OUR STORY
...and to the dirt we must return.
For as long as we can recall, we have had an affinity for nature, animals, and yes, for the dirt. We, like many other Americans, have agrarian ancestors somewhere in our not too distant past - grandparents who gardened, taught Ag Class, raised cattle, and so on.
so, who are we?
We are Matt & Keven Wigley (Girl Keven as we sometimes refer to her). We are a husband and wife team with three young kiddos in tow and reside in the Weatherford, TX area. We've grown green thumbs and have an itch that can only be scratched by being out under the sun, feet in the dirt, and wind in our hair. We both grew up in the north-Texas area, but met each other in the Midwest. During the crazy times of 2020, we moved back to Parker County, which is where Matt grew up. Current day, Keven works full time as a mother and teacher of the Wigley children and serves part time at our local church, and Matt continues to work in corporate America as a writer supporting the family while this business grows.
A love for gardening that was fostered during our time in the Midwest transformed into a desire to actively offer a solution to our broken food system. We both had roots in agriculture with grandparents and great-grandparents ranching and farming, but we grew up in the suburbs and the city. Through years of avid reading and researching we learned from the best mentors - Joel Salatin, Greg Judy, Gabe Brown, Richard Perkins, and the like. Through their printed and online educational material we learned and practiced what we could in our given context (can we get an amen for packing in raised garden beds while renting?), and this is how we discovered regenerative farming and management intensive grazing (MIG). In practice, this involves the farmer or rancher watching the land and moving livestock across it in frequent intervals based on the growth rate of the grass and season of the year. The process is light on machinery and synthetic inputs and heavy in human stewardship of nature's patterns.
As aspiring farmers with no land of our own, but a drive to practice MIG and regenerative principles, we had a very real problem to solve.
How do you farm and ranch when you have no farm or ranch?
The barrier to entry in agriculture is high if the price of entry is acquiring a land base. However, we realized there are copious untapped, vacant, and under-utilized land resources all around us AND, maybe more importantly, landowners who want to steward those resources well and be part of something local and meaningful. We seek to bring our regenerative farm to worn out, under-utilized, depleted fields to regenerate the land and bring good, nourishing food to our local community. We are a farm that is for the betterment of the fields, the animals, and the people.
About Farms for Fields
Farms for Fields was born under the weight of many convictions regarding our food, our economics, our community and cultural dynamics. We wanted to buy food and know where it came from. We wanted to shop at businesses owned and operated by real people with hands we could shake and faces we could see. We questioned the assumptions that bigger is always better and that what is cheap and convenient is what is most important. We wanted to trust that what we were eating and feeding our friends and family was good - for them, for the earth, and for the community. This problem of trust is not unique to us. There is a lack of transparency and honesty in our food system. Most of what we all buy and consume comes from faceless entities with big footprints, but little to no connection or accountability to our communities. That trust and accountability gap makes discernment as a consumer difficult, and allows a continuation of food production standards and practices that deplete the land and reap unhealth in animals.
Enter local, regenerative farming. Because small matters.
Small means local. Local is accountable and aware of the needs of the community. Small also means gradual changes, which amount to a substantial change not only for the community, but in the food we produce and the land we work to heal. Much of our land has been depleted, and it needs a gradual, steady input of what seems quite small and simple. It needs the right ratio of land to animals grazing, pooping, and plodding their hooves and feet on the grass.
Rest. Repeat.
By implementing these principles, Farms for Fields is an attempt to offer a viable alternative to our community. A flag planted in the wind to rally behind and begin changing the tide. We aren't saying you can't shop at the big box stores. We shop for things there too. We all have needs and wants and only so many dollars, which seem to buy us less each year. But if we want vibrant local communities and local businesses, then we need two things: buyers willing to support them AND actual local producers providing valuable goods and services.
We want to be a local producer that is more than a boutique, more than a fad, more than a good idea. We want to be your farmer, your trusted source of good, nutrient-dense meats. You can shake our hands and see our faces. You can see our animals and taste the difference. You can see the land change for the better. You can know that what you eat is good for you, for your kids, and for the land.
In a way, Farms for Fields is a return to our roots, to a place where most of us can find our family's humble beginnings: living in and by the stewardship of the land. For us right now, this looks like commuting to a field at dawn, feeding and moving livestock with our children, and making sure the toddler doesn't bite a cactus.
We'd be thrilled to have you join us in this mission.
Matt + Keven Wigley
100% local, Non-GMO, pastured poultry
Why chickens? Why not creatures that moo and oink or even baaa? Well, we certainly hope to raise those livestock and be able to provide those to our customers as well, but our beginning lies with the humble chicken. Most everyone enjoys chicken. It's versatile in the kitchen and easy on the wallet. AND it can't accidentally crush you or your kids out in the field. As a family operated business with many small children in-tow, the diminutive stature of the chicken works well for us.