Farm & product Updates

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