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Hen's Arrived

written by

Ben Simmons

posted on

April 16, 2017

Sales Update –

FRESH CHICKEN - our first batch of broilers will be processed this Friday and available for pickup Saturday morning in Hattiesburg. Any not sold as fresh will be added to our website. If you have not reserved your chicken now is the time. Simply email me at sales@naturesgourmetfarm.com with how many you want. You can pickup at the farm Friday afternoon or at the Forrest County Multi-Purpose Center Saturday morning from 8:30 - 10:00.

BEEF - we have a good bit of steaks and roast but not the ground needed to make our typical bundles. So, for A LIMITED TIME we will sell individual steaks and roast from our website. We will deliver to pickup locations or you can pickup at the farm BY APPOINTMENT - just let us know. Price will be by the pound.

Maybe you have been wanting to try our beef or skeptical about our new processor. This would be an excellent opportunity to see for yourself.

I should have items added by Tuesday.

We are out of ground beef. More should be available by the end of May.

Farm Activities – as you know, we are adding eggs to our farm. When you listen to the folks who are farming successfully several key points are brought out. First, diversity in forages regenerates soil health and second is diversity in animals. Two basics for regenerative agriculture. This was a strong factor in choosing to add hens.

After 4-months of research, planning, and preparing our hens arrived Thursday afternoon. We were very pleased with how well they made the trip and how easy going they are. Lauren is preparing a short video of the process that should be available this next week.

I've started planting our summer annuals into the pastures and will continue early next week. I really like to bring the cows in and graze the forage down and then plant the next seasons pasture crop.

More from the blog

Farm Improvements

Farm Improvements – Fresh water is a necessity for raising healthy animals on pasture. Until recently, we used an ICB tote on a small tralier that we would refill from our well. During the summer the frequency greatly increases in order to keep the chickens hydrated. So, I called my buddy at Southern Pipe and ordered pipe, fittings, etc. and then rented a trencher for May 16th to install 2,700 feet of 1.25 inch PVC pipe. Along the line we added 15 Plasson Quick Coupler Valves that we will hook to as we move the animals through our pastures.

My Advise How To Jump Start Small Farms In Mississippi

“Who controls the food supply controls the people; who controls the energy can control whole continents; who controls money can control the world.” — Henry Kissinger The fight to change food from addictive to nutritive will most likely be harder than the fight regarding tobacco (smoking) in public places that started back in the 1980’s. Note that my comments are NOT a condemnation of anybody who may use tobacco in any way as this can be a sensitive topic. However, it is personal to me as my Dad smoked at least 45 of his 75 years and died of lung cancer.

Small Farm Republic

Pasture Talk With Our Cows– Tuesday morning I was out checking on our cows and took the opportunity to record a short 2-minute story about the time I saved the life of one of the “pet” cows Number 608. Click to watch here. Small Farm Republic- is a book written by John Klar. A former attorney who contracted Lyme disease, John now farms in Vermont. I spent much of last weekend reading his book. He is very pro-small farms and presented a lot of evidence to support his position. On page 77 he makes a comparison to the number of farms and farmers during the Great Depression versus today. During the Great Depression the American population was 100 million. According to USDA charts