Small farmers and communication

[Guest guest]

Jo, try not to take offense. Only you can judge what is right for you and

everyone is on their own personal journey, with no higher or lower points.

Instead of reading what Will said and taking offense, look for the love inside

of him and realize what emotions are going on inside that are causing him to

respond as such. Frustration, fear, helplessness, all emotions that are easy to

feel when you consider the current plight of our small, bio-sustainable farmers.

Will is a caring individual who can see what kind of change is necessary to get

our world back on track, but without the means to make it happen quick enough,

because it can't happen soon enough.

And you are obviously a conscious person because you're here on this list

talking about grass fed butter, something that most people don't even have a

clue exists...

So change perspective, consider eachother's good intentions and don't let the

little things bother you here. This isn't about any one person, it's about the

whole world and making it better and healthier for future generations.

With that said, Will, those small farmers who are desperate for our business

could make it a little easier to get ahold of them. I can count on both hands

how many times I've contacted farmers, looking for milk or meat or whatever and

I never ever get a reply, and in some cases I'm talking multiple emails. I,

working a farm essentially myself, can understand that it is an enormous amount

of work, but why should any farmer complain who is not accepting orders that

they could otherwise fill. These farmers that I have contacted would have tons

of business from me alone, plus I would pay for things that most people wouldn't

want, bones, and scraps and what have you. I would also work totally on their

schedule and really the communication and packaging is the only work on top of

production that they would need to do. I'm not pointing any fingers at

particular famers, but that is what makes it so difficult to make purchases from

them. I understand the myriad other reasons why it is so, politics, etc.. But

somehow communication needs to improve. People end up at Sam's club or wherever,

paying only a few dollars less for pasteurized butter than they would pay for

raw butter because it is not the utter hassle that it is to get it from the

farm.

Again, I repeat, not pointing fingers or casting blame, but we need to all give

our 100% to make this happen, if that means trading a little produce or hiring a

secretary to take orders then that is what needs to happen. If I wasn't 2 jobs

and the farm then I'd volunteer my time to them, if I didn't feel I was already

doing 100% of my capacity, but I am (and still don't have enough time to

permascape this farm to the degree I'd like), so someone who does have the time

needs to step in. Unreliable communication is the biggest obstacle IMHO, from

the customer's perspective, to buying from small farms. From the farmer's

perspective it's going to be time, not enough of it, and persecution by our

lawmakers and their enforcing agents. We have to rise above those obstacles, we

can, and will!