A Picture Is Worth A Thousand Words

Product Update –

1) Chicken- The second batch was harvested May 24th. Due to rough handling during shipment we will not have any pieces available from this batch. There may be a few whole chickens available for July & August. Otherwise, our chicken are sold out.

2)Beef - Individual cuts - we are back in stock on all beef items and will be adding more late May

Custom Half Beef - I have added more for processing the week of June 10th. If you are interested in a half beef please follow this link to learn more and place your deposit to reserve your order https://naturesgourmetfarm.com/custom-bulk-orders

3) Pork- We are back in stock on pork (except bacon & chops) as I picked up the past group from the processor April 23rd. If you are looking for a half or whole pig we will process again in July

4) Eggs- Egg production is running on ALL cylinders! Lay rate is 95-98% which is outstanding. We have added all size options to our website and can easily fill your orders.

FARM UPDATE:
Hey, Ben here. The saying goes, "a picture is worth a thousand words"! The Spring of 2013 John Wood who owns US Wellness Meats visited our farm. During the visit he introduced me to the GrassFed Exchange and the annual conference. He said if I would attend he would use his points to buy my ticket. Did I mention the conference would be in Bismark and feature a tour of Brown's Ranch?

I have been very pleased with how my pastures have responded this Spring. While looking back at my notes from the 2013 conference and farm tour a couple of things stuck out. First, don't expect to see much improvement until after 5 years. And, if you continue to follow the principles the improvement accelerates - meaning it keeps getting better. That is exciting!

Secondly, I reviewed the Rainfall Simulator demonstration at Gabe's Ranch. Let me que this up for you.They carefully collect soil from 4 to 5 different types of management strategies and place them inside a sheath cake type pan that has small holes drilled in the bottom. Samples from left to right read: Brown's Ranch Native Rangeland, Rotational Grazing, Season Long Grazing, Brown's Ranch No-Till Cropland, and Conventional Tillage on the right.

A funnel is placed to the front of the pans with a jug attached to capture Run Off from a rain shower. Lastly, a jug is attached to capture rainfall that infiltrated the soil.

Then the water hose is turned on to simulate a rain shower.

You can see from the jugs the impact management practices have on soil health. For example, the far left sample of Native Rangeland the majority of the water infiltrated the soil and is relatively clear (especially the small amount in the Run Off jug). Now consider the Season Long Grazing (where farmers leave the cows in the same large pasture all the time) and Conventional Tillage. Nearly 100% of the Rain Fall was Run Off. Thus, the rain had little impact to improve the soil. Additionally, all that run off carried a lot of top soil, fertilizers, etc. to the watershed and eventually into the Gulf of Mexico.

Lastly, they took the Conventional Tillage tray and turned it upside down. All that was wet was a small top layer. The rest was dust. I know, I would not have believed it if I had not seen it. A few days later another group was at Gabe's Ranch and they demonstrated the Rainfall Simulator again. You can see part of the demonstration here.

Last Thursday, Ashby Foote and his team with Bigger Pie Forum visited Nature's Gourmet Farm and completed a Podcast Recording. BPF researches and shares educational information encouraging Mississippi’s Economic Freedom while discouraging Crony Capitalism to increase Mississippi’s Economic Growth. The podcast should be ready in 2-3 weeks and will be in at least two segments. They said it went very good. I will send the links when available.

At Nature's Gourmet Farm, we thank you for supporting (integrity) regenerative food sources to create a food system that is better for the animals welfare, better for regenerating the land and better for a healthy community. That is the only way to make a positive impact.

Customer Feedback- "

Dear Ben and Beth, Just a quick note to say a huge thank you for the excellent products you make available in our area. I applaud your efforts and am grateful that you provide food that I can trust will be good for my family.

As you well know, our industrialized food system is broken and at times down right dangerous. I cannot thank you enough for your dedication to providing healthy, high quality food.

God bless you both.

Teri G

Quote Worth Re-Quoting – “Farming cannot take place except in nature; therefore, if nature does not thrive, farming cannot thrive. But we know too that nature includes us. It is not a place into which we can reach from some safe standpoint outside it. We are in it and we are part of it while we use it. if it does not thrive, we cannot thrive. The appropriate measure of farming then is the world's health and our health, and this is inescapably one measure.” – Wendell Berry

Thank you for supporting our regenerative, local farm.
Ben & Beth