Category: Kelly’s Midweek Update

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Kelly’s Midweek Update #66

Here’s a midweek update from Kelly with Watson Farms, keeping you connected with your farm.

Hey friends,

If you peeked into our home on any given weekday morning, you’d find books spread across the table, lesson plans stacked high, and the familiar rhythm of homeschooling in full swing. But around here, school rarely stops at the kitchen table.

Some of our absolute best school hours happen the moment the books close and work boots go on.

Earlier this week, the classroom moved straight out into the open field and into the farm store. Noah has been putting real math to work right alongside Matthew as they get seed in the ground. Instead of solving abstract word problems on paper, he was calculating seeding rates—figuring out how much of each seed type to mix, calculating how many pounds need to go down per acre, and then helping make sure the planter gets calibrated and loaded just right. Meanwhile, Abby brings her own incredible blend of talents to the farm store. She’s using practical math every day to balance sales and inventory, but just as importantly, she leans into her people skills—welcoming customers, sharing details about our cuts, and making everyone feel right at home the minute they walk through the door.

Of course, it isn’t all hard calculations and work checklists—they truly have so much fun out here. In a world that often moves at breakneck speed, there’s something genuinely sweet about watching them lean into the slower pace of the farm. Whether it’s sharing a laugh riding along on the equipment, taking an unhurried walk across the pastures, or just pausing to enjoy the quiet wide-open spaces, they appreciate the simple gift of being outdoors as much as the work itself.

Hands-on farm lessons at Watson Farms
Working and learning on the farm at Watson Farms
Continue reading Kelly’s Midweek Update #66
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Kelly’s Midweek Update #57

Hey friends,
If you have glanced at the news over the past few days, you’ve probably seen the headlines buzzing about the recent announcement regarding foreign ground beef imports. It has definitely sparked a massive national conversation about the meat industry, food security, and—most importantly—knowing where your food actually comes from.
Around here, that announcement set off a whirlwind!
Over the last several days, our phones have been ringing off the hook, online orders have been rolling in, and we’ve had the pleasure of welcoming so many new and familiar faces through the doors of our on-farm store. First and foremost, we just want to say thank you. In a world full of confusing grocery store labels and complex global supply chains, seeing our community step up to support local agriculture is humbling and encouraging beyond words.
The Problem with “Mystery Meat”
When headlines start talking about hundreds of thousands of tons of imported beef arriving in shipping containers, it naturally makes folks stop and look twice at the packages in the supermarket meat aisle.
The truth is, much of the conventional meat supply travels through massive, opaque industrial channels. It gets commingled, heavily processed, and shipped thousands of miles before it ever hits a grocery shelf. When you buy conventional beef, it is nearly impossible to trace which pasture—or even which continent—it came from.Our Promise to You: Local, Transparent, and Pasture-Raised
Situations like this are the exact reason we do what we do at Watson Farms.When you order from us or walk into our farm store, there is zero guesswork:100% Grass-Fed & Finished Beef: Our cattle spend their entire lives grazing open, lush pastures the way nature intended—no feedlots, no shortcuts, and no grain finishing.Pasture-Raised Pork & Chicken: Raised outdoors with access to fresh air, sunshine, and clean forage.True Traceability: Born, raised, and harvested right here. When you feed your family Watson Farms meats, you know exactly who raised it and how it was cared for.Here is a picture of our cow herd and some of our broiler chickens in the same field (if you look close you can even seen all the grasshoppers and bugs).We’re Stocking the Shelves!
With the surge in orders this week, our team has been working in overdrive out in the pastures and in the packing room to keep everything stocked and running smoothly. Beef inventory is starting to get low but we will be receiving a new round of beef the end of next week.
Even though some of the beef inventory is getting low we do have plenty of Ground Beef available.
Whether you’re swinging by the farm store to grab burger patties for weekend grilling, stocking your freezer with a bundle box, or having your weekly staples shipped straight to your doorstep via watsonfarms.com, we are honored to have a seat at your family’s dinner table.
Thank you for choosing to vote with your fork and keeping local family farms thriving.
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Kelly’s Midweek Update #56

Here’s a midweek update from Kelly with Watson Farms, keeping you connected with your farm.

Hi friend,
If you’ve followed our farm for a while, you might know that our journey didn’t start on open green pastures. For 24 years, our family was in the commercial confinement turkey business. We lived that industrial farming model day in and day out, and we know the system inside and out.
Looking back at those days compared to how we raise our pastured chickens today feels like night and day.
The Old Way: Commercial Confinement
In the industrial poultry world, the entire model is built around isolation and density. Tens of thousands of birds spend their lives inside massive, enclosed barns on manure covered floors.
The Environment: The birds live on stationary litter that accumulates over months. Even with big ventilation fans running, the air inside is heavy with dust and ammonia.
The Routine: The birds never see direct sunlight, never feel a natural breeze, and never set foot on a blade of grass.
The Inputs: Because high-density indoor environments breed stress and disease pressure, industrial systems rely heavily on strict chemical biosecurity and antibiotics just to keep flocks standing.We managed those barns with care, but we always felt there had to be a better way—for the animals, the soil, and our own family.
The New Way: Life on Fresh Pasture

Today, raising our pastured broilers is a completely different world.
Every single morning, we hook up the tractor to move our mobile hoop shelters forward onto fresh, untouched green grass. The birds immediately flutter forward, eagerly scratching in the soil and foraging for clover, tender greens, and grasshoppers.

Fresh Ground Every 24 Hours: Our chickens never live on accumulated waste. Moving daily breaks parasite cycles naturally without needing routine antibiotics or artificial chemicals.
True Sunshine and Fresh Air: Clean breezes and open daylight keep the flock active, healthy, and stress-free.
Regenerating the Soil: Instead of manure becoming a toxic waste problem in a barn, the birds deposit rich natural fertility directly onto the pasture, revitalizing our fields for our cattle to graze later.
Superior Nutrition & Flavor: Chickens that forage on live greens develop firmer, cleaner meat with higher levels of Vitamin A, Vitamin E, and anti-inflammatory Omega-3 fatty acids. You can taste the difference in every bite—tender, rich, and never watered down.Our Honest Harvest Chicken Sale is still going on (just a couple of weeks left)! Get your chicken ordered now and stock up! Place the order online or come see us in the farm store!
Honest Harvest Sale
Kelly’s Farm Kitchen: Crispy Sheet Pan Herb-Roasted Chicken
Because pasture-raised chicken has such rich, natural flavor, you don’t need a complicated marinade. This simple sheet pan meal gets dinner on the table in under an hour with almost zero cleanup.

Ingredients:

4 Watson Farms bone-in chicken leg quarters
1.5 lbs baby potatoes, halved
1 lb baby carrots or green beans
3 tbsp olive oil (or melted butter)
1 tsp garlic powder
.1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp sweet paprika.
1 tsp dried rosemary or Italian seasoning
1.5 tsp sea salt & 1/2 tsp black pepper

Instructions:

Prep the Oven: Preheat your oven to 400°F and lightly oil a large rimmed baking sheet.
Season the Veggies: Toss the halved potatoes and carrots with 1 tablespoon of olive oil, a pinch of salt, and pepper. Spread them around the edges of the baking sheet.
Season the Chicken: Pat the chicken dry with a paper towel (the secret to crispy skin!). Rub with the remaining olive oil and coat generously with the herb and spice mix.
Roast: Place the chicken skin-side up in the center of the baking sheet nestled between the vegetables. Roast for 35–45 minutes, until the skin is golden brown and the internal temperature reaches 165°F (175°F for leg quarters).
Rest & Serve: Let the meat rest for 5 minutes before serving so the juices settle back into the meat.
We hope to see you soon!
(A quick reminder: If you’re local, stop by the Farm Store to pick out your cuts in person, or place your online order by Sunday night to ensure it’s in the shipping queue for next week!)
Kelly WatsonThe Farmer’s Wife
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Kelly’s Midweek Update #55

Here’s a midweek update from Kelly with Watson Farms, keeping you connected with your farm.

Hey Watson Farms Family,

Yesterday was a big hay day around here, and it took a full team effort to get it done!

We had three generations out in the field working together from 12:30 PM until 7:15 PM, finishing up just as the dark storm clouds began rolling in. Talk about beating the clock! It was a long, full afternoon, but seeing everyone pitch in made it special. Abby was out there raking, Gary and Noah were running the baler, and Matthew was busy hauling and wrapping every single bale.

By the time the rain started, we had 56 beautiful bales safely put up!

What makes these bales so special isn’t just the hard work that went into harvesting them—it’s the way this pasture was built over the last few months.

If you visited the farm between April and July, you might have seen three of our mobile chicken shelters out in that exact field. Every single day, those houses get moved about 50 feet (the length of the coop) onto a fresh patch of grass. This gives the chickens daily access to fresh forage and bugs, while they leave behind rich, natural fertilizer.

When you combine that daily chicken rotation with our cattle grazing the same pasture, the soil gets an incredible boost of natural nutrients. After giving the field a well-deserved rest, all that natural fertility produced the thick, nutrient-dense grass we harvested yesterday. It’s amazing to watch how each group of animals plays a part in building healthy soil!

Honest Harvest Chicken Sale!


Speaking of our pasture-raised chickens and the wonderful work they do for our farm ecosystem, this is a great time to stock up!

Our Honest Harvest Chicken Sale is happening right now. If you’ve been looking to fill your freezer with clean, nutrient-dense chicken raised on fresh grass every single day, now is the perfect time to order.

Head over to the website or stop by the farm store to grab yours while the sale lasts!

Shop the Honest Harvest Chicken Sale
We hope to see you soon!
(A quick reminder: If you’re local, stop by the Farm Store to pick out your cuts in person, or place your online order by Sunday night to ensure it’s in the shipping queue for next week!)
Kelly WatsonThe Farmer’s Wife