Since we started selling via our online store in 2016, the number of visitors to our farm increased. Then, building the on-farm USDA poultry plant in 2019 spurred a lot of interest from folks who were interested in raising pastured poultry and were looking for a way around the MS Department of Ag regulation limiting the number of chickens per farm to only 1,000 per year. Most of the folks visiting were potential customers looking for naturally raised meats to feed their families.
Beth & I hope you enjoyed your Thanksgiving - and turkey if you purchased one our our pastured turkeys. For our family the turkey did not disappoint. I spatchcocked (removed the backbone) so the turkey would lay flat. Beth then brined it for a day before smoking. It turned out tasty and juicy. Before our Thanksgiving meal each of us shared something we were thankful for. Beth's sister Debra shared the following:
Overall rain this week on our farm was about ONE inch! Not a lot in the big scheme of things, but very appreciated. It was enough to make a difference for our winter grass as you can see from this picture. In some areas of other pastures it appears that the seedlings died after germinating back in October. An observation that the heavy dews was not enough to keep them alive.
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.
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.
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!
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
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.
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.
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 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
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,
Veteran Owned & Operated
