Blog - Cypress Consultants (Full Circle Farm)

Cost of Milk, Cheese Shortage, Satsuma Abundance 12/2/16

Hello SMALL Farm Enthusiasts! The question has come up Re: the price of our milk and what will it be when we become 100% A-2. Will it be $14 a gallon, $12/gallon or somewhere in-bNew Postetween? The complete answer is we are not sure yet. Costs are rising across the board, not every single cost but most of them. My hope is that we can work with someone who has really good pastured milk that is worth selling as a cheaper option but we do not have this yet. We had this before and then it ended for reasons beyond our control. We would like to do this but have to have the right connection/relationship/trust to make it work. Not having rain for 8 weeks straight here does not decrease costs in any way but, "this too shall pass", as Mama used to say.

Thanksgiving Delivery Details and Satsumas 11/18/16

Hello SMALL Farm Enthusiasts! Thanksgiving Day Delivery: In case you haven't heard, we will be delivering your order on Wednesday, the day before Thanksgiving instead of Thursday, for those who pick up in Highsprings, Gainesville, Ocala, Dade City, Tampa, St. Pete, Clearwater, Palm Harbor, Brandon and Bradenton. Same time and place, just one day earlier. Please note that the deadline to place your order is one day earlier as well, so please get your orders in as soon as possible. New Tampa pick up location! For our customers who usually pick up on Par Ave at the empty lot, your pick up location has moved! Please go to https://fullcirclerealfoods.co... to see all the details Re: this new spot.

Delayed Gratification, What's That? 11/4/16

Delayed Gratification, do you have it? Do you know what it is? In our fast paced, "got to have it now" society making a choice which limits the ability of getting something now, for the pleasure of being able to have something bigger or better later, is not "The American Way". Many of us (Americans) barely know what it means to save up money now for something more desirable in the future. Instead, we opt for that specialty coffee drink, the latest electronic gadget, or the new Ford 4x4, that will give us pleasure, NOW, and keep us distracted to the truth of the rat race we are in. Many do not even know what it is like to eat fruits and vegetables in season, instead we settle for mediocrity and eat tomatoes all year that taste like cardboard.

A2A2 Milk is Available 10/21/16

Hello SMALL Farm Enthusiasts! Got A-2 milk? YES!! We have it now. Several months ago we had a customer from Jacksonville insist we sell to her some A-2 milk so we quietly put it on the website and said nothing. Now, 3 months later, half our milk is sold as A-2. This speaks loud and clear to us that you want this, not everyone, but enough to make it worthwhile for us.

Muffins, Chestnuts and Persimmons 10/7/16

Hello SMALL Farm Enthusiasts! As I write this, hurricane Matthew is bearing down on us, our thoughts and prayers go out to all in the path of this storm. Instead of my own news, I want to share several links that I think are good and thought provoking, see below. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=anHwoWLULBM For the thinkers out there click reply and tell me what you think is the most important points or take away from this article? I am looking for gut feelings or thoughts on what this article means to us, next letter I will let you know if someone out there is thinking like me?? http://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/04/opinion/health-secrets-of-the-amish.html?_r=1

Snacks? 9/23/16

Hello SMALL Farm Enthusiasts! From Ben the pork guy: Thank you to everyone who has been buying pork, and supporting the sustainable pork enterprise at FCF. I am continuing to start groups of 15 pigs every 2 months. We have 3 groups going right now. We buy piglets at 8 weeks old from our breeder near Madison, FL. The breed is Gloucestershire Old Spots. We are happy with our breeder because he starts the pigs off well. He moves the pigs regularly in outdoor paddocks that are part wooded, and part pasture that is planted in edibles. Also he does not wean the piglets until 5 or 6 weeks so that they get a good start from their mama's milk. More updates to come... We have plenty of Bacon and Pork Chops right now so please consider buying some. -Ben

Eat Liver and Pork! 9/9/16

Hello SMALL Farm Enthusiasts! Ben, our pork manager, is doing an incredible job with the pigs. He is relentless and consistent in moving the pigs often and I am sure they are getting more food off the land because of that and because the land itself is improving over time. The bottom line is that Full Circle Farm pork is better than ever and we are well stocked in it right now. Also, half and whole pig ordering options are available in the next month. If interested email Ben at bfisk@westmont.edu.

Eat Liver! 8/26/16

Hello SMALL Farm Enthusiasts! Do you eat your liver? It is healthy, loaded with nutrients and many good things for life! I was going to write this already when a customer asked this week how to make it more palatable. Alicia is becoming quite good at making liver more edible, here, so I wanted to share a few tips. First of all anything tastes a bit better with bacon so cook it with bacon or at least bacon grease.

My Favorite Interns 8/12/16

The 10 inches of rain we got here will really cheer things up after a fairly dry summer. I guess you could say we got completely caught up in lack of rainfall in just a few days. Change is a constant thing in life and so in the interest of being completely transparent we need to say that we now feed a little soaked barley to our milking goats. This is a slight change but a change never the less. Other than that we do not feed grain to our ruminant animals here. In our defense I will say that goats are hard to do here in our humid, hot, parasite rich environment and VERY few people do goats here without chemical wormer.

Guardian Pups for Sale and How to Build a Larder 7/29/16 View report

Hello SMALL Farm Enthusiasts! Puppies for sale. Lily has several guard dog puppies for sale if interested email her at thisisdennis@windstream.net Great Pyrenees, Border collie and Anatolian mix puppies for sale. They are 8 weeks old and eating dog food and drinking water. Their mother is the mix and their father is pure Pyr, So they are mostly Great Pyr. 4 males and 1 female. They are currently around goats, sheep and sometimes chickens. The puppies' mom is on site and their dad is one of our neighbors' dogs, who also farms. We also have the puppies' grandma and full brother and sister on site. All wonderful dogs, exceptionally smart and very sensitive. $250 each.

Cheaper Milk Continued 7/15/16 View report

Hello SMALL Farm Enthusiasts! New products - from Chicken feed for your backyard flock to spicy raw mustard plus sour cream and buttermilk! More products to come soon from a new Amish supplier: unsweetened bologna, beef jerky and more. Stay tuned!

A Possible Option for Cheaper Milk 7/1/16

Hello SMALL Farm Enthusiasts! Please help if you can, his fight is for all of us. http://nourishingliberty.com/government-harassment-threatens-cripple-michael-schmidt/ I have a question. Is there a market out there for certified organic 100% grass fed milk? There are several farmers we know who are searching for a new milk market. The deal is this: The processor is not paying enough per gallon right now and some are not even breaking even, so they are losing money fast. They enjoy farming and believe in practicing sustainability more so than the conventional dairyman. Some are learning fast and changing all the time because they want to get more for their milk.

Author: Alicia Stoltzfoos

Cypress Consultants (Full Circle Farm)