What makes you different from everyone else claiming to be "natural" and "sustainable"?
Our Values.
Our Passion.
Our Sense of Community.
We believe in keeping things simple, truthful, and straight forward. You’ve likely been so bombarded with all the marketing “buzz words” that many of these important ideas and concepts have lost their true meaning. We promise you that we won’t wrap our products up with a neat little bow of deceptive marketing. For example, when we say “all natural” we mean truly, purely, and completely natural. We don’t mean, “just barely made it to the cut-off line of standards to be able to legally call our product natural”.
The “kind” of farm we are has been a debated question since the very beginning. From the start we knew our goals, and we went in search of ways to best complete those goals. We added systems to our skills from regenerative agriculture, aquaculture, and vermiculture. (Just to name a few.) We took inspiration from permaculture, eco villages, and circular economies. We learned everything there is to know about dirt and what it takes to transform dirt into soil. No label can really define us, but in the end we settled on “Homestead”.
Our definition of all natural goes beyond organic. At Riverbottom Farms our standard is 100% natural. To be able to put the “Organic” label on our crops and products the USDA rules state that we only need to be at 95%. Even beyond that, we strive to produce only products that were grown/created within a self-sustaining cycle. (Like our circular ecosystem.) That means SO much more – no waste, each part of the process taking from the previous and then giving to the next, everything balanced and working in harmony. That also means no pesticides, organic or otherwise.
The FDA doesn’t regulate the terms “Natural”, “All-Natural”, or “100% Natural”. That means these statements have been used on product labels and in marketing campaigns when they maybe haven’t been all that truthful. So, we decided to come up with a list that a product must meet to be deemed “All-Natural” by our high standards.
To receive our certified seal, a product must meet all the following criteria of naturalness and sustainability.
1 – No pesticides (organic or otherwise) used in any part of the growing cycle of any ingredient
2 – No synthetic or artificial ingredients
3 – Nothing genetically modified (GMO) or bioengineered and no hormones or unnecessary antibiotics
4 – Each ingredient/piece must be part of a zero-waste philosophy. For example, the lard in the pie crust created from the fat of the pig that went to market.
5 – Every ingredient is grown/produced in a self-sustainable manner – that means in a way like nature might create within the cycle of an ecosystem.
When you see our RB Farms Certified seal you can rest assured that what you’re getting really is an all-natural product that was created completely through self-sustainable means.
At Riverbottom Farms we believe in raising our animals in a natural setting. When we let our animals live and roam with their natural instincts (versus caging them) it’s ultimately better for all of us – the animal, the farmer, the consumer, and even the environment!
Let’s take our chickens as an example. When we “pasture raise” them (versus the more common “free range”) our hens get a natural diet and a lot of sunshine. This makes our eggs healthier than free range, cage free, and caged chicken eggs. A study published on the National Institute of Health website found that pasture raised hens lay eggs that are higher in vitamins A & E and contain three times more omega-3 fatty acid content. Pasture chickens also do wonders for crops and soil. When they’re out foraging all day, they are naturally taking care of bugs that would otherwise eat crops. Plus, all that scratching for insects and worms is naturally turning and mixing manure into the soil, making it healthier.
If you’d like to know more about how we treat each animal on the farm visit our Blog Page, where all this info will be coming soon!