendar was filled with fun, immersive events at the ranch! It was immensely rewarding to organize occasions that brought our local community together, offering them not only a memorable time but also a first-hand look into regenerative farming practices.
And this is just the beginning!
In the coming year, we plan to bring you cooking classes, supper clubs, interactive farm activities, and lots more. Keep checking our upcoming 2024 events calendar and sign up for the experiences that catch your interest.
2 - Educational Field Trips
We were thrilled to have hosted homeschool co-op trips and school field trips to our ranch, offering young minds the chance to explore regenerative agriculture with hands-on farm learning and activities. Our class field trips feature a full day of engaging activities, including a guided farm tour, hands-on experiences in our market garden, and creative art projects.
For homeschooling families, our field trips are designed to provide both parents and children with a day of regenerative farming fun at our ranch. Additionally, our Farm School program, spread across eight weekly sessions, helps connect theoretical education with experiential, place-based learning to emphasize the importance of living regeneratively and caring for our soil and ecosystem.
We strongly believe in equipping the next generation with the knowledge and tools to address challenges like climate change and soil degradation. If you're a homeschooling family or planning class trips for 2024, reach out to us– let's work together to make it a memorable experience!
3 - Upgraded Our Private Events Space
We’ve been working hard to renovate our multi-day events spaces and are ready to open our doors! We are fully equipped to host large groups for special events, weddings, or relaxing farm retreats. Our 120-acre farm provides ample space to unwind with your special people immersed in a scenic landscape.
With our newest upgrade, we have made the space wheelchair accessible, finished our bunk houses to expand our accommodation, and completed our commercial kitchen, ready to prepare delicious breakfast, lunch, and dinner with regeneratively grown produce.
If you'd like to plan your own single or multi-day group private event at the scenic backdrop of the Deeply Rooted Ranch, get in touch, and let us plan a custom event with you!
4 - Hosted the Fearless Farmers On-site Intensive
We are proud to be an on-site partner with Fearless Farmers to support their eco-literacy training programs. The online part of this program spanned 10 weeks in 2023 and equipped learners curious about regenerative farming with the place-based knowledge and skills needed to bring this transformative practice to their communities.
The program also includes the on-site intensive hosted at the Deeply Rooted Ranch! It is a 5-day intensive that provides participants with days filled with hands-on experience at our regenerative farm, allowing them to gain a deeper connection to their online curriculum.
If you’d like to know more about the Fearless Farmers Program and sign up for their 2024 waitlist, you can do so here.
5 - Leveled Up The Market Garden
We’ve been busy behind the scenes enhancing our market garden to bring you a wide range of delicious vegetables and food products year around. Alongside our regeneratively grown veggies straight from the farm, we added new food items like pickles, sauces, sauerkraut, and kimchi to our offerings this year!
If you're interested in receiving weekly farm boxes in Spring 2024, sign up here to be notified when we have these available. And in case you want to shop for veggies in person, you can find us at the First Friday Market at Downtown Brenham on the first Friday of every month beginning in February! We’ll have freshly harvested veggies waiting for you.
We also took proactive action to make our regenerative market garden more robust and resilient. In 2023, we initiated seed-saving efforts to enhance the quality of our crops and ensure a bountiful harvest each year, making us more self-sufficient.
That's not all – we've also set up a hoop house and greenhouse to start our own plants right from seed!
6 - Boosted Our Community Communications
Bringing about real change in how we grow our food and heal our soil can only happen when the entire community comes together. This is why we invested this year in enhancing our communications to build a strong connection with our local community. Along with hosting movie nights, Family Farm Days, and participating in the Winter Wreath competition in downtown Brenham, we are a part of Burton, Washington County, and Round Top Chambers.
We also launched a brand new website that makes it much easier to showcase our events calendar and products for online sale. This new platform allows our community to sign up for upcoming events easily.
7 - Expanded Our Animal Husbandry Arm
Regenerative agriculture and livestock rearing have shared a symbiotic relationship for ages. We've deepened this connection in several ways on the farm this year.
First off, we’ve established our very own apiary with four honey bee hives and multiple native bee habitats to support pollination efforts and offer you farm-fresh honey soon.
Our lambing operations have also begun, with nutrient-dense grass covering our 120 acres to graze on! We expect to have more than 100 lambs roaming about come springtime!
The addition of the onsite chicken processing facility, DRR Processing, isn’t just for our chickens. We are partnering with other farms to enhance the whole local farming community’s capacity to bring you quality farm-raised meat.
Stay tuned for more information by joining our email list
8 - Kicked Off Our Livestock Guardian Program
A vibrant regenerative farm is incomplete without happy, active furry friends running about! That's why we've kicked off our livestock guardian program, training incredible pups born on Apricot Lane Farm, where the iconic film "Biggest Little Farm" was filmed in California. These pups not only bring us joy but will play a vital role in guarding our sheep and livestock.
Final Thoughts for 2023
As we celebrate our achievements for the year, we can’t help but be grateful to have a tight-knit community that inspires everything we do at the ranch! We are ready to sow the seeds of regenerative farming in 2024, and we're excited to see you in the new year. Here's to a bountiful, regenerative future for us all!
