Restock Dates: Please see our Farm Blog where we post our weekly newsletter for the latest updates

First Calf

written by

Ben Simmons

posted on

January 28, 2017

Tornado strikes Hattiesburg and Petal - we want to say thank you for contacting us after a deadly & destructive tornado hit Hattiesburg & Petal last Saturday before daylight. We are blessed that our farm was spared. However, we do have customers and friends that had significant property damage.

So, how will you spend your overcast and cold weekend? How about placing your February order for beef and pork! The order deadline date is only 8-days away. We have plenty of the 10# and 25# Ground and Variety Shares as well as Half Shares. We are also taking deposits for Pork Half Shares – Custom Processed that will go to market mid-March.

Customers that have been with us from the beginning know we have worked very hard to expand our farm capacity by focusing on soil health, clearing new pastures, and buying a neighboring farm. We now have more product than customers!

Thus, we are soliciting new customers. Just this week we contracted the services of Laruen Richards to manage our farm facebook page. She made a few Page updates and will make several post per week. Since Wednesday the number of “Likes” has more than doubled. She has really been a breath of fresh air and has filled the gap in a marketing weakness. She is also talented with integrating videos and such so, look for wider use of videos and pictures down the road. Thanks Lauren!

We have completed agreements with three large organizations that will give us much broader exposure and should expand sales. I will share more about this at a future date.

Bottom line – nothing works better than satisfied customers who share our farm with their family, friends and coworkers. We appreciate you spreading the word and ask you let us know how we can better serve you.

The strong low pressure system that fueled the tornado also kicked off the start of our calving season. See the short 2-minute video.

More from the blog

Health vs. Economics is THE Battle

Health vs. Economics is THE Battle - or maybe health vs. priorities of the general public when you consider that in 2024 the Apple App Store generated $1.3 trillion in sales!!! Vicki, a repeat customer from the MS Gulf Coast, sent me a short 3 minute video from a Joe Rogan Podcast with RFK Jr. discussing pig farms in North Carolina and how the CAFO pig operations got started. NOTE that the big companies own the pigs – the farmers only own the debt and do the work (and take all the risk). Please watch the video here.

"Pasture Raised" Defined

The USDA has officially updated the definition of “pasture-raised” to require that animals spend the majority of their lives on rooted, vegetative pasture, distinguishing it from “free-range,” which only mandates outdoor access. This update became effective March 2025. Here at Nature’s Gourmet Farm that is how we raise our animals – whether it be cows, pigs, meat chickens, egg layers, or turkeys. Pasture raised is our management choice and reflects our stewardship ethos. Frankly, pasture raised is how God created them to be versus. in a Confined Animal Feeding Operation (CAFO). CAFOs represent man’s inhumane wisdom!!!

NGF Customer Speaks Out

NGF Customer Speaks Out - First, a little background. Stephen & his wife Mary Katherine have been customers of our farm for 5 years. They, along with their 3 boys, have visited our farm. We have shared many conversations about farming and how Mississippi is truly a "food desert" (on a grand scale when only 2% of the food grown in MS is actually raised in MS). I know their passion for eating healthy and supporting small farms. They know my passion to increase small farms that serve their communities nutritious food. One day at our Madison pickup Stephen and I were talking and he asked, "What can I do to help grow the number of small farms?"