experience - connect - renew
BELLSTAR
FARM & FORGE
silvopasture farm - community forge - targeted grazing services
Farm
Sheep and Horses in a Silvopasture System
As modern life grows ever more complicated, people increasingly seek meaningful connections to nature and their food: where it comes from, how it is made, and the impact of those processes on our bodies, our communities, and the ecology of the world around us.
Our goal at Bellstar Farm is to build sustainable connections in a symbiotic way: connections between nature, the farmland, the animals, and the people. These connections not only preserve what we have, but renew the land, improve the lives of our animals, and strengthen our community. ​
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To experience the farm and all of its pastoral beauty, please contact us for a tour (tours are by appointment only)! We will guide you through our process, introduce you to our animals, and answer all of your questions. Your time with us will help you to connect with the earth, the animals, and the magic of the farm!
Forge
Blacksmithing & Farriery Workshops
Want to take your experience one step further? Brave the heat of the forge to learn this historical form of crafting tools, horseshoes, art, and more.
Blacksmithing still has many modern applications, including farriery, or horseshoeing, which is an art in and of itself. The skill of the farrier encompasses more than shoe-building; the horse's breed, conformation, use, age, movement, housing, and even diet can all impact what is needed in the shoe. Gain insight into this process at Bellstar Forge from a former professional farrier who has shod many different kinds of horses for many different kinds of people, all over the world.
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Whether you are interested in building art or decorative pieces, tools, hardware, or horseshoes, take a step back in time - or at least pause it for a few hours - while you work with your hands, enjoy the peaceful scenery of the farm, and swap stories over a cool drink with friends. Build connections and community here at Bellstar Forge!
Targeted Grazing
Using Sheep to Control Unwanted Vegetation & Regenerate Soil
Targeted grazing utilizes an animal's natural dietary preferences to accomplish specific vegetation management goals. Not only does the animal eat your unwanted plants and grasses, his hooves aerate the soil and his manure and urine adds fertilizer, increasing the microbial activity, biodiversity, and depth of your soil. Targeted grazing both removes vegetation and improves your soil quality - in addition to other benefits, such as improved fire resistance and mitigation!
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Different types of animals can be used for targeted grazing, such as sheep, goats, and cattle. At Bellstar Farm, we use sheep for targeted grazing because they best complement the vegetation management needs in our area (and we really love sheep!).
We have selected two heritage sheep breeds, Shropshires and St. Croix, because they are perfectly suited for a diverse array of targeted grazing projects: from farms and agrivoltaics applications, to land clearing and lawn-mowing, and even conservation and forestry.​