Last week we shipped our very first boxes of meat! When I became a Holistic Health Coach in 2014 I had no idea that 5 years later I would be shipping our very own pastured pork, lamb, and sister farms grass-fed grass-finished beef to our customers! Yeah, I'm just as shocked as you are. I just love food y'all!
When we were running a co-op in our community we sold pastured meats, eggs, locally brewed kombucha, honey, fruits and veggies, coffee, and dairy products. We loved seeing the plethora of foods come in and go out to our community. Food is my love language and I was very passionate about serving that community in this way.
The co-op really thrived for a good amount of time but in mid to late 2016, we started to see a disconnect between the frequency of orders. After-all, we knew it took a certain level of detail for our customers to stay on top of the order cycle and pickup schedule. At that time Gary and I started talking about how we could get the food into the hands of more people. This was 3 years ago when curbside pickup had become a thing and Amazon bought Whole Foods. Our little garage-based farmers market was having a hard time competing. After figuring out pricing, ordering, pickup schedules, distribution from the farms, a website, and communication channels, our biggest challenge was convenience.
We toyed with the idea of delivery to doorsteps by either us (which would include buying a freezer truck) or via a courier service. But both of these options weren't going to be very cost-effective for us or our customers. After many brainstorming sessions and discussions on how we could make it easier for our customers, we found the farm.
Then we found out we were bringing home another baby girl! To say we had our hands full with getting our bearings on our new property and becoming parents again 2 months after we moved was an understatement. But we were determined to take "baby steps" forward to using this land to make meat!
So how did we go from a garage-based farm co-op to a direct to consumer pasture to plate operation where we SHIP to your doorstep?
A lot of taste testing, proof of concept, pricing, budgeting, packaging, processing, and fencing, ha! But honestly, it has been incredibly exciting to see these meats that we have taken care of for the last 18 months in our customer's freezers and on their dinner table. We literally can not explain the excitement we get when we can help you feed your family well.
Hillbilly Nutrition was born to inspire families to eat real food. It has now been reborn to bring delicious, passionately raised, nutritious meats to directly to your door.
Today is the last day to place an order to be received before Christmas. A meat box can make a great addition to your freezer to feed all the family meals in the next few weeks. Or better yet, do you know someone who loves to grill, or smoke meats, or even that great home chef? A meat box is sure to make them smile.
Head over to the SHOP to build your custom box now. Shipping options will populate at checkout.
Merry Christmas,
Eat like a Hillbilly!
Tracy