Ever since she was in college in Washington, Jaci Smith has been fascinated by sustainable agricultural practices and how they could be applied to locally sourced food. She spent an inordinate amount of time researching the topic and reading about it, even while she studied chemistry.

One day Smith decided she either had to stop researching or do something with the information. So she bought a farm.

Well, not exactly. First, she and her fiance Derik Henderson put in an offer on a piece of land, but it fell through. Then, a 35-acre tract came up for sale across the road from their house west of Powell. That purchase was successful and the adventure began.

“This is what came together,” Smith said. “It was meant to be.” 

The main focus was — and is — fruit trees.

“I was spoiled in Washington because of all the fresh local fruit. I want to provide that here,” Smith said.

With the help of friends, Henderson put up fencing designed to keep the trees safe from wildlife and the first batch of trees were planted. And Smith and Henderson ordered chicks and raised a large, varied flock of laying chickens. They learned early on to move the coops with the chickens inside, because if they didn’t, the chickens couldn’t find their home at night.

“And if we don’t lock them up, the owls just hammer them,” Henderson said. Owls and hawks haven’t been the only pest problem, though.

While it is a simple matter to mow the grass between the well-spaced tree rows, there is no good way to keep the grass cut short immediately around the tree trunks. Hand trimming the grass was not feasible and mice moved in to the long tufts. Then they began to chew the trunk bark, damaging the expensive trees, killing some.

Although it was earlier than planned, Smith added some helping hands ... err, helping snouts. She found and purchased four KuneKune pigs. Some were found nearby while others took a considerable road trip to bring home. 

These pigs are considered a heritage breed, originally raised by the Maori people of New Zealand, and have been brought back from the brink of extinction. Because they are a grazing breed and easy on fruit trees, KuneKune pigs are perfect for orchard cleanups.  They do not damage the ground with rooting as is common in most other breeds. The meat they produce is marbled, a unique quality in pork.

“The priority for the pigs is food,” Smith said. “Then for love.”

She readily admits having fallen in love with them and was happy to find out the piglets she will raise find ready buyers as soon as they are weaned.

The animals were put to work right away.

A day at the orchard

The average morning routine is pretty straightforward. Henderson feeds the ducks and turkeys he keeps as pets while Smith fills water buckets to haul to the orchard. Then Groot — the Great Pyrenees-Anatolian cross livestock guardian dog pup — is leashed and loaded in the side-by-side for the short ride to the property.

Once they are inside the enclosure and the gates safely chained shut, the couple drive over to the hen coops and pig shelters that are moved each week.

Henderson fills the water containers and Smith fills pig feeders as the KuneKunes snort and snuffle around her legs. She doles out the feed pails, calling to the 9-month-old pigs — two males and two females — as she goes. “Come on, Patrick. Here Bandit. Over here, Ester. No, Gertrude, this one is yours.” 

They do space themselves out, but are also eager to swipe some feed from their compatriots.

Once the pigs are fed, the buckets of chicken feed are scooped full. 

Then the coops are opened, and the scene resembles a clown car at the circus. The chickens pour out of the raised barns, a veritable river of varied colors and sizes. It is like a contest to see who can fly the farthest before touching down and chasing Smith with the feed pails.

The feed is portioned out around the base of two rows of trees. This encourages the hens to hunt and peck around the trees, then come back later and scratch the dirt, effectively digging up grass and keeping a cleared patch around the trees. Each week the process moves to another couple rows of trees.

Soon, the pigs have finished their rations and come to glean what they can from the chickens’ feed. As they do so, they also pull and eat the grass.

The animals eventually spread out and as they wander, scratch and munch, they also defecate. That is a big part of the plan.

As the ground feeds the animals, they also feed it by fertilizing it with their manure. Manure serves other purposes as well.

Because the chicken coops don’t have electricity available, they aren’t heated. Instead, Smith utilizes the deep litter method of bedding. Litter, usually straw, hay or wood chips, is scattered on the floor of the coop. The chickens add manure and churn the whole lot together continually by scratching. As the mixture decomposes, it creates enough heat to keep the chickens warm at night. Likewise in the pig structures, the bedding is piled plenty deep. 

Henderson said the pigs burrow into the straw, often with only a nose showing. They, too are plenty warm in even the harshest weather.

Future plans

Smith and Henderson are adding additional trees every year as money allows. They have more than 1,000 planted in three years and will add more this year as well. The trees are peach, apple, apricot, cherry and plum. Some of the three-year-old trees should produce fairly well this year, although Smith said it will take up to 10 years for them to reach full production. 

Fruit production will allow for sales at farmers’ markets, pick your own or other venues. The couple will also add meat birds this year, expecting 50 in May and another 50 in June. There is a processing setup in the barn, waiting for those meat chickens to be big enough to harvest, about eight to 10 weeks after arrival. 

So in addition to selling fruit, eggs, fresh processed chicken and eventually pork, feeder pigs or breeding stock, what else does Smith have up her sleeve?

She wants to add honey bees. There is a prototype horizontal hive in the barn. This type of hive grows in length faster than in height like the typical vertical hives. They also have a buffer space underneath and around each set of frames that is filled with wool unsuitable for other uses. 

The wool insulates the beehives, keeping them warm in the winter and cool in the summer. It is a Russian model Smith found through extensive research. But the bees are down the road a ways. 

Until then, she and Henderson get up early each day, feed and water and take off to their day jobs — he as a drilling fluid engineer for an oil company and she as a purchasing agent for GunWerks in Cody. But when there is time off, or on the long summer evenings, they can often be found out on the orchard, watching their sustainable dreams grow toward reality.