Here’s the weekly roundup from Watson Farms and your direct connection to your farmer. Enjoy the latest edition of Pasture Posts!
We’ve had a lot of things happening over the last month or so, and we wanted to keep you apprised of some of the ways that our farm is growing. It has truly felt like a marathon of a summer dealing with labor issues, tough summer weather, freezer issues, and building contractor delays. But we don’t like to dwell on the negatives, so let’s look at some of the positives of where we are right now.
This year so far we’ve been able to add several team members from customer service to delivery drivers. We greatly appreciate the roles that each of these folks have played in making sure that we are pleasing customers to the best of our ability.
We have also recently added a team of three production guys under the federal H2A visa program. Their names are Hector, Jamie, and Jose, and they are doing a great job in helping to care for our animals in the manner in which you have come to expect from Watson Farms. During the period we were short-handed this summer, we never lowered our standards of care for our animals, but other tasks like tractor maintenance or pasture mowing were put off, and we are now able to give those types of tasks some attention again. This has been a great relief and will hopefully give us a long-term solution to our seasonal field labor, which has proved very difficult to hire from the domestic worker pool.
These guys also have helped greatly by freeing up some time for our order fulfillment team and will allow us the ability to multi-task by working on some big projects while still keeping our everyday production tasks in good status.
We have also hired a person that will be helping with farm store management as well as our social media presence and customer service. We’re excited about this person and will have more details about her soon.
And that leaves us with the group of people that make the whole engine run: YOU! We have seen better sales this year already than all of last year! We’re happy to have been able to welcome a ton of new customers and to be able to continue serving those we have known for years.
But the truth is we feel like we’ve just scratched the surface as to the potential of Watson Farms in the future.
One component to this growth is the Value Added Producer Grant through the USDA. We recently found out that we have been approved, and this grant will help us grow our customer base and ensure that we have the product in the pipeline to serve such a customer base. We’re really excited about this opportunity to grow even more and to reach the goals needed for our farm to become a stable, steady, sustainable business that is able to survive the ups and downs that it will see in the decades to come.
While we engage in some paid advertising and will likely do some more of this, another very effective method of spreading the word is through our referral program. So for a limited time we will be doubling the reward to both the advocate and the new customer in our referral program. This means that when you refer somebody new to us and they complete an order of $100 or more, then both you and the new customer will receive coupons worth $30 (normally just $15). It’s really easy to do as well. You can share a link via Facebook , Twitter or Email using the Referral Program page on our website.
Take advantage of this special offer and help us fulfill our mission to reach the Carolinas and beyond with truly pasture raised proteins all while keeping a local family farm operating, regenerating the soil, respecting animals, and improving the lives of your family and ours.
Rewards Doubled!
The Referral Program reward has been doubled for a limited time! Give $30 and Get $30! We don’t spend a lot of money of advertising, but rather we focus on producing products that people love and are willing to tell others about. So we depend on word of mouth to find new customers and ultimately to heal more land.
So in an effort to streamline this process we have made it easier to tell others (via email, Facebook, or Twitter) about Watson Farms. And it’s all automated on the backend, so you don’t have to rely on us to issue the store credits manually. Just head over to our Referrals Page and start sharing!
Fall Farm Day!
Make plans for our Fall Farm Day scheduled for Saturday, October 22 from 10am to 2pm.
There will be vendors including a food truck, coffee truck, snow cones and ice cream!
We will be offering hay ride tours and children’s activities as well. More information will be coming soon!
Produce Boxes Available!
Our partnership with Wild Hope Farm continues this fall as they are working hard to provide you with superior organic produce that can be delivered to your door right along with anything else that we deliver on our van. (Not available for UPS Shipping at this time.) In order to provide you with the freshest produce possible, we have implemented the deadlines below.
Produce Box Order Deadlines:
CHARLESTON HOME DELIVERY – SUNDAYS at 9pm
GSP/COLUMBIA HOME DELIVERY AND FARM PICK UP – TUESDAYS at 9pm
LOCAL HOME DELIVERY- THURSDAYS at 9pm
Head over to the product page below to order now.
We re-use packaging!
We’ve seen a good response to our efforts in re-using packaging! Thanks and keep it up.
You can help us reduce our carbon footprint by returning your CLEAN egg cartons and meat boxes.
The main reason that we switched to plastic egg cartons a while back was because they are so much more durable than paper which could only be used once. They also protect the eggs much better!
So if you have some egg cartons or boxes to return, you can just place them on your porch on your home delivery day. Farm pickup customers can, of course, drop them off when you come to pick up your new order.
***We can only re-use OUR cartons or boxes. Please re-use or recycle other boxes or egg cartons elsewhere.***
We redact your personal information found on your meat boxes when we re-use them, but feel free to redact to redact it yourself without damaging the box if you would like.
Thanks for helping us re-use our packaging!
Order Deadlines and Store Hours
Charleston Area: 12 noon Mondays
UPS Orders: 12 noon Mondays
New Deadline: Columbia Area: 12 noon on Wednesdays
GSP: 12 noon on Wednesdays
Charlotte/Fort Mill/Rock Hill Areas: 12 noon Fridays
Farm Pickup: Please wait until you receive an email stating that your order is ready to be picked up (usually 1 business day from when you place your order). Farm pickup is done during store hours:
Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday: 10am to 6pm
Saturday: 10am to 2pm
Closed Sunday and Wednesday
Did you know that we have a webpage that displays all the reviews we have received?
Check it out!
Check out this ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ review:
“So glad we found this place! We purchased a whole cow and whole hog! Matt was very helpful with all of my questions! They were fast and efficient! Helped us get all of our meat into our coolers. The meat is amazing! 10 out of 10 recommend!!”
We would greatly appreciate it if you would be kind enough to leave us a review. It helps first-time customers purchase with confidence.
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
Pasture Posts is written by Matt Watson.