Blog - Nature's Gourmet Farm

Website Changes Coming

About two months ago Seven Sons announced they had SOLD Grazecart to POS Nation in Charlotte, NC. Our farm was in the top 5 to signup to use Grazecart back in December 2015. Back then it was very hard to set up... you had to work with the IT guy to program your site. Basically, flying by the seat of your pants. I had learned about Seven Sons and Grazecart during my time on the Board of the Grassfed Exchange Conference where Blaine was also on the Board. Additionally, you may remember that when we decided to add hens to our farm Beth & I visited Seven Sons to check out their operation. But, they (and we) perservered and today Grazecart is very functional and easy to "program" using widgets. So, the sale really saddened me because one of the compelling reasons we chose GC was that it was developed by farmers for farmers who market and sell direct to consumers. A little statistic - last year Grazecart supported about 450 farms. Our farm was in the top 25 largest users of Grazecart coming in around 22 or 23 if I remember correctly. There was no reason(s) given for the sale! The next communication came about a month ago stating POS Nation would transition Grazecart Stripe credit card process to POS Nation Stripe - again, no reason given. Farms were instructed to create an account on the new site and be ready for the migration to happen. All of this we have done. We are prepared, but have not yet been migrated. Then, this week several farms who had been migrated expressed disappointing results and lack of visibility on payments, payouts, reporting, etc. on the POS Nation site. I know when I checked my account status I could not log in. It took 4 email conversations over a 12-hour period AND then a couple of phone calls Friday morning before the issue was resolved. Late Friday afternoon the VP of Grazecart (POS Nation) emailed customers that the migration was put on hold until complaints were resolved. Additionally, this week - DRIP that powers our email marketing function communicated that Google & Yahoo email were cracking down on emails like our newsletters that are not delivered into inboxes. There are many reasons for this, but mostly folks are searching the internet and come across our website. They sign up to "check us out", and after awhile, decide to move on. Most never make a purchase. Some will make only one purchase and probably decide this is not what they are used to and fall away. Instead of using the "Unsubscribe" feature found at the bottom of our newsletter, they "Block" our email delivery. These are the ones that Google & Yahoo are after because these go into Spam folders and not inboxes. I am sure this is a big deal for email providers that cost them big money considering the shear volume of emails sent on a daily basis. That said, next week we will "Deactivate" about 288 DRIP accounts from ever receiving any of our emails. Well, enough of that for now! Remember, we showed pictures of the 23 registered Red Angus cows purchased from a ranch in WY? Well, they have started calving. Two of them this week. Here is a picture of the FIRST one. So glad we can celebrate this birth with our customers. At Nature's Gourmet Farm, our intent is to create a community that evolves around one of the most intrinsically important things of the ages, and that’s the provision of sustenance. That's our passion - to raise healthy food to nourish families and strengthen immune systems. If you are new to our farm then maybe you have been looking for premium ALL NATURAL GOODNESS of beef, pork, chicken, and eggs raised on pasture as God intended - with emphasis on Regenerative Principles and NOT conventionally raised animals (with growth hormones, drugs, chemicals, and antibiotics) - and where animals are treated humanely - then you have come to the right farm. Our delivery schedule and product availability are listed below along with order buttons that will take you to our website where you can browse over 90 product choices and place your order from the convenience of your home. It's that simple! ** Product Availability Update ** NOTE: Restocks are made about 6 PM on the dates indicated below! Chicken - Restocked May 8th. next restock will be May 23rd. . Turkey - Only have ground turkey and turkey wings available. Eggs - Restocked each Wednesday. We are well stocked on eggs - especially large at this time. Beef - Restocked April 19th. Next restock will be May 17th. Pork - Restocked fresh cuts Wednesday, May 8th followed by cured items (bacon) about 12 days later. Lamb - April 17th lamb did not work out. They were only 50 lb live weight or about half the weight needed for slaughter.

Updates & Musings From Farmer Ben

Last week I announced that we continue to have strong demand for our half beef custom orders, and that we have scheduled a harvest date for 6 "custom" beef with Homestead Farm & Packing in Lucedale, MS. Here are the key dates: April 27th 6 beef (12 halves) added to our website for orders. First-come, First-served. Customer pays deposit to reserve order. June 1st Cut-sheet due not later than this date. Best practice is to complete within a week of placing order. Cut sheet can be found at this link - scroll to the bottom of the page https://naturesgourmetfarm.com/custom-bulk-orders. June 3rd I will deliver the cows to the plant.

Do You Need A Half Beef? Must Read

Before I get into the main topic, let me share that our new mama cows are going great. They are settling in and now curious when we come around. For example, last Monday Jared picked up a load of chips for our chick brooder bedding and while unloading they eased up to see what we were doing. Very cool! Next, we want everyone to know that we are mostly FULLY STOCKED on beef, pork, eggs, and chicken. Its been a long time since we were last able to communicate that. Exceptions are filet, flank, and hanger steaks. Who bought all of those filets?

Exciting News From Our Farm

Before I share our exciting news let me update you on beef! You may remember that we communicated our intent to combine April & May custom half orders and process them late March. That way we could increase the amount of inventory we are able to sell through our website. This week our team spent three long days cutting and packing eight beef that was added to our store late Friday afternoon. That represents two beef extra than typical to satisfy the demand we have for our beef. Now, for the exciting news. For some time I have been wanting to add to as well as upgrade our beef herd.

Animal impact On OUR Pastures

The documentary Sacred Cow is known for the phrase "It's NOT the Cow, It's The How!" The meaning is simple. The cow is not responsible for any environmental effects on our land, water, or air. However, the way MAN insists on managing the cow IS RESPONSIBLE. The cow left to her nature and instinct would never confine themselves into a feedlot situration where they would be standing in their waste. Nor would the cow, when left to their nature and instinct, confine themselves to a single pasture on continuous graze. The cow's nature and instinct would be to eat, graze, and move - very similar to the buffalo

Government IS RESPONSIBLE For That

January 2024 LtGov Hoseman wrote an opinion piece that was published in newspapers across the state. The jist of his opinion was Mississippi's labor market is at a critical inflection point where only 53% of our population is working and the balance is not. While I fully agree Mississippi has a critical labor market issue - I also know GOVERNMENT IS RESPONSIBLE FOR THAT!!! Full disclosure - I tried three times to discuss this point with Hoseman, but he never returned my call. I will be sending him

It's About FAITH

This week represents the most important week of our Christian Faith - leading up to Resurection Sunday (traditionally called Easter Sunday) where believers gather to celebrate The Lord Jesus Resurection from death. Now, trust me, the last thing I want to do is offend anyone. However, with a bit of an open mind you may want to continue and check out some of what I share. Otherwise, we look forward to you joining us back next week where I hope to share my thoughts on recent legislative happenings. First, I believe Christian Faith is best defined by Paul

Customer's Speak Out

Last week's newsletter really struck home to many customers based on very positive responses received. Jennie, one of our Mobile customers (1st order April 2022 and has completed 18 nice orders since then) gave me permission to share her comments. “Maybe it will encourage others to get started,” she said. Jennie writes, “Wow, Ben, your newsletter really struck a chord with me today. Back in 2019 I was going through some personal trials that were causing me extraordinary stress, anger and frustration. I took up gardening as therapy. You may remember my t-shirt that said "I garden so I don't choke people." LOL! I had no clue how to garden so I started with a few pots of various greens that fall. They didn't do well, but

What Would You Say To This Headline?

What would you say to the following headline? Kellogg's CEO Tells Cash-Strapped Consumers That Cereal For Dinner Is A 'Great' Option — Meanwhile, Pepsi's CEO Encourages Struggling Gen Zers To Make Meals Out Of Chips And Pretzels I liked the comment from one man who said,

WOW!!!

Last week I shared our team processing ground beef for our farm’s March sales. This was after two days spent cutting and packing steaks, roast, etc. from eight beef. Once all the beef was stacked into our freezer I made a short video that you can watch by clicking HERE This video represents 8-beef. 1.5 beef were custom orders and 6.5 beef (about 1.5 more than our typical amount harvested) were for our farm store sales.

Beef Market Update

Last week I shared the impact and risk associated with imported beef into America and how that since 1940 the number of people living & working on American farms have dropped from 17% to a mere 2%. This week I need to update you on what the beef market (prices) are doing. First off, the last time Nature’s Gourmet Farm increased our beef prices was August 2023. Since then, live cattle prices have increased 17% - effectively taking out a big chunk of the profit we depend on to continue operations. At least part of what is driving BEEF prices is high demand and the fact that our American cattle herd is at a 70-year low. That is significant when you consider how much our population has increased in the past 70 years (since 1954).

Are Foreign Imports "Local"?

It may surprise you that I do receive AND read several weekly newsletters from other farms that I know and trust. Last week, Paul Brown who owns Nourished By Nature in Bismark, ND (son of Gabe Brown) wrote a really good article on import beef and he agreed to let me share with my customers. So, here goes! If you recall, the last newsletter we sent out referred to the statistic that today, only 2% of the population in the US produces food for the entire country (plus imports) as compared to 17% in 1940. This is unprecedented and it makes me wonder, what happened over the last 80 years? And where will we be in another 80? No wait, how about 10 years??? Will all US food production be outsourced?