Welcome to Bone Dry Ridge Farm

We are a small 40-acre farm located in the beautiful Independence Valley just 35 miles south of Olympia, Washington.  This farm is run by Selma Bjarnadottir with help from her husband Markthor MacFarlane.

We are “the little bit of everything farm.”  We raise Scottish Highland Cattle, Icelandic Sheep, Pigs, Chickens and Bees.   We get meat from the cattle, pigs, sheep and chickens as well as wool and skins from the sheep, honey from the bees, and of course, eggs from the chickens.

We moved to this farm in 2000.  We started out with two cows, three sheep and three chickens.  In 2009 we still only have our two mama cows but have expanded to fifteen ewes and 18 laying hens.  In the summer we expand to six cattle, 30 to 40 sheep, 50 chickens and two pigs.  Still considered a small operation, it keeps Selma busy all year long.  We are still expanding.  The flock of sheep gets bigger every year to keep up with customer demand.  We have decided not to expand our small heard of cattle since the sheep are so much lighter on our land where clay soil is predominant.  Sheep are also very well suited to a small farming operation.  We have gotten such a good response to our pork we are considering expanding that part of the farm as well.

On our farm each animal has a place in the interwoven fabric of a farm.  The sheep eat all the weeds and grasses the cows were not interested in.  The pigs dig out the barn where the sheep spend the winter, the chickens eat the grain the pigs spill, and the bees add sweetness to the whole thing.  The animals also give us manure that gets spread on the fields as fertilizer.

We practice rotational grazing, which means the cows and the sheep get moved to a clean pasture every few days.  This not only helps keep the animals healthy by reducing parasites  but also makes for healthier pastures.  When you have healthy pastures you have healthy animals.  In addition to good grass we provide our animals with salt and minerals, something they are not able to receive from our Western Washington pastures.  Our goal is to have happy healthy animals.  Animals that are content are easy to take care of.  Their purpose, after all, is to provide healthy meat for many. 

We sell beef, lamb, pork, eggs, and honey at this time.  We have an e-mail list that our customers have requested to be on.  Every Spring we send them our newsletter and brochures that explain what is for sale that year.  It is  on a "first come, first served" basis to sign up for an order of beef, lamb or pork.  We give our existing customers one week lead before we send out the brochures on the general e-mail list.  Usually within two weeks all the meat has been pre-ordered.   Eggs and honey are sold at the farm.  We usually slaughter the beef cattle in mid-summer, pigs in late summer and the lambs in early fall.  The meat is custom cut at a local butcher shop where our customers pick it up. 

If you are interested in purchasing meat, wool, honey or eggs please contact us at selma@bonedryridge.com for availability and/or to be added to the mailing list.

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