Meet a true healthy-living, Regenerative farming evange list.
Farrow founder Charles Mayfield’s interest in clean food began when, as a personal trainer, he began researching nutrition to help his clients reach their fitness goals—and eventually co-authored three paleo cookbooks.
The more Charles learned, the more he realized it’s not just the kinds of food we eat that impacts our health, but also the way that food is grown. He spent years researching farming techniques that are better for the environment and for the welfare of the animals. And when he learned about regenerative farming, he was hooked.
Charles believes in growing healthy food and giving his children a deeper connection to the land.
Charles started Mayfield Pastures with the goal of growing food in a way that could heal both the body and the planet. He also wanted to teach his children the value of hard work, about land healing, and give them a deeper connection to healthy food and the land where it’s grown.
Farrow was born from Charles’ direct experience with land healing at Mayfield Pastures. His commitment to optimal sourcing and supporting regenerative farming are at the heart of every product Farrow creates. Farrow, like proper land management, requires a more human touch and less industrial mechanization. Charles plans to leverage Farrow’s growing demand to create opportunities for more consumers to see the many benefits of farming with nature.
Charles has seen thousands of friends and customers dramatically improve their health by removing toxins and preservatives from their diets. Farrow is the next phase in highlighting the benefits of regenerative farming for both people and planet. One small shift to clean and healthy skincare products is another step forward in removing toxins from our lives and healing our communities and our environment.
Epic Sunburn and the Birth of Farrow
Farm work isn’t kind to skin. In July of 2019, Charles spent two solid days desperately working to repair a broken irrigation system. The result: restored water and a particularly brutal sunburn.
Late on that second night, Charles sat at his kitchen table, dead tired, relieved, and starting to feel the full impact of the worst sunburn he’d had since childhood. All he wanted to do was take a shower and go to bed—but he was dreading the inevitable pain. Then he remembered the lard he had stored in his refrigerator and decided to give it a try.
After covering his scorched skin with lard, Charles waited 20 minutes or so before heading off to the shower. He was surprised that neither shower nor lying in bed was nearly as painful as expected. Even more surprising, he never blistered or peeled, and in just a few days, his sunburn was gone.
Part of being a regenerative farmer is always looking for better ways to run the farm so that the animals thrive and nothing goes to waste. After experiencing such a surprising recovery from sunburn, Charles decided to start looking into the use of animal fats in traditional skincare. He discovered a lot of similarities in the development of the food and skincare industries. They started out being clean, healthy, simple. But as they grew into large corporate-controlled conglomerates, both skincare products and food became increasingly chock-full of garbage ingredients.
After that he started experimenting on himself, creating creams and salves with lard to soothe his damaged and dry skin. And he was pretty impressed with the results. Farrow was so gentle, he felt confident using it on his own kids. He also began giving out samples to friends and customers to see how these new lard-based skin creams would work for them. And the feedback was overwhelming!