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

Get to Know your Farmers!

We’ve had a good number of new customers over the last year or so, and we thought it would be good to re-introduce ourselves to some of you who have not been with us as long as others.

To put it succinctly, we operate a multi-generational family farm producing pasture-raised proteins with the vast majority of these products being marketed directly to consumers through our website and our on-farm store. But this is not at all what our farm looked like even as little as 5 years ago before we made the latest transition to 100% pasture raised livestock. You can read all about this transition and what our farm looked like in the several decades before now in our Transition Blog Series that we did a few years ago.

Today, three generations of the Watson family live and work together at Watson Farms:

Gary and June have been critical to the farm’s success over the years from running the day to day operations during the row crop years and navigating the tumultuous journey transition out of that operation into the commercial turkey operation. When many small farms were either going out of business or becoming mega-farms, they bucked the trend and kept the family farm intact to provide opportunities for the next generation.

When we first made plans to produce grass-fed beef, Gary fronted much of the initial expenses by retaining calves that we would normally sell at an earlier date for much needed income. Deferring the sale of these cattle throughout the first several years of launching and growing our grass-fed beef business was a huge sacrifice at a time when money was tight anyway. This initial investment laid the foundation for growth beyond what we could imagine years later.

Read more: Pasture Posts #177

After getting married in 2010, Kelly and Matt, with the guidance and support from Gary and June, steadily worked to grow the meat business to the point where it could one day be a standalone enterprise that the farm’s success would revolve around. Kelly left her “town job” in 2012 to work part time in the farm office doing customer service, but that turned quickly into full time work as the business grew. Abby was born in 2013 and Noah in 2016.

It took much patience, hard work, and risk, but as detailed in the Transition Blog Series, we finally were able to make the leap of faith out of the turkey business and expand our chicken enterprises greatly as well as the pigs and cattle. It was a move that we had long desired to make, and it was almost surreal when we actually severed ties with the turkey industry.

We are extremely grateful to the thousands of customers that have found us as they seek to source local, ethical proteins that they can consume with confidence.

These days you can find Gary doing a number of things from planning to getting parts to running a tractor spraying broilers (on hot days) to hauling non-GMO grains that go in our chicken and pig feed rations.

June helps with childcare as well as certain aspects of bookkeeping and more.

Kelly runs the farm office, homeschools Abby and Noah, coordinates delivery routes, and oversees a number of things from staff to the farm store and much more.

Matt can be found on whatever is needed at a given time. Some of those tasks might include making repairs to equipment and tractors, sorting cattle, processing chickens, and planning.

Abby and Noah do a great job in a number of areas like boxing frozen chicken cuts, assisting with egg washing and packing, and chicken processing.

We hope this gives you an insight into the family behind Watson Farms. We, of course, could not operate the farm without our dedicated team that aren’t necessarily related, but are every bit as much a part of the Watson Farms family. This group of people do a great job in so many of the critical steps that get our products to our customers.

And, as always, our customers are just as much a part of our team in that your interest and support for ethically raised pastured proteins makes this endeavor economically viable. Thank you for changing our food system by supporting a pasture-based family farm with your food dollar.

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Product Spotlight

Check out what’s on sale!

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Produce is available!

We are happy and know you are too that produce boxes are available again! Please make sure you pay close attention the order deadlines for these (they are different then our normal deadlines).

Ordering Deadlines
Charleston and Columbia Home Delivery – SUNDAYS at 9pm
GSP Home Delivery and Farm Pick Up – TUESDAYS at 9pm
Local Home Delivery – THURSDAYS at 9pm

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Thanks again for being partners in this endeavor of local, pasture-raised proteins that has truly transformed our farm.  We look forward to continuing this transition while serving you long into the future.

Sincerely,
The Watsons

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Pasture Posts is written by Matt Watson.