February 2023 Newsletter 1

How do you start your day? With a cup of coffee and some morning news?

For B.J. and Kristy Mozes and their three children, they start their days at about 5:30 A.M. to feed, water and pasture their 50+ pigs before going to school and work. When everyone is back that afternoon, the stalls are cleaned, the pigs are fed again and brought in for the night during colder months. This is the winter rhythm at Maple Leaf Farm in Greenville, PA: just a few hours of chores bookending their days.

During the summer much time is spent outside with the animals, farming cash-crops such as corn, soybeans, wheat, or hay, and maintaining the fences surrounding the pastures where their pigs forage and graze. Despite several hundred acres of land to tend to, the Mozeses are the day-in, day-out workers (other than help from a few family friends during the busy season.)

As rewarding as farm life can be, it can also be idealized. Behind each healthy pig or crop are hours of hard work. As Kristy sated, “For as many great things that happen [on the farm], there’s death, struggle, and a lot of things that aren’t ‘cute.’” But at the same time, raising their pigs is a true labor of love, as they ensure their animals have happy, healthy lives. “The way we raise these animals; they only have 1 bad day– the day they’re slaughtered– and they don’t know it’s coming,” said B.J. Occasionally, the family even names the pigs and will shed a few tears when their date comes, but understand it’s all part of the process.

Maple Leaf raises Brookshire pigs, a heritage breed, which means that they are among the first breeds of pigs used for agriculture before industrialization, much like heritage plants. Their liking of the rocky and muddy pastures the farm sits on helps the pigs develop strong, healthy muscles, which in turn makes the meat firm but tender. They do not farrow, and instead purchase piglets from a local breeder to limit cross-contamination and diseases which can arise from mixing pigs raised in different environments.

However, if the litters don’t do well, that means production is behind– a current challenge facing the farm. Upon getting their piglets at 8 weeks, it takes another 6-8 months for them to grow to full size. Slaughtering them too soon before or after they are fully grown can both yield financial losses. Between the rate at which pigs naturally grow and the challenge of acquiring a USDA butchering date by the time the pigs are ready, a lot rides on this uncontrollable aspect of raising livestock.

The Mozeses consider their pigs to be teachers of patience, both in their slow-growing process and their intelligence. “They are a lot smarter than cows, so learn to just let them take the lead and then you follow,” laughed Kristy.

In order to sell at retail outlets such as Edinboro Market, meat producers have to have their product slaughtered and butchered at a USDA inspected facility. There are few facilities like this in Western PA, which means that farmers have to book their butcher dates months in advance, despite the variability in growing times. Slaughterhouses being backed-up became such an issue during the Covid-19 pandemic that Maple Leaf decided to begin processing for other local farmers who were struggling to get dates. This was made possible due to PA’s “Custom” exemption, which means that meat can be processed at a non-inspected facility as long as it is slaughtered at a USDA inspected facility and is only being sold off the farm that raised it. Maple Leaf considers this extra work “worth it” because it contributes to a stronger local food system, and makes the connections between the farmers more visible to the public.

The majority of profits made from the Edinboro Market and other retail ventures go right back into the farm to better their operations. This includes purchasing feed, sawdust, or straw locally, as well as materials for barn repairs.

Maple Leaf Farm also deeply values putting their money into community efforts such as 4-H, donating money and half/whole pigs to their food pantry and most recently, helping their children’s soccer team purchase a new scoreboard. “We definitely want to pay it back to the community that supports us,” said B.J.

They encourage and invite people out to see what they do on the farm, and even offer customers to meet and pick their pig. For more information, follow them on FB or visit their website, http://mozesmapleleaffarm.com/