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home dot com. Hey,

2:26

fighters, and welcome to episode number

2:28

three hundred sixty

2:31

three. Today,

2:33

we are diving into a

2:35

topic that talks about

2:38

porting local farmers, but

2:40

also within finding the best

2:42

cost. And this is a

2:44

listener question that came in.

2:47

And I think it's a great one because it

2:49

talks about why is it that

2:52

oftentimes we

2:55

can purchase something in a larger

2:57

store or even imported for example.

3:00

I can get six of

3:02

butter from a local dairy

3:04

and that cost

3:05

me eight dollars

3:06

but I can buy two pounds of

3:08

imported

3:09

kerrygold butter from Costco

3:12

for eleven dollars and fifty nine

3:14

cents, which of course, it's

3:15

a little bit more money, but you're getting two pounds

3:17

versus the six ounces. And

3:19

it seems kind of crazy I can get butter

3:22

all the way from Ireland cheap locally

3:25

made butter. So this

3:27

is an excellent topic

3:29

and question and one definitely

3:32

worth diving into.

3:34

So today, we're gonna talk about

3:36

how can we change this system

3:39

Historically, community members were

3:41

able to go to local farms and buy their foods.

3:43

Can we get back to that? how

3:46

do you balance the cost of farming, what

3:48

you sell your products for, etcetera. So

3:50

really get your rate topic, and we are gonna be

3:52

diving into it very shortly. on

3:54

the subject of buying food

3:57

locally or at least that is not imported

3:59

from other countries as much as possible,

4:02

we are looking at today's sponsor,

4:04

which is Azure Standard.

4:07

Now one of my favorite products

4:09

is popcorn. And

4:12

within corn, corn is

4:14

one of those products that I do my best to

4:17

purchase organic and popcorn is

4:19

one of our ab absolute

4:21

favorites. I don't know

4:23

that you would actually think of popcorn

4:25

usually as being something you would consider a

4:27

comfort food. one hundred

4:29

percent is for us. We make it

4:31

every Friday, tradition is

4:33

to have a popcorn and movie night

4:35

here on the homestead. And

4:38

way back in the day, I know I know.

4:41

We used to do the microwave bags, which

4:43

after I started diving into I

4:45

mean, we're talking at least over a decade.

4:47

so. So don't start throwing

4:49

popcorn at me right now. But as they

4:51

sort of look at those microwave bags,

4:54

the cost, and all of the different

4:56

health implications by using

4:59

those bags within the microwave, etcetera.

5:01

And like in good conscience, it just can be

5:03

something that we were consuming every week. So

5:05

then I turn to an air

5:08

popper because you could

5:10

put your popcorn in there. It was still very much

5:12

push button. and you would get your

5:14

air popcorn and we use that for a

5:16

number of years. But then

5:18

our electricity went out as it is

5:20

often to do here where we live. And I

5:22

wanted to make popcorn and the generator we

5:24

had at the time was kind of already maxed out with

5:26

everything else that was running in the house.

5:28

And the woodstow was going And I'm like,

5:30

okay. Are you a pioneer or

5:33

not? Because they would traditionally

5:35

pop their popcorn, obviously, on a wood stove.

5:38

So I got out my pot and threw

5:40

some oil in there and put my popcorn in there and

5:42

we popped popcorn on the woodstow if you guys

5:44

you guys. The flavor of

5:46

popcorn popped in oil in

5:48

comparison to an air fryer is

5:51

night and day. And I was like, oh,

5:53

my. What have I been missing out on? And

5:56

so we got rid of the air fryer and

5:58

have never went back or

6:00

looked back. So I do all of my

6:02

popcorn. I don't we don't have the wood stove

6:04

going summer time and I'm not about to sacrifice

6:07

popcorn night just because it's hot

6:09

and we're not building a fire. So I'll just

6:11

do it on the regular

6:12

stovetop of our regular cook stove.

6:14

but I love having

6:16

popcorn. And I'm excite

6:19

I've been buying my popcorn in bulk

6:21

from Azure. Now if you've listed a past

6:23

episode to know that you do need to store popcorn

6:25

in a airtight container

6:27

but do not add oxygen absorbers. Because

6:29

popcorn has a higher

6:32

moisture content than a lot of your

6:34

dry goods, and you know that this is essential

6:36

because if your popcorn gets too dried out

6:38

when you go to pop the colonels. That's where you'll

6:40

have a lot of them won't pop

6:42

and or they only pop like halfway.

6:45

Usually, that's because it's actually gotten

6:47

too dry during storage.

6:50

So the optimal percentage for your

6:52

popcorn however, is above

6:54

the percentage if you have it in a

6:56

container where you've got an oxygen absorber

6:58

in there, but you actually can have botulism

7:01

issues. I know you're like, what? Yes.

7:03

It's actually true. So you can

7:05

store your popcorn in an

7:07

airtight container just

7:09

don't add an oxygen absorber. Super

7:11

easy peasy to do. So I, by

7:13

my popcorn, in bulk, have

7:15

for a number of years now, and I'm

7:17

actually excited. I've just I've gotten there

7:19

organic which most of their popcorn

7:21

that you can buy in bulk from Azure Standard

7:23

is inorganic country of origin

7:25

as the United States. But I'm excited to

7:27

try this new variety. I always get the multi

7:30

colored popcorn around the holidays

7:32

because it looks so pretty in jars, and

7:34

I like to give little food baskets out. And so

7:36

I'll just put that down into smaller Mason

7:38

jars. and that will be something that

7:40

we give out as gifts. But

7:42

they have I've not tried this variety yet,

7:44

but I'm gonna try with a small variety to

7:46

see what I want. and it is the

7:49

mushroom popcorn. It's organic. Now

7:51

you're thinking mushroom popcorn. There's

7:53

no actual mushrooms in there. but it

7:55

has the largest expansion rate

7:57

of any kernel available anywhere,

7:59

so it's the actual variety. So

8:01

it looks like a really large mushroom pop

8:04

corn blossom. I'm

8:06

excited to try it because I do like to

8:08

have the large fluffy popcorn.

8:10

So I am popping that on my

8:12

order that's going in this week.

8:15

If you are new to Azure Standard or

8:17

you've not heard of them before, we

8:19

have a special offer through

8:21

October thirty first of twenty twenty

8:23

two. and that is to use

8:25

the coupon code MKN

8:28

ten. MKN ten gets

8:30

you ten percent off for first

8:32

time customers of an order of fifty

8:34

dollars or more. And there's

8:36

many, many things I buy

8:38

a lot of my items through

8:40

Azure Standard. I've been using

8:42

them for a number of years

8:44

now, and I think you will be thrilled to

8:46

discover them too. So if you've used

8:48

their mushroom popcorn before. Let me know what

8:50

you think about it. I am adding it to my

8:52

order and we'll be trying it out for the first

8:54

time this month. Now

8:56

back to our episode

8:58

at hand. So, Tara sent me

9:00

in this email as a podcast topic, and

9:02

I thought it was a really good one for us to

9:04

dive into. She actually lives in

9:06

my area. However, this

9:08

is really universal to any area

9:10

and any farm.

9:11

So

9:12

one of the things that

9:15

in particular our area. And many of you may

9:17

notice this in your spot too is a lot

9:19

of our local organic

9:21

farms in our area. Actually, I

9:23

live in Scratchy Valley, which as in Washington

9:25

State. And there's a lot

9:27

of organic farms in

9:29

Scratchy Valley in particular and on the

9:31

side of the state. There's actually a large

9:33

amount of food production that happens

9:35

here. And it's one of the most

9:37

versatile farm areas, meaning there's a

9:39

lot of different crops, diversity

9:41

wise, that's grown. So we are not

9:43

an area like where you would think of

9:45

in, you know, a lot of the Midwest

9:47

where you would just see fields and fields of corn or

9:49

fields and fields of wheat. So

9:52

per square footage

9:54

in the valley where we live,

9:56

we've got a hugely

9:58

diverse crop and

10:00

product production here.

10:02

However, some of the local

10:04

organic farms in our area,

10:06

they only send their products to farmers

10:08

markets down in Seattle

10:10

and they aren't attending the local

10:12

farmers markets or they don't have

10:14

farm

10:15

a presence with booths where you can actually buy them at

10:17

the local farmer's markets, everything gets shipped

10:19

down and sold down in Seattle,

10:21

which is about well, it's about two hours

10:23

from where I am, but it it like an hour

10:25

from some of the the larger cities because

10:27

I'm actually pretty far out. And then there's

10:29

some of these local organic farms, they do

10:31

have farm stands, but their meat is

10:33

priced at a very high

10:35

price. And so, Tara's question, and this may be

10:37

one that you've had And I think we

10:39

really need to dive into this.

10:41

How can we change the system? It

10:43

seems so upside down. I know

10:45

historically community members did go

10:47

to low farms for their food? My great grandparents

10:49

did. Can we ever get back to

10:51

that? Ultimately, couldn't the dependency

10:53

upon big stores kill our

10:55

small farms? And how does

10:57

your farm balance the cost of farmings,

11:00

farming, and what you sell your products

11:02

for? Because many of us know

11:04

the importance or hopefully

11:06

If you're listening to this or becoming to realize

11:08

if you didn't already, the importance

11:10

of supporting small

11:12

farms

11:13

support supporting local

11:15

for a variety of different

11:17

reasons. And one of them is, of course, community

11:19

sufficiency, which I've dove into quite a bit

11:21

here on the podcast if you've missed an

11:23

episode where we really get into that in more

11:25

detail, we'll link to that in the show notes

11:27

so that you can can get back to that. And

11:29

if you wanna look at any of the links that we'll

11:31

be referencing in today's episode. I have a blog

11:33

post that accompanies every episode

11:36

that's written out for you and has

11:38

links to go deeper into

11:40

specific areas. So you can find that

11:42

at melissa canores dot com

11:44

forward slash three hundred and

11:46

sixty three, just the number three hundred

11:48

and six three because it's episode number

11:50

three hundred and sixty three. So

11:52

let's unpack this. Let's dive into

11:54

this. So

11:56

first off, in particular to the

11:58

butter part, but really

12:00

when you're looking at these larger farms. So

12:02

even though carry gold butter,

12:03

is being imported from Ireland

12:06

to the US and you're like, how

12:08

on Earth can it be cheaper for me to buy

12:10

this imported butter that's

12:12

being shipped all the way from Ireland and

12:14

imported than it is from my

12:16

small local dairy volume

12:18

volume. volume. Kerrygold

12:20

is a huge, huge

12:23

corporation at this point.

12:25

And I do buy Kerrygold

12:27

butter when I out. I get a

12:29

it's a good product and and from

12:31

the research that I have done. It

12:33

it Ireland does do more

12:36

grass fed cattle than we have

12:38

here in the US, and

12:40

grass fed is

12:42

better on all accounts than grain

12:44

fed because of omega three versus omega

12:46

six. vetted carotene, which

12:48

grass cow, grass fed cattle

12:50

have higher levels of bedded carotene, which is

12:52

why their cream and

12:54

why cherry gold butter if you look at it

12:56

is that deeper yellow.

12:58

It's that richer darker color. And

13:01

that's why. So Ireland

13:03

is known way more so than the

13:05

United States, unfortunately, for

13:07

raising their their cows in that

13:09

manner. But that being said,

13:11

Kary Gold is not one

13:13

farm. Kary Gold is

13:15

lots of small farms and

13:17

does mass volume. So

13:19

a dairy that's operating on large

13:22

volume is

13:24

making lots of different dairy products. So

13:26

they are Removing the cream from

13:28

the milk because obviously our butter is made from

13:30

the cream and then they are

13:32

doing skim milk or they're

13:34

doing two percent or they're making

13:36

lower fat yogurt or whatever.

13:38

But the butter and the milk are really two

13:40

separate commodities in most

13:42

cases. And

13:43

the Regardless

13:44

on that aspect, when

13:46

you're doing large volume, if

13:49

you are selling a hundred

13:51

items, and you can

13:53

sell a hundred items at five

13:55

dollars a piece. Right?

13:57

You're making five thousand bucks.

13:59

versus a smaller farm.

14:02

They don't

14:02

have that much. They can't sell that much

14:05

volume to make that much money.

14:06

So they have to charge

14:09

more for the smaller items. And it

14:11

so it's really anytime

14:13

you go large volume

14:16

it brings the individual price

14:18

down because you

14:21

have the ability to invest

14:23

one in equipment that can

14:25

make make the job easier,

14:29

more streamlined, etcetera,

14:31

because you've got that vast amount of

14:33

income coming in. Now while

14:35

big companies do

14:38

have overhead costs that you might

14:40

not necessarily have with a

14:42

small family farm, you

14:44

also have different tax breaks,

14:47

different different things once

14:49

you're operating as a larger business, And

14:51

there's kind of pros and cons and there's a lot

14:53

to dive into there as as far as cost

14:56

of doing business if you're a large corporation

14:58

and and tax benefits versus

15:01

profit margin and all those different

15:03

things. But if you're

15:05

running a large corporation and

15:07

doing a larger thing, usually

15:09

there's more areas that

15:11

you're able to save at least from

15:14

that aspect of it. But

15:17

back to the the

15:20

cost of things. So with a small family

15:22

farm, you've got a

15:24

much smaller amount of product

15:26

to sell. And because

15:28

you are not buying feed

15:30

in bulk and you're not

15:32

buying the other supplies in bulk. So

15:34

for example, we just got a dairy

15:36

cow this year.

15:37

I

15:38

have had beef cattle and chickens

15:40

and all the other farm farm yard

15:43

livestock, etcetera, for

15:44

decades. But

15:45

this is our first venture into

15:48

dairy. And so I had my startup

15:50

costs. Right? Regardless that I only

15:52

have one dairy cow, you

15:54

know, I still have to buy

15:56

I had to

15:56

buy my milk jars. I

15:58

didn't have enough gallon

15:59

glass milk jars to be able to keep up

16:02

with the supply. and

16:04

they are not cheap. Now if I can

16:06

buy them in bulk, I get them

16:08

at a cheaper amount per

16:10

jar. Now, of course, it's

16:12

more up front because I'm buying a larger amount, but

16:14

when you actually do the math out,

16:16

my cost, my bottom line

16:18

operating cost are

16:19

less per item

16:21

if

16:21

I'm doing it in large bulk. So

16:23

if I had ten dairy

16:26

cows, I was ordering enough supplies for

16:28

ten cows, That would bring the

16:30

actual gallon of milk price

16:32

down because my

16:34

actual cost per gallon of milk would be going

16:36

down because I could buy in

16:38

bulk. And so that's

16:40

really also true of small

16:42

family farms versus these larger

16:44

corporations. You can't compete

16:46

you just really can't compete as

16:48

far as Costco because you're not

16:50

able to buy in

16:52

bulk. So there's that aspect

16:55

of it. And then when

16:57

we're talking about some of the forums

16:59

selling in different markets, So for

17:01

example, there is

17:03

local family farms that I know. And

17:05

if they take their item to

17:07

a Seattle farmer's market,

17:09

they're able to get almost double

17:12

cost wise or or excuse me, like, the

17:14

first the sale price, they can

17:16

charge double down

17:18

there and it will get purchased.

17:20

And so, yes,

17:23

they do have the added cost

17:25

of fuel in order to get it down there.

17:27

They're driving further away. So

17:29

there is that. But when they're able to

17:31

actually charge double, it's still outweighing

17:34

that added fuel cost and time,

17:36

etcetera, in order

17:37

for them to sell down there.

17:39

So there's

17:40

also the argument of, well, you

17:42

know, if we all sold

17:44

locally to one another and we shopped and

17:46

we bought locally, we would have

17:48

less fuel costs there would be

17:50

less infrastructure needs. We our roads wouldn't

17:53

be wearing out as fat. You know, like, there's all those

17:55

different things. And, you know, those

17:57

do have their place in

17:59

the

17:59

conversation. But as

18:01

we're looking at consumer wise,

18:04

as a consumer, a lot of

18:06

us have a harder

18:09

time looking at the

18:11

price points, most people aren't willing to

18:13

pay a significant amount

18:16

more. to buy local. Now, some

18:18

people do completely

18:20

understand the difference and

18:23

oftentimes it's understanding the

18:25

difference in the way, and we've talked about this a lot

18:27

in past episodes on the

18:29

quality of the actual end

18:31

product. because a lot of times people get

18:33

hung up on price comparing

18:35

and they look at what a pound

18:37

of ground beef cost at the grocery

18:40

store, but they aren't realizing that

18:42

at the grocery store in most

18:44

cases, you are not

18:46

able to get grass

18:49

fed grass finished beef

18:52

that was raised, born,

18:54

raised, and

18:56

butchered on-site,

18:58

meaning

18:59

that

19:00

animal never had to travel

19:03

to a slaughterhouse,

19:05

never went through that experience

19:08

and all of that. It's

19:10

very hard to find at a

19:12

grocery store. that meat.

19:14

Yeah. I mean, it just is. Yes. You can find grass

19:16

fed and grass fed in some grocery stores. It's

19:18

harder it's harder in some than others.

19:20

Yes. You can find that product.

19:22

But usually in those cases, those

19:25

animals have not been born, raised,

19:27

bread, all the things

19:28

on one

19:31

farm. in

19:31

in one place.

19:33

Usually, you only find that from

19:35

small farms because when you get to

19:37

be these bigger operations, they're

19:39

having to truck the

19:41

animals to the actual slaughterhouse. And there still

19:43

are ethical slaughterhouses and

19:46

and that type of thing. but

19:48

then you also get into what you're buying at the

19:50

grocery store, you know, how long has

19:52

that been at the start, like, there's so many

19:55

different things. but most of us look

19:57

at the cost per pound, right,

19:59

or the price that's

19:59

hitting our pocket book. And that's

20:01

pretty

20:02

normal way for people to judge

20:04

things if you've never

20:07

really went beneath just the surface

20:09

of one, really understood the difference in

20:11

meat and how modern

20:13

agriculture and meat processing,

20:15

etcetera, is you don't even realize how much

20:17

of a difference there is. And so

20:20

that's why

20:20

your smaller farms

20:23

do

20:23

have to charge more

20:25

per pound. There's just a lot more

20:28

that that goes into that and

20:30

they don't have the volume in

20:32

order to get cost

20:35

breaks. Right? Price breaks per item

20:37

or to spread the the cost of

20:39

that around more like you do when you just have

20:41

a large a lot larger

20:43

vast product system. can

20:45

we ever get back to that? Yes. And I do

20:47

know that some local farmers and some of this

20:49

is also education like going to these

20:51

local farms and saying, hey,

20:54

I'm interested in purchasing from you. This

20:56

is what I would like to get. Is

20:58

there a way that I can get some of this

21:00

at this price? And highlighting for them,

21:02

like, you're not gonna have to pay an employee to sit at the farm

21:04

stand. I will come and get it right here. You're not

21:06

gonna have fuel costs. You're not gonna

21:09

have your booth cost at this farmers market,

21:11

like, I'm gonna come by directly

21:13

from you, but because you're gonna be saving all

21:15

this cost, can I get this for XYZ

21:18

per pound? they may say no, but

21:20

they might not even realize that there's people

21:22

locally that would buy from

21:24

them and how that actually could

21:26

benefit them. So some of it is really

21:29

communication. Right? And that's community is

21:31

getting to know these local farmers. I do

21:33

know other local farmers that kinda do a

21:35

bridge model. And so they'll take the

21:37

first part of their

21:39

crops when they come on, the first part of the harvest,

21:41

and they will sell them down at the

21:43

Seattle's markets because they can earn

21:45

so much more. And then

21:47

after they've met, kinda, this is the amount of

21:49

income we need to make to at least break

21:51

even or or hit into a

21:53

profit margin right into the black where

21:55

we're making a profit or have at least

21:57

breakeven and I wanna see every

21:59

single business, no

22:00

business should be operating to breakeven.

22:02

everybody should should have

22:04

some type of a profit because just breaking even,

22:06

like, you're not actually making anything. Right?

22:08

And I don't think any of us would want

22:10

to be in that position. We all want to have a little bit extra to put in

22:12

savings accounts or or whatnot, and to

22:14

buy stuff that we need, not just not just

22:17

cover operating costs. So

22:20

That being said, once they've met that

22:22

point for the last half of the season,

22:24

of that harvest season, whatever the

22:27

crop is, then that is the items

22:29

that they will sell locally to people.

22:31

And either local farmers markets or they'll let

22:33

local people come by and pick

22:35

up boxes, etcetera. So

22:37

that I think is a really good model and

22:40

that's the way that we're going to bridge

22:42

so that they can see, hey, you do

22:44

actually have a local

22:46

buying community and it

22:48

can help cut your costs

22:50

and you're providing this to the community.

22:52

And so I think by approaching

22:54

some of these farms, that

22:56

could be a great way to kind of educate them and show them

22:58

that and move towards more

23:01

local foods being raised

23:04

and purchased and bought in the local community

23:06

rather than than shipping them off to a couple

23:08

hours, even though that is so fairly local.

23:10

Right? It's grown in a place and two

23:13

hours away is where it's being

23:15

purchased. In regards to what

23:17

our overall food system looks like in

23:19

the United States, but really worldwide,

23:21

That's still extremely local. But

23:23

I I think you could

23:25

get back to that. And yes, dependency

23:28

dependency on big stores has

23:30

definitely affected small

23:32

farms. That's why you see less and

23:34

less small farms or you have

23:37

seen where There were a lot of

23:39

farms, and definition of smallness also

23:41

perspective. Right? But the

23:43

average age of farmers in the US

23:45

now, you're getting up until,

23:47

like, fifty I believe the stat

23:49

is like fifty five to sixty five years

23:51

old, that's the average age. And the

23:53

reason that's the average age is because

23:55

children and younger people are not taking over

23:57

these families they're taking over the

23:59

farms. They don't wanna be

23:59

in farming. And

24:00

so then you've got where this farmer

24:03

has this farm. He can't find anybody. His

24:05

kids don't wanna do it. And

24:07

by the time he hits where he's ready to

24:09

retire or simply can't do it anymore,

24:11

they just they're closed. They're no

24:13

longer producing food. They go out of business.

24:15

Right? They're the land. It is fallowed. There's not

24:17

crops being planted there. So

24:19

dependency on big stores has

24:22

already has

24:24

put a damper on the amount of

24:26

farms that we have in the US.

24:29

However, as we

24:31

have seen and especially brought to

24:33

light during the COVID pandemic

24:35

is we have a very broken food

24:37

supply system. It's actually quite

24:40

fragile. Now this is not, you know, a scar

24:42

detection, whatever. This is just reality. And I

24:44

think it's much better to operate from a place

24:46

of reality, not from a place

24:48

of fear. But just from a place of this

24:50

is actually the reality so that you can

24:52

be prepared, so there's no reason to be

24:54

afraid. And so

24:56

people saw, especially during the pandemic,

24:59

and even prior to that, I think there was

25:01

an awakening, but I think the pandemic really

25:03

fueled that that by

25:05

outsourcing our food to these

25:07

larger corporations, all of the things that are

25:09

just and not all big

25:11

corporations are evil

25:13

and do bad things. I know that

25:15

we can tend to paint things with a paintbrush and

25:17

it's really easy to do that, but that's not the

25:19

case of all large corporations.

25:22

And so I think we also need to be

25:25

careful when we're kind of looking and and

25:27

having these discussions about that.

25:29

But we've seen where

25:32

you've got a lot of processing going

25:34

on. There's a lot of

25:36

questionable practices. and

25:39

people have been looking back to

25:41

getting two small farms where

25:43

they know how the food is

25:45

raised. Either growing it themselves or

25:47

wanting to buy from a small farm, so they actually

25:49

drive by the farm and they see. What

25:51

do these cows look like? what are

25:53

they on pasture? What do these chickens look like? Are

25:55

they actually on pasture? Are they sitting

25:58

in cramps conditions? Are they just

25:59

on bare dirt? They

26:02

might say pasture raised, but

26:03

if they're just on straight dirt all the time,

26:06

I don't consider that pasture raised.

26:08

They need to actually be on

26:10

grass. That is pasture raised. in my

26:12

opinion. So going I think more

26:14

people were already shifting to that because they wanna

26:16

see that the conditions of it is and

26:19

also because of the

26:21

actual nutrition that's available in

26:23

the food when it's raised, how it's

26:25

raised, even our soil health. Right? If you don't

26:27

have good soil health practices, using

26:30

regenerative type things, you're just, you

26:33

know, pouring synthetic

26:35

nitrogen on the

26:37

soil over time, the soil

26:39

is losing and losing and losing because

26:41

plants take stuff from the soil, especially

26:43

annual crops. And yes, I never plan on

26:45

not growing annual crops. We do an annual, that's

26:47

a garden. However, they take

26:49

a lot from the soil, and if

26:52

you are not composting, adding

26:54

in aged manure, adding back

26:57

things to the soil, it does

26:59

become depleted and nitrogen is

27:01

required for plants to grow. Yes,

27:03

but nitrogen is not all

27:05

of our nutritional needs being met. And

27:08

so we have a case now where our

27:10

food actually does have in a

27:12

lot of instances less nutrition

27:15

because the nutrition is not in the soil for the plants to be able

27:17

to absorb and therefore give to us.

27:19

So a lot more people have become

27:21

concerned about this and are looking at

27:23

those smaller farms where they can

27:26

see the practices, talk

27:28

to the farmers, have

27:30

a lot greater awareness and also

27:32

buy local. So Could dependency upon

27:34

big stores kill our small farms? Yes. And they

27:37

have definitely had a negative effect, I

27:39

think, on small farms to begin

27:41

with. But the

27:43

flip side, they're actually causing

27:46

people to seek out small farms

27:48

again. And if there

27:50

is demand, you

27:52

will see farms and

27:54

places rise to meet the demand

27:56

if the demand is there. I mean, that's just kind

27:58

of the the general way of

28:02

business and and life in general.

28:04

So sometimes it

28:06

takes a while, though, in order for

28:08

operating costs and demand, like, so they're so

28:10

many things we've been talking about in this

28:13

episode for them to even

28:15

out. And you

28:17

know, you have to make that decision too. And, yes, it

28:19

does come down to budget. I completely

28:22

understand that. But if

28:25

you're for us, for example, we're able to

28:27

save in a lot of

28:29

areas in our food because we do raise so

28:31

much of it ourselves. And

28:33

I do buy in bulk, even buying my bulk food, as

28:35

example, buying in bulk from Azure because I'm

28:37

able to buy those in bulk. I'm paying

28:39

less for pound. then I

28:41

can get at certain grocery stores. And there's a lot of

28:44

products that Azure Currie is actually that I can't even find at

28:46

our local grocery stores even if I wanted

28:48

to. But there's

28:50

that aspect. So I look at our household

28:52

and what I am saving by making a

28:54

lot of these things ourselves

28:56

from scratch and raising these things and

28:58

and putting them up or not buying them from the

29:01

store. And then therefore, I've got that

29:03

allowance in my budget for the things we

29:05

do buy that I can't afford to

29:07

buy them local even though they cost

29:09

more from my pocket

29:11

right out the door. Right? Knowing that

29:13

down the line that's still gonna

29:15

be beneficial and hopefully that will

29:18

allow these small farmers prices to come

29:20

down. And with

29:22

inflation, that we're seeing right now

29:25

and the way that food costs have went

29:27

up in such a short period of

29:29

time. Like, I've seen

29:31

literally stuff I bought at the

29:33

grocery store four months ago

29:35

has increased just during

29:37

the summer, sometimes

29:39

almost double if at least not twenty

29:41

five percent in just a few months. And that's a

29:43

pretty big jump. I don't know that I've ever personally

29:46

seen this many

29:48

products go up that fast and

29:50

cost. that this fast and my

29:53

lifetime. So this is actually really

29:55

great for small farms. Like, I always try to

29:57

look at the silver lining

29:58

because now

30:00

small farms,

30:01

their prices

30:02

don't look as expensive as

30:04

what you're getting at the grocery store.

30:07

And it's kinda leveled the playing

30:09

field some of the other issues when

30:11

you look at large large

30:13

corporations and large farms like

30:15

that is some of the other issues

30:17

with pricing models that I don't think general consumers

30:19

are really aware of or

30:21

know about as much is when you're looking

30:24

at really large farms

30:26

and crops is they

30:28

are subsidized by the government. So

30:31

think of like high fructose

30:33

corn syrup and a lot of these different things that

30:35

are put into crops in corn and a

30:37

lot of these different crops that are grown, there's

30:39

specific ones, but they're subsidized by

30:43

the government. So because the

30:45

government is subsidizing the

30:47

cost, they don't have to charge as

30:49

much because they're actually getting money from the

30:51

government in specific know,

30:53

situation, sizes, crops, etcetera.

30:56

But

30:56

the general consumer doesn't

30:58

know that that's why this product is

31:01

so cheap. It's not actually what it costs to raise that

31:03

product if there was

31:05

no interference or

31:07

subsidize

31:08

the etcetera,

31:09

from the government. And so it's

31:11

actually created a very unfair environment for

31:13

the small farmer because most small farms are

31:15

not getting subsidized things from the

31:18

government. they're having to charge what the true true

31:20

cost of the product is, but

31:22

you don't realize that in not

31:25

all crops. But in a lot of instances,

31:27

that's not actually realized. And

31:29

so now with inflation, we're

31:31

getting closer to

31:33

where what small farms have had

31:35

to charge for their

31:37

products is now closer to what people

31:39

are paying in the grocery store. So I actually

31:41

think that we will see more

31:43

and more people move back to pricing,

31:46

purchasing from small farms. And therefore,

31:48

if they're doing greater volume,

31:50

they're gonna be able to charge

31:52

less and be more competitive

31:55

without having to cut corners. in

31:57

the way that the food's being raised with some

31:59

of the supermarkets. Now will

32:02

they ever be able to be as

32:04

charging as

32:06

the exact same price as really big large

32:08

corporations where there's that whole volume breakdown

32:10

that I I don't

32:12

know. And probably not, I

32:14

don't have a way of, you know, seeing into the future, but I would

32:16

say not, but I think that they will get closer.

32:20

Now balancing balancing

32:22

our farm in the cost of farming and what

32:24

we sell our products for, you know, that

32:26

is a definite balance.

32:29

A part of that is

32:31

going to come down to really looking

32:33

at what your costs are and seeing,

32:35

can I buy this product in bulk

32:37

to save some, you know, per pound

32:40

whatnot on feed costs. Can

32:42

I continue to improve my

32:45

pasture and my soil so that it

32:47

produces more without

32:49

me having, you know, to to put more inputs

32:51

in, like, can I get the soil held

32:53

up? So this is going to produce more

32:55

per square foot. So then obviously,

32:57

the more I produce, the more volume I have, but

33:00

my passive

33:01

went down. So therefore, I can

33:02

pass that onto the customer and I

33:05

have a larger profit margin.

33:07

What's interesting is, for example, with

33:09

us, and our our firm is extremely

33:12

small in comparison

33:15

to even like, full farms. And and the

33:17

reason I said that is because our main goal with

33:19

our farm has been to feed

33:21

us. It's been to feed our family. then

33:23

offer a few extra beef to help offset

33:25

that cost because we do have to purchase hay

33:27

with our the growing season that we have where we

33:29

live this far north, you're never gonna be able

33:31

to do grass fed all year on just

33:33

the pasture, excuse me, without

33:36

having hay, which is grass hay that we still

33:38

use. And so

33:40

we will raise enough

33:42

for our needs and then just a few

33:44

extra to help offset that cost. So

33:46

we usually butcher two to three

33:48

cows a year when

33:50

we do pig, same thing. We keep a pig for

33:52

us. We'll raise a couple extra and

33:54

sell those extra whole or half pigs

33:56

to people to just help offset

33:59

our actual

33:59

cost. So that's

33:59

actual feed cost as

34:02

well as the animal cost. So when we're

34:04

doing hogs, I'm not breeding pigs and keeping

34:06

them all year round. purchasing

34:08

the piglets from local another local farmer and

34:10

then selling those once they're ready to butcher as

34:12

whole or half hog. So we

34:15

take into consideration Okay. This is

34:17

what my feed cost is. This is what my animal cost is. We

34:19

don't actually take into account

34:23

our time. because

34:25

my husband and I both work other jobs that we've got that money coming

34:27

in for. So we're not having to pay

34:29

ourselves an hourly rate

34:32

and order to make ends

34:34

meet from our farm products because our farm is not

34:36

our sole income. It's

34:38

a side that feeds us

34:40

and then generates a little bit of income to help offset those costs.

34:43

But if we were operating

34:45

it as a full farm

34:48

business, you would have to

34:50

account for the hours. Right? If you don't

34:52

have any other income coming in later, you

34:54

as the farmer per hour

34:56

Or if you are to the point where you need someone else to help. You're of

34:59

that size, you have to pay somebody a farm

35:01

wage. Right? It is a

35:04

farm hand. then you

35:06

have to count that in

35:08

to your bottom operating costs and

35:10

then charge accordingly on your

35:12

products to make sure that that's covered. And

35:14

as I said, I think everybody should charge enough that

35:16

they are making a profit. I don't think

35:18

anybody should be

35:20

expected to work

35:22

for free. I don't think you would ever go to a job and

35:24

be like, oh, well, I'll just I'll

35:26

work for free today. You just

35:29

cover my food and feed me for the

35:31

day. I mean, very rarely, like every now and then you might

35:33

do that as like a special favorite or something like

35:35

that. But as your every

35:38

day, weekly, monthly, etcetera income, you

35:40

can't do that. And I don't think that we

35:42

should expect anybody else to do

35:44

that, especially people who are raising

35:46

our food.

35:48

I've never quite understood, you know, they

35:50

should be making a a fair wage as well

35:52

or at least some type of a profit

35:55

the So

35:56

we look at what our cost of just

35:59

feed is and then the cost

36:01

of the animal, and

36:04

then we charge accordingly per

36:06

pound because that's generally how we

36:08

do the hanging weight of the beef

36:10

and the

36:12

pork. and we charge per pound based upon that.

36:14

Now, is it unfair

36:16

that I'm actually not charged

36:20

charge an hourly wage because other farmers do have

36:22

to charge an hourly wage if they're bigger than

36:24

us? Possibly,

36:26

you know, And if we

36:28

get to the point where now that we've got

36:30

the extra forty acres from the

36:32

farm stay that we just

36:34

purchased, so we can raise

36:36

if it gets to the point where we do have to hire

36:38

help, you know, I'm gonna have to factor that in and

36:40

that will cause

36:42

us to have to raise our prices some

36:45

But we're already well below what you would ever

36:48

pay at even really

36:50

the grocery store for grass fed grass

36:52

finished beef. I mean, we're

36:54

already extremely competitive.

36:56

And part of that is because I want

36:58

people to have this

37:01

high quality of food and make it

37:03

as affordable as possible, yet at the

37:05

same time, you have to make a little bit of

37:07

money in pricing So

37:09

for us, because our farm is

37:12

not our sole income,

37:14

I'm able to keep prices a little

37:17

bit lower. but that's something that my husband and I, like, we've

37:19

been talking about as we move forward and we're

37:21

looking to add more cattle. And

37:23

as we add the cattle, we've

37:25

got the upfront price of buying breeding

37:28

stock. Right? And then with cows, you're

37:30

not you've got a nine month

37:32

gestation period.

37:34

And then those calves need to be two years old before

37:36

you're butchering them. So you're really looking

37:38

at three years before

37:40

you earn any money back.

37:43

So that's, you know, that's that's

37:45

a thing too. So as we're looking

37:47

to expand, looking like how do you

37:49

keep operating costs going, until you

37:51

reach that part with your herd. So

37:54

it may mean that we have to raise prices

37:56

next year. So it's

37:58

a constant dance that

37:58

you have to look at. And then some of

37:59

the other things is, you know, where

38:02

can we bring our costs down?

38:04

Again, I said like buying in

38:06

bulk or you batching

38:08

things, systemizing things so

38:10

that we are spending

38:12

less time on certain things. Things

38:15

are more efficient. just all of those different things that

38:17

we look at to try to keep the cost of the farming

38:19

down as much as

38:22

possible so that we don't have to raise

38:24

prices the

38:26

end product to the consumer. So,

38:28

anyhow, I hope that you that

38:30

gives you some

38:31

different food for thought or

38:34

maybe it it raises things that you hadn't thought

38:36

about or didn't realize about some of the food

38:38

system yet. And I would love to

38:40

hear from you, like in your

38:42

area, if you are a farmer,

38:44

different things like that. I think this is

38:46

a really good conversation. And

38:48

by no means, have we covered every aspect

38:50

of this conversation or even every point?

38:53

But I think it's a really good starting

38:55

starting point to be thinking about these

38:57

things, talking about these things, how

38:59

do we solve these things,

39:02

can we solve them completely or at

39:04

least what are some of the small things we can do that

39:06

at least can add up and make a

39:09

difference that type of thing. So I would love to

39:11

hear from you guys what you think on this

39:13

topic. You can leave it in a review wherever you're

39:15

listening to this podcast. in a

39:17

comment if you're listening to it from the

39:19

website directly, etcetera. But I would

39:22

love to hear your feedback because

39:24

this is actually very very important stuff that we need to

39:26

be thinking and talking about. So,

39:28

Tara, thank you so much for sending

39:30

this in. and I look

39:32

forward to hearing from you

39:34

guys. I'll be here with you

39:36

next week. Blessings and Mason jars for

39:38

now

39:38

my friend.