Anton Organic – Scratchgravel Farm

We are a small farm and would like to share that buying our eggs, chickens, nursery plant starts, and produce makes you a part of the cycle of regenerative and traditional organic practices and supports the small farms we need to build a local food system. Our feed is certified organic from northern Montana. The birds are in the barn in the winter, with free range access outside on the days they choose to go out! They are on pasture during spring through fall and roaming in their mobile chicken tractor. This spreads chicken manure throughout our pastures, restoring and building soil a little more each year and managing weeds at the same time. We are building habitat for a variety of species. We also raise meat chickens in the spring to fall outside in roaming pens on pasture. In winter, we use coarse sawdust bedding from a local lumber mill in the barn hen coop. The bedding is deep through the winter months and is turned outside to compost in the spring. Compost from the previous winter is ready in the spring and is added to our garden, greenhouse, and our homemade potting soil. We start veggies, flowers, and herbs and offer our nursery sale starting in May of each year. Compost is lightly hand raked into garden surface to maintain the soil microbiome. We add ash to our garden made from burned weeds, timber, and sagebrush managed from our farm. The ash rebuilds mineral content to the soil and increases mineral content of the food. We also spread compost into select pasture in areas as we continue to repair damaged ground from past overgrazing practices. Our garden feeds our family when in bounty and has slowly grown each year with more offerings of fresh produce to others and local restaurants. The excess produce we don’t eat or sell, as well as foliage and weeds, get reincorporated back into the chickens diet. We also offer other products when available: live 1 year+ old layer hens, canned food, raw dog food from ground chicken, compost, and fall planting garlic.