Good Morning and hello from the farm, Last weekend one of our Gulf Coast customers asked me to write and compare our farm with companies like ButcherBox. My objective here is NOT to be critical of the ButcherBox (BB) model, but to simply provide information and my thoughts to help you make an informed decision. While I have heard of BB I must admit that I did not know much about them. So, like you, I went to their website. They were founded in 2015 and are headquartered in Brighton, MA (Harvard Square). So, BB is NOT a farm nor do they own the land or animals. They are basically a sales and marketing company that buys meat for resale to consumers. Their staff all appear to be office staff which mean they outsource things like warehouse, packers, logistics, etc.

June is an "extra" busy month on the farm - especially for Beth - as that is when our garden vegetables are ready. As you probably guessed, when it is ready you have to make time to harvest and then comes the canning, etc. You cannot procrastinate or simply put off till another day. When it comes to varieties like zucchini an extra day or two past optimal and you have an overly large specimen that is typically shared with the hens. Now that July has arrived, most of the garden is only a memory.

Today, I want to let you in on three important announcements from Nature's Gourmet Farm. As a way of introduction, back in the 1990's i was introduced to a man named Joel Barker through his best selling business film titled "Paradigms". One of the illustrations he used in the film was of an elderly couple walking on the beach when they came upon a young boy who was picking up up the many starfish that had washed ashore. They stopped to ask him how he ever expected to make a difference as there were so many. As he picked up another starfish and tossed it into the surf he looked up at them and said "it made a difference to that one."

Weekly we hear from customers who comment how much better their health is after committing to eating a healthy diet of quality meats and vegetables. Beth has also written to share her story about how improved nutrition helped her reduce her risk of diabetes by simply eating GOOD carbs with QUALITY meats (protein) or GOOD fat with QUALITY meats. She lost more than 35 pounds and dropped her numbers into the safe zone. Last week a regular customer told me since the lock down he has not traveled as much with his work and that his wife has fed him our meats and fresh vegetables. In about 6-weeks he lost 35 pounds and is feeling much better. All from replacing processed foods, snacks, and soft drinks with quality farm fresh foods.

Last week our newsletter discussed what Food Freedom is NOT! This week I would like to touch on my vision what Food Freedom is. Your comments are welcomed and appreciated. First a short story about vision I heard about Walt Disney when he wanted to build Disneyland Orlando. The story goes that he took possible investors out to a plot of land that was mostly cut over and swampy.

Inspiration for this article came from reading a recent Facebook Post by Ag. Commissioner Gipson about his families Jersey milk cow. You can read the post here. Actually, the inspiration came from reading the more than 100 public comments to his article from Mississippian's who want to make their own choice who they buy their food from. When i was growing up my Simmons Grandparents milked 6-8 Jersey girls twice daily. What milk they did not use for themselves was sold to local families straight from the farm. This included sweet milk, buttermilk, and butter wrapped in wax paper. Sales were made without internet sites. In fact, my Grandparents never had a telephone - because when the

What do you know about Memorial Day? (the following was taken from the editors of History.com) Memorial Day is an American holiday, observed on the last Monday of May, honoring the men and women who died while serving in the U.S. military. Originally known as Decoration Day, it originated in the years following the Civil War and became an official federal holiday in 1971. Many Americans observe Memorial Day by visiting cemeteries or memorials, holding family gatherings and participating in parades.

It’s Beth this time, as Ben has asked me to write the newsletter this week. He is trying to plant grass on newly mulched ground and round up more beef and pork. Those of you who pick up orders at the farm know that we try to have a garden each summer. Sometimes it looks better than others, but we keep trying. Recently I saw there was a webinar entitled Homegrown Food Summit that sounded interesting, so I signed up. We already have our garden planted, but I thought maybe I could glean some tidbits going forward and maybe be able to have a fall garden as well.

We continue to have so many NEW folks (>3000 per month) visiting our website only to find we are sold out! While we cannot meet the needs of everyone, we see many missed opportunities among this group. Processing of beef & pork continues to be the bottleneck for our farm. The COVID-19 issue has only made the situation worse! For the past 6-8 weeks I have encouraged Homestead Packing to add a second shift to process beef. This would let them basically double their capacity. When I recently picked up the ground beef Ethan told me they had worked out "how" to make this happen. They needed another butcher, helpers, and an expensive saw. Wednesday, when I delivered beef Ethan told me his current butcher had given notice.

First, a quick follow-up on Compostella Farm in Picayune. Customer response for our farm to aggregate and distribute their "greens" was very positive. I emailed a summary of responses to Madeline. She and her husband discussed and decided not to pursue at this time since their season would end in less than two months and there were many unknowns on how the greens would survive the trip. Sales are very strong for our farm. Demand continues to exceed supply! Additionally, i receive on average 100 or so communications be it text, voice, or emails per day. Many are asking similar questions 'When will you be back in stock?" So, this week I have implemented an "ANNOUNCEMENT BAR" at the top of our homepage that I will keep updated on expected availability of beef, pork, and chicken. Please refer here first! That way I can work on farm production chores and etc. If you have a different question then please contact me. Email is preferred.

So, what has been the Covid-19 impact to our farm? I believe these numbers paint a clear picture: *2,937 unique visits to our website in the past 28 days *397 people have signed up to be customers since March 1st. A 40% increase *331 orders processed since March 1st vs. 75 or so per month. A 225% increase. There is no doubt this number would have been more if we were not out of stock on so many items