Challenging Economy Affects Us All

Many people feel that their dollar doesn’t go as far as it used to these days, and we want you to know that we feel it too. We understand that some are struggling and would like to share that we are doing what we can to offer options while keeping our own business steady.

“We feel the customer’s sense of constriction and having less expendable income,” said Christine Deck. “For us we feel it in the costs of feed, supplies and especially labor costs due to Oregon’s high minimum wage rate. All of this is up across the board for us.”

Christine said that the farm’s margins are as thin as they can make them while still maintaining the goals and mission of environmental sustainability and paying employees a living wage. 

“We are not in a growth mode this year,” she continued, “and we feel it will be a success if we maintain. So since we know others feel it too, we are trying to offer ways to help our members by selling bundles, sides, seconds and looking again at our membership levels.”

Rolling out this month are “seconds bins” at the farmers market booths. Customers looking for a bargain will find items where the packaging has become unsealed, for instance, and which are therefore being sold at a discount. 

We are also going to be adding side sales to the CSA. Side sales involve purchasing either a quarter or a half of a cow, pig or lamb and taking delivery all at once. Doing butchery this way costs less for us so the per pound rate is lower for the customer. It is also more humane for the animals because we handle the processing on the farm, removing the need to transport the animal to a processor. Look for it in the CSA within a couple weeks.

And, lastly, we are adding bundled products in the CSA. The first two are Hyland Processing Sausage Bundle and Breakfast Bundle. By purchasing the products in this way you simplify your shopping, get to try new items and receive a modest discount as compared to buying them separately.

For now the membership levels are remaining the same, but we are considering changes that will enable members who are interested in milk only, for instance, to have that type of limited, lower-cost subscription.

“Farming is always a challenge to sustain so we are used to these kinds of issues,” Christine said. “But I want to be transparent about the situation since we have a relationship with our members and a mission to uphold. Our mission is what makes our product “worth it” so we will not be compromising there. But we are working on ways to help us all succeed despite the challenges.”