Blog - Nature's Gourmet Farm

Cows & Pigs

Brand New Services– About six weeks ago Dixie Electric Power installed a brand new electric line with poles down my road. They replaced the old copper lines with aluminum and the poles are much better quality and taller. I asked the district manager when was the old copper line installed and he said since electric service was available for us… so, maybe since the mid 1940’s? Then, this week our complete road was blacktopped!!! If you have visited our farm you know it was long overdue. For years it has been patched to the point where the patches had patches. Hahaha

Clean and Cold | Adorable Calves

New Calves On Our Farm– Sometime in April we call our vet and schedule a breeding soundness exam for our bulls. This is before we add our bulls to our cow herd May 1st each year. Our oldest bull, affectionately named “Ole Man” by the guys here, was born on our farm the Spring of 2016.

New Pullets | Calves | Job Opening

Pullets arrived March 1st– every 6 months we receive a fresh batch of pullets. This year we were not sure if our late February to early March batch would be available…even though we ordered them last September. However, mostly since we have done business with the same farmer since the Spring of 2017, he prioritized our order and delivered them March 1st. While the price was higher, I was braced for a much higher price. Our pullets are typically 17 weeks old when delivered. They will start laying at about 24 weeks. That means we should start seeing medium eggs by our May delivery dates. YEAH!

Eggs | Broken State GVT

Interesting Egg Article– the price and availability of eggs is a hot topic as well as a solution. Industry and regulators (maybe also include media) would have you believe it is because of bird flu. But, is it bird flu OR some other agenda? Beth received a link to an article from Farm Action out of Mexico, MO who have sent a letter to the FTC and DOJ urging them to investigate and take action to restore competition and lower eggs prices. Key facts Farm Action quoted are: Key Pricing Facts:

Half Beef Shares | Egg Pricing | Visitor Stories

NEW Egg Ordering Process – As you know, eggs are not only expensive, but are now being rationed by grocery stores. We have had our share of extra folks contacting us because our prices are lower than grocery stores. This reminds us of March 2020 when our freezer went from FULL to EMPTY before we knew what was happening. I would say 95% or more of those who first bought during Covid left when store shelves filled back up. We are NOT interested in customers shopping price, but only customers interested in our quality products.

Eggs & More

This week the American Pastured Poultry Producers Association (APPPA) shared the USDA weekly disease update for Feb 4-10, 2025, a 4-day activity of exterminated chickens that is unnerving. During this timeframe 4.1 million chickens were exterminated. Most were egg layers and Ohio was the hardest hit. Here is the link that APPPA shared that tracks the outbreaks from the beginning - February 8th, 2022.

Compelling Purpose

Compelling Purpose – "What gets you out of bed in the morning?" The answer is your purpose, and if you don't have a compelling reason or purpose, you're likely to burn out and or fail. A brief testimony- folks who knew me in high school or even while on active duty Air Force in Plattsburg, NY would not have thought I would have ever amounted to much in life. Additionally, I was one of those who had to really study to make decent grades - even in college. (I was always jealous of folks like the dietian student in Statistics class who never studied, but made straight "A's"). Thus, I found myself in the help labs often. What I did have was persistence and perserverence! Spend the time, do the work to understand and succeed.

Pricing | Farm Matters

Farm Matters – First ACV - I left out a very important point regarding Apple Cider Vinegar. ACV is loaded with beneficial enzymes that helps the cattle better digest their forage and also provides needed energy. The same can be said for raw cows milk. Remember the chart I shared a few email ago that showed all the beneficial enzymes in cows milk vs.

Apple Cider Vinegar

pple Cider Vinegar – What a busy week at the farm this week. Tuesday & Wednesday mornings were knee deep in chicken processing and then in the afternoons we were cutting and packing fresh pork items. Thursday is our standard order packing day! This week we had 107 orders between our farm, Magee, Flowood, and Madison pickup locations. Friday, Beth & I processed pork trim into fresh ground pork and patty sausage (my favorite - cooked then crumbled into a bowl of hot oatmeal).

Update: Raw Milk | Wintering Our Chickens

Raw Milk – So, work has been done that will help our efforts be successful when trying to influence politicians to support Food Freedom, i.e. where small farms can raise and sell into commerce and consumers have the freedom to choose who they buy from. Last week I had an hour conversation with the Director of the TX based Farm & Ranch Freedom Alliance. They were helpful in Louisiana changing their laws to support raw milk. It was very clear that it requires knowing the current law(s) and what the end game needs to be. And, sometimes change comes by winning a battle at a time to accomplish the final solution.

Beef & Egg Pricing Updates

Beef Pricing – I wanted to take a moment to highlight my research on what the beef market is doing and what 2025 pricing could look like. First, Live Cattle Futures have been trading in a very tight horizontal range for at least the past two months with the upper limit in the $191.50 per pound area. December 31st price broke out ABOVE the prior top, came down and retested the breakout level, and then by January 3rd hit a new high just over $196 per pound live weight.

NEW Ocean Springs Pickup Location | Bacon, Bacon, Bacon

"NEW" Ocean Springs Pickup Location – During our December delivery a representative of the property owner stopped to say we could no longer use their location to meet customers. I queried our December customers and received several suggestions. The recommendation we decided on was the Park & Ride lot located in the SW intersection of I-10 and Hwy 609 (Washington Ave.). This is next door to Denny's. Here is a link to the updated details including a map showing where to meet us beginning January 4th. In many ways this location is much better than the Ace parking lot. I know for us it will be nice not to have the traffic on Hwy 90 especially when there are events scheduled in downtown OS.