SonRise Ranch brings sustainable meats to Carlsbad

CARLSBAD — Carlsbad Village Farmers Market will not carry grass-fed, free-range meat at its Saturday market, with SonRise Ranch meats as its newest vendor.
SonRise Ranch farms 43 acres in Monterey County’s Carmel Valley just north of Big Sur. SonRise Ranch uses ranching methods in which the cows, pigs and chickens are raised in a rotational micro-ecosystem. This system demands very little from the environment and produces naturally raised meats.
Carlsbad Village Farmers Market is in the public parking lot at 2930 Roosevelt St. between Carlsbad Village Drive and Grand Avenue. The markets run every Wednesday and Saturday from 1 to 5 p.m.
Producing the natural meat starts with California sun and fresh water pumped from wells to irrigate the native grass pastures. The ranch uses no pesticides on the grass, instead the chickens roam free to feed on the bugs that eat the grass during the day. At night, the chickens stay in portable chicken tractors (a type of coop) to protect them from predators. These tractors are rotated around the farm so that the chicken waste is dispersed to add nutritional value to the ground. This natural fertilizer helps the native pastures grow healthy grass, which they then feed to the cows.
SonRise cows feed mostly on this pasture grass, sometimes hay, but never corn. Cows who feed on grass produce a rich milk in large quantities, far more than their calves can drink. The excess milk is then fed to the pigs, who also live in the pastures where they root around and till the land where the grass grows. The milk-fed pork, raised humanely in open spaces, are also fed pre-consumer waste (like cut produce leftovers from restaurants).
None of the animals are given antibiotics that would interfere with their natural growth and the entire rotational micro-ecosystem is co-dependent on the earth, the sky and the natural habits of these animals. As a result, humanely raised, free-range, natural meat is grown.
SonRise Ranch is increasing awareness and recognition of grass-fed and free-range products by bringing their natural meats to local farmers’ markets. Carlsbad Village Farmers Markets has added SonRise Ranch meats to their
As customer demand increases, SonRise plans to expand into the Wednesday market as well.
For more information contact Christy Johnson, at (760) 687-6453.