Dede Boise

For the last six years, Dede Boise has been running Root Down Farm in Pescadero, CA, where she raises chickens, ducks, turkeys, and pigs. She’s a passionate land steward and all her animals are on pasture. Root Down Farm is located on 62 acres that are owned and protected by the Peninsula Open Space Trust (POST).

Dede’s time on the property has coincided with POST’s increasing engagement in farmland and rangeland conservation. Now that Root Down Farm is established, Dede is subleasing some of her land to three other operations: Fly Girl Farm, Steadfast Herbs, and LeftCoast GrassFed. The collaborations with other tenants feel like a natural continuation of Root Down Farm’s mission. Dede remains passionate about humanely and sustainably raising meat. In early 2018 she and her wife welcomed their first child, and Dede feels more motivated than ever to make her farm sustainable so they can continue to raise their family there.

How did you become a Good Meat® producer?

In short, by learning about our industrialized meat system - it made me want to do something different. Using my Good Meat® values to inform the way I raise meat is the best way for me, because it's healthier for the land, for the animals and healthier for the humans eating the good meat. And the meat just tastes so much better.

What is one thing you wish more consumers knew about raising livestock?

I wish consumers knew the actual steps to get meat to their plates. Birthing/hatching the animal, raising it for 9 weeks/7 months/2 years, and what goes into that each and every day. Moving fence, feeding watering, moving animals, fixing things that constantly break, staying up with them when they are sick/laboring, moving them from pasture to pasture, or into a trailer/crate with the least amount of stress for humans and animals. Then the processing, the driving and scheduling and labeling and inventorying. And then the sale of the chicken/pork chop/steak via farmers market, or online, or through a retail outlet. All of the steps to get that meat into the customers’ hands. As a small producer, you do everything from sales to marketing to animal health and management to human resources and bookkeeping and...

What meat, or meat dish, do you eat most regularly and what do you eat for a special occasion?

The meat my family and I probably eat the most is sausage or chicken as it doesn’t need much time to prep, is super versatile, and oh so damn delicious (and we raise it!). For special occasions, it’s some meat that I don’t raise like a beef filet or steak. And for the specialist of occasions one of our heritage turkeys.

What is one of your biggest challenges as a Good Meat® producer?

One of the biggest challenges is staying positive and continuing to believe in what I am doing, especially when I feel overtired and under compensated and stressed.