This afternoon, my family took time out of our busy schedules to go to an open house at Snowville Creamery. For those of you who don’t know about Snowville Creamery, it is a great, small, milk processor in western Meigs county. They and their half dozen or so farmer/ producers operate under a lot of the same principles as we do. The dairies operate under a pasture based system. Their cows graze fresh pastures daily throughout the grazing season. The cows are fed a small amount of grain, but it is all certified GMO free.  Thee creamery produces various forms of non homogenized milk, yogurt, and other dairy products.  Seeing this local company, and what the founders, Warren and Victoria Taylor have built, was a real inspiration to me. I know they have worked hard to build a very respected company.

Afterwards, we went to King Family Farms in Albany. JB and Charlene King are good friends of ours that we buy our feed from. They also supply feed to the dairy farmers that supply milk to Snowville Creamery.  The Kings raise chickens, turkeys and pork. They have been a great help to us raising chickens, teaching us a lot of the ins and outs of raising them and marketing them. They are a great inspiration to me in the way they farm, the way they do business, and the great Christian lives they lead.

I truly aspire to build our farm and business to be as great and respected as the Taylors and the Kings.  It has taken both families years to get to where they are. We feel like we are in the infant stages of our operation, even though we have had our own farm for 12 years now. A very small portion of farmers take such an effort in forming relationships directly with consumers as they have. We feel, as they do,  by dealing with the people that actually consume our products, we are inspired to produce the absolute best products we can.

Everyone has seen the stories of how out of touch people are with where their food comes from. Conversely, I have become amazed how disconnected farmers have become with the consumer, and with their own products. There is an ever growing group of consumers that care about where their food comes from, how it was raised and the people that raise and process it. Most farmers today don’t even eat their own products. They raise their crops or animals or other products only as commodities, doing only one specific portion of the total process. Their main interest is how can I make it grow faster, cheaper, and easier.  They worry little about the taste, the well being of their livestock and the health of their soil. We, along with the Kings, Taylors, and a growing number of other farmers truly want to change the food production model in the US. To do that we rely on great customers like YOU. You have a vote, every time you purchase food. That vote is with your wallets. Support your local farmer, and farmers markets.

If you haven’t heard yet, we now have chicken brats.  We currently have 2 flavors: Sweet Italian and Hot Italian. By next weekend, we will add 2 more flavors, Chipotle, and Pork Sausage(sage) flavor. These are amazing products that are quickly becoming customer favorites.

We are also taking orders for Thanksgiving Turkeys. If you would like to be placed on our list, please let us know. We are asking for a deposit to help insure that you are committed to the purchase.  There will be a limited supply, so don’t wait too long to order.

On a closing note, we are doing a meat tasting at Merry Family Winery on June 19. Come out that evening and get a plate full of samples for a small charge. You will get samples of everything from our great steaks and burger, to chicken and all our brats.  You will also be able to purchase our meat there, and we will be giving discounts that night to all who purchase a sample platter.

Happy Eating, Phil