Restock Dates: Please see our Farm Blog where we post our weekly newsletter for the latest updates

Farm Updates | Plus More

written by

Ben Simmons

posted on

October 20, 2024

Good morning from your Farmer(s),

Contents:

  1. 1. Farm Updates
  2. 2. A Look Back
  3. 3. Snowball Effect
  4. 4. Half/Whole Beef Orders
  5. 5. Thanksgiving Turkeys & Smoked Hams
  6. 6. Product Availability Update


I’d like to request some of the unprocessed lard ~10lbs. Also, if possible, I’d like a whole Boston butt vs a section of the muscle. Thank you so much for all you are doing! This is such a wonderful local food resource. You have been vital to me and my family recovering our health! April E.

We also know April through our Azure Standard drop off. She and many more of our customers are also customers of Azure and meet their truck once per month. If you are not familiar with this company you can check them out here.

Farm Updates:

  1. 1. Winter forage planting. October is a busy month planting our winter pastures for the cows. This year we will plant about 300 acres. Our team has about 200 completed and is well ahead of meeting the goal of 300 prior to the end of October. All we need is some rain!
  2. 2. This week was beef processing week where we cut, pack and make ground beef. Sunday morning inventory will be added when all locations order window is open. Total weight is 2,700 pounds.
  3. 3. Bacon, hocks, and hams have been in the brine. Friday, after packing orders, Beth smoked the bacon & hocks. Sunday, she will smoke the hams. All should be added to our website by Monday.


A look back: When you sign up on our website you will receive a series of emails to introduce you to our farm. Often emails will include pictures and videos. Below is a clip from an older video from 2016 used to show customers how we pack and deliver your orders. Note the orders are all sitting on the floor and do not fill the trailer but half way.

Today, Saturday Oct. 19th., the picture would include boxes stacked four high from front to just inside the rear door. And, would include 18 cases of eggs. All for the Magee, Flowood, and Madison locations – about 2,430 pounds of nutrient-dense, real farm food to nourish your family.

We are very blessed of God to be able to share with so many families from our farm.

A-Look-Back.jpg


Snowball Effect: Tuesday – Friday this past week more than 25 people signed up on our website to be a customer. The snowball is on its way down the mountain and is gaining speed and size.

I just spent 4 weeks sharing Dr. Casey Means' research as well as a valued customer’s testimony about his health benefits from eating real farm food vs. processed “food”.

Today I want to share a bit of the testimony Dr. Mark Hyman shared during a recent congressional hearing on human health.

He writes, As part of my work as the Chairman of the non-profit Food Fix Campaign, I recently participated in bipartisan congressional hearings on Capitol Hill focused on addressing the chronic disease epidemic to present on the rapid decline in America’s health. Chronic illness has become a silent epidemic in America, affecting hundreds of millions of adults and tens of millions of children. Six in ten have a chronic illness, including 41% of children under 18. Nearly 250 million Americans are overweight and over 300 million are metabolically unhealthy. One in two Americans has pre-diabetes or type 2 diabetes, and our mental health crisis affects us all and is in large part caused or worsened by our ultra-processed diet and environmental toxins. We are 48th in life expectancy in the world and last among all developed nations in key health metrics such as infant mortality. And it is harming our children with 40% overweight, 22% obese, 20% on anti-depressants, and more than 1 in 10 on medicine for ADHD.

The weight of this chronic disease epidemic is burdening our healthcare system and draining our government’s coffers, costing nearly $5 trillion a year (more than 5x our military budget and more than twice per capita of any other nation) mostly because of lifestyle driven chronic disease. Taxpayers foot 40% of that bill, leaving less for everything else that matters. Yet, too often, the solutions—solutions rooted in food and lifestyle—are ignored.

Half/Whole Beef Orders: We have planned the LAST 2024 harvest of seven beef (14 halves) for 2024. The harvest date will be November 5th. That will give the processor time to complete your order so pickup can be prior to your Thanksgiving holiday.
Only two beef (4 halves) are left. If you are interested, then you need to place your order ASAP. Here is a link to helpful Ordering Tips.

Thanksgiving Turkeys & Smoked Hams:
Turkeys are sold out. I received word Friday that they will ship either today or Monday so we will be able to deliver them during our regular routes starting in November.

Smoked hams are a Thanksgiving favorite along with the centerpiece turkey. We processed smoked hams from pigs we harvested this week. Currently they are in the brine and will be smoked Sunday with inventory to be ready for November delivery routes.

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 -Next Restock is October 23rd.
.
Turkey - Thanksgiving Turkey SOLD OUT. Scheduled to ship either Saturday or Monday. Delivery during the regular November route schedules.

Eggs - Restock each (NOW) TUESDAY PRIOR to YOUR delivery date. Received 650 new pullets 4 weeks ago. Should start seeing eggs from them soon.

Beef -Next restock October 20th. Half Beef shares LAST 2024 opportunity will be November 5th with pickup prior to Thanksgiving.

Pork - Restocked fresh cuts October 9th. Cured/smoked items about October 21st.

Lamb - Restocked October 8th.

More from the blog

Real Health Is NOT A Pill. It's A Practice!

Two Great Must Read Articles – Typically I don't make a big deal about articles we have read, but these two are so good that I felt they needed to be shared. The first is by Joel Salatin titled "Food Think" that is part of his The Lunatic Farmer blog. You can read the full article at this link. The second article is one Beth forwarded to me from the Health Viewpoints section of Epoch Times titled "Americans Spend Trillions on Health Care but Remain Unwell - Here's Why" Dr. Yang, FAPA, a board certified psychiatrist, begins by stating the difference between treating disease and building true health lies in a proactive and preventative lifestyle. Note - Beth and I would agree with other folks who commented that his article is spot on and very important for folks to read and understand. You can read at this link.

What's Your Favorite Sausage?

Sausages – so, we are looking to our customers for Sausage Inspiration! Since we added pigs to our farm in 2015 (wow- 10 years ago) we have sold basically the same five sausage flavors. The Patty & Regular Link sell pretty good, the Cajun & Cracked Black Pepper sell fair and the Jalapeno not so much. When you look around there are many various flavors available.

A Really Cool Farm Story

Our Really Cool Farm Story – To really understand I need to take you back to April 2024 when we took delivery on 23 heavy bred Red Angus cows from a WY ranch. If you are new to our newsletter, we purchased them from a ranch that converted to Red Angus in 1960 when they bought their stock from the ranch that started the Red Angus breed. And, have kept a closed herd since inception except for two years. This means these cows should be as close to the original breed as there is. When they were unloaded onto our farm they really kept their distance from us. Granted, our management style is different than the ranch where they came from - basically they were turned out onto the range in the Spring and