Dear friends,

Once again, spring has caught us by surprise, and we find that we are already behind, running to catch up with all that needs to be done. Travis is working at the bank now, following the elimination of yet another teaching position that he filled last year. We opted for more stability in his work schedule, but are faced with much less time available to work on the farm. In spite of that, we are more excited than ever about the future of our small farm. Much is in the works, and that keeps us pushing ever harder to accomplish all that God has planned for us. We’ll mention some of our plans later in this letter.

This year’s letter will be short on philosophy, and focus more on the nitty-gritty details of production, pricing, etc., in an effort to get this already-belated communication into your hands as quickly as we can. We plan to post old newsletters on the website, so you can browse those for the "worldview" stuff, if you desire. Let’s jump right in to what’s available for this year, and how you can participate in helping our farm grow to be the best it can be.

Pastured Poultry: We have some exciting changes to announce as we go into our tenth year of producing these wonderful, healthy birds. As in the past, we have some processing dates on the schedule, and you can reserve a date to come pick up fresh birds, visit the farm and delight us with your company. Price for these birds remains the same as last year. In addition to these on-farm processed birds, however, we will be offering our broilers in vacuum-sealed packaging, processed under federal inspection at a facility in North Carolina. By doing this, we will now be able to sell frozen cut-up chickens, as well as boneless breasts, thigh quarters, and other parts. The pricing for these products will be somewhat higher, in order to cover the cost of having someone else process them for us. We also hope to sell our poultry in select grocery stores and other retail markets, thereby making this delicious food available to more people.

Salad Bar Beef: One of the main reasons this newsletter is so late this year is that we have been so unsure as to just how much beef, if any, we would be able to sell this year. Our supplies are extremely low, and as many of you know, we still have orders from last year to fill. (If you are still on our list to get beef that was ordered last year, we have already contacted you.) As far as new orders go, we promise to try to meet the needs of our regular, established beef customers. Then, if there is any beef left, we’ll fill new orders on a first-come, first-served basis. One option we’re considering is purchasing a few young steers to raise here on the farm that would be ready to process in the fall. We have full confidence that this beef will be every bit as good and wholesome as beef we get from animals born right here on the farm. Pasture-raised beef is by far the item we run out of first, and we turn away more people wanting beef than anything else. Trust us, we don’t want it to be that way; we’re just limited in many ways from being able to offer more. But, more on that a little later. Long-time friends and customers will see a dramatic increase in bulk prices this year, and we apologize for having to make this increase. Our beef prices have been roughly the same for the last five years, and we must finally make this change. To be perfectly honest with you, we no longer are making anything on our beef and pork, and we just can’t live like that. We remain committed to being fair in price, and we believe this year’s increase, though large, is appropriate. We’ll gladly answer any questions or concerns that you might have, and thank you for understanding that we have to make a living, too.

Pastured Turkeys: Supplies of turkey this year will depend entirely on how quickly you get your orders in. Basically, we need to have turkey orders by the end of May to guarantee availability at Thanksgiving. We’ll process the Tuesday before Thanksgiving, so you can enjoy the freshest turkey for your harvest celebrations. Make sure you order an extra to freeze for Christmas. Price is the same as last year.

Pastured Pork: Our pasture-raised pigs are once again helping us reclaim some grown up, useless areas of the farm by rooting around, digging up stumps and roots, all the time fully enjoying their laid-back life on the farm. The pigs will have even more access to pasture this year (in addition to their wooded lot), and the extra forage will only serve to enhance the full, rich flavor they are becoming known for. We have a good source for baby pigs, and should be able to fill all our orders for pork this year. As with beef, price is increasing significantly this year to cover increased costs, and to provide us with a fair return to labor.

Eggs: Many of you know how finicky our layers can be. We’ll have plenty of eggs, or we won’t have any! We search grocery store shelves in vain for high-quality, healthy eggs like ours whenever we run out here at the farm. Plenty of "organic" and "cage-free" offerings are available, but none of these eggs come from hens that are moved daily to fresh pasture, and thus none of these products really offer a nutritionally balanced, great-tasting egg. Clean out the refrigerator and stock up whenever we have eggs; they’ll last several months in the refrigerator. Price remains the same.

Laying Hens: We’ve had so many requests for these wonderful ladies that we’ve decided to sell some more this year. These birds are brown-egg, Red Sex Link hens that are ready to start laying beautiful, nutrient-rich eggs for your family. Price is $8 per bird, or $75 for ten. We are collecting orders from customers for these beautiful birds, and will place an order with our supplier when we get enough orders.

Upstate Farmer’s Cooperative: Perhaps our most exciting news for this year is that we are part of a group of all-natural farmers who are seeking to form a cooperative here in the upstate of South Carolina, in order to make our products more readily-available to the ever-growing number of people who are desperately trying to find food fit to eat. As individual farmers, we face many obstacles in satisfying the demand for the foods we are producing. We know that we have the best food you can get, but often we can’t get that food to the people who are literally dying to get it. But as we pool our resources, we feel we will be able to increase production and visibility, and deliver to the market what is so much in demand, i.e., real food, locally-produced, that is enjoyable to eat. We are still in the planning stages of the co-op, but have a couple general goals that we are pursuing strongly. First, we want to have a storefront (perhaps a mobile one that would be in different cities on different days) through which to offer everything that we are growing. This would allow people who aren’t able to come to the farm to get our products more conveniently, and would ensure that there is a constant supply of all products, including beef. Secondly, we are seeking to build or lease our own processing facility, so that we can control when and how our animals are processed and packaged. Processing has been a big hurdle for all of us, preventing us from producing enough animals when they are needed for the market. We are actively seeking individual who would be interested in investing in the co-op, and would appreciate any suggestions you could offer. Keep in touch for the latest details on this exciting prospect for the future.

That about sums up where we’re headed for this coming year. As always, we welcome your suggestions, criticisms, praise, and other comments. We look forward to seeing all of you soon, and to making many new friends this year. Come see us!