Blog - Nature's Gourmet Farm

Perdue Greenwashing "Pastured Chicken" Definition

First, our Whole Turkeys are sold out! Thank you for choosing a pasture-raised turkey for your family this year. And, in case you missed out we processed some larger chickens last Tuesday (6+ pound range) that you may want to consider. About February 2021 it was made public that Perdue was buying PastureBird. Perdue is one of the big three industrial chicken consolidators with headquarters in GA. PastureBird was started by a Marine Corp. veteran named Paul in CA. He worked really hard and had built a great brand based on American Pastured Poultry Producers Association definition of "pasture raised". This story actually began more than a year earlier.

Market Report News

First, an update on our Whole Turkeys. Last Saturday we offered 60 turkeys for sale via Pre-Order. More than 40 were spoken for by close of business Sunday afternoon. Today, there are only 7 left. The turkeys shipped Monday and arrived from MI at 8:30 Tuesday morning. I unloaded them with my pallet forks through the slaughter plant 12' roll up door and then used the floor jack to move the pallet straight into our freezer, less than 10 minutes from the time they arrived until they were tucked away in our freezer. Each turkey is individually boxed in a neat white box. Price is $8/ Lb. for 12 Lb. average. You may have noticed that our beef went up $0.20 to $0.25/lb. effective Nov 1st. These days we have a lot in our beef and the cost of replacements is increasing.

Turkey Pre-Orders

Our Whole Turkeys are being offered via Pre-Order. They will ship to us Oct 30 just in time for our Coast Route Delivery Nov 4th. Preorders are separate from your regular order. And because the receipt to our farm could be tight for our Coast Route, we have extended the deadline to Friday, Nov 3rd for preorders only. Price is $8/ Lb. for 12 Lb. average. We only have 60 turkeys available so don't delay - order today!

A Chinese Proverb

During my professional career as Director of Global Sourcing, I was fortunate to travel to many foreign countries. The first country visited was China in late 1993. Since my initial trip, I later travelled all over the country spending up to 3 weeks at a time and three to four times per year between 2000 and 2005. I have stood on the Northern end of the Great Wall where you can see over into N. Korea and the military gun placements along the river between the two countries. I've stayed in a hotel in Dandong where I was the only Westerner there - Dandong is also where

Turkeys, Eggs, and More

Well, a few folks read last week's newsletter that we were restocking turkey--ground, legs, thighs, and wings--Oct 10th and grabbed some before the order deadline date. Awesome!!! Speaking of TURKEYS - ours will not be ready for Thanksgiving this year due to the weather struggles. UGH! Then, I received an email from a farm in MI that had a large retail contract to cancel which left him with a lot of turkeys to sell. And, Joe's Farm was offering them at a good price plus shipping, adding $1 or so per pound when bought in a pallet quantity of 60 turkeys.

Things That Go BUMP In The Night!

Once a quarter we have a month with 5-weekends instead of 4. That gives us an extra weekend (2 total) between deliveries. Last weekend I was taking it easy because of my wisdom tooth extraction Friday morning - which went really great! This Saturday we have our annual Simmons Family Reunion. It is always good to visit with out of town family and catch up. On the farm our definition of "Things That Go BUMP In The Night" may be different that for those who live in cities. We mostly think of fox, opossum, racoons, coyote, pigs, and maybe someone's lost deer dog. However, there is the occasional sighting of something larger.

Homestead Tsunami?

So, we received a lot of positive feedback from last weeks newsletter regarding Why I Changed My Mind On Yolk Color. If you missed reading it then you can always find it on our homepage under Farm Blog. We also post restock information there each week. Busy week here on the farm. Primary focus has been cutting and packing beef for restock Friday about 6pm. I'm very thankful for our team that comes in to help - without them it would be impossible for us to accomplish. Is your Food Security something you give any thought to? Frankly, the masses do not...they believe all they need to do is simply go to the grocery store. I believe our steady customers are very aware of food security risk in the marketplace in addition to

Why I Have Changed My Mind On Egg Yolk Color

Why I have CHANGED MY MIND on layer feed ingredients to affect egg yolk color! First, how I got started on this topic. As you know, we have had record heat and lack of rain that has negatively impacted our farm - especially the chickens. And with the high night time temperatures the hens did not have any cooling down time. This drastically affected their lay rate to the point we could not fill all orders for our customers. So, I reached out to a Regenerative Farmer Friend in MO

Farm Updates - USDA KIS Test Results

As you know, we had a glitch in our email service a few weeks ago that prevented our weekly newsletter from delivering to your inbox. Based on results from last weeks mailing, it appears the issue has been corrected as the open rate was back in the mid-60% range. Just so you know, our newsletter is also posted to our website's Farm Blog each weekend. Last Saturday Ocean Springs received the rain we need here on the farm. As a farmer,

Could Have Been Devastating!

Good Morning and hello from your farmer, First, let me give a BIG Shout Out to our Madison pickup location. Our Madison customers set a new record for the number of orders this month at 34 families served and also led the month with the most orders per pickup location. Many thanks to ALL customers for your faithful business & support of our farm. So, what could have been devastating? Saturday, as we rounded the last curve before arriving back at the farm I looked back to the North and saw smoke!

Farm Updates - Continued

A few weeks ago our farm newsletter was titled "What Is Too Big"? The basic theme is my belief that food security and farmer profitability, service, etc. is found in many, many small family-size farms than in a few mega farms. For the farmer and consumer, the cost of production is also less. To explain, let me use meat chickens as an example. White Oak Pastures for years have said they lose money on chickens. They have an on-farm USDA processing plant

Farm Updates

Many customers have asked how the animals are doing in this heat! Really, I think they do better than humans. After all, they are outside in the elements regardless what the conditions happen to be. We work in the heat, but live in the air conditioning.... makes a difference. That said, we certainly take the heat affects seriously. Some of the extra things we are doing include: