Spring Update from the Farm

Things are looking tough this spring, and I want to be honest with all of you about where we are.

The world feels chaotic right now. Fuel is high. Everything costs more. Even with the rain we got recently, we are still in a severe drought. This year, we are scheduled to get less than half of our normal irrigation water, and our hay supplier has already warned us hay prices may nearly double.

That is a hard number to sit with when you are responsible for keeping animals fed, milk flowing, and families supplied with real food.

Unlike the mega farms, we cannot just ship in cheaper hay by the truckload to make up the difference. We also do not feed alternative waste products just because they are cheap, nor would we want to. These are milk cows. The quality of their feed affects their health, their milk, and ultimately the food going into your homes.

So when hay prices rise, irrigation water gets cut, or pasture becomes uncertain, we feel it directly. There is no corporate buffer here. No commodity feed contract. No semi-load of cheap substitute feed waiting in the wings. There is just us, the animals, the land, and the cost of trying to do this right.

And I’ll be honest, I have felt the weight of that.

I love this work, and I feel incredibly blessed that we get to provide food for your families. But there is also a weight that comes with knowing so many people are counting on us to keep the cows fed, the milk flowing, and the farm steady through a year like this.

When you are a small farm, you cannot just think about today. You have to think several seasons ahead. Spring grass, summer irrigation, monsoon timing, hay quality, winter feed, milk supply, and customer needs are all tied together.

We have been doing what farmers do, adjusting where we can. On our leased pasture, we were able to rearrange the side-roll irrigation so we can get water across more ground faster. That should help us grow a little more grazing, and this year, every bit matters.

They are also predicting a strong monsoon season. That could help ease some of the drought pressure, but farming never lets anything be simple. Rain at the wrong time can make it hard to put up the dry, clean hay our milk cows need for winter.

That is farming. You pray for rain, then pray it comes at the right time.

Updates from the Milk Barn

We do have some good news.

Daisy had her calf, a beautiful heifer, and she is officially back on the milk line. Destiny should be right behind her.

Baby Karen also had her calf, but unfortunately, she only has three working teats and is only producing enough milk for her baby this year. Hopefully next year she will do better.

The hens are finally back in full production, so eggs should be much more consistent again.

We will start adding butter back next week as milk supply allows. After that, we will begin working through the families who want more milk and the families on our waiting list.

A Delivery Update

Our farm truck is repaired for now, but with its high mileage, we know it is probably on its last leg.

The good news is we were able to secure a refrigerated delivery van that runs on gas. This gives us more dependable deliveries, better temperature control, and a much cleaner system for getting milk and farm food to your homes.

With the fuel savings compared to diesel, we should be able to break even on the new payment. It is still a big investment for us, but it felt like the right move if we want to keep deliveries reliable.

Pricing

We will be bringing all members up to our current pricing. Some members are still on legacy subscriptions from 2023, and with the year we are facing, we just cannot keep those older rates in place.

Our hope is that bringing everyone to current pricing will be enough to help sustain us through this season. We will revisit things as the year progresses and as we get a clearer picture of pasture, irrigation, hay availability, and actual winter feed costs.

With projected hay prices, we are looking at needing an additional $30,000 above our normal hay bill just to get through the year.

That is a huge blow for a small operation like ours.

Unlike the grocery store, we are going to be honest with you about why prices change. We are not hiding behind vague supply-chain language. We are looking at the actual cost of producing food on a small farm in a hard year.

Our commitment to providing milk and food security for our families has not changed. But we also have to make sure the farm itself can survive the season in front of us.

An Optional Way to Help

We are adding a voluntary hay support option to the member store for families who are able and want to help.

There is no pressure and no requirement to contribute. Your regular herd share already matters deeply. This is simply an option for those who have asked how they can help support the farm through a hard season.

Any hay support given through the store will go directly toward helping us feed the milk cows and keep the farm steady through the year ahead.

To Our Farm Families

I know budgets are tightening for so many families right now. Groceries, gas, housing, utilities, insurance, childcare, and just about every normal expense of daily life seems to cost more than it should.

I do not take it lightly that, in the middle of all of that, you still choose to make room in your budget for our milk, meat, and eggs.

For many families, deeply nourishing food is something you are prioritizing on purpose. Not because it is the cheapest option, but because you know what it means to have real food in your refrigerator and freezer.

That means more to me than I can properly put into words.

Every jar of milk on your table, every dozen eggs in your fridge, every package of meat in your freezer, that is trust. It is a relationship between your family and this farm. It is you choosing food with a face, a place, and a farmer behind it.

That keeps me going more than you probably know.

Even in a hard year, I am grateful beyond words that I get to do this work. I am grateful for the cows, the land, the hens, the calves, the families, and the chance to keep building something that matters.

Thank you for supporting us, trusting us, and understanding that local food is not separate from the weather, the land, the animals, or the cost of keeping everything going.

We appreciate you more than you know.

Your Farmers,

Hannah & Jeremy