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The "Gold" Standard

written by

Ben Simmons

posted on

July 15, 2022

The "Gold" Standard! So, what are you talking about Farmer Ben?

First, a little background and then I will fill in the details.....

Nature's Gourmet Farm has been raising and selling meat chickens since 2013.

Beth & I thought meat chickens would be a great compliment to our beef offering and after reading Joel Salatin's book "Pastured Poultry Profits" decided the next step was to visit Polyface Farms in VA during their semi-annual gathering in 2012.

One of the many things I like and appreciate about Joel is he says what he does and does what he says. Meaning what we saw was the same as what we read in his books.

So, 2013 started our very humble beginnings. Since then, we have had almost annual upgrades to our brooders, chicken tractors, and facilities.

About 2016 we set up to be a feed distribution hub for Resaca Sun Feeds. Not only did buying bulk feed help our farm, but was the critical need for other farms to get started and be competitive. Today, we distribute feed to anywhere from 12 to 15 farms located within 125 miles from us. That's a win - win.

And we gladly help folks who express an interest in raising meat chickens by showing and discussing our processes, facilities, and etc. At least three farmers have built their own chicken plant and I've discussed our operations with a farmer in Maine earlier this year.

Okay - about the "Gold Standard". Just before our May 25th chicken processing date Andrew who has a farm near Raymond called and asked if he could come observe and work with us during our next processing. He explained that he currently raises vegetables in several greenhouses and wanted to add meat chickens. In fact, he had a batch on pasture that were five weeks old - So, he was anxious to get some experience processing before his needed processing.

Andrew told me he started asking around where could he learn about processing. One of the folks he asked was Jaclyn Rogers with Honestly Beef who told him that Nature's Gourmet Farm is "THE GOLD STANDARD" when it comes to chicken.

We certainly appreciate Jaclyn's kind words and the opportunity to meet Andrew and help him out.

Y'all know, our customers regularly tell us how tender and juicy - and great tasting our chicken is compared to store bought.

While our product may meet the gold standard in quality the price is a great value. One customer said her family from IN was paying $6.50 lb for a whole chicken vs. our price of $4.35. I recently saw where a farm in NY was selling whole chickens for $7.69 lb.

A little closer to home is White Oak Pastures in Bluffton, GA who sells their whole chicken for $7.90 lb. White Oak was one of the first farms east of the Mississippi River to have an on-farm processing plant for both poultry and red meat.

Locally, farms that I know are selling from $4.15 up to just over $6 per pound.

Are you serving your family our "Gold Standard" chicken?

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Chickens were born to scratch and peck, and that's exactly what they do on our farm. Our pasture-raised chickens freely roam our pastures, foraging for bugs and grubs in the soil. They are also offered a non-GMO supplement, which contains grains like corn, soy, barley, and wheat. They never receive antibiotics, artificial growth hormones or steroids. And, our chickens are processed in our on farm plant vs. being shipped off somewhere for processing.

Come check out our chicken. We offer whole chicken in 3, 4, 5, and 6 lb range, boneless breast, leg quarters, wings, liver, and feet.
Buy Nature's Gourmet Farm Chicken

Maybe you have been looking for premium ALL NATURAL GOODNESS of beef, pork, chicken, and eggs raised on pasture as God intended - without growth hormones, drugs, chemicals, and antibiotics - and raised humanely then you have come to the right farm. Our delivery schedule and product availability is 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!

More from the blog

Beef Update & A New Product

Beef Update – Typically this time of year folks are hesitant to buy bulk beef for their freezer due to hurricane risk. That is why we have delayed our next custom half & whole beef processing until September. If you are interested, our next harvest will be September 2nd with pickup on September 22nd. If you want to be included then please email me your name, email, and cell number to be added to our wait list - and be the first folks contacted and guaranteed to receive an order. Beef prices continue to increase and hit a new All-Time high this week fueled by strong demand and limited supply. For example, based on what a 700 pound steer sold for at the Hattiesburg Stockyard Monday, I could make more than feeding him till he weighs 1100 pounds and sell as packaged beef - but our mission is to provide nutrient-dense, clean food to our customers. Effective immediately custom beef half and whole prices will increase $0.50 to $6.25 per pound based on the hanging weight. Retail cuts will increase for September deliveries as well.

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.