Blog - Nature's Gourmet Farm

Unexpected Road Trip

This is NOT your typical road trip. But, will be a brief look at a 20-minute period of time that happened on the farm around noontime last Wednesday! We were working around the plant so we were very close to our home. Beth had already went back to our house and I was out back talking to the contractors just before they broke for lunch. I had started walking to the house to join Beth for lunch...when my phone rang. Time 11:42. Hello, this is Ben. The male voice on the other end said, "I'm on Memorial Church Road and there are a lot of cows out over here and you are the only one I thought they might belong to." The urgent factor went sky high!

Farm Update - Looking Forward

Today, let me share a few upcoming events. March 8th I plan to attend a MS Roundtable for small & very small establishments hosted by the USDA District Office in Jackson. This office supports about 1800 employees (many are Vet trained) who work in all types and size of food production establishments. The Jackson office is a regional office that covers 4-States so many of their employees live in the communities where they work.

Farm Update - Slaughter Plant

Before I talk about (and show progress) on our slaughter plant let me pause and update you on stock-outs and restock plans. From mid-January to now orders have been very strong. We ended 2022 with chicken stacked from floor to ceiling...today there are only 13 packs of feet available. Mid January when we received our beef back from the processor I was concerned if there was enough room to store it all in the freezer. Today, other than ground beef, most items are either sold out or very low inventory available. 7 | 10 | 350.... What is this?

Farm Update - EGGS

I hope you enjoyed our series on "Why Regenerative Agriculture" and it made sense to you. Now, when you hear about someone saying I'm a Regenerative Farmer you will know whether they really know what they are talking about or just spouting a popular line. Today, I want to do something a bit different. Instead of writing about our Farm Update - EGGS I ask that you join me for a trip out to the pasture and see for yourself

Why Regenerative Ag Part 5 Solutions

I hope you are enjoying our series on "Why Regenerative Agriculture" and it is making sense to you. Last week's newsletter included a contrast between Regenerative Farming vs. Confined Animal Feed Operations (CAFO) and how CAFO's are inhumane, ecological disasters. It does not matter if you are talking about beef, pork, chicken, or eggs the story is very similar. Lastly, unlike the industrial model and the many Complicated Inputs needed to make it work and if any ONE fails then the model falls apart, the Regenerative Model does not depend on Complicated inputs and thus the longer you farm Regeneratively the soil gets better, and better, and better.

Why Regenerative Ag Part 4

Remember, last week we discussed the nutrient cycle to include how Regenerative farming actually sinks carbon from the atmosphere back into the ground - a FREE solution that not only cleans the air, water, etc. ,but provides a food source for soil biology, plants, and animals? A documented example is WOP that sinks 3.4% of carbon or 100,000 pounds per acre year after year after year. Contrast the Regenerative FREE solution to the Technology solution(s) projected to cost billions of dollars on businesses that will be passed to consumers in the form of higher energy bills, transportation cost, and ALL other areas of our daily lives. These people are pushing governments to pass laws that favor a tech solution because

Why Regenerative Ag Part 3

I hope you are enjoying our series on "Why Regenerative Agriculture" and it is making sense to you. A recent article in Meatingplace magazine about industry trends, the author DuBois stated "Notably, regenerative agriculture is a tiny percentage of the market right now, but long term, it could be poised to resonate with consumers, who care about sustainability issues. Regenerative farming has the ability to be something that captures people's purchase dollars, and also imagination." "There is that shopper who is willing to spend a little bit more and is really looking for that cleaner label." Today, I'll share about the nutrient cycle and what we are doing on our farm to regenerate our soils nutrient cycle.

Why Regenerative Ag Part 2

Happy New Year! It seems the older I get the faster the years go by... Many of us who consider ourselves Regenerative Farmers will say that Regenerative is beyond Organic! Meaning, our farming methods consider the WHOLE of nature and the natural processes. As you read last week about the 6 Principles of Soil Health * 3 Rules of Adaptive Stewardship * 4 Ecosystem Processes used by Regenerative Farmers is about observing the Ecosystem and using the Principles and Rules to enhance our natural Ecosystem Processes. Organic has become a list of standards set by the USDA

Old Fashioned STEAK SALE And Regen Ag Part 1

So, Farmer Ben tell me about this Old Fashioned Steak Sale! Just what do you mean by Old Fashioned? Sure - Old Fashioned implies simple straight forward prices. No Gimmicks! No Bundles that may have cuts you do not use! No Minimums! And, No Order Limits! We have FIVE steaks in this sale. All of our beef is Grass-Fed AND Finished (never any grain), free of chemicals and hormones... 1) Boneless Ribeye - sale price $15.30. Compare to Corner Market conventional beef at $17.99 2) NY Strip - sale price $13.30. Compare to Corner Market conventional beef at $15.99 3) Sirloin - sale price $8.80. Compare to Corner Market conventional beef at 11.99 4) Bone-In Ribeye - sale price $12.80. Save $1.45/lb. 5) T-Bone - sale price $12.35. Save $1.40/lb.

Why Regenerative Farming - Introduction

Before the Introduction on Why Regenerative Farming I want to give you a brief update on farm activities this week. First, we cut and packed 7-beef into 2,135 salable packs for a finished weight of 2,744 pounds. That consumed Monday - Wednesday for most of our team. Thursday Beth & I were busy prepping for this major cold front while also finishing up Organ & Bacon Burger. Needless to say, some long days. Major spikes like this cold front will bring to surface weakness in infrastructure!!! Like pex pipe

Schedules, Times, & A New Video

April 1995 I moved our family from Gulfport to Concord, NC to take a new job. With that I also needed to find a new Air Guard job. For the first 6-months I drilled with the NC unit in Charlotte where I helped facilitate Quality Assurance training. One of the tools was called "Big Rocks". Basically, you taught how to set priorities based on "rock" sizes. The big rocks are your most important priorities while smaller rocks are least important. To often we put the small rocks into the jar (our schedule) first (our least important priorities) and then wonder why our big rocks (highest priorities) want fit or go unfinished. Visualize a jar filled

Work Starts Monday

After at least an eight week delay so the DEQ (Department of Environmental Quality) and the MS Health Department could determine what the effect of our wastewater from building a red-meat slaughter plant would be - we are now ready to start construction. In the end, we ended up right where we started... with a permitted septic system. The DEQ finally decided our plant would not generate enough wastewater to be of any concern. And, we already have a permitted septic system that will handle the wastewater generated. So, our contractor will arrive Monday morning and begin laying out the slaughter building and covered holding pin area.