Business Spotlight: Eagle Valley Farm produces goodness from ground up

As in elsewhere across the country, farms in Nevada are dwindling. But Carson City residents Casey and Rachel Sipe are keeping the agricultural vocation alive.

While others their age are embracing university life and urban technology, the Sipes are cradling newborn livestock and growing something from the soil beneath their feet.

Rachel Sipe, 21, is currently enrolled in the agricultural science program at the University of Nevada, Reno. She is a third generation farmer whose family has worked the same land in East Carson City for decades.

When she and 24 year-old Casey married, they decided farming was how they wanted to make their living in the community.

So they started Eagle Valley Farm on a plot of land Rachel’s father gave them.

Today the young couple farms more than 500 acres near the Carson River, growing grass and alfalfa hay as well as raising livestock for meat.

From broiler chickens to egg-laying hens, pigs and beef cattle, the Sipes offer Northern Nevada a diverse menu of locally raised protein products that are fresh from farm to table.

The animals are fed naturally, the Sipes said, eating mostly on grass, reclaimed feed products, and organic fig bars. But they don’t define their operation as organic.

"We're beyond organic,” Casey said. “We get a lot of our feed locally, and anything recycled is always better. A lot of our pens are made out of recycled material."

The Sipes said they practice sustainable farming, which means leaving nothing to waste. Everything from the livestock pens to their feed and bedding mulch come from recycled materials that may otherwise have ended up in a landfill.

“We try to utilize things that normally would have contributed to a landfill,” Rachel said. “We want to produce something that will better the land, improve the ground and keep the water clean.”

Their livestock are fed Nature's Bakery fig bars, the Sipes said, which are certified organic and obtained locally in Carson City.

Other feed products come from bread obtained from Franco Baking Company in Sparks, they said, and brewer's grain from a cold-water brewery at Lake Tahoe.

“Most of that would have ended up in a landfill otherwise,” Rachel said. “The bread has been on store shelves for 3-4 days, and the brewer's grains would have otherwise been dumped, too.”

The livestock’s nutritional regimen gives their meat a higher quality, the Sipes said.

The broiler chickens, Casey said, eat a lot of grass, which helps to eliminate many toxins in their meat and make it leaner, too.

“The grass helps keeps them very clean and more active,” he said.

The beef cattle are also leaner, Rachel said, but their meat retains more water and preserves marbling texture because of their nutrition.

“They are not as fat as your typical grain-fed steer,” she said. “They are about half way between grain-fed and grass-fed. But the meat won't be as dry as pure grass-fed beef. Plus, there will be adequate marbling.”

Today the Sipes aren’t just farming. They are now selling their products to customers throughout the Great Basin region.

In February of this year, they decided to open a retail operation from which to direct sell their products to area consumers.

Located inside the Colonial Village business center at 1801 E. William Street, Eagle Valley Farm shares space with The Beekeeper.

Casey said having even just a small retail operation is helping them to realize their dream of sustainable farming.

"We feel it's a lot better way to raise a quality product, get paid for it, and make a living from farming,” he said. "We're staying pretty diversified."

Rachel said direct sell is also a much more personable way of doing business with their customers, because it gives them a chance to build a personal relationship from the counter.

“We find it fulfilling to deal with people face-to-face,” she said. “They know we are providing a good quality product, and we are able to actually meet the people who eat our meat.”

But the Sipes believe in keeping their products and business local to Northern Nevada. They do not export out of the region.

“This business is entirely based on our community,” she said. “We want to sell just to the Great Basin area.”

The Sipes said their vision of farming harkens back to the old days in America when farms were both smaller and more diversified.

“We want to get back to the local farm that people knew and loved about 60 years ago,” Rachel said. “That kind of movement has been dying out. We just want to keep that going.”

This means utilizing the land for more than just a singular, specialized purpose as many industrialized and heavily commercialized farming operations do today, they said.

“Our farm is a poly culture rather than a mono culture with all of the animals,” Casey said. “The chickens help with disease from the cows and the pigs. Everything works together a lot better.”

For more information about Eagle Valley Farm, like it on Facebook here or visit its retail space inside The Beekeeper, 1801 E. William Street, Suite 1. The Sipes can also be reached by telephone at 775-233-4727 or 775-443-5035.