In 1974 John Denver released a song titled "Thank God I'm A Country Boy". Do you remember the lyrics? Here is a sampling- Well life on the farm is kinda laid back Ain't much an old country boy like me can't hack It's early to rise, early in the sack I thank God I'm a country boy I was singing this song solo (you know, so low nobody can hear me) earlier this week while doing chores.
We really appreciate all the very positive feedback from so many of our customers regarding credit card fees as well as price increases. Here is a sampling: "On reading your last email, it seemed worth remembering that your entire customer base consists of people who are willing to pay more in order to make sure that all concerned are well cared for. "All concerned" includes the cows, chickens, etc., as well as yourself, your wife, your children, anyone you employ, and your dog (whom I've met, by the way).
Transparency! Defined by Webster as free from pretense or deceit. I like it to being open, honest, and truthful. That's what today's newsletter is about. So, here goes. As a seller, we do not like price increases. Simply put, I am not farming to make a lot of money. But, you have to make money to stay in business. Our costs have increased and will probably continue to increase.
Recently while at Three Rivers Farm & Garden in Richton (I was there picking up some building supplies) there was a farmer there buying poison for army worms. During his conversation with Lee, he mentioned that the army worms were so bad they were eating his bahia grass up. That is really saying something because they typically go after better grasses like sudan and crabgrass - which we have a lot of on our farm. After the farmer had left, Lee asked me if I had any issues with army worms on my farm and I said No - have not see any sign of them. He replied back, "You will, everyone has them real bad this year." Well, I still have not had any of them show up on my farm. Part of the reason is
First, we appreciate the many folks who have contacted us to see if we were okay from Hurricane Ida. We are fine! The farm had minor downed limbs. The only issue really was the flooding of pastures from the heavy rain. Unfortunately, we lost about 130 broilers that were 3-4 weeks old. We do have many customers in SW Mississippi and in Louisiana that have severe damage. I have had reports of lost of power that may last for two weeks or more. These are the folks we need to keep in our prayers. If you have been following us the past few months you know we built a red meat processing plant where we plan to age
In 2016 Joel Salatin published his 10th book titled "The Marvelous Pigness of Pigs: Respecting and Caring for All God's Creation". As I was looking back over our newsletters I realized that I have not mentioned our pigs in quite some time. So, I have decided to remedy that and devote this newsletter to our pigs! The first thing I am reminded of is how smart the pig is and what a survival instinct God gave them. They are by far the smartest animal on our farm. By the way, the chicken is at the opposite end of the intellect from the pig!!! Just saying.
Our email last week about Food Security was among the largest percentage open rate and generated one of our best "Orders Placed" to date. And, best of all only three (3) folks decided to unsubscribe (I expected the number to be much higher). August is typically a slow month for sales as families focus on back to school. However, this year sales are very good. When you read the Product Updates below you will see that we are well stocked for the fall. So glad to have our new freezer!!! NEW ITEMS: we have just added a couple of new items to our website
Before our discussion regarding "Food Security" I would like to have a quick follow-up to last weeks email "Building Community" around your favorite recipes using Nature's Gourmet Farm products. We had several replies to include: Stephanie wrote - "Y'all never cease to amaze me. I learn so much from your emails". Shelley wrote - "I love this! Ok, my Summertime favorite way to cook your chicken can be found at this link . Later this week she wrote:
This week I want to share some improvements we have made recently with our pastured chicken production. But, first a bit of background to catch up new customers who may not know our story here. I'm sure most of you have hear of Joel Salatin of Polyface Farms in VA. In addition to being one of the foremost spokesmen for small family farms he has written many books to help & inspire beginning farmers. Well, one of those books is titled "Pastured Poultry Profits". After reading this and several other books by Joel, Beth and I decided to visit his farm during one of his every other year gatherings - we were two of two thousand paying ($100 each) guest. This was July 2011. By the Spring of 2012 we were in the pastured chicken business!
We are often asked about what we give our cows in the way of drugs, etc. Once a year we schedule our Vet to visit our farm to work our Cows and their same year calves. And, Thursday was our annual day! We start by finding a time on our schedule as well as our youngest son Jared's to schedule the Vet.
So, this is our off weekend - meaning we aren't on the road making deliveries. Once a quarter (July) we have TWO weekends off. This gives us time to catch up on stuff around the farm. Today, Tess, our Belgian Malinois will have her vet visit. While she likes a lot of attention, she gets very nervous at the vet's office. Folks have asked how all this rain has affected our farm? Well, the pigs think it is great! The cows are over it and ready for some sunshine! And, it has been the hardest on the broiler meat chickens. Regarding the pastures it has been a mixed blessing. Grasses certainly need rain to grow. However,
"Get Big or Get Out" is a quote from then Sec. of Agriculture Butz in the mid 1970's. In 1974 the MS Ag. Commissioner encouraged cattleman with his slogan "A million more in '74"! And when you challenge farmers to do something they work hard to get it done. The sad result was devastating and ruined many a family farm when the market collapsed. Unfortunately, Sec. Butz' mindset has carried on and continues to be spoken by many in agriculture especially the government side.
Veteran Owned & Operated
