Almost Spring

Well, it's almost Spring - a time of new beginnings, and I'm about to start one myself. For the last four years I've been working full time off farm. That will all change at the end of this week. Read more about life after full time work here. During this time I have often been time challenged, which has meant that I have not been as efficient as I would have liked in running this business of ours. I am hoping to spend more time working on the business to make sure that it runs a bit smoother. The ordering and invoicing process has been less than ideal and so I am grateful for your patience and understanding.

I will be doing invoices this week for orders for Theodore, Baralaba, Woorabinda, Rocky and Gladstone. If you don't receive one by Wednesday and you've ordered, please let me know. I still haven't fixed the online order form so please confirm via email if you used it.

I want to say a huge thankyou to all our market customers. You are making my life a joy and giving me hope for the future of our business. We are ultimately a paddock to plate business and this would be nothing without you. If at any time you are dissatisfied, please contact me and tell me about it so that we can work it out together.

Check out our market tab to see where will be and look for the trailer.......

August

I know we are nearly half way through August, but thought I'd better let people know our plans for the month!
Saturday 17^th August – Yeppoon Showground Markets
Sunday 18^th August – Emu Park Markets or Kern Arcade - not confirmed.
Thursday 22nd August - Deliver to Theodore
Sunday 25^th August – Calliope Markets –  Deliver Gladstone orders
Monday 26th August - Deliver to Baralaba and Woorabinda
Saturday 31^st August – Yeppoon Showground Markets - Deliver Rocky Orders

The markets have been very successful, so thank you to all our new customers. I've been really enjoying the days - and so have Chloe and Rita when they've been helping me. For those that don't know, Chloe is our daughter and she is an integral part of our business - always ready to help no matter what we are doing! Rita is my sister and is also a great support. I stay with Rita when I'm in Rocky overnight and she is always around to bounce off ideas!

We are still not sure if we are able to go back to the Kern Arcade Markets or not. I will let people know via email, blog and facebook when we do work it out. Apparently there isn't much room and they could only fit us in last time because some people weren't there due to the Rocky Swap. So this weekend coming will either be Emu Park OR Kern Arcade.

It's still not too late to put in an order for the Gladstone run, however, please let me know as soon as possible! Rocky orders will close this weekend.

Calliope Village Markets

I've been told this is one of the biggest and best markets in Central Queensland! So we are going! Dawson Valley Free Range will be there and we'll have pork, ham and bacon. We will also have Scott and his Pasture Raised Chicken as well. Scott and Heidi have the same farming values as us - regenerative and ethical farming. We are all about improving the land at the same time as raising ethically farmed meat. Animals need to be treated with respect and care, they need to be raised in a humane and proper way. We treat animals how they should be treated and I am convinced that this produces a healthy and nutritious product! So if you buy our products, you are supporting animal welfare, environmental welfare and also your local farmers! We look forward to seeing you there!

Market Time Again

We will be at the Yeppoon Markets on Saturday morning and then at the Emu Park Markets on Sunday morning. If you can’t make it, and/or would like to pre-order for the following fortnight (4th August in Yeppoon), email me for an order form. If you are ordering and want us to deliver to you in Rocky or Yeppoon, you will need to order 5kg’s or more, otherwise you can collect from the markets. If you want to order and want less than 5kg, we may charge a fee for delivery. If we have any leftover on Sunday, I will send out a facebook message to say that we have some left and you can pick up some then – I will give a discount on any sold then, but can’t guarantee any cuts! If you don’t have facebook, but would like me to ring you, just send me an email with your phone number. Look forward to seeing you at either one of the Markets. REMINDER: Calliope Markets next weekend - the 27th July. Gladstone people can still pre-order and we will try and fill them - I need the order over the weekend please.

Gladstone Orders

We will be delivering pork to Gladstone customers in two weeks time,when we go to the Calliope Markets on the 27th July. So please get your orders in as soon as possible. If you use the online order form, please email me as well. Because we will be packing individual cuts for the markets, you can order that way if you like. You will need to email me for an order form if you haven't got one already. So, you have the choice between our usual packs and choosing whatever cuts that you want. You will need a minimum 5kg order for us to deliver, otherwise you can collect it from the Calliope Markets. I look forward to seeing some old and new customers!

Where else can you buy our Pork

I thought I'd done a post on this previously, but I looked back through and realised I hadn't, so....
We now have a few butchers supplying our pork, so if you can't make it to the markets, or can't wait until you put an order in, or just because you want to support your local butcher AND your local farmer at the same time, go along to one of these butchers and get some Dawson Valley Free Range Pork.

Gracemere Butchers in Gracemere, near Rockhampton have been supplying our pork for a while now. I'm not sure whether they use it in their ham and bacon, but just ask them.

Lilly Pilly Organics in Yeppoon are a home delivery Organic Food business. We were supplying all the pork and ham and bacon, but from now on it will be just the ham and bacon. They deliver to quite a few centres in Central Qld and use local farmers when ever they can.

Wooroolin Country Meats is in a small town down south. Clint and Tina own a butcher shop there and Clint travels to markets on the Sunshine Coast - Eumundi Markets on a Wednesday, Moolooabah Twilight Markets on a Friday night (usually), Kawana Waters Artisans and farmers Markets on a Saturday morning & Noosa Farmers Markets on a Sunday morning. They do ham and bacon as well as fresh pork.

Forest Glen Organic Meats on the Sunshine Coast have just started with us. They supply other free range pork, so if you pop in there for a look, make sure you ask for our pork. If people start asking for ours, they might buy more from us!!

We even supply to Western Queensland. Mitchell Grass Meats in Longreach supply our pork to their customers.

We are really pleased to have these butchers and hope to get a few more yet. I'm looking into how we can get it North as well. If you are reading this and you think that we may not have enough for the local market, fear not! We would like to expand our private customers (that's the part I really like) and we have plenty of pigs, and they breed really fast! For our business to survive and therefore continue to supply the private customers, we need to be a bit bigger, so we need butchers. Check them out when you can and let them know that you know about us. AND if you live in a town that has a butcher that doesn't supply our pork, tell him he should!

What's happening in July

We have got a huge month planned!!! We were so pleased with the interest at our first markets (2 weeks ago in Yeppoon) that we are forging ahead with more.....

6^th July – Yeppoon Markets and Fig Tree Markets on Sunday

13^th July – Sunshine Coast and Brisbane

20^th July – Yeppoon and Emu Park Markets - we will also deliver to Rocky and Yeppoon customers

27^th July – Calliope Markets - we will also deliver to Gladstone Area customers

 

I am having a lot of trouble with the on-line order form, so if you use it, can you please email me and let me know - I will then check to make sure I have your order. Otherwise if you just want to email me, I can send you a form. We are also offering the Yeppoon, Rocky and Gladstone people the opportunity to order from our Market list. These are individual cuts and priced individually per weight. Or we will have our usual packs available. Please email me for a current price list and order form.

 

We have had troubles with our deliveries to Moranbah - we now need to charge a $10 delivery fee, so we are still working out whether we will do it or not. We may go to the Markets out there in August, so stay tuned! Emerald - haven't finalised which day we will go out there.

 

Thankyou all for your support and I'm really looking forward to doing our own deliveries again and going to markets - I love meeting our customers face to face.