Turkey's, Proposed New Location, & More

This time of year, most people only have two questions on their mind:

1) Why has Christmas music started playing already?

2) Where am I going to get my Thanksgiving or Christmas turkey?

Although I can’t explain away the Christmas songs, I’m more than happy to take orders for bonafide free-range turkeys. While holiday songs will soon saturate the airwaves, genuine free-range turkeys are typically rarer than hen’s teeth this time of year.

This year we happened into producing turkeys before being ready (discussed in a previous newsletter) because several customers had asked us to start raising them for their families.

We have discovered that customers are hungry for authentic pastured raised products like our farm raises for several reasons. These include nutritive value of a pastured turkey is much better than one raised inside because they are able to forage green grass as well as eat bugs. You see, just like the hens and broilers they are "omnivores" meaning they are intended to eat both bugs and forages to include grains. Our pastured animals feed in their natural environment with all the sunshine and fresh air & water they need to grow a healthy product. They are not closed up in some environmentally controlled building without ever seeing sunshine or having fresh air to breath and forced to eat a vegetarian diet.

Unfortunately, the price per pound is much higher than our broiler prices. Factors that affect price include the turkey poult is $7.95 vs. $1.30 each. Lifespan to grow a 10-12 lb. dressed turkey is double vs. the broiler. Turkey poults require a higher protein feed the first 12 weeks or so vs. broilers. That means the feed cost and daily labor to move them is more than doubled. And, most farmers will tell you that baby turkeys look for ways to die. Thus, the mortality cost is also higher.

This year, we have checked and rechecked our cost and have set the price at $8.82 per pound. We have THREE available for Thanksgiving that are 15 Lbs. +/- 1 lb. We were not able to shrink wrap them so they may have a bit of ice on them.

For Christmas, we are targeting a 10-12 pound turkey. These will be harvested just before Christmas and offered fresh and or frozen at the farm. Our equipment should be able to vacuum seal these smaller turkeys.

If you are interested, then email me if you want a Thanksgiving and or Christmas turkey. With the limited quantity it will need to be first come, first served.

PROPOSED NEW LOCATION:

Our Jackson route is often our smallest dollar route and is the longest distance. Thus, the need to somehow increase the dollar volume without increasing the mileage if possible.

Thursday I received an email from Noalene, a new customer from Magee. See stated: Your meat is delicious and so healthy. I've been eating a Ketogenic diet but am starting to go more carnivore with a few vegetables since I have found your meats. I'm praying the Lord will continue blessing you both and your family. I know he lead me to find your farm. You are truly raising your animals the way God intended.

Noalene is very interested in Nature's Gourmet Farm adding Magee as a pickup location. She has already discussed with a local business about the pickup location and suggested we may have customers from Mendenhall, Puckett, Pinola, Prentiss, Raleigh, Mt. Olive and Mize that would be interested in our meats.

We do have current as well as previous customers in the Magee area that would benefit from a Magee pickup location. And probably others who would become customers with the local pickup option.

To make this work, we would need to stop during our drive to Jackson. That would be about 8:45 am or so. And be there not longer than 20 minutes.

So, if you live in the Magee area and would benefit from a pickup location there please reply to this email and let me know.

ARTICLE OF INTEREST-

Stephanie Seneff contributed the following comments in a recent Organic Consumers Association email. She writes;

"Moms Across America (MAA) is a nonprofit consumer group founded by Zen Honeycutt that advocates for lifestyles that support good health and longevity. A particular focus of the group has been the issue of pesticide contamination in foods, especially the pervasive herbicide glyphosate (the active ingredient in Roundup).

Moms Across America has just released the results of a study they conducted on public school lunches, purchased by moms and sent frozen by 2-day shipping directly to a laboratory where they were analyzed for many toxic chemicals, toxic metals, and nutritional deficiencies. The samples covered 18 cities in 15 states.

They found the following:

1. Glyphosate and AMPA (a breakdown product of glyphosate) were present in over 95% of the samples.

2. Consistently high levels of glyphosate were found in wheat-based foods.

3. 100% of the samples contained heavy metals at levels up to 6,293 times higher than the EPA’s maximum levels allowed in drinking water.

4. Veterinary drugs and hormones were also found in some samples, as well as many other agrochemicals besides glyphosate being used routinely on our crops.

5. The samples were also nutrient deficient.

I have found strong evidence that glyphosate exposure is a major contributor to many chronic conditions that are on the rise. These include diabetes, obesity, fatty liver disease, autism, Alzheimer’s disease, inflammatory bowel disease, sleep disorder, etc., as shown in my book, Toxic Legacy.

Guess what? School food comes from the same place as grocery store food!!!

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 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!

Lastly, Beth & I thank you for trusting us with your food dollars.

** Product Availability Update **

Chicken -Restocked Thursday, October 13th. Next harvest date is October 25th with restock the following day

Eggs - Eggs are still tight. New hens arrived September 16th. First eggs should be 5 weeks out.

Beef - Restocked September 26th early afternoon. Next harvest is October 3rd with restock about October 21st
***Beef Organ Burger Scott commented this week that the ground organ burger is excellent!
***Beef Bacon Burger - we processed using the Bearded Butchers method and when complete we cooked some to taste. Very Salty! So, we will try again.

Pork - Restocked bacon September 29th. Next harvest date is TBD.

Lamb - Next harvest date is later this fall.