Blog - Nature's Gourmet Farm

Why Regenerative Ag Part 3

I hope you are enjoying our series on "Why Regenerative Agriculture" and it is making sense to you. A recent article in Meatingplace magazine about industry trends, the author DuBois stated "Notably, regenerative agriculture is a tiny percentage of the market right now, but long term, it could be poised to resonate with consumers, who care about sustainability issues. Regenerative farming has the ability to be something that captures people's purchase dollars, and also imagination." "There is that shopper who is willing to spend a little bit more and is really looking for that cleaner label." Today, I'll share about the nutrient cycle and what we are doing on our farm to regenerate our soils nutrient cycle.

Why Regenerative Ag Part 2

Happy New Year! It seems the older I get the faster the years go by... Many of us who consider ourselves Regenerative Farmers will say that Regenerative is beyond Organic! Meaning, our farming methods consider the WHOLE of nature and the natural processes. As you read last week about the 6 Principles of Soil Health * 3 Rules of Adaptive Stewardship * 4 Ecosystem Processes used by Regenerative Farmers is about observing the Ecosystem and using the Principles and Rules to enhance our natural Ecosystem Processes. Organic has become a list of standards set by the USDA

Old Fashioned STEAK SALE And Regen Ag Part 1

So, Farmer Ben tell me about this Old Fashioned Steak Sale! Just what do you mean by Old Fashioned? Sure - Old Fashioned implies simple straight forward prices. No Gimmicks! No Bundles that may have cuts you do not use! No Minimums! And, No Order Limits! We have FIVE steaks in this sale. All of our beef is Grass-Fed AND Finished (never any grain), free of chemicals and hormones... 1) Boneless Ribeye - sale price $15.30. Compare to Corner Market conventional beef at $17.99 2) NY Strip - sale price $13.30. Compare to Corner Market conventional beef at $15.99 3) Sirloin - sale price $8.80. Compare to Corner Market conventional beef at 11.99 4) Bone-In Ribeye - sale price $12.80. Save $1.45/lb. 5) T-Bone - sale price $12.35. Save $1.40/lb.

Why Regenerative Farming - Introduction

Before the Introduction on Why Regenerative Farming I want to give you a brief update on farm activities this week. First, we cut and packed 7-beef into 2,135 salable packs for a finished weight of 2,744 pounds. That consumed Monday - Wednesday for most of our team. Thursday Beth & I were busy prepping for this major cold front while also finishing up Organ & Bacon Burger. Needless to say, some long days. Major spikes like this cold front will bring to surface weakness in infrastructure!!! Like pex pipe

Schedules, Times, & A New Video

April 1995 I moved our family from Gulfport to Concord, NC to take a new job. With that I also needed to find a new Air Guard job. For the first 6-months I drilled with the NC unit in Charlotte where I helped facilitate Quality Assurance training. One of the tools was called "Big Rocks". Basically, you taught how to set priorities based on "rock" sizes. The big rocks are your most important priorities while smaller rocks are least important. To often we put the small rocks into the jar (our schedule) first (our least important priorities) and then wonder why our big rocks (highest priorities) want fit or go unfinished. Visualize a jar filled

Work Starts Monday

After at least an eight week delay so the DEQ (Department of Environmental Quality) and the MS Health Department could determine what the effect of our wastewater from building a red-meat slaughter plant would be - we are now ready to start construction. In the end, we ended up right where we started... with a permitted septic system. The DEQ finally decided our plant would not generate enough wastewater to be of any concern. And, we already have a permitted septic system that will handle the wastewater generated. So, our contractor will arrive Monday morning and begin laying out the slaughter building and covered holding pin area.

T'was The Week Before Thanksgiving

Twas The Week Before Thanksgiving, and still there was so much to get done! It was very important to make sure folks had time with their family and friends. Turkeys had to be weighted Sunday to make sure they were the right weight and not to heavy - and customers contacted. Broiler processing was scheduled for Monday - and then 24 turkeys that weighted just right... completely filled this day! Tuesday there was two beef to be cut & packed because the meat was at the perfect age.

Happy Thanksgiving

This evening we are coming off a very busy week here on the farm. Beth & I finished the ground beef about lunch Friday and then started packing our Jackson Metro customer orders - wrapping up about 8pm. And this will be the largest delivery ever to both Flowood and Madison. Needless to say we are both very tired. Next Thursday is Thanksgiving! Many will be traveling to enjoy the holiday with family & friends

Product Updates For The Holidays

Today, I want to share updates on our Beef Bacon, Lamb, and Christmas Turkeys. BEEF BACON - Our first attempt at making beef bacon flopped. It turned out way to salty. Then, when we processed our October beef we tried again...on a smaller "test" scale. We then handed out samples to a couple of folks who had asked and here are there comments: * D Matthews wrote to say "The beef bacon was deelicious! I look forward to purchasing it with my next order." * Joseph G wrote "We tried the Beef Bacon, it was delicious! The texture when we fried it comes out between bacon and jerky. The flavor was rich and deep, we didn't add any seasoning to it and has become a favorite of my wife and I. My wife stated

Regen Ag Club Visits NGF

October 29th we hosted student members of MS State Regen Ag Club here on the farm. The club was started by Chris Williams, the son of Dr. Allen Williams who you have heard me talk about many times before. This is the club's first year - so everything is still very new! Nine students attended the field day here. Each person shared their interest and expected future in agriculture. I was surprised how many of them were attending State, but were not residents of Mississippi. One student's home was Idaho.

Hi Tech Day At The Farm

OK, so the content of this email will be a bit different. Today, I plan to share a major land improvement project that will use a Hi-Tech Drone and GPS Camera to map how best to fix a naturally occurring ditch on the new ground we purchased in 2018. A bit of update to those new to our community - August 2018 we were blessed to be able to purchase 160 acres that joins our Eastern land line. Doubly blessed as this

Turkey's, Proposed New Location, & More

This year we happened into producing turkeys before being ready (discussed in a previous newsletter) because several customers had asked us to start raising them for their families. We have discovered that customers are hungry for authentic pastured raised products like our farm raises for several reasons. These include nutritive value of a pastured turkey is much better than one raised inside because they are able to forage green grass as well as eat bugs. You see, just like the hens and broilers they are "omnivores" meaning they are intended to eat both bugs and forages to include grains. Our pastured animals feed in their natural environment