Good Morning from your farmer,

First, I need to update y'all regarding my statement about Seven Sons (SS) last week. Chad, who helped me put together my website & email marketing (DRIP), called me to say that SS did put out a video about the sale of Grazecart and did state the reason for the sale was both their direct market business and Grazecart were growing and they needed to focus on the direct marketing more so Grazecart had to be sold. My apologies to SS.

Somehow, I missed this video explanation. Thankful to Chad for pointing this out and sharing the video with me.

So, what do I mean by "Like A Well-Conducted Symphony?"

As you know, we have four core products (beef, pork, chicken, and eggs) and two additional products (lamb & turkey). Just the production skills and efforts to keep this going requires much coordination and helpers. Then, add in the processing and the team(s) that come in for harvest, our butcher & team for cut/pack, making sausages, etc. is another coordinated team effort.

Then, there is the Pack orders day followed by delivery days.

What I hope to accomplish with this email is share how all of this comes together that then determines restock dates for our products.

Key to conducting a symphony is to make sure every section knows when and where the musical will take place - right? Additionally, it's important that each musician arrives with the right music for the symphony (as well as their instrument).

Our annual calendar of strategic events is our tool to make sure all the folks - including the USDA - know what is happening when so they can schedule their time to be here and come with the right tools to get the job done.

You may remember in a prior email I discussed prioritizing based on BIG rocks, medium rocks, sand, and water. Well, one of the BIG rocks in priority is to NOT schedule beef the same week we are scheduled for chicken (or vise versa). Here is a brief description how we operate.

Beef: harvest is always on the first Wednesday of each month. The carcasses hang for 14 days before we cut/pack them.

For example, June harvest is June 5th. We will cut/pack on June 18 & 19th and then make the ground beef June 20th. Restock should be on June 20th. Knowing this you can plan ahead for your needs.

Chicken: we process typically twice per month. But, NOT during weeks we do beef. That means we harvest the Tuesday prior to beef harvest and the Tuesday between beef harvest & beef cut/pack. Sometimes, depending on how the calendar falls, chicken will be the week between beef harvest and the week AFTER beef cut/pack. Chicken cut/pack is performed the Wednesday following harvest and inventory restocked that evening.

For example, in June Chicken harvest will be Tuesday, June 11th, and 25th. Restock will be Wednesday, June 12th and 26th.

Pork: harvest is the same day as beef. However, pork carcasses do not have to age like beef. So, seven days later we cut/pack the fresh cuts like pork chops. This is accomplished the Wednesday after our team completes chicken processing that morning and restocked that afternoon. Additionally, items like sausages are made and cured items are added to the brine. Bacon/hams are brined for 7-10 days then smoked. Then cooled for 24 hours before slicing bacon and packing hams.

For example, pigs were harvested May 1st. Cut/pack was May 8th for fresh items. We only brined bacon (not hams this month) that was smoked May 16th and sliced/packed May 17th. We will restock Monday, May 20th when all customers have access to ordering.

Eggs: hens lay eggs every day! We choose to only add eggs on Wednesdays when customers are possibly looking for other items as well.

Mondays Beth delivers eggs to local grocery stores.

Thursday is order pack day.

Saturday is order delivery day.

Just like a well-conducted symphony, when all the pieces come together and the skills of the musicians are realized, the result is an outstanding performance.

However, unless customers buy a ticket all is for naught - right?

The TWO biggest issues customers have in placing orders are:

1) NOT pressing the "Place Order" button. Until you press this button we do not have your order and items in your cart are NOT yours - meaning the items can be applied to someone else's order. When you press the "Place Order" button the next screen will say Thank You For Your Order. Additionally, you will receive an email by the same title confirming your order. This is really no different than ordering from any other website - except as a small farm serving our community, our inventory level is not like a Wal-Mart.

2) Missing the Order Deadline date/time. Unlike other websites, we do close ordering from Wednesday at midnight through Saturday at midnight for "your" delivery date. For example, this weekend we are delivering the Jackson Metro Route. So, your ordering window closed Wednesday at midnight - so we could pack your orders Thursday without changes and will reopen Saturday at midnight after we have completed your delivery.

Farm location pickup is weekly so your order window closes weekly.

We hope knowing the "rhythm" of our farm is beneficial and helps you have an enjoyable ordering experience.

This has been a busy calving week for our WY girls. We now have 7 calves. Here's a picture of four of them together. Aren't they cute?

** Product Availability Update **

NOTE: Restocks are made about 6 PM on the dates indicated below!

Chicken -Next restock will be May 23rd.
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Turkey - Only have ground turkey available.

Eggs - Restocked each Wednesday. We are well stocked on eggs - especially large at this time.

Beef - Restocked May15th. Next restock will be June 20th.

Pork - Restocked fresh cuts Wednesday, May 8th. Bacon will be added Monday evening. .

Lamb - April 17th lamb did not work out. They were only 50 lb live weight or about half the weight needed for slaughter.