Very Thankful...
- Gordon Ellison
- May 23, 2025
- 4 min read
We are thankful to have the opportunity to be where we are, in contact with those we are, and to offer the products that makes sense to us and you. Storme did a great job in capturing our hearts behind the why of what we do and we want to do more of it! I also want to thank all of our members (new & old) for seeing the heart behind the products.
As it was in the past, the payoff doesn't only come from what you provide, it's the satisfaction that comes by how it was made. How you transform things in the making of it and how it transforms you.
I used to say "There are lessons in the labor". I still believe that today, maybe more than I used to. In the world of immediacy we can see that the desire for gratification is satisfied by a 20 second reel or a TikTok video by most people. I see people "working" and a great portion of their work day is spent on their phone. A machine is producing parts and they're there to check compliance and to load another. In the meantime, they scroll. Or a lot of people are caught up in the "virtual" world where they have a lot of followers and likes and so on. Something that I saw or read recently captured this well. If you have a lot of likes or followers and so on in the social media realm, it's very similar to being rich while you're playing the game Monopoly. Does that carry the same level of gratification of getting to listen to someone with your ears? or speak to them with your mouth? or see the expression on their face? Our culture is in desperate need for a social community reset, not a redefining. This applies to our food system as I'll touch more on in Farm News.
That's one of the reasons that I stepped out into the farmers market world. To meet people, to talk to them, to tell and show people that there are options to the grocery store and the "agency approval". I would like to reiterate that we don't think all government is bad, but corrupt government is and in all fairness, it's a difficult thing to moderate, especially when it is made up of many different people. Thankfully we have freedoms that have been preserved by the Constitution that allow us to think for ourselves. I've heard rumors of a "Food Emancipation Proclamation", there's an idea! Let's have legislature written that tells us that we have the freedom to consume the products we want, the way we want to...
Farm News
We have few products left and are trying to keep up with demand. The primary issue here is lack of availability. The primary cause of that is Bird Flu. The primary reason for that is mis-management.
(This may get a little upsetting to some)
The chickens that all of us are used to eating are a matter of 6-8 weeks old. Yes! It's true! These Cornish Cross (race car-broilers) chickens have been bred to grow super fast and provide the meat that we're used to eating from the grocery to the fast food restaurant. I understand the motive and we can all agree that it taste good, the latest search I did proves we like it:
Broiler-Type Chicks Hatched Down 1 Percent
Broiler-type chicks hatched during December 2023 totaled 849 million, down 1 percent from December 2022. (1 year)
Leading breeders placed 8.75 million broiler-type pullet chicks for future domestic hatchery supply flocks during (1 month)
December 2023, down 4 percent from December 2022.
We've grown to love race car chickens, there's no doubt. It provides a quick turn around on investment from the growers and the public gets 6-8 week old chickens which when we think about it are just babies. We still offer these for those of us that want them but we are moving further in the direction of a sustainable source of Buckeyes. We've done Freedom Rangers and still have some that are dual purpose (egg & meat producers). They take longer to grow out which means they aren't as tender and succulant as the 6-8 week old models. That age range for a Freedom Ranger may yield a 2-3 lb product where a Race Car chick yields 5-6lb. The other problem with the Race Car chickens is that they cannot survive long enough to breed. They grow at such a rate that their organs cannot support them. So if we are set on having the chicken that we're used to, we're locked in to dependance on the hatchery doing what they do.
What do we do?
We will be offering heritage Freedom Ranger and Buckeye chicken as well as the Cornish Cross (race car). Sadly it will be a few months before any of this is available for our members. Our current next projection for Cornish Cross is early September and not far behind that will be heritage breeds.
A lot of this disruption is caused by the mismanagement of flocks that led to the Bird Flu pandemic.
CAFO's (Concentrated Animal Feed Operations) and the misleading of labels contribute to the deception that we're consuming something that is good for us, or is ethical, when really it's just convenient for the manufactures and palatable to consumers . Often times people will change the truth to avoid doing something different.
We want to do what makes the most sense, not just what makes the cents.
Please share your thoughts!!!
Your thankful and grateful stewards,
Gordon & Elizabeth
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