1859 Jan | Feb 2018

farm to table
Farm to Table
Easy Living
Pachamama Farm takes
free-range to the next level
written by Sophia McDonald
photography by Bradley Lanphear
WHEN YOU FIRST step onto Michael Antoci’s pig farm in
Days Creek, it’s eerily quiet. Light shines through the stands of
fir trees, producing a heady scent of pine. A shaggy white dog
strolls around a cedar-shingled barn, but there are no other signs
of life.
Then a call rings out: “Sooey!” Nearly a hundred pigs come
racing out of the trees and into the barn. They thrust their heads
into troughs and scarf up the slop Antoci has mixed for them.
When it’s gone, he shakes a rattle and cries out again: “Hip hip
hip.” As fast as they appeared, the animals vanish into the trees.
This scene plays itself out twice a day. The rest of the time
the pigs are left to forage for roots and nuts or relax in “pig
palaces” built from pallets and other salvaged materials. This
easy living is very much by design. “Stress is a key indicator in
the pH and quality of the meat,” Antoci said. “The stress-free
environment from birth to harvest is one of the keys in creating a
holistic product.”
Raising happy animals that produce the best-quality
meat was Antoci’s goal when he left the restaurant
industry in California. Ready to leave the pollution
36 1859 OREGON’S MAGAZINE JANUARY | FEBRUARY 2018