Photos courtesy of Early Bird Ranch

by Shannon Bowman-Sarkisian

Last summer, white turkeys suddenly dotted the landscape of a Pescadero pasture on Cloverdale Road. The electric netting, keeping wayward poultry from wandering out and predators from getting in, moved across the land. Large structures housing chickens followed a similar pattern. Pastured birds living comfortable lives and given respectful deaths are the specialty of Shae Lynn and Kevin Watt of Early Bird Ranch. The couple use a sustainable farming model dedicated to letting animals live in harmony with the land. “It’s a puzzle,” says Kevin. “You’re not fighting with nature by getting a bigger tractor, you’re starting to understand the natural systems that work in your specific locale. It’s not just a style of farming that can work anywhere; you have to be willing to really dive in and experiment and think.”

Early Bird Ranch's broiler chickens at feeding time.

With a background in academics, not agriculture, the Watts were headed for careers as professors. But their accomplishments as students and teachers were unfulfilling, and the two decided to change their lives. “We started to play around with the idea of being more well-rounded,” says Kevin. “We were pursuing other hobbies and forcing ourselves to be who we wanted to be right now, not put it off until everything was in order — that we got that job that we needed, that we had the house we wanted. Let’s just act happy now and see what happens.”

His love of gardening led him to volunteering at orchards and organic farms in San Diego. With graduation looming in the distance, Kevin had a revelation while reading Joel Salatin’s You Can Farm: The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Start & Succeed in a Farming Enterprise. All of the challenges a farmer would face seemed surmountable and the work seemed rewarding. He turned to Shae Lynn and asked if she wanted to be a farmer. Her answer? “Let’s try it!”

Kevin and Shae Lynn Watt moving their broiler chickens across the pasture. Early Bird chickens are moved twice a day to maximize the health and well-being of the animals and land.

Kevin called Joel at his farm, Polyface, in Virginia, not knowing he was on the phone with a sustainable farming celebrity. Kevin was invited to come out to Polyface for a few days to apply for an internship. After being accepted into the program, he began learning the Salatin family’s guiding principles. Shae Lynn soon joined her husband on the East Coast and together they worked on the farm. It was the beginning of a new life for the couple.

After completing their apprenticeships at Polyface and a second farm in New Jersey, Shae Lynn and Kevin excitedly returned to California, ready to begin their own farm. Their search for land proved fruitless — each time they thought the right place had come along, the deal fell through. The Watts had almost given up when Joel put them in contact with Janina Pawlowski of Woodside.

A supporter of organic, local farming and land preservation, Janina and the Watts instantly clicked. They needed land to farm and she wanted to make sustainable farming a reality. After many discussions, Janina decided to create the Preservation of Land for Agricultural Needs Trust, a land trust created specifically for agriculture. Kevin and Shae Lynn leased land from the trust and Early Bird Ranch finally found a home.

The couple started their operation with chickens and turkeys. “Poultry has the lowest capital investment,” says Kevin, “but it has the highest cash flow so it’s the perfect way to start.” Last year, Early Bird Ranch sold its birds locally through word of mouth, Craigslist, garden clubs, moms groups, and nutritional groups. The ranch has been successful, and the Watts have begun to expand, adding new species like goats.

“Our core business is still pastured poultry,” says Kevin. “We do the turkeys in the fall, chickens pretty much year-round. Our way of growing is through diversity, not just through increasing the numbers of animals. Everything that we’re doing is based on the principle of finding complementary enterprises. At the moment we’re teamed up with somebody that does cows, the idea being that cows would complement the chickens, which then complement the rabbits and such. One of the experiments we’re doing now is trying to develop a model of raising meat rabbits that is intensively pasture-based.”

Keeping the operation small is an integral part of their farming model. “The problem with this,” says Shae Lynn, “is that there are a lot of shortcuts that would make it easier, but would seriously compromise the philosophy and the quality of your product. The person who is doing the work has to feel very strongly about that philosophy and that quality. It would be way easier if we just moved the chickens every other day instead of twice a day. They would survive. They’d still be good, but it wouldn’t be as good. It wouldn’t be as healthy for the chickens, it wouldn’t be as good for the land. The chicken wouldn’t taste as good. It would still be better than Tyson. But then you go, oh, well, every other day — why not once a week?”

Tuxedo and Bow Tie, Early Bird Ranch's male goats.

Early Bird Ranch is defined by its philosophy, values and integrity. Like many farmers on the South Coast, the Watts are looking to change the way people look at food, because even though organic, sustainable agriculture has been around for a while, it’s still unattainable for many people. It’s difficult for people to justify paying four times as much for an organic apple when they’re having trouble making mortgage payments. “Our mantra, aside from being transparent, is to be accessible and affordable — to produce food that our parents could have bought for us,” says Kevin. “There are two ways of approaching how to improve the food system. One way, which has brought us to where we are, is providing the highest quality food possible to those who can buy it. It’s the Whole Foods model of this is how much it costs, and these are the benefits, and people understand the benefits — it’s usually people in a Mercedes who are able to go there every week for all of their food.”

The second approach — the Early Bird Ranch model, inspired by Polyface — uses cost-saving measures such as having customers pick up their birds from the farm. The Watts are able to drop their prices because they don’t have to buy delivery trucks or pay for gas, making their products more affordable.

Bringing sustainably-grown, organic foods to everyone regardless of their wealth or status is a revolutionary concept. “We think that this food is somehow a rich person’s fight because somehow it shouldn’t cost so much,” says Kevin, “but what we should be asking is why does this cost so little?”