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Farm & product Updates

written by

Ben Simmons

posted on

September 28, 2018

Farm Update - I am writing this update Friday evening following chicken processing day. Saturday morning we meet customers to pickup their orders. We are very tired.

Processing went very good. This is the second batch processed in our new facility. Our new vacuum sealer works outstanding and provides a much better seal than the shrink bags did. In the photo above you can see Beth's dad who removes the head, feet, and oil sack. Beth's mom & Kellie remove the insides (our son Eric also helps and replaces Kellie when she can't come) and Beth washes & QC's.

Once cleaned Beth puts them into an ice slurry for cool down. Basically, the rule says to cool them to <40 degrees in 4-hours for a 4-pound chicken - or 1-hour per pound. We use 600 pounds of ice per batch.

It typically takes us three hours to process and get all chicken into the ice slurry. Then we clean up, have lunch, and then come back and package, weigh, and pack on ice. It is a full day's work.

I am part of a discussion group with Pharo Cattle Company. This week a member shared a podcast titled "Farming The Government". Michael Olson who started MetroFarm Community has hosted over 700 live Food Chain Radio shows. He has three "Laws of the Food Chain". They are:
First Law: Agriculture is the foundation upon which we build all our sand castles
#2 Law: The farther we go from the source of our food, the less control we have over what's in our food
#3 Law: Cheap food isn't.

You can listen to the podcast by clicking Food Chain Radio #1161.

OK, Wednesday is delivery day. It's time to place those orders. See you there.

Interesting Statistic- the USDA projects per capita consumption in the USA for chicken, beef, and pork in 2018 will be: Chicken 91.9#, Beef 58.1#, and Pork 51.9#.

Customer Feedback-
"Super friendly and easy pick up, and Ben's beef is very tasty. Highly recommended!" ~S Bruton

Quote Worth Re-Quoting – “Intuitively we all know that nothing operates most efficiently at full throttle. Is it any wonder that a food system predicated on faster, fatter, bigger, cheaper would create an ignorant, duplicitous, harried, obese citizenry? A culture's people carry in their heads and physiques the manifestation of the food system's objectives.” ~Joel Salatin, The Marvelous Pigness of Pigs: Respecting and Caring for All God's Creation

As always, thank you for supporting our regenerative, local farm.
Ben & Beth

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Taste Test

Greetings Ben and Beth, I'm really looking forward to my next order pick up. I'm trying to improve my cholesterol numbers, thus eating more chicken, and ran out of your chicken products. I ended up buying some industrially produced chicken, and man was that a mistake! It smelled terrible raw, also while it was being sauteed, and also later when I reheated it to put into an otherwise healthy salad. I have enough of this subpar stuff to last until I pick my order, but I don't think I can ever buy this CAFO stuff again.

Beef Update & A New Product

Beef Update – Typically this time of year folks are hesitant to buy bulk beef for their freezer due to hurricane risk. That is why we have delayed our next custom half & whole beef processing until September. If you are interested, our next harvest will be September 2nd with pickup on September 22nd. If you want to be included then please email me your name, email, and cell number to be added to our wait list - and be the first folks contacted and guaranteed to receive an order. Beef prices continue to increase and hit a new All-Time high this week fueled by strong demand and limited supply. For example, based on what a 700 pound steer sold for at the Hattiesburg Stockyard Monday, I could make more than feeding him till he weighs 1100 pounds and sell as packaged beef - but our mission is to provide nutrient-dense, clean food to our customers. Effective immediately custom beef half and whole prices will increase $0.50 to $6.25 per pound based on the hanging weight. Retail cuts will increase for September deliveries as well.

Real Health Is NOT A Pill. It's A Practice!

Two Great Must Read Articles – Typically I don't make a big deal about articles we have read, but these two are so good that I felt they needed to be shared. The first is by Joel Salatin titled "Food Think" that is part of his The Lunatic Farmer blog. You can read the full article at this link. The second article is one Beth forwarded to me from the Health Viewpoints section of Epoch Times titled "Americans Spend Trillions on Health Care but Remain Unwell - Here's Why" Dr. Yang, FAPA, a board certified psychiatrist, begins by stating the difference between treating disease and building true health lies in a proactive and preventative lifestyle. Note - Beth and I would agree with other folks who commented that his article is spot on and very important for folks to read and understand. You can read at this link.