What started out as a better way to feed our family has turned into a better way to feed our community. Access to local, pasture-raised meats can be an issue for many people, and so we are glad to be able to provide meats that were raised using regenerative practices. We have been doing this for four years now, and we have met so many great people; people whom we would have never met had we not been offering our products in our very own farm store. Folks ask me all time, “How is the farm doing?” Recently, I have started answering that question from the business end. Truthfully, the farm has never made a profit, and in fact it is several thousand dollars in debt. Now, the farm is not in debt because of any expensive purchases or equipment loans. The farm is in debt because the revenue generated from retail sales does not cover the costs of production. The only meats we are able to process on farm are the broilers, and that does save money (not to mention, we do it better than any facility would do it). All of our beef and pork must be processed at a USDA facility for us to sell it. Over the next several years, if the farm does not start trending towards profitability, we will have to make some tough decisions. As a family, we will always farm and raise our own meats. I know too much about the food system to go back, and that’s where the skeptic needs to start: learn all you can about our food system. Learn the story behind the food you eat.
You can help us make the turn. For those of you who are regular customers, thank you! Thank you from the bottom of our hearts. You keep us going! You keep us motivated. Some of you drive an hour or more each way, so next time you plan a trip out, invite a friend and bring a cooler to stock up. Farms like us need people who are committed to buying all their meats locally. There are many people who know about us but have not made the switch. Now this post is not intended to try and guilt you into shopping with us. We simply offer this information in keeping with our standards of transparency and openness. I encourage you to step out of your comfort zone and try the local option. When you start eating our whole-cow, grass-fed ground beef, you will never want anything else. The same goes for our eggs, chicken and pork. Since all of our livestock is raised in a healthy environment, the end result on your fork is that every bite tastes better. It tastes better because it is better. And when you eat it, because we use regenerative practices, you know you have played a big part in healing the land right here in your community. “Eating is an agricultural act” as Wendell Berry put it. If you have placed your trust in industrial organics from the big box stores, I offer you a warning: don’t trust the labels if you can’t visit the farm. The marketing departments of those big outfits are well-funded and can make things look real good and they use labels like “cage-free” and “free-range.” Those terms don’t mean what you think they mean. Our label is “come see for yourself.” When you visit our farm, you will learn the story behind the food we sell. You can see where and how the animals are raised. Try the local option, and I guarantee you will feel the difference.
Your farmer,
Jason Pope