🌱 Sprouting through the drought + Pork Blowout continues! (Beef bundles running low)

Hey Friends,

If you’ve been stepping outside lately, you know we are deep into weathering a tough dry spell here in Chester. Around a farm, weather dictates just about everything we do, and lately, we’ve been watching the skies with a lot of anticipation.

Thankfully, the rain we received back on Thursday, May 7th gave us just the window we needed. We were able to get out into the fields and plant about 35 acres of our warm-season grass and legume mix—a combination of pearl millet and sunn hemp. If you remember from last year, this specific mix did incredibly well for us, providing deep-rooted, nutrient-dense forage for our livestock when the summer heat sets in.

The great news? It has officially sprouted! Seeing those green shoots coming up out of the soil is a huge relief, and it’s off to a great start. Now, we just keep hoping and praying for more rain to keep that momentum going.

Here is what’s happening around the farm web store this week:

⚠️ Limited Supply: Whole Animal Beef Bundles

Because we are facing a limited supply on certain cuts, we currently have a limited number of our whole animal beef bundles available. If you are looking to restock your freezer with 100% grass-fed and grass-finished beef, you’ll want to grab these quickly.

We have a limited inventory remaining for:

• Beef Family Bundle
• 1/8 Beef Bundle
• 1/4 Beef Bundle
• Half Beef Bundle

Once these sell out, we will be waiting on our next anticipated major restock in early June.

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🐖 Product Spotlight: Making Room for the June Restock!

To be completely transparent with you, our freezers are packed tight right now, and as we just mentioned, we have a massive restock of our 100% grass-fed beef coming in early June. To make sure we have the empty shelf space ready for all those incoming beef cuts, we need to move some of our premium pastured pork fast.

Because of that logistical puzzle, our Pastured Pork Blowout Event is rolling right along. We are holding the price of our Quarter Pig Bundle down to just $225, and we’ve also included our Pork and Poultry Prime Pack on sale for just $155 to help clear out those freezers.

Our pigs are raised out on healthy, vibrant pastures where they live a great life, translating into incredibly clean, nutrient-dense meat. If you have been waiting for the right time to fill your freezer with wholesome pork that is raised the right way, this is your moment. Buying in bulk like this is the absolute best way to save money while supporting our family farm.

What’s included in the Quarter Pig?

You get a fantastic variety of chops, roasts, sausage, and more, all packaged and ready for your freezer.

• Regular Price: $275
• Blowout Price: $225

🛒 Click here to grab your Quarter Pig for just $225!

Continue reading Pasture Posts #273

Rain, Roots, and a Pork Blowout!

What a weekend it has been! We want to start off by saying a massive “Thank You” to everyone who came out for the Ag+Art Tour. If you were here, you know the morning started off a bit chilly with some early rain that had us wondering if we’d be giving tours at all!

But the rain let up, the sun peeked through, and we ended up with a fantastic turnout. It was truly encouraging to see so many people interested in seeing exactly where their food comes from. We did a record number of tours and met folks who traveled from as far as Beaufort and Greenville just to spend the day with us here in Lowrys.

Sausage Drawing Winner 

During the tour, we held a drawing for 10 pounds of our Mild Sausage. We had 36 entries, and we are excited to announce that Keith A. from Rock Hill is our winner! Keith, we will be contacting you soon so you can get that sausage cooking.

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Why Pastured Pork Matters

During the tours yesterday, many of you were surprised to learn a sobering statistic: over 97% of pork in the United States is raised on concrete in total confinement. Most pigs never see a blade of grass, feel the sun on their backs, or get the chance to do what they were created to do: root.

Pigs are natural foragers. On our farm, they live in what we call a “savanna” environment—paddocks with plenty of shade and a buffet of volunteer forages like ryegrass and lambs-quarter. This lifestyle doesn’t just make for a happier pig; it results in a vastly different nutritional profile and flavor for the consumer.

If you want to see exactly how our pigs live, check out one of our all-time most popular videos below. It’s a simple walk-through of a paddock where you can see them enjoying the green grass and sunshine:

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THE PASTURED PORK BLOWOUT EVENT

May 3 – May 31 (While Supplies Last)

To celebrate the season and get our nutrient-dense pork into more freezers, we are officially launching our Pastured Pork Blowout! These deals are live starting today and will run through the end of the month.

Please note that these bundle discounts are on top of the already built-in savings you get when buying in bulk.

Featured Bundle Deals:

Continue reading Pasture Posts #271

The Pyramid Just Got Flipped! 🥩 🔄

Hello friends,

April is in full swing here in Chester, and the pastures are hanging in there although the hot weather and worsening drought this past week has put some strain on them.

But while we’ve been busy moving the herd each day, something massive has been shifting in the world of nutrition. If you’ve been following the news lately, you might have seen that the federal government finally did something many of us thought we’d never see: they flipped the food pyramid.

A “Gift” for Real Food Believers

For decades, we were told to build our diets on a foundation of grains and carbohydrates, while viewing animal proteins and fats with a side-eye. But the new 2025-2030 Dietary Guidelines have turned that old model on its head—literally.

The new “inverted” pyramid now places high-quality animal proteins, full-fat dairy, and whole foods at the top of the priority list. It’s a move toward recognizing what you, our savvy customers, have known for a long time: Real, nutrient-dense animal protein is the pinnacle of human nutrition. You can read the official announcement from the USDA on this “historic reset” here.

Insights from a Friend of the Farm

Joel Salatin recently called this a “gift” in his latest column. As many of you know, Joel is a long-time friend of Watson Farms—he even spent a day here back in April 2020 helping us navigate our transition out of the turkey business. In his latest article for The Stockman Grass Farmer, he wrote:

“The new inverted pyramid placing animal protein on top represents not only a return to historic normalcy but a renewed narrative of affirmation and acceptance to a demonized segment of American agriculture. All sectors of the livestock industry stand to benefit, but pastured livestock producers even more.”

While some of you may have written off government guidelines years ago (and we don’t blame you!), this shift is a massive win for awareness. It brings the conversation back to real food and away from the ultra-processed “fake meats” that have been pushed so hard recently.

Continue reading Pasture Posts #269

Spring has Sprung at Watson Farms

He is Risen! We hope you and your family are having a blessed Easter Sunday as we celebrate the hope and new life found in Christ.

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A Spectacular Spring Farm Day

What a day we had yesterday! After all the planning and prep work, Spring Farm Day finally arrived, and the weather really cooperated with us. The turnout was fantastic.

Thanks to everyone for all the birthday wishes! You made my day.

The biggest hit of the day—besides the animals, of course—was definitely our new tour wagon. We’ve been working on a way to make the farm tours more accessible for everyone, and this new design provided easier loading although with the ground being hard, the ride was still a bit bumpy.. It was great to see so many families loaded up and headed out to see what we do.

The cattle herd had been spending most of their time at the very back of the property lately, but they decided to be cooperative for the event! They moved into a closer paddock just in time, so we were able to include them, the pigs, and the chickens in the full tour. There’s nothing quite like seeing those happy animals out on fresh grass to remind us why we farm the way we do.

Between the Easter egg hunt, the bounce house, and the corn tub, the kids stayed plenty busy while the adults enjoyed the food truck and visiting with our local vendors.

A Huge “Thank You” to the Team

We also want to send out a massive thank you to our incredible team. Our Farm Store was bustling all day long! Melody was at the helm, and Jay and Daniel  actually came in on their scheduled day off to make sure everything ran like clockwork. Judson, Melody’s husband, and Lisa, Daniel’s wife, even volunteered their time to jump in and help out where needed. We are truly blessed with people who care about this farm and our customers as much as we do.

Continue reading Pasture Posts #267

Here’s the weekly roundup from Watson Farms and your direct connection to your farmer. Enjoy the latest edition of Pasture Posts!

If you’ve visited us lately, you’ve likely seen the wide, flat stretches at the front of the farm. But as you go back toward the York County line, those flats give way to rolling hills leading to the creek bottom. This land has been the heartbeat of our family since my grandparents, Jim and Anna, first purchased it in 1979.

Today, as Noah and Abby grow up here, they represent the fourth generation of Watsons to call this soil home. But as we’ve watched the skyline of the Charlotte-metro area grow taller and the subdivisions of York County creep closer over the last 10 years, we realized that their future on this land wasn’t guaranteed by tradition alone.

A little over a year ago, our family—my parents, Gary and June, and Kelly, and myself—made it official. We partnered with the Farm Bureau Land Trust to put our entire 350-acre farm into a conservation easement.

What “Forever” Really Means

This was not a decision we made lightly or quickly. It involved a mountain of paperwork and a long, often laborious process with appraisers, attorneys, and our bank. But the result is simple: this land can never be anything but a farm.

By choosing this path, we were able to access conservation funding that helped us address “legacy debt” from our old turkey operation. But in the world of farming, the financial engine is always turning and requiring constant reinvestment. One of the greatest benefits of the easement is that it has allowed us to make needed investments—like the broiler expansion that we discussed last week—that will allow us to heal more land with your partnership.

The Truth About Farm Security

Many farmers avoid dealing directly with consumers, but we embrace it. (See the section below about Spring Farm Day!) We know that without your willingness to step out of the normal grocery store routine and shop with us, Watson Farms would cease to exist—with or without a conservation easement on the land.

In fact, as grateful as we are for the conservation easement, we know that customers like you provide more farm security across our country than easements ever will.

Continue reading Pasture Posts #265 – Written in the Soil Forever