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Short & Sweet

written by

Ben Simmons

posted on

December 25, 2021

Good Morning and hello from your farmer,

Well maybe not sweet but at least short! That is how my newsletter will be today.

Between daily chores, planting cool season pastures, harvesting, cutting up and packing chicken, two trips to the processor in Lucedale, and 8+ hours packing orders for today I find myself tired and short on thoughts to share.

I do want to give a big shout out to our Gulf Coast customers! We will be rolling out with 80 orders Saturday morning bringing nutrient dense food to help nourish your families... all "true" pasture raised beef, pork, chicken, and eggs.

Eric has asked me to pass along that if anyone from our Jackson Metro Route is interested in micro-greens for Nov 20th (just in time for Thanksgiving) that he will need to know NLT Tuesday, November 9th. Please email him at simmonseric86@yahoo.com.

Well, maybe one story from the week to share.

Matthew, a new customer as of a few weeks ago, picked up his order at the farm. Originally from New Orleans he has just recently completed his masters in music at USM.

He asked a lot of good questions and shared that he was hoping to get at intern position at Polyface Farm in VA with Joel Salatin. As we talked somehow we evolved into our poultry plant and that we process again on November 3rd. Next thing I know he is scheduled to observe and help out as he desired.

And he did really good. Afterwards as he was preparing to leave he commented "man this is really intense". Yep - life on the farm is busy!

Thanks Matthew - I am positive you will make a better farmer than I would a musician... guaranteed! Good luck with landing that intern gig.

Lastly, I want to encourage you to keep up with our Product Update section below where we try to let folks know about availability as well as new items.

As always, we thank you for rewarding our hard work with your trust and support.

More from the blog

Farm Improvements

Farm Improvements – Fresh water is a necessity for raising healthy animals on pasture. Until recently, we used an ICB tote on a small tralier that we would refill from our well. During the summer the frequency greatly increases in order to keep the chickens hydrated. So, I called my buddy at Southern Pipe and ordered pipe, fittings, etc. and then rented a trencher for May 16th to install 2,700 feet of 1.25 inch PVC pipe. Along the line we added 15 Plasson Quick Coupler Valves that we will hook to as we move the animals through our pastures.

My Advise How To Jump Start Small Farms In Mississippi

“Who controls the food supply controls the people; who controls the energy can control whole continents; who controls money can control the world.” — Henry Kissinger The fight to change food from addictive to nutritive will most likely be harder than the fight regarding tobacco (smoking) in public places that started back in the 1980’s. Note that my comments are NOT a condemnation of anybody who may use tobacco in any way as this can be a sensitive topic. However, it is personal to me as my Dad smoked at least 45 of his 75 years and died of lung cancer.

Small Farm Republic

Pasture Talk With Our Cows– Tuesday morning I was out checking on our cows and took the opportunity to record a short 2-minute story about the time I saved the life of one of the “pet” cows Number 608. Click to watch here. Small Farm Republic- is a book written by John Klar. A former attorney who contracted Lyme disease, John now farms in Vermont. I spent much of last weekend reading his book. He is very pro-small farms and presented a lot of evidence to support his position. On page 77 he makes a comparison to the number of farms and farmers during the Great Depression versus today. During the Great Depression the American population was 100 million. According to USDA charts