April 1995 I moved our family from Gulfport to Concord, NC to take a new job. With that I also needed to find a new Air Guard job. For the first 6-months I drilled with the NC unit in Charlotte where I helped facilitate Quality Assurance training. One of the tools was called "Big Rocks". Basically, you taught how to set priorities based on "rock" sizes. The big rocks are your most important priorities while smaller rocks are least important. To often we put the small rocks into the jar (our schedule) first (our least important priorities) and then wonder why our big rocks (highest priorities) want fit or go unfinished. Visualize a jar filled

After at least an eight week delay so the DEQ (Department of Environmental Quality) and the MS Health Department could determine what the effect of our wastewater from building a red-meat slaughter plant would be - we are now ready to start construction. In the end, we ended up right where we started... with a permitted septic system. The DEQ finally decided our plant would not generate enough wastewater to be of any concern. And, we already have a permitted septic system that will handle the wastewater generated. So, our contractor will arrive Monday morning and begin laying out the slaughter building and covered holding pin area.

Twas The Week Before Thanksgiving, and still there was so much to get done! It was very important to make sure folks had time with their family and friends. Turkeys had to be weighted Sunday to make sure they were the right weight and not to heavy - and customers contacted. Broiler processing was scheduled for Monday - and then 24 turkeys that weighted just right... completely filled this day! Tuesday there was two beef to be cut & packed because the meat was at the perfect age.

This evening we are coming off a very busy week here on the farm. Beth & I finished the ground beef about lunch Friday and then started packing our Jackson Metro customer orders - wrapping up about 8pm. And this will be the largest delivery ever to both Flowood and Madison. Needless to say we are both very tired. Next Thursday is Thanksgiving! Many will be traveling to enjoy the holiday with family & friends

Today, I want to share updates on our Beef Bacon, Lamb, and Christmas Turkeys. BEEF BACON - Our first attempt at making beef bacon flopped. It turned out way to salty. Then, when we processed our October beef we tried again...on a smaller "test" scale. We then handed out samples to a couple of folks who had asked and here are there comments: * D Matthews wrote to say "The beef bacon was deelicious! I look forward to purchasing it with my next order." * Joseph G wrote "We tried the Beef Bacon, it was delicious! The texture when we fried it comes out between bacon and jerky. The flavor was rich and deep, we didn't add any seasoning to it and has become a favorite of my wife and I. My wife stated

October 29th we hosted student members of MS State Regen Ag Club here on the farm. The club was started by Chris Williams, the son of Dr. Allen Williams who you have heard me talk about many times before. This is the club's first year - so everything is still very new! Nine students attended the field day here. Each person shared their interest and expected future in agriculture. I was surprised how many of them were attending State, but were not residents of Mississippi. One student's home was Idaho.

OK, so the content of this email will be a bit different. Today, I plan to share a major land improvement project that will use a Hi-Tech Drone and GPS Camera to map how best to fix a naturally occurring ditch on the new ground we purchased in 2018. A bit of update to those new to our community - August 2018 we were blessed to be able to purchase 160 acres that joins our Eastern land line. Doubly blessed as this

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

WOW! What a pleasure to hear customers share their story about caring for and rejuvenating their health... here are some comments from two customers in Mobile last weekend. Alex, a young man, is well read and has great insight into the major health issues caused by industrial agriculture and processed foods. Currently, he is reading a book titled "Genius Foods" by Max Lugvaere. The book is a New York Times Bestseller that focuses on the cause of Alzheimer's and Dementia and offers a comprehensive guide to brain optimization. Here is a short summary of the contents: "Discover the critical link between your brain and the food you eat

If you’ve been to the egg counter in your local grocer lately you have seen all the different egg carton claims. Maybe you wondered what they mean? Today I want to briefly help you make sense of these claims by describing what the actual production definition is. First, what is driving all these claims in the first place? Well, the demand for pasture raised eggs is skyrocketing and affecting commercial egg producers. So, like many other products, commercial producers

September has brought us much dryer weather - just what I needed to prep pastures for planting winter grasses. On the new ground we cleared two years ago has been pretty wet ever since. Now, however, most of it is dry enough to get in with the bushhog and shred weeds and small woody trees that sprouted. And, the dry weather is drying out the stems and killing the weeds. All that is left is a nice ground cover on the soil surface to no-till our winter grasses into along with compost extract.

We really enjoy what we do. And are blessed to be able to steward the land and animals to the best of our ability the way God intended. To be a Regenerative Farmer is really cool! I can't imagine farming any other way. To build bioreactors, extract and apply biology back into the soil to stimulate life that will feed the plants that in-turn feeds the animals is really awesome. To raise animals out on pasture where they are able to live their life to the fullness