Farming
One of the things we enjoy about farming is that no two years are ever the same. It keeps us learning and growing and life interesting.
This spring has been a good reminder of just how nimble you have to be when farming, processing and selling your own items, as many things are outside of our control. We started the season wishing and praying for rain and then, when it finally arrived, we got a lot of it all at once. The moisture is very welcome after several dry years, but so much of it in such large amounts at one time has also created some challenges. The grass was slower to get growing due to the spring drought, now many areas are extremely muddy, and we had to delay moving our meat chickens out onto pasture. Broiler chickens do not enjoy wet feet, and there was no shortage of mud for them to find. We had planned on moving them out at the start of June but the first heavy rainfall delayed that. Just as the pasture dried and we planned to move them out we received more rain and thunderstorms, then this last weekends rain and overland flooding delayed us yet again. Now after a few warm days we are finely able to move the broilers out to their outside shelters. If needed this weekend, we will give them some wood shavings to keep them nice and dry.
The rain has also affected some of our plans for our cattle. We have organic pasture ready for some of our cattle a little farther away, but the roads and fields are still soft enough that the truck used to get them to this pasture land would get very stuck in the soft wet ground. For now, all the cattle are staying put until conditions improve and the land dries a bit.
When you process your own meat and make all your own sausages and deli the challenges are not limited to the farm. About five weeks ago the motor on our main meat grinder decided it had done enough work and quit. Replacement parts weren't available locally and a new motor took more than four weeks to arrive. During that time, we were able to keep producing ground meats, sausages and deli meats using an older smaller backup grinder, but it works much slower and has far less capacity. Production was reduced to roughly a third of what we would normally make, which is why some products have been low recently.
At the same time, demand for our beef has increased dramatically. Some cuts have been selling faster than we can replace them. While we are working hard to catch up, raising cattle isn't something that can be rushed. We plan our cattle numbers months and years in advance, and we can only process a limited number of animals each week. Unlike other companies that can simply source more of a particular high demand item from somewhere else, we only sell the meat from the animals we grow on our farm. We are incredibly grateful for the increase in demand and support; however it can sometimes mean that certain high demand cuts are temporarily unavailable or in short supply.
Outdoor farmers' markets. Many of our outdoor farmers market days have involved more rain than sunshine. This adds additional things to the to do list as it means that after a market we are drying out our tents and equipment to prevent mold and mildew.
These are the kinds of challenges that don't always get seen when food reaches the plate. Farming, processing, making sausages, running markets and serving customers all come with their own surprises. Sometimes the weather doesn't cooperate. Sometimes equipment breaks down. Sometimes demand changes faster than expected. Sometimes plans must change.
But that's also part of what we love about being a small family farm. We get to adapt, solve problems, learn new things and keep moving forward. We are incredibly thankful for the patience and support of our customers when challenges arise, and we are excited about the months ahead as the grass grows, the animals get onto pasture and production returns to normal.
Thank you
Your Farmers
Ron and Sheila Hamilton and Family
- Sunworks Farm
