Otter Creek Farm sits in upstate New York on land that once operated as a conventional dairy. Rebuilding it into a regenerative system didn’t start with labels or ideals, but with soil, animals, and limits. The work has meant accepting slower timelines, smaller scale, and constant trade-offs between productivity, animal welfare, and land recovery.
In this episode, first-generation farmer Elizabeth Collins and fifth-generation farmer Brad Wiley walk through how pigs, chickens, and cattle are rotated across the farm, how wallows and disturbance factor into regeneration, and why infrastructure decisions shape what’s possible more than theory ever could. The conversation moves through pasture poultry design, predator pressure, feed sourcing, and the nutritional trade-offs behind omega-3 and omega-6 ratios—along with how and why they test meat rather than rely on claims.
The episode also turns the lens toward consumers: why food labels fail, what responsibility shifts back to eaters in decentralized systems, and how trust is rebuilt through transparency rather than scale. Collins and Wiley speak candidly about mistakes, losses, and learning curves, offering a grounded look at regeneration as a long-term relationship with land, animals, and people—not a shortcut or a brand.
Follow This Farm
Otter Creek Farm,
Upstate New York
Website: https://agreenerworld.org/northeast/otter-creek-farm-johnsonville-ny/
Farm Stays: https://ottercreekfarmny.com/page/graceful-acres-farmstay
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gracefulacresfarmstay/
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