Upon our award of the Small Business Innovation and Research grant, the following press release was sent out. I want to take this opportunity to share it with you, our customers, and thank you for making our farm a success! With out your support, the mission we believe in, would go no where.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: July 15, 2009
A young farm family near Darlington, Indiana is leading the way in creating a new model for small, sustainable farms that sell healthy, fresh foods and locally processed meat and poultry to Indiana consumers while returning a livable wage to the farm family.
Erick and Jessica Smith, owners and operators of an 88 acre farm named This Old Farm, Inc specialize in meat and poultry raised on the grass the way they used to be. The farm also offers a CSA vegetable and fruit share as well as goat and cow shares. Erick and Jessica Smith, parents of five young children, have won an impressive string of awards in the past year:
* USDA Value Added Producer Grant – funding for planning and a feasibility study on how best to implement their ideas.
* Purdue University’s Center for Entrepreneurship – Environmental I2P award for best new and marketable idea and business plan.
* USDA Small Business and Innovation Grant – funding for a pilot on-farm poultry processing plant utilizing alternative energy resources, which will be completed in August.
The idea behind This Old Farm is to provide good clean, food products directly to individuals from their farm, at the farmers market in West Lafayette, through deliveries and through their website (www.thisoldfarm.inc.com). They are creating a facility suitable for use by local farmers to process farm animals and vegetables that would then be sold to individuals, restaurants and caterers.
Erick Smith explained that before meats and vegetables reach people’s tables, they have to be processed. With the current large-scale farming system just four major processors handle 80% of the beef in the country, he said. “Small farms run into a barrier” Smith said, when they try to get their products to the consumer. “They have to go to a licensed facility. This is a huge gap in the food system.” The Smiths are working to build a licensed multi-use facility that can process meat and vegetables from their own and other small farms. The facility will be located on the Smith’s organic farm, which is in Montgomery County. The Smiths want their idea to serve as a catalyst to bring similar facilities to other areas across Indiana and the country. “It’s all about local,” Erick Smith said.
The meat, poultry, and produce available from the farm each week varies with the season. This week’s newsletter lists the following offerings:
* Whole organically fed chickens
* Organically fed chicken pieces (breasts, drumsticks, thighs, wings, broth pieces)
* 100% grass-fed lamb (chops, shoulder steaks, leg of lamb, shanks, organ meat)
* 100 % grass-fed beef (cubed steak, t-bone steaks, sirloin tip roast, soup bones)
* Pastured Pork (hocks and back bones for soups)- More coming soon
* eggs-limited supply (running a waiting list for subscriptions)
* sprouts- back by popular demand
* dill, herbs go great with fresh chicken!
* zucchini-young and tender
* lettuce-ruby red and green leaf
* golden chard
* oregano, herbs go great with fresh chicken
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For further information and ordering, or to speak directly with the farm family, contact Jessica Smith, (765) 436-2186, jessica@thisoldfarminc.com
