Blog - Nature's Gourmet Farm

Erasing The Fuzziness Of Egg Label Claims

Hey all, this is Eric, Ben’s oldest. He (Ben) asked me to write for this week’s newsletter. Today I’d like to briefly discuss eggs and the misleading labeling that often surrounds them. As some of you may remember, I started on the farm about a year ago taking over the care of our laying flock. I also care for our broiler (meat) chickens once they are moved to pasture. Guess that makes me a chicken tender! Anyway, some of you probably go into the grocery store and see all the variety of eggs for sale. So many different options, and so many labels—ones like cage free, free range, organic, etc. So what does each label actually mean?

What's Happening At The Farm

It is never a dull moment at the farm! There is always something that needs to be done. One of the techniques I learned in the mid-1990's through the Air National Guard was how to set priorities. The demonstration included four (4) different size rocks ranging from large to the size of pea gravel. Oh, they also used a fixed size container. First, the smaller size rocks (the pea gravel) was put into the container. Then the next size, then the next larger size. These three sizes filled the container to where it was impossible to fit the largest rocks inside. Next, they started over. This time the largest rocks were added first. Then ,

Interesting Happenings in Meat Retail

Before I talk about changes coming at retailers let me give you an update on our newest bundle - *NEW* Winter Comfort Bundle. We launched this bundle December 28th to our Coast route so they could make an order before the deadline closed Dec 30th. And then opened to all locations Jan 2nd. The launch closed Jan 4th. Forty-three bundles (almost 1000 pounds) were sold in 5-days. Most customers also bought additional items to include our new Seasonings from Bearded Butcher. Our customers really like bundle options. And, we plan to offer more choices in the future. If you missed out on the launch of this new bundle - no worries! You can find it now listed as Winter Comfort Bundle with all the same products included less the 2# of free ground beef. Since opening our USDA Poultry Processing Plant in 2019 we got on the mailing list of a magazine titled meatingplace

Coming and Going Farm Update

A short TEN years ago we sold our 1st Grass-Fed Beef! That same year we also cleared and prepared 75 acres of additional pasture. By 2012 we started raising pastured chickens and cleared and prepared 35 acres of additional pasture. Pigs came the next year and in 2015 we purchased 52 acres that joined our farm. Beth mentioned the other day that it was FOUR years ago this month that we travelled to Seven Sons to look into raising eggs. By Spring of 2017 we had our first flock. Did you know that our farm was one of the early adapters with Seven Sons and GrazeCart for our website that we started January 2016 - almost FIVE years ago. Followed by our deliveries that summer when we switched from selling custom half & whole beef & pigs to mostly selling retail cuts. And, ALL raised and finished on our farm.

Tis The Season For Comfort Foods

This week we announced our new Comfort Foods bundle and added a collection of classic comfort foods and delicious new seasonings to our online store. We decided to create this new Winter Comfort Foods bundle that includes roasts, whole chicken, and ground beef for a few reasons that I'd like to share with you today. First and foremost, as the temperatures drop a bit it sure is nice to look forward to enjoying a roast, meatloaf or bowl of your favorite savory stew, chili or soup. It truly is the heart of Comfort Foods season.

Our Newest Bundle Is Here

It's a special holiday weekend here on the farm in Petal as we get to introduce our newest value bundle, the 2021 Winter Comfort Foods Bundle. It features 20+ pounds of delicious farm-fresh food including, 5 lbs. of our premium Grassfed Ground Beef, 3 hearty Beef Roasts, a whole chicken and 2 dozen GMO-free, pasture-raised eggs.

New Items Coming Next Week!

I sure hope you and your family enjoyed a wonderful Christmas together yesterday. Mine was spent - aside from the "must do" farm chores - with family enjoying food and fellowship. You may be interested to know the centerpiece of our meal was one of the whole pork shoulders. Beth seasoned it with Butcher Blend Original seasoning and then had it smoked. It was soooo good! As far as my farm news message for this week, I actually have some pretty exciting news to share. At the beginning of 2020, we introduced a new bundle to you called the Best of Farm Bundle, and we had plans to continue to add more new items and similar value bundles throughout the year

How & Why We Feed Our Cows Hay

This week we want to share two items of interest from our farm. The first is a video made last year about How & Why We Feed Our Cows Hay. This time of the year we are in-between grazing seasons - the summer grass is dormant and winter grass is not yet ready for grazing. So, we buy hay from a local farmer, who we appreciate very much, to feed our cows. As described in the video we do not use hay rings like most farmers because we want to spread the manure across the pastures vs. only around a hay ring.

Our Thanksgiving Story

We so hope you and your family had a thankful Thanksgiving. Today, i wanted to share our Thanksgiving Story. Our Story actually began back in the Spring of this year. As you know, meat was scarce and we had ramped up our chicken production to help meet the needs of our customers. And, the hatcheries were feeling the stress as well with a lot of orders above normal. Well, along about week 5 or 6 in of one of those batches we noticed one of the broiler chickens was not a chicken at all. But was a turkey!

It's NOT the Cow, It's the HOW!

For those of you who have been a part of our farm community probably recognize Diana Rodger's name. I first meet her several years back when she spoke at the Grassfed Exchange Conference that we had attended. Diana Rodgers, RD, LDN is a “real food” Licensed Registered Dietitian Nutritionist living on a working organic farm in New England. She runs an active nutrition practice where she helps people with weight, metabolic, and intestinal issues recover their health through diet and lifestyle. She’s also an author, host of The Sustainable Dish Podcast, and the mom of two active kids.

So, What Is Up With Our Pork?

Last week we discussed transparency and the importance of being authentic! This week we'll follow up with an example of transparency and why this matters to many of our customers. So, what is up with our pork? To be fully transparent means I'll need to disclose issues that affect the quality of our product as well as customer expectations. Here goes! As many of you know, our pork is processed at Attala Frozen Foods in Kosciusko, MS. We started doing business with them in 2016 after Cascio decided to close his business and we were moving into selling more than custom half & whole beef & pork.

Importance of Transparency

Wikipedia defines Transparency, as used in science, engineering, business, the humanities and in other social contexts, is operating in such a way that it is easy for others to see what actions are performed. Transparency implies openness, communication, and accountability. I bring this up because being transparent is a key principle that our farm operates on. By early February of this year we completed a consulting gig with a person who helped us set up an email marketing program.

Restock Dates: Please see our Farm Blog where we post our weekly newsletter for the latest updates

Nature's Gourmet Farm