Hi everyone:
I am astonished it has been since June since we posted anything on the farm blog. That has a lot to do with all that has gone on here on the farm this summer. It has been a rough year for us... lots of learning and growing and, of course, that usually involves pain.
Most of you know we had a rough start to the year with a huge flood that wiped out a bunch of chickens and then major equipment problems with two trucks breaking down in a day. Unfortunately that set the tone of the summer and it just sort of kept coming in waves. It seems as though we have been buffeted on all fronts and it has tested our faith
One of the biggest problems we had this year was personnel related. Finding people that care about this mission as much as we do is challenging indeed. It is not an easy task. We have done some major restructuring and it has caused me to be more heavily involved in the day-to-day operations again. I have been covered in grease and chicken poop again... like in the beginning. That’s why I am not blogging so much.
That's all good and fine. I lost about 15 pounds so far which I desperately needed to and we are learning our limitations as a business. This is the year where all sorts of things we couldn’t control happened and to boot, we learned we should have been controlling a few things better that we could’ve. All I can say is “ouch.” We know we made some mistakes this year and hope that you are forgiving.
We know you got a lot of eggplant…. Please know we tilled a ton of it under. Natural problems like the tomato blight and alternating wet/dry weather hit us hard as well… we lost a lot of product this year. Then there are the predators eating the chickens. All in all, it has been a war and many times it feels as if the front lines are about to collapse and the enemy will overtake us. I feel like the guy spinning the plates on the sticks and some just fall off and crash to the floor. We will be doing a lot of planning this winter and feel we will go into next year smarter and more prepared. Hopefully with that and a lot of God’s grace, we will have a much better year next year.
All that being said, we have a tough winter ahead of us. This year was a financial mess for us and we’re not in great shape. Even though we reacted as quickly and as smartly as we could, it seemed no matter what we tried to do we couldn’t stop the bleeding. It’s going to be financially rough to make it from here to January. We’re going to need your help.
We’ve put together a great Winter CSA program this year. We are really excited about it. We brought back the preserved goods package and even have some winter veggies going into the ground so we can have some December harvest. We think it’s going to be great and a big improvement over years past. One of the exciting new additions is locally made fresh pasta. We have tried it and absolutely love it. It is not the same as you get in a store. I like it and I’ve never really liked spaghetti.
We understand all too well the economy is rough. We are asking very straightforwardly that if you can in any way support us this winter that you please choose to get your food from us. We desperately need a healthy winter program to make it this year. We usually can go into the fall with a financial pad to make it over the winter, but this year we have no pad at all. We are on a shoestring budget and it’s a pretty scary time for us. If you can buy a turkey from us, please do. Our turkey income is a big boost for us.
As in all things, we have to just trust God and our faithful customers.
As always, thanks you for your support. We look forward to serving you this winter and in the years to come.
Tim, Jen and the Avalon Team
Tuesday was a fun, eventful and HOT day!
We had Youth Director, Kris Lott and his youth group from Calvary United Methodist Church come out to the farm for a day of work. Mondays and Tuesdays are usually very busy days for us so the kids got to see some of the workings of a farm. I think some of them were suprised by the amount of work and the type of work. There is so much that goes into running and maintaining a farm. One of the boys said, "Wow I thought we were just going to feed some animals." They worked so hard and were such good sports. We had several projects going on.
Several of the youth group went to Ethridge, which is where we have our Produce Packaging site. They observed and participated in the unloading of produce, packaging of eggs, inventorying of meats, then setting up the assembly line and preparing the boxes. I'm inserting a cute little video of our "Share Box Building" this video doesn't include the youth group it was shot last summer, but I'm also putting up several photos of the kids and the work that was done yesterday.
The rest of the group stayed at our farm where we raise all kinds of chickens, pigs and sheep (in addition to our barnyard animals). We had one group of folks working with Ricky and Rachel in Chicken Packaging. We cut up a portion of the chickens and we package the rest of the chickens whole. So this group worked on draining the chickens after they chill overnight and then packaging and weighing and boxing up the packages for freezing.
One of the crews went on rock detail. The farm is in a hollow and we have a lot of rocky creek gravel. Larger rocks make their way into the pastures and can be dangerous for the animals and the machinery. After picking up the rocks they looked like they had fun dumping them "back to whence they came... " in the creek.
Another crew worked on cleaning and organizing. We have a few concrete pads where we store building and fencing materials so every so often it needs to be cleared off, cleaned off and reorganized.
The last group worked on the biggest project of the day. They set fence posts. Typically when you put up fence, (and this does vary depending on which livestock will be behind the fence), but typically you set wooden posts in the corners and then every so often along the fence line. You then put T-posts, which aren’t as sturdy but saves some on money, in between the wooden posts, then you string the wire. So this was a very large project and especially in the field in the heat of the day. They sure worked hard!
Thank you so much Calvary Youth Group!!!
Well, alls I can say is WHEW! Man… what a rough way to start the season. That was BY FAR the most difficult startup yet. I believe God was stretching us and it doesn’t appear He is done yet. With the weather, two trucks BOTH losing transmissions in the same day and then all the other assorted mechanical problems, it’s looking like it was a $10,000 week. Yikes… that’s not the kind of week we can survive if they come too often. That’s not even to mention the emotional drain of it all. The flood was the worst I’ve seen since we’ve been here. I have never seen it overflow the banks into the front field. We just brought in 14 dumptrucks of gravel and the creek washed away 100 feet of the gravel on the other side... it's just GONE. I have included two pictures so you can see the comparison.
The food suffered a little… we had some problems with lettuce being too soggy…. That’s why some of your heads were small because we had to peel the outside layers. The wetness and the hail did some damage a week or so earlier. Last couple of years we’ve been dry… this year, not so much. Too much of a good thing ain’t so good. Overall though, since it didn’t freeze, we are in good shape and we should have plenty of apples, pears, peaches and berries this year. YAY!!! We love fruit!
Two trucks breaking down at the same time was what would make me awake in the middle of the night sweating realizing it was all a bad dream… but this time it wasn’t. We were scrambiling like crazy sending up trucks and drivers shuttling off the food to different locations. When Rachel called in the afternoon and told me the second truck wouldn’t move… well… I thought it was a bad joke… but it wasn’t. At that point, we just sort of went into “bring everyone home safe and count our blessings” mode.
So… what did I learn from all of that craziness? Well… God is still good and He is still in charge. We are still amazingly blessed. I wouldn’t trade what I do for a minute in my old life. I also learned that no matter how much you plan… how much you think you have everything under some sort of control… you don’t. One second everything looks good… the next a tornado bears down on your head and it’s all gone… or YOU are all gone. It made me realize that life is fragile and I can take nothing and no one for granted. The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away. I thank and praise Him that I still adore Him despite the adversity and that he gave us strength to lead our troops through this with at least some grace and poise.
So… on the good side… our chicken processing building remodels are just about complete and we really love the improvements. Rachel is thrilled since that’s her area of responsibility. We got the baby egg laying pullets out into the field today… the “Egg Mobile” rolled out into the front pasture and the girls got let out for the first time. They were just a little hesitant to climb out at first. They’ll get the hang of it. We’re pretty happy about the new paint jobs on the trucks. Hopefully you think so too. We just had to ignore the bugs that got stuck to the paint while it was drying [Arrgghh]. Well… there’s just a ton going on and we’re a little overwhelmed, but it’s good.
The reason we’re ok… the reason we don’t just fall apart… is our God. To Him be all the praise and glory. He has numbered the hairs on our head and He knows us and loves us. I am so grateful that I can serve a God and love a God no matter what he put us through, because I know that the crown of glory waits and the world is passing away and it’s all just chaff. There is only one worthwhile thing on this earth… just one… and that is coming to know Christ.
Amen
If you want to see a sort of “this week in pictures” then please visit our photo album. We will be putting up some videos on a YouTube account soon… so you can see some video from the farm too.
Welcome Nissan Americas Franklin-based Employees!
We are so proud to be lining up with Nissan's corporate goals in green living and partnering to bring local, farm fresh food directly to your workplace.
You can learn about our packages and pricing by downloading the 2009 Registration Form and when you're ready, fill it out and send it in with payment as directed in the form. More information is available by viewing our FAQ document and also feel free to browse around the website if you want to get more familiar with us.
We will be delivering for 26 weeks throughout the summer on Friday afternoons between 4:00 and 5:00 pm in the Contract Employee Parking Area starting Friday May 8th. The season will draw to a close in October with our Customer Appreciation Day when you can visit the farm with the whole family for an afternoon of hayrides, food and fun.
If you have any questions at all, please e-mail our dedicated customer service person angel@avalon-acres.com or call her at 931-628-3938
We look forward to serving you and getting to know you throughout the summer.
Hello Friends!
Our Spring/Summer Program has quickly come to a close with today being our last delivery day of the season! It's bittersweet because we know this means there will be some of you we will not see until next Spring, we'll miss the regular harvest of fresh produce, but we'll also be able to take a little down time and regroup. Winter is always a good time for us to re-evaluate policies and procedures as well as working with our farmers on a growing plan. Be on the lookout for another email from us asking what kinds of produce you'd like to see next year.
We won't be back up in Nashville again until we deliver turkeys on Sunday, November 23rd. If you ordered a turkey, you'll be receiving a special order email in case you'd like to order anything else for your Thanksgiving dinner. We plan to have some holiday breads, our fresh harvest canned goods as well as our usual meat and eggs.
This Winter we are also going to begin plans to begin bringing canning and baking back onto the farm. This will allow us to increase our canned goods variety (such as soups, broths, stocks, etc) as well as develop new bread recipes. I've been wanting to try an "Ezekiel" bread recipe for the longest time! :) We do plan to have some winter produce available. Our Amish farmers in the Pleasantville area are very resourceful. Ron and Heath will be working with these farmers in the next couple of weeks to develop an abbreviated production schedule for winter produce.
Our chicken production is doing wonderful. We have an inventory built up and have another 1,100 chicken out in the pasture. We will have plenty of chicken for the winter program.
Attached is a flyer promoting our Winter program as well as the Winter registration form. Please write if you have any questions. The only deadline is if you want to prepay for the Winter and receive the 10% discount, you'll need to do so by or on the first day of deliveries (11/30). Robbie Poe has been doing all of our flyers, he's a dear friend and very talented, thank you Robbie!
Please consider staying with us this winter. Winter months are difficult for farmers and this CSA supports 18 employees as well as 46 small family farms in middle Tennessee. I wish you could see how much of an impact you are making in many lives.
We love our customers and look forward to serving you in any way we can.
Thank you for your friendship and business!
Tim & Jennifer Bodnar
Avalon Acres Farms
Hi everyone:The details of the Winter CSA program are finally completed and we are taking registrations. The program will run 20 weeks and deliveries are bi-weekly (every other week). It will consist of all natural meats, canned goods, baked goods and the occasional winter produce offered for special orders.We really appreciate all the support we can get in the winter. Obviously, farming is a tough deal in the winter and it is always tight for us to make it to the spring. You winter support is part of what makes it possible for us to do what we do in the summer. Without winter sales, we literally might not make it.We are raising chickens feverishly and expect to have plenty of chicken for the winter. In about a month our "chicken drought of 2008" should be coming to an end. Thank goodness!All the details of the program (pricing, schedule, drop off locations, etc.) are in the attached document below... clicking on the link will take you to Acrobat.Com and allow you to download the form. If for some reason it does not work, you can always e-mail us at farmer@avalon-acres.com Thanks you in advance for all your love and support of our way of life and the affirmation that our lives bring you value.Tim & Jenny!!! LOOK HERE LOOK HERE LOOK HERE !!!Download the Registration Form Here!!! LOOK HERE LOOK HERE LOOK HERE !!!
TURKEY PRICES
