My name is Pete Burns. I am married to the best woman in the world, Tara, and we have 5 boys, Micah age 11, Patrick age 10, Casey age 8, Joel age 6, and Tommy age 2.
Originally from Pennsylvania, I was born and raised on a produce farm in the big woods country of north central PA. Always enjoying livestock more than raising produce, I pushed my parents to get me some chickens, and then later pigs and eventually beef cattle. At age 16 I began an apprenticeship with Joel Salatin at Polyface Farm in Virginia. While spending a year there, I learned a great deal about regenerative agriculture and how these practices can be implemented at a relatively large scale.
After to returning to my parents’ farm in Pennsylvania I began implementing the practices I had learned and greatly expanded the livestock side of the business. Eventually we started selling to high end restaurants in Pittsburgh as well as three local farmers markets. During this time Tara and I got married and started our family.
In 2019 we moved to Knoxville Tennessee where I worked as a farm manager for two years on an 880 acres start up farm operation. We then purchased our current property in Crossville Tennessee. We started homesteading here with chickens, pigs and eventually a dairy cow while I was working several other jobs, including truck driving and customer service for Coolbot.
Also, during this time we built an on-farm meat processing facility and today we run a small retail butcher shop as well as do custom poultry and red meat processing. Our one dairy cow turned into a herd (because you can’t just have one cow) and we sell raw milk from five jersey and jersey cross cows. We also raise and process broiler chickens, turkeys, pigs, and sheep on our 10 owned acres and 15 rented acres.
Having long been a student of soils, ecosystems and soil regeneration, I am currently taking soils science classes through the Soil Food Web School and will soon be a certified Soil Food Web Consultant. I am also certified through Select Sires to perform artificial insemination in cattle, both dairy and beef.
Tara has a degree in marketing and is an invaluable partner in the marketing of our businesses. She grinds grain and bakes and cans for our household. She also runs a pottery and ceramics studio and homeschools our boys.
Our life is a crazy, busy, hectic life but we love what we’re doing. There are always new adventures, new things to learn and new people to meet and we strive to bring glory to God in all that we put our hands to.