Dr. Charlie’s go-to local farmer

Curtis Haderlie of Thayne, Wyoming’s Haderlie Farms is my go-to local farmer. His diversified farming techniques and the nutritious food the farm produces assist with the Osteopathic tenet, ‘the body is capable of self-regulation, self-healing, and health maintenance.’ Haderlie Farms grows various vegetables, herbs and cut flowers. My favorite items, the items I buy regularly, are raw cream, lard, Outdoor Insect Oil, bone in lamb chops and Liver Loving Tea. Haderlie Farms raises grass fed and finished beef and pork as well as eggs and honey in addition to selling raw milk from their herd of cows.

I believe a lot of the diseases and ailments my friends, family and patients at All Ages Osteopathy suffer from are due to poor nutrition. Even when people think they are eating well, they are often missing important nutrients. Some examples of the deficiencies I see the most are deficiency of the fat-soluble vitamins A, D, E, and K. These are the fat-soluble vitamins essential for optimizing immune function, maintaining a healthy cardiovascular system, and supporting more crucial parts of our physiology. Many people are deficient in these vitamins because they try to get their nutrients from synthetic forms such as ingredients labeled ‘enriched.’ While getting these vitamins from supplements is not ideal, it’s better than nothing. However, vitamins A, D, E, and K are in their most absorbable form when found in animal products rather than plant products. When we get nutrients from food, there is a synergy present in nature (the law of emergent properties) that makes the nutrients more absorbable. The tissues better utilize the nutrients because of the perfect proportions that nature created. Eating a nutrient dense diet from a reliable source can feel like an uphill battle in our modern world. Haderlie Farms disrupts this paradigm, making it extremely easy to eat a nutrient dense diet.

What’s so special about Haderlie Farms is their mineralized, biologically active soil that grows nutrient dense plants for both humans and animals. Their compost program is the ideal way to create less waste as well as produce foods rich in ‘post-natal chi.’ My goal is for you to get all your energy from ‘post-natal chi’ (nature and food), so you don’t need to draw from your inherent life force (prenatal chi). I believe this is the ultimate anti-aging strategy.

Haderlie Farms biologically active soil and nutrient-dense produce starts with the local community of composters. Instead of throwing your food scraps in the trash where it molds in a plastic bag, is trucked over state lines, and dumped into a landfill, Haderlie Farms wants you to put your food scraps into one of their sealed compost buckets. (This includes fruits, vegetables, meat, bones, and shells.) Then, drop off your bucket of compost at one of eight conveniently located pick up spots in the greater Jackson area on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. You’ll get a new, clean bucket in exchange. Haderlie Farms uses the compost to create soil for growing plants that feed both their customers and their animals. This cyclical farming program produces the most nutrient dense food possible.

The dietary principles that my family follows, and that I recommend to my patients at All Ages Osteopathy, is steeped in ancestral principles. Instead of relying on any trend diet or chic food products, I start by asking myself, ‘was this food around 100 years ago?’ If the answer is no, then I don’t eat it. Because our ancestors had significantly less chronic disease, I believe that looking to the past has the answers of what we should be putting into our bodies today. Our ancestors ate seasonally, locally, and whole (non-processed) foods. They didn’t pasteurize their dairy products and they ate the entire animal, not just muscle meat, but organ meat too. They relied heavily on fermented foods for preservation and gut health. They took care to make their grains more digestible by soaking them first.

It takes a lot of work for my husband and I to run a medical practice, strive to be homesteaders and keep up with our toddler - sometimes, it’s hard to even make it to the grocery store. Placing a recurring order with Haderlie Farms each week has made feeding my family a whole lot easier. They have an easy to navigate website and the compost drop off and grocery pick up is at a convenient spot and time in the Aspens parking lot right outside my office. Haderlie Farms also offers a home delivery and pickup service to make composting and eating like my ancestors easier than ever. I credit Curtis and Haderlie Farms for helping to bolster my family’s post-natal chi by making my goals of eating farm to table very doable for our busy family.

As well as selling various foods and running their prosperous compost program, Haderlie Farms owns Wind River Herbs and Wyoming Soaps. Since 1986, Wind River Herbs has been producing handcrafted herbal extracts and natural body care products from the Jackson Hole area. Best sellers include Outdoor Insect Oil, Calendula Cream and Arnica Sports Rub. The Arnica Sports Rub is unique because Wind River Herbs harvests fresh arnica plants within one mile of the manufacturing facility so they can process the plants and turn them into a healing cream within two hours of harvest. Wyoming Soaps utilizes their high-quality essential oils to produce rich, earth-oriented bath products. The soap is great for sensitive skin and holistic-minded individuals like us interested in using locally sourced and produced products.

There are many ways you can purchase products from Haderlie Farms. The best place to start is Farm Match – an online store where you can order your Haderlie Farms food, your compost bucket, Wind River Herbs and Wyoming Soaps. Here is the link: http://www.haderliefarms.com. You’ll schedule a pickup from one of eight pick up spots in Jackson or Wilson. Also, you can shop on the Slow Food of the Tetons Online Marketplace. Place your online order between Monday at noon and Tuesday at 6pm and then pick up your order at the Slow Food Farm Stand next to Twigs Nursery on Thursdays between 1pm and 5pm. In the summer, you’ll find Curtis and his team at the Town Square Farmer’s Market on Saturdays from 8am to 12pm from June 25th to September 24th.

On Thursday, July 14th, I attended the ‘Table on the Farm’ event at Haderlie Farms hosted by the Jackson Hole Farmer’s Market. Curtis and Chef Eric Cretal spent months preparing and growing the vegetables needed for the 7-course menu. It was an incredible event, highlighting what’s possible when we plant seeds with the intention of eating nutrient-dense foods with our local community.

Haderlie Farms gives me peace of mind. I don’t need to waste my time vetting quality at the grocery store, which was one of the most time-consuming parts of feeding my family prior to meeting Curtis. Because Haderlie Farms uses regenerative agriculture practices, I know that both my meat and vegetables are nutrient dense, plus I’m contributing to the health of my community by composting through Haderlie Farms and telling my patients at All Ages Osteopathy about Curtis’s wholesome work.

Note:

If you don’t live in the area, but are looking for a farm near you, please check out the website https://www.farmmatch.com for a listing of local farms in your area that offer pick up or deliveries.