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Old Ways

written by

Ben Simmons

posted on

October 6, 2019

Ben-&-Beth.jpg

At Nature's Gourmet Farm you can trust our products to be:
* True Pasture Raised
* 100% Non-GMO
* Free of chemicals & drugs
* Ethically Raised

Hello from Ben. This week we had a new customer call to schedule an appointment to visit and buy beef and pork for their freezer. They are originally from the mountains of North Carolina and she was telling me that when she was growing up that October was typically the month her family would purchase their meat before winter set in and that she is going back to the "Old Way" of her family.

Much of what we do on our farm is based on nature's proven ways. No tillage of the soil so we grow organic matter and soil biology, diverse forage pastures to feed animals above and below the soil surface, and animal rotation so parasite cycles are broken.

Many of you are aware that the Seven Sons Farm in IN developed GrazeCart that powers our farms online store. This past Spring they released an Internet Marketing Course for farmers who are interested. Beth & I started the course, but had to put it on hold while building the poultry plant. Now that is completed we picked it back up. The course is very helpful and frankly I believe most direct market farms that fail will do so because of lack of marketing and investing in their business.

We are actively putting a list of projects together and setting priorities. One of the things that has been very clear is we cannot do it all by ourselves. Fortunately, our oldest son has expressed interest and we hope to utilize him in a greater capacity very soon. Another high priority is taking out the confusion when buying custom half beef & pork - the order process for buying club pickup locations does not work with custom order dates. Additionally, beginning with January 2020 we will no longer use an Excel reservation file for ordering chickens. With the new processing plant we are no longer restricted with how many chickens we can do in a year - YEAH!

We have a pretty long list that should take us through the next 5 years or so. Some of the items already mentioned are relatively simple and require little capital. Others will be implemented over time and require extensive investment. Our objective is be more than a farm that raises premium grassfed beef, pastured pork, chicken, and eggs. We want to effectively market our farm to be your convenient "go to" source that meet the needs of your family. We understand families have a lot on their plates today and should not have to worry about the quality of the food for their families.

Beth & I thank you for supporting local (integrity) regenerative food sources to create a food system that nourishes healthy families, that is better for the animals welfare, that is better for regenerating the land and that builds healthy communities. That is the only way to make a positive impact with your food dollars.

Customer Feedback –

"Thank you Ben and Beth, for all the hard work you do to bring what Mother Nature intended for us to have in food. Words can’t express how grateful we are to finally, after 50 years of eating unhealthy, flavorless factory farm food; to having the opportunity to consume clean, healthy, tasteful, affordable beef, pork, and poultry. It’s the best we’ve ever had! Thank you for all you do". Jennifer B


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Celebrity Visitor – Tuesday afternoon I had the opportunity to meet one of the nicest guys here on our farm. CJ called me about ten days earlier to ask if he could come and see our farm. Seems his family owns a farm near Bassfield, MS and they were needing to make some changes. As you know, I’m eager to help anyone who would like to farm as Mississippi certainly needs more folks raising food to feed our communities – and since he was interested in Regenerative Pasture Raised animals that was even better.

Clean Sheets

Family Bible– This is about a personal story I would like to share this Easter (Jesus’ Resurrection). My dad’s oldest sister is 102 years old and not as sharp as she once was even though she has the most content personality of anyone I’ve ever known in her limited condition. Recently her middle son, my 1st cousin, asked me if I would be interested in two Simmons Family Bibles – well of course, I replied. The oldest Bible goes back four generations and includes names, dates, etc. for birthdays, marriages, deaths. And the penmanship is amazing! The second Family Bible is two generations old and belonged to my dad’s parents.