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Inspiration Keeps Us Going - Farming is not really that exhausting except when building fence and cleaning up from storms. But, can be stressful mostly from uncertainty and weather impacts. Oh, and let's not forget government interference - but that is in any job you may have...right? The government is very intrusive and instead of solving problems they pass more laws and regulations that favor one group at the expense of others.
This is nothing new. Power and greed are at the root of the problem and when power and greed are concentrated in only a few multinational companies, they then control the food supply chain. Their lawyers and lobbyists influence legislation, farmers become price takers instead of price makers, marketing is jazzed to deceive consumers, while more and more small farms are closed.
Food has changed from real whole products like meat and vegetables to some processed or worse yet ultra-processed stuff that is full of chemicals with names I cannot pronounce much less know why it is in "food".
Unfortunately, the consumer is the real victum. In 2025 it was estimated that 129 million people in the USA have at least 1 major chronic disease as defined by the US Department of Health and Human Services. 42% or more have two or more chronic diseases and 12% have at least five chronic diseases. What is tragic is five of the top 10 leading causes of death in the US are, or are strongly associated with, preventable and treatable chronic diseases. Financially, about 90% of the annual $4.1 Trillion healthcare expenditure is attributed to managing and training chronic diseases and mental health conditions. (data per www.cdc.gov website)
Mississippi's health department is the most regulated in the state! Yet, our population ranks 49 of 50 worst in the USA. Mississippi's agriculture department is heavily regulated in favor of big corporations while suppressing small farms - that greatly limits new people to consider farming as a career.
For example, pastured poultry would be a great entry level into farming. It does not take a lot of land, does not require tractors to get started - just some skills to build a brooder, mobile chicken tractors, and processing items. The federal law P.L. 90-492 allows a small farmer to produce and sell up to 20,000 poultry per year (for comparison we do about 6800 annually) and sell to individuals and into commerce WITHIN the state of operation - I.E. intrastate only.
However, in Mississippi that FREEDOM is not available to our population. While MDAC allows a farm to raise up to 20,000, the sale is restricted to on-farm or home delivery only per MDAC Regulatory Poultry FAQ website page. Even the most committed consumer would have a hard time supporting this operation - thus the BIG corporations win again.
Politicians are why I decided to build our Inspected facility. Yes, dealing with the USDA audits and inspections can be burdensome, but it does teach us how best to humanely harvest and safely process our animals to ensure we not only honor the life of the animal, but also provide a safe product for our customers. As a small farm, our name is on the label of each product and we see our customers face to face. That is NOT something customers can find in the grocery stores any more. Being authentic and earning our customers' trust is important to us. After all, it is our reputation.
So, here are the generations of our ground beef packaging. The flat rectangle package to the left is how we started, It included a single bag, vacuum sealed and printed label. The round chub in the upper right includes a continuous round bag that is sealed by a clipper then printed label. Some of June and July orders will be filled with this version. The lower left chub uses a continuous preprinted bag that is sealed by a clipper and then date coded before crating for the freezer.
This is one of the ways our farm is improving the value we bring to our customers. Regina, who picked up her 25# Ground Beef Friday loved the new chub packs.
Soil Health Principle 2 - Not A Disturbing Trend. Recently I mentioned that Acres USA (the only magazine I read) had recently shared a five part series on Jay Fuhrer, NRCS from North Dakota, who was one of the first to define the five Soil Health Principles as a whole. Acres USA has given me permission to share these articles with my customer base starting this week. Knowing what Regenerative Farming is and is not is important as more customers and farmers convert to Regenerative Farming.
Unfortunately, they shared the articles as a PDF. This week I found a new and hopefully better way to share the articles where they are more readable.
  
An example from my farm: In 2013 I attended my first Grassfed Exchange Conference at Gabe Brown's ranch in North Dakota. There I was introduced to no-till cover crops and the rainfall simulator - this link is a similar presentation that was at the Grassfed Exchange Conference in 2016 in Perry, GA. The simulalor starts about 15 minutes into the video.
In 2014 I rented the no-till drill offered through the NRCS office and started planting a cover crop mix for our cows. In 2016 I purchased a no-till drill for our farm and expanded planting of diverse cover crop mixes. Twelve years later we continue to plant diverse cover crops and are focusing more on varieties that will seed and germinate the next growing season.
Half-Beef Custom Processed Orders - AUGUST harvest order window will open July 6th and close Monday, July 27th. Harvest will be August 4th. Availability will be about August 24th. Thanks 😉
Follow this link
to check out our Custom Processing Ordering Tips, to place an order and complete your individualized cut sheet. Please reply to this email with any questions.
And, when you buy a half or whole beef receive a Jarrard Meat Maximizer tenderizer at no extra charge. Jarrard is the choice of professional chefs and cooking enthusiasts for more than 40 years! The Meat Maximizer improves meat tenderness and texture, reduces marinating & cooking time, and is easy to clean and maintain.
Jana recently left us this ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Google Review "We’re on our fourth order of half beef. The quality and customer service is UNMATCHED. This is meat you can feel confident in knowing where it comes from and what it contains. We are so happy to know exactly what we’re feeding our family. We also love the eggs, sausage, and chicken!!! We’re so thankful for this farm and so thankful we get to enjoy gourmet food like this everyday."
Nature's Gourmet Farm product value proposition is to create a community that evolves around one of the most intrinsically important and critical needs of the ages, and that’s the provision of sustenance. That's our passion - to raise healthy animals to provide nutrient dense protein and saturated fat that nourish families and strengthens immune systems.
Our Beef is always grass finished with NO grains. Additionally, our animals are free of mRNA, GMO's (chemicals), Antibiotics, and Hormones. We ethically raise them on diverse forage pastures that regenerates our soils and protects our ecosystem.
Let me encourage you to "Be The Change" our food system needs by "Voting With Your Fork" at every meal.
** Product Availability Update **
NOTE: Restocks are made about 6 PM on the dates indicated below!
Chicken - Restocked June 24th. Next restock is July 8th
Turkey - Restocked April 22nd
Eggs - Restock each Tuesday prior to your delivery date.
Beef - Next restock is July 19th
Pork – Next restock July 8th for fresh cuts. About 2-weeks later for smoked cuts
Lamb - Restocked September 29, 2025. Next restock will be late July
Custom Half or Whole Beef- Next Order Window for custom half & whole beef is TBD. Harvest will be TBD. Yes, I want to Order Custom Beef & Pork
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