We started buying raw milk from Edwin Shank of Shankstead EcoFarm in 2007. Edwin has been 100% certified organic since that time and we and our customers have come to love his milk. Many of the photos you see of cows on Trickling Springs site comes from his farm. I hope you enjoy learning more about him, his family and the Shankstead EcoFarm through this interview below.

TSC: Hi Edwin, Thanks for taking the time today to talk to me about your family farm operation.

Shankstead: Hey, no problem… Any time.

TSC: First, can you tell me about your family?

Shankstead: Sure. My wife Dawn and I have been on the farm here since August 1990. We took over the farm from my Mom and Dad when we were both 20 and had just returned from our wedding trip. Literally! While we were on our wedding trip, my parents moved out of the farm house and got it ready for us. So, the only move I have ever had in my life is a move from my boyhood bedroom down the hall to the master bedroom!

Dawn was not a farm girl. She was a secretary in an accounting office and the biggest animal her family had was a cat so it was quite an adjustment for her to learn to trust these big cows. But she was very brave and did a super job and still does. We worked together milking the cows twice a day, every day, 7 days a week. I never knew till latter how those big cows scared her at first. I had grown up with them and they seemed very normal to me.

The Lord has blessed Dawn and me with 6 healthy children…five boys and one girl. I guess he knew we needed lots of boys for the farm work!

TSC: When did your family start farming this land?

Shankstead: My great grandparents moved to the farm with their family somewhere around 1910. I’m not sure of the exact date. I should look it up more exactly sometime. I know that Dawn I are fourth generation owners which make our children the 5th generation to grow up on the farm.

TSC: When did you start helping out on the farm?

Shankstead: Well, my earliest memories of life on the farm start when I was 2 years old though I guess I didn’t do much “helping” at that age! My earliest recollection of actual work is of feeding the calves their milk each evening. I’m guessing I was about 5 or 6 years old. We had these special galvanize buckets with rubber nipples on the side and a hook on the other side to hang the bucket on gate so the calf could drink. It was my job to fill the buckets to the correct level, carry them to the pens and make sure the calves all drank their share. We had several calves in one pen and it was quite a job keeping the bigger, faster drinking calves from stealing the milk from the younger calves. Lots of memories!

TSC: So your family has been farming this ground about 100 years. When did you switch to organic farming?

Shankstead: The first generation, my great grandparents, farmed organically except they didn’t call it that. (Chemical fertilizers, insecticides, herbicides, pesticides, fungicides didn’t come into common usage on farms until after World War II.) In 2005 Dawn and I made the decision to convert the farm back to a totally chemical free organic farm.

TSC: Why did you choose to grass-feed your cows?

Shankstead: A primary organic principle is allowing the animals under our care to express their philosophical distinctiveness. Grass feeding cows is a part of respecting the cowness of the cow. Grass is what God designed cows to eat. Cows are ruminants, one of nature’s miracles. The sun grows grass. Cows eat it and convert that solar energy into milk as the cow ruminates. When they ruminate, they ferment the grass in one stomach; then they chew their cud (a ball of partially digested grass), which mashes the fibers some more; then they swallow it again for another round of fermentation. Eventually a cow’s food passes through four stomachs. Cows that live on grass are naturally healthy cows. Healthy cows make healthy milk.

TSC: Are your cows on pasture all of the time?

Shankstead: Our cows always can go to the pasture and are always grass fed, but because of the winters here in PA, there are times when there is not much grass in the pasture. But the cows still go out for fresh air, sunshine and exercise.

TSC: So, if there is little grass in the pasture, how do your cows eat grass in the winter?

Shankstead: As you know, during the grazing season from (late March through November) the cows are eating fresh growing, 100% certified, organic grass and legumes (clover and alfalfa). During the bounty of the summer, our organic pastures grow faster than the cows can eat it. We closely watch the maturity of the extra pastures and then cut them at the ultimate nutritional point and store the grass for winter feeding. Some of this grass we dehydrate (by leaving it lie in the sun) until it’s below 15% moisture. This dry, organic pasture, we store in the barn as dry hay. It keeps well since it is very low moisture and makes excellent winter feed for the herd. Another method we use for storing the summer’s bounty is to pack still moist grass (65%moisture) into large plastic bags. (called AG bags) After packing the grass into the bag, we seal the bag tightly to exclude all oxygen and allow it to go through at least a 60 day ferment. The end product smells a little like sauerkraut. The cows just love it! Like all stored or preserved food, the dry grass and the fermented grass is not quite as perfect as the raw, fresh, summer time diet. So during the winter we feed some additional, 100% organic nutritional supplements. These include vitamin A,D&E, vitamin B, vitamin C, kelp, selenium, iron, calcium to name a few. We work with a professional cow nutritionist to be sure that the complex nutritional needs of the cows in the various stages of pregnancy and lactation are always being met so that their health and immunity is always at its peak.

TSC: What has been your most satisfying experience of farming this way?

Shankstead: Watching the happy cows literally dance into a new pasture…listening to them eagerly tearing off huge mouthfuls of lush grass…seeing my children’s love of farming revive and thrive…noticing the unbelievable amounts of earthworms in the now chemical free soil… waking up each morning knowing that we are “dressing and keeping” God’s creation instead of using and abusing it…hearing the thankfulness in a mother’s voice and feeling the emotion from a mothers heart when she thanks us with tears for growing this kind of food for her family.

TSC: You have a farm store here where you sell raw milk, raw cheese, Trickling Springs’ cream & butter, your own fresh eggs and other whole foods. Can anyone that wants to stop by?

Shankstead: Sure. Come on over. We are open from 8 am to 6 pm every day except Sunday. If you have more questions, we’d be glad to answer you in person. You can get directions to Shankstead EcoFarm here

TSC: Do you give tours?

Shankstead: Yes, we do. Our tour season is from May through October. If you are interested, please visit the tour page of our web site for all the details and to schedule a tour.

TSC: Well, thanks for taking this time to tell us about your family and farm. We love getting your milk and know that our customers love knowing where their milk comes from and that you take as much enjoyment in producing it as they do drinking it.

Shankstead: Well, it’s like this, we all need each other. Our family at Shankstead EcoFarm has poured our complete energy into our organic whole foods dream. But our dream to produce this wonderful food would be utterly pointless if families like yours did not value it. So, thank you. The consumers are, without a doubt, the most important player in this game. Never underestimate the tremendous power of food choice. There is strength in grocery shopping! Working together, we can improve our environment, health, quality of life, the quality of our animal’s lives, and the social fabric of our communities…one bite at a time.

All the best of food and blessings ~ Edwin Shank