Field Trip to the Farm!

Posted by Dr. Jonathan Walker on September 4, 2009 under Uncategorized | Read the First Comment

Remember your favorite part of elementary school? No, not recess….FIELD TRIPS! At Ocala Integrative Medicine, we’re still not too old to take field trips (not even Kathy)!

We recently visited Rosas Farms, located just north of Ocala in Sparr (yes, there really is a place called Sparr). You may have heard me talk about them before- this is the only farm in the entire state of Florida that raises 100% organic grass-fed beef. As a self-professed grass-fed beef afficianado, I was thrilled when Al and Erin Rosas invited my family and staff to come share a meal with them and take a tour of the farm.

As far as the food was concerned, if you’ve every had the creations of Chef Al Rosas (The Organic Chef), you won’t be disappointed. We were served a spread of tomato and mozzeralla salad, organic potato salad, some kind of ridiculously good won-ton type thing (I’m not enough of a foodie to know exactly what I ate), and the best part of the meal- a marinated hanging tenderloin. The Rosas’ daughter Lola, who is quite the budding young chef, made an orange meringue pie and chocolate torte for dessert.

After lunch we were given the grand tour. First stop was the flock of free-range chickens who roam the farm. If you’ve ever heard the term free-range chicken used, it often means that the chickens are given a few minutes a day to mill around in a dirty, open air pen. As you can see in the picture of my daughter Ellie with her Grandpa, the Rosas Farms chickens are given run of the farm!

We even gave Kathy a flashback to her days growing up on the farm when she was put in charge of the chicken coop!

We also got to see the wild boars that are raised on the farm. These are the same hogs that run wild in central Florida, and on Rosas farms they are raised naturally for sausage, bacon, and all kind of other delicious goodies.

As much as I enjoyed all of the animals that the Rosas are raising, my favorite part of the field trip was getting to introduce Ellie to all of the animals that she’s seen in her books at home. At five months old she isn’t making any mooing or oink oink noises just yet, but she sure is cute! In order to fulfill my duties as a proud papa, I’m obligated to post pictures of my 100% free-range baby girl!

All I know is that if the Rosas decide to produce a line of organic baby food, they have their spokes-baby ready to go! Thanks to the Rosas family for their amazing hospitality to my family and my staff, and we can’t wait to visit again! If you’d like to make a trip of your own, check out Rosas Farms at www.rosasfarms.com!