Late Bloomer Ranch
Old-World farming values meet modern sustainability
Ursula roots around amidst a lush crop of alfalfa, snorting as she pushes aside the dirt with her snout. At about 700 pounds, she moves with a distinct but dignified waddle. She’s the queen pig—the best mother—at Late Bloomer Ranch in Driggs.
Corinne McAndrews leans over the knee-high electric fence and rights an A-frame shelter that hides a litter of football-sized piglets. The piglets are destined for the butcher, but in the meantime, they roam the alfalfa, tussle with their siblings, roll in the dirt, and bask in the sunshine.
Corinne and her crew move fences for the ranch’s pigs, sheep, and chickens every three days to ensure there is always fresh forage for them, and so the alfalfa can rebound from being grazed. It’s an intensive form of raising animals and requires a lot of labor, but Corinne says you can tell the difference in the meat.
“Pigs have strong herd dynamics,” she says. “They are happiest when they are in social groups. Here they get to live with their closest friends and family. They sleep on top of each other in a big pig pile. They aren’t stressed out. That’s why their meat is so good.”
Corinne came to agriculture late—hence the name of her ranch. She grew up in Baltimore in a classic white-collar world, but she was a troubled kid, and graduated from high school “by the skin of [her] teeth.” Looking for some direction in her life, she took off to travel in Europe with a friend and ended up volunteering on a farm in Spain.
“It sounds romantic,” Corinne says. “But it was not a world I was used to. There was no electricity or hot water and hardly any internet. I was crawling out of my skin. It wasn’t as if I discovered an immediate understanding of my place in the world from weeding onions, and it definitely wasn’t what I wanted to be doing. But it was absolutely what I needed.”
Corinne returned to the United States, took classes in agroecology, and moved to California to work on a vegetable farm. Reflecting on her time, she realized she thrived on the hard work of agriculture.
“I got addicted to the gratifying nature of the work,” Corinne says. “It can be physically demanding, but there is something deeply connecting about growing your own food. I like going to bed tired after a hard day on the farm.”
Corinne found herself drawn more to animals than vegetables as she learned about their importance in the agricultural cycle. The farm in California was proving to be a less than healthy work environment for her, plus she was ready to work for herself. So she, and her husband, Mike Woodruff, started looking for land where she could have her own ranch and he could find work as an architect. They moved to Teton Valley in 2019 and now live on Late Bloomer Ranch with their three-year-old daughter, Wilhelmina.
The ranch near Driggs has proven to be a good fit. Late Bloomer is supported by a thriving group of farmers who are also trying to raise food without any chemical treatments and with minimal mechanical interventions. The community in the valley supports local agriculture and is willing to pay for food raised with love and compassion. And Corinne’s husband has work as a designer with Prospect Studio.
Corinne’s vision for Late Bloomer is utopian. She wants her employees—ranch foreman, Elliana Araujo, and all-around hand, Matt Geurink—to feel as if they have fulfilling, well-paid, sustainable careers on the farm. They aim for forty-hour work weeks, and Matt has housing onsite. Many farm decisions are made by consensus.
“Corinne cares about our well-being,” Elliana says. “She views success as a blessing that might result, but not as a goal or purpose. In fact, I don’t think she thinks about this endeavor in terms of success; she just wants to feed herself and her community.”
Late Bloomer’s team is youthful and confident. They believe that the loving way their pigs, sheep, and chickens are treated translates into nutritious, tasty meat. All the farm’s animals roam freely in roomy pastures. They are fed high-quality local produce and milk in the winter. Corinne chose a butcher in Blackfoot, Idaho, who she believes treats the animals with care and integrity, which eases their stress. Late Bloomer bacon is cured in a salt brine devoid of chemicals.
“We raise animals that have histories and lineages of growing on pasture-intensive diets, raising their own young, and thriving in cold and mountainous conditions,” Corinne writes on Late Bloomer’s website. “This is the basis of animal welfare at Late Bloomer Ranch: Animals express their inborn behaviors right where they are. How does this translate into your experience as an eater? Flavor. A richness and complexity not found on grocery store shelves. Nutrition. Higher omega-3 fatty acids and fewer omega-6s. More protein, more Vitamins E and D, more unsaturated fats. A cleaner eating experience that can be felt in the body.”
Corinne points to Ursula snuffling around in the dirt.
“We never use nose rings on our pigs,” she says. Nose rings are used to prevent pigs from rooting, which destroys fences. According to Corinne, nose rings make life easier for producers, but prevents the pigs from following their natural instincts and cause them stress, which she believes affects the quality of the meat they produce and the health and happiness of the young they raise.
And yet, despite their willingness to work hard, Corinne says her team holds a boundary at when to call it at the end of the day. She doesn’t want to rely on underpaid, overworked seasonal labor to make her farm thrive.
“If something doesn’t get done, that’s okay,” Corinne says. “We still have tomorrow.”
Late Bloomer Ranch pork, eggs, seasonal cut flowers, and wool are available to purchase online. Bulk boxes can be delivered to the Lower 48 and all items picked up locally. Pick up locations include Thursdays at Food Shed Idaho in Victor (owned by Corinne’s aunt), Tuesdays or Fridays at the ranch, or Wednesdays in Jackson at the Home Ranch Parking Lot.
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