Hello,
It’s Jason from Benson Farms. I've been in Denver this week on business and this morning I am packing up to head home. I've really missed Sandy and the kids and I can't wait to get back and see them. This is the first time I've been away from them since before the pandemic started. I'm going to keep it short this week. I have just a few things that I want to announce and update.
You might notice a change in the subject format for the newsletter this week. I have a confession to make. I'm really not that creative. Sandy gets onto me because I sometimes spend about as much time trying to come up with a catchy subject line each week as I do on the content. So, I've decided to take my wife's advice (as she will no doubt point out is always the best idea) and keep it simple going forward.
Benson Farms Update: Sandy has had her hands full this week taking care of all the kiddos and all the animals. I'm happy to report that she handled it like a champ and all are alive and well. She says that she'll be glad when I'm back because she's tired of dealing with "those dang dogs".
Welcome to the Benson Farms Family: We've had a lot of new subscribers from our giveaway this month. First, let me say welcome to the Benson Farms Family!
I'd like to take a moment and apologize to some of our new members who received multiple welcome emails after joining. Farmers aren't always known to be the most tech savvy folks and I'm afraid this week I really played right into the stereotypes. I was changing the way we do some of our welcome emails and many of you wound up getting sent the same emails more than once. I sincerely apologize for that and I promise that I will try to do better. It's never our intention to overload you with emails.
September Giveaway Winners: We will be drawing for our September giveaways winner and for the winner of our reader subscriber appreciation giveaway this weekend. Keep an eye for a special announcement email for those.
The Grass-finished Difference: Last week I covered why our dry-aging process makes our meat so much better than anything you can get in the grocery store. This week I wanted to follow that up with some of the difference in taste between grass-finished beef and grain-finished. Unfortunately, I haven't had time to really sit down and put that together the way I want, so I'm going to put that off another week.
Fall Order Fulfillment: Last weekend's fulfillment went well. Our next fulfillment will be in a couple of weeks, so keep an eye out if you have an order in for the fall and haven't gotten an email yet. We'll be updating those of you in our next wave as we coordinate with the butcher.
Spring Deposits are Open: If you haven't placed a deposit for your spring beef, those spots are filling up. Deposits will close at noon on October 31st! Availability is limited. We only had 18 head for the spring harvest. Click here to see our available packages and make a deposit to fill your freezer this spring.
In the news: This summer's drought is likely to drive beef prices even higher in the coming months. As conditions worsened over the summer, many large ranchers were forced to sell a significant number of their breed herd for slaughter. The USDA reported more cows slaughtered in July than in any month since recordkeeping began. That has caused a temporary drop in beef prices, but it means that there will be fewer calves for next year and into the future. The result will be higher prices in the grocery store and more imported beef in the near future. You can read more about that here.
Thanks for taking the time to read this week’s newsletter. I hope it was a fun read for you. I’ll be back soon at the same place with more Benson Farms behind the scenes and advice for your kitchen!
Until next time,
Jason Benson
Co-Owner, Benson Farms
