08/18/2026
As we prepare some farm to table orders to be delivered today (we will be out this afternoon delivering and this evening) we are also prepping for our markets this week as well as trying to unpack some boxes and get settled. It’s a busy one for sure.
I think you all know I love the waste not want not mindset. What does that mean for my farm, it primarily means we want to use/honor as much of our animals as possible. I just saw a reel yesterday of a husband/wife going “home” to help save their parents cattle operation. The goal was to grow a tallow skin care line into a 5 million dollar operation to buy more land. In the reel it stated they used to discard the fat from their beef. In my mind I thought wait, what, why??? This woman appeared to be around the same age as me. I too grew up on a cattle farm. I also grew up with the mindset that we use all we can. I realized her parents and grandparents failed at something if they were just now coming to the realization that you could and should use the fats from these animals. Once before it was the healthy standard (actually still is). Then along came marketing and advertising and companies needing a place for their byproducts.
These farms were throwing out/discarding valuable, edible, healthier food options all because someone paid for a good marketing company that makes a catchy jingle or a pretty label that caught your eye for a less nutritious and less tasty option. Seems silly that this couple would need to rethink the family farm business plan just to save it with something they had all along and with uses that have been around for centuries. Not old family secrets or new uses. This was the stuff that always worked for us and always benefited us.
We won’t try a catchy jingle. We try hard not to spend unnecessary money on pretty packaging. We won’t try to offload something we feel isn’t good enough for our most valued customers (our kids). Instead, we will bring you what we want for our family, for our friends, and what we believe is best for our farm and our animals and our community. When we can’t/won’t/don’t grow it, we will refer you to the person who can and will do it to the standards we appreciate and value and the people we enjoy working with ourselves. None of us are going to do it all. It takes a community to do it right. A community working together.
*our home smells AMAZING today as we’re cooking up some peaches grown from The Country Basket at Sunny Slope Orchard. I LOVE all of their goodies.
