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

Farm Update

written by

Ben Simmons

posted on

August 19, 2017

Farm Update –

Weather impacts everything we do! As you know, it has been a very wet summer. Early July we were forcasted to have 4-5 days of little to no rain. So, July 3rd I cut 2-pastures for hay and a 3rd on July 4th. Thursday it was time to bale. Unfortunately, my baler had issues that I was able to fix and started baling with about 12 or so completed before a major roller broke half in two. I borrowed a neighbors baler and was able to get another 12-13 baled before dark. As I entered the pasture to start baling Friday, two bolts of lighting struck and it has rained just about every day since. Bottom line we lost 100-110 bales of hay valued at $35 or so each (plus the cost to fix the baler).

July 20th I took a neighbor to see Ray Archuleta (The Soil Guy) in Canton, MS. I had previously tried to convince him about the destruction tillage causes to the soil water & nutrient cycles as well as releasing carbon back into the atmosphere. He never really was convinced until he personally saw the results from a "Rainfall Simulator" demonstration. We now have a new convert!

Customer Feedback- 

Ben, 

I tried to tag your page in this post last night but I couldn't. I wanted you to know that we all thoroughly enjoyed a meal from your farm last night. The eggs and sausage were a big hit! (see above picture) Feel free to share if you want. Thanks for all you do! Janet B.

Quote Worth Re-Quoting – “Don't worry about people stealing your ideas.   If your ideas are any good, you'll have to ram them down people's throats.”   ~ Howard Aiken

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

Ben & Beth

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