This week, I thought I’d give everyone a general update on the farm and how things are looking since COVID19 hit the world.

In the middle of March, when we first realized this was a worldwide situation, we were completely naive about the coming events. At that time, we certainly didn’t realize the long term and far-reaching effects this would cause.  We didn’t realize that almost half of all Americans would shelter in place or that our way of living could be threatened from so many different directions.  I don’t think we ever really had the luxury to be worried back then, everything happened so quickly and we just had to keep moving.

Within a month we would receive a note from our long-time butcher informing us of a complete shutdown with no reopening date set.  That was a blow!   Our pigs were getting bigger by the day and our cows continued to grow as we waited to hear if things would ever change.  That was a scary time for us.  We feed people.  At the same time we realized there were no butchering options, the demand for local food skyrocketed.  Thankfully, we had a couple of walk-in coolers filled with frozen meat and had already started a batch of 300 chickens in the brooder.  We figured that would get us over the hump for the next month or so until this COVID19 went away.  Well, it didn’t go away and we jumped into high gear, increasing all of our chick orders just in case we didn’t ever get beef, lamb, and pork back in stock.  We knew that the milk would not be affected since it goes from the cow to the jugs and Brayden and I can butcher 25 chickens in a hour, so that would be fine too but beef, lamb, and pork would be off the menu.

When our butcher finally opened back up it was preceded by an email stating that they would never work at full capacity again.  Only those with a good track record over the past few years (that means being nice to the butcher and the staff ) would be served!  I have no idea what the farmers who didn’t get the letter are doing but I feel very sorry for them.

The fact that we were starting to ramp up our butchering requirements is the only reason we have food for you now.  We had corresponded with our butcher just weeks before COVID hit letting her know that we needed to increase our appointments for butchering.  When Allison found that correspondence she changed our allowance, almost doubling our allotted appointments.

Well, together, we made it through. What kept us farming this year is not only what you purchase from us now but what you purchased from us in the past.  If all of our customers only found us during the pandemic, we would not have an option for butchering.  We are so thankful for our new customers who found us in the past few months, but our indebtedness to our longtime supporters cannot be greater.

For all of our customers, new and old, your willingness to purchase what we had available and our willingness to forgo self-quarantine to bring your food to you made it all work out.  While we’re not out of woods as a nation, we are very confident in our ability to feed you, no matter what happens to the world.  That feels amazing!

Pick up in Hermitage TN
We’re setting up a new delivery site in Hermitage.  Shoot me an email at hello@rivercottagefarm.net and I’ll give you all the details.