Date: June 2nd 2009

Smith Family Farm Newsletter
June 2009

Friends:

With the days of winter now far behind us, we excitedly look forward to the days of summer. Here at the farm we are surrounded by life and activity (understatement?). Calves are being born on a daily basis. Our new hens are starting to lay. Baby chicks arrive in monthly intervals. The piglets provide a large percentage of our entertainment for the day--we love to watch them romp and play and get into all sorts of shenanigans.

Those of you who are familiar with us know that we are more interested in good stewardship than the proverbial bottom line. We try our best to extend this policy into every facet of our operation. The eventual goal of this stewardship is to become as self-sustaining as possible. This includes reducing our dependence on industrial corn, chemical fertilizers and pesticides, and, of course, petroleum. Although we don't always meet these goals perfectly, we are steadily working towards them. In hopes of reducing our petroleum footprint in 2009 and beyond, we've begun researching bio-diesel technology for use in our trucks and tractors. If anyone has advice or experience with using bio-diesel, please contact us.

Since our last correspondence, there have been some new developments that we're excited to mention. First, our website has received a new design (still in it's beta stages), with hopes that it will enhance your browsing experience. Navigation has improved and we've integrated our farmer's market schedule in a more streamlined fashion. Speaking of farmers markets, take a look at which ones we're currently attending this year:

http://beefandhayproducer.com/farmers-markets/

Something new is cookin' here at Smith Family Farm. We've begun to add a couple items to our product list. Effective immediately, we are offering home canned fruits and veggies, home made pies, breads, casseroles and lots more. We hope you like them! The pies and breads are selling fast! If you'd like to see something that we currently don't offer, feel free to give us a holler. For more information, or for a partial list of these new offerings visit us online:

http://beefandhayproducer.com/hogbranchcannery/

For those living near the Gainesville, VA area, we encourage you to visit us. To relieve some confusion we've decided to establish regular farm hours where you can come out to purchase meats, baked and canned goods, or just to visit and see how the animals are raised. We will be open every Saturday from 9AM to 4PM. You are more than welcome to come any other day of the week--we just ask that you call beforehand to make sure someone is there to assist you.

A couple things are coming up in the near term, so let me address them quickly. Very shortly we will begin haying--so we encourage our hay customers to contact us as soon as you can. The early bird gets the worm! Likewise, we still have plenty of mulch hay--please inquire about discounts. Also, we'll be butchering our 1st set of meat birds this week, so be sure to look for our fresh chickens, giblets, chicken feet, etc., at the farmers market.

We'd like to thank everyone for your patience, patronage, and cooperation with us in 2008. It was a fruitful year, complete with both it's trials and blessings. If you have a special request, comment, question or concern we encourage you to contact us any time. Again, we sincerely thank you for your continued patronage.

See you soon!

Leigh Smith
Smith Family Farm
5770 Artemus Road
Gainesville, VA 20155
Cell: 571-220-0017
http://beefandhayproducer.com

No Farms No Food

PS - Be sure to follow us on twitter:

http://twitter.com/smithfamilyfarm/