We are still getting our feet underneath us as we consider the best way to move forward from this point. If you read this email last week you know that we are down several employees over the last few months, and have had 2 trucks wrecked in that same span of time. The combination of those circumstances led us to have to suspend home delivery for a while. We are still doing Pop-up Pick-ups, so please join us at one of those locations to pick up your order. I haven't charted our exact course forward yet. Primarily because there's just so much work to do. Farm chores are keeping me so busy that I have no time to manage my way out of this situation. My default setting is just to work harder (thanks Dad). However, that doesn't seem to be helping resolve this situation. I believe the responsibilities of a small business owner fall into 2 categories, working on your business, and working in your business. Both are equally important. If you don't work in your business you will lose touch with the day-to-day operations, then bad things happen. If you don't work on your business you will lack the strategy, culture, systems, and leadership that is needed for long-term success. Right now I am working in-it so much that there is no time to work on-it. Conclusion... I need to hire some farm help. This job requires a lot of toting feed buckets, picking up eggs, handling turkeys and chickens, a little tractor driving, a lot of heat and sunshine, and you'll sometimes come home a little stinky. For whatever reason folks just arent jumping at this opportunity. Kidding aside, it is hard work, but at the end of the day, it's nice to know that you took care of the animals to the best of your ability and produced another day's worth of food for people that value what we do. That's rewarding. Honestly, I love doing the work myself. So that this isn't just a time where I ramble on about our current struggles, I wanted to end by sharing the farm chores as they happened today.
As we have gotten deeper into the summer I almost let it get too late to plant a crop of summer annual grass for baleage. These baleage crops are what allow us to produce various grass-fed products, as the pasture grass is not perfectly green and perfectly lush all year. We needed another 150-200 rolls of baleage to get us by till spring, and this crop should do it. I planted 45 acres so far, with about 15 left to go.
All of our pastured poultry have to be moved, fed, and watered everyday. Thankfully Atticus was able to go with me today. He can open gates, hook up to the houses, and even drive the tractor. All the kids have been great help this summer. Unfortunately is back-to-school time now. In this picture Atticus was questioning his decision to help with a storm cloud rolling in. We did have to seek cover for a little while it rolled by.
Yes, this was all on a Sunday... unfortunately. The grass just needed to be planted because we had rain in the forecast, and due to the lateness of the calendar. A normal Sunday usually includes just the minimum, but the minimum still means harvesting eggs, milking, and taking care of every chicken, turkey, pig, and cow.
Looking at it a little differently:
- Today I got to plant thousands of seeds that we will soon get to witness sprout and start harvesting sunshine, truly miraculous.
- I got to work alongside my son where we witnessed a glimpse of the amazing power of nature/weather.
- And I got to end the day under a sky that was as full of color as any I can remember.
In times of struggle, perspective is a valuable companion.
