Party at Polyface

written by

Joel Salatin

posted on

July 8, 2024

If you receive this blog, you are a Polyface patron saint, and if you’re a Polyface patron saint, we want you to come on August 17 for an appreciation fest we’re calling PARTY AT POLYFACE.

Click Here To Join Us

The last time we did this was over 15 years ago and it’s time for a repeat.  

It’s free and our way to say “thank you” for sponsoring soil building, hydration, nutrient density, family farms, pollinators, and everything on the healing spectrum.

It’s free but you have to sign up, (CLICK HERE) and to kick things off, THE FIRST 100 SIGN-UPS GET A ONE-TIME ONLY T-SHIRT.  We won’t say what’s on it; we’ll have a great reveal when you arrive Aug. 17.

Time:  10-2 officially, but the farm store is open 9-4.

Our purpose is to hug patrons, express our gratitude, increase your understanding about how we grow your food, and provide a platform for you to bring a friend.  

Yes, this day extends to your friends.  Do you know someone who’s been struggling with “I know I should care more about my food, but it’s just too difficult, expensive, unknown, frustrating, etc.?” Bring them along.

Plans for the day:

Browse the store and vendor setups: 9:00-10:30

Farm Tour:  10:30-12:30

Lunch:  12:30-1:30 (Polyface hot dogs and brats over a wood fire.)

Joel chats:  1:30-1:45

Official adjourn:  2:00 (feel free to hang out till dusk if you want!)

Ongoing throughout the day:

Run through irrigation sprinklers

Farm-made slip and slide

Cow watering trough to jump in

Obstacle course

Tetherball

Animal petting and interaction

Many artisan collaborators Polyface endorses and carries will be on hand to meet you and show you their offerings.

Critical note:  BRING A COOLER and fill it up from the farm store with cheaper prices because we don’t have to handle, ship, or deliver.  Nice savings you can enjoy.

This is a day of celebration and appreciation, to taste and see good things.  We look forward to hosting you and loving on you for a day.  Please sign up today.

-Joel

More from the blog

Short of Turkeys and Beef

Short of Turkeys and Beef

For the first time in many years, we’ll be short of turkeys for Thanksgiving.  Consistent with our policy of full transparency, here is why.  And we’ve been short of beef now for some time.  The underlying theme of this explanation is to inform you completely about why and what we’re doing about it. Unlike many businesses, we don’t call up other outfits to supplement ours when we’re short.  We figure out how to produce more and until then, simply run behind. Because of that, when we explore new markets, we can’t adjust our inventory instantaneously.We’ve had a couple of incredibly exciting market developments this year.  We’ve always tried to experiment with new opportunities when markets request product.  You never know which ones will be long term, short term, positive, or negative.  Over the years, we’ve given away turkeys when we overproduced due to assuming a certain market opportunity would come through; that’s not financially viable.  As a result, we’re pretty careful about expansion. Three years ago, a large corporation in Virginia asked us to supply turkeys and Christmas hams to their 300 employees.  We had no idea they would hang with us this long, but here they are, happy and showing unbelievable loyalty.  We’ve been reluctant to count on them simply because these kinds of things normally don’t last.  But isn’t it exciting and even exhilarating that a big company is buying our kind of turkeys and hams for their employees? The other thing that developed—and these things develop slowly—was Azure Standard asked us to supply them with 1,000 turkeys as a trial to see if their customer base would like them.  By the time that deal was formalized, we were too late to order more turkeys and did not have the full number for them, but we we did the best we could.  Some of you who are Azure Standard customers will no doubt see our turkeys pop up on their sales platform. When an engine going somewhere wants to hook to us, we always try to at least collaborate in an experiment.  That’s where we are; if all are happy, this could be an extremely positive strategic client for us in the future. In the same way, we’ve been contacted by a new internet marketing outfit wanting some of our beef.  We’ve agreed to let them have five in 2027.  We’re hoping ongoing discussions will lead them to carry our poultry and pork as well—right now they’re only beef. None of this is about building an empire.  It is about collaborating with the cutting edge of authentic food and circumventing Big Food, Big Ag, and Big Pharma.  Innovation comes in many ways.  Polyface perhaps leads the world in the production element.  But processing, marketing, and distribution are also undergoing innovation and staying relevant is a daily objective.  That some of the most creative significant players in the integrity food movement are asking us to play with them is wonderful.  They could just handle industrial organic meat poultry, which doesn’t see pasture and doesn’t enjoy the happiness context of Polyface livestock. But they’re talking to us, and that’s awesome. All innovation carries a ragged edge as it develops, refines, and hopefully becomes efficient over time.  Thank you for indulging us the freedom to explore these new venues and to collaborate with some of the best players in the good food movement.  As you can imagine, growing and experimenting create their own sore muscles.  Being short is not fun for either of us, but be assured it’s not because our animals are sick or we’re getting tired of being farmers. You can laugh at that. It’s because, true to our history, we are committed to putting food worth eating on plates held by friends.  We count you as friends; that’s why we’re taking you on this little explanation behind the curtain.  Hang in there and thank you, thank you for your loyalty and patronage.

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Healing the land one bite at a time!

Address:43 Pure Meadows Ln, Swoope VA 24479
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