Van Rack


Van Rack

This is the white stretch limo that my wife drives down to Adams Slaughterhouse each week with piggies in the back and a chest freezer in the middle for picking up last week’s batch of meat.

What’s different is the hairdo. My brother gave us a roof rack this week so now we can pickup hog panel a the farm store. Previously we would roll small amounts up and put them inside the van or hire someone with a trailer to deliver large amounts. If you get a rack like that please drive carefully as they are a leading cause of accidents in vans like this since the weight up high makes the van top heavy shifting its center of mass – dangerous on corners.
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Foodies, Farmies & New Rewards


Ben & Hope’s Next Cartoon Info Graphic (Click to Zoom)

I am a Farmie. There, now you know. I confess.
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What Good is a Pig: Cuts of Pork, Nose-to-Tail


Archimedes Pork Cut Chart (Click to Zoom)

We raise pastured pigs on our Vermont farm. To better get our pork to our customer’s fork we’re building our own on-farm USDA inspected butcher shop. This past month and until May 15th we’re running a Kickstarting the Butcher Shop at Sugar Mountain Farm project to raise additional funds for equipment so we can open the butcher shop this summer. Backers of our project can get our pastured pork, sausages, all natural hot dogs and sausage shipped directly to their homes in exchange for helping with our project. Several people have asked about what are the available cuts of pork and this article will give you an introduction to what good is a pig, nose-to-tail.
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New Kickstarter Goals: The Abattoir


New info graphic cartoon from Ben & Hope showing our progress. (zoom)

Thanks to all of you we are now more than half way from our original goal $25,000 goal for the butcher shop to the $30,000 red line that lets us pour the concrete for the tower of the next step: the abattoir where we’ll be able to do on-farm slaughter.

As a bonus to everyone who’s pledging $25 or more I’ll add in an extra FarmImage Goodie of your choice if we can get to that $30K red line. (I can do this at that level and above since we’re already shipping a package.)
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Great Forbes Article on SMF Kickstarting the Butcher Shop

Check out the great article by Beth Hoffman of Forbes Magazine who pins the point that nano-scale meat processing could be the game changer for farming.

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New Rewards: Roaster Party Packages


On our Kickstarter Project several people have asked about getting suckling pigs, oven roasters and larger spit roastable pigs. The answer is yes, and the smaller sizes can ship and are even cookable in an oven making them wonderful for traditional Christmas dinners.

Check out the new rewards tiers I have added at the following levels:
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What’s Next – Phasing the Butcher Shop


Phases of the Butcher Shop at Sugar Mountain Farm (Click to zoom)

Now that we have reached our 100% funded mark on Kickstarting the Butcher Shop the obvious question is, “What’s next?”
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100% Funded Info-Graphic


100% Funded Cartoon Info-Graphic (Click to Zoom)

Ben and Hope have prepared another one of their colorful cartoon info-graphics to celebrate breaking through the $25,000 funding mark! Thank you, everyone!

Several people have asked, “What next?” “What will we do if we raise more than the $25,000?”

This is very good question… and an easy answer. We have divided the construction of our on-farm facility into phases to make it easier to do the construction, funding and get each stage smoothly operating before we tackle the next step.
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100% Kickstarted!


Big Pig on Pasture

Whoa! How can that be?!? Two people pushed us over the $25,000 full funding point within seconds of each other!

Me thinks they were both trying to be the $25,000 funder. What fun! What to do… I suppose the alternative would be some King Solomon solution where we split the T-shirt or make them wear it on alternate days… Hmm… No, we’ll go with the two separate T-shirts solution!

So, our double T-shirt winners are Rob Banes who brought us exactly to $25,000 and Tone Heighton who pushed us over $25,000. Congratulations guys and a humongous thank you to everyone who has helped us get to our funding goal!
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CISPA: They’re Back!

Just when you thought it was safe… The black booted jacks are back in the capital trying to trample on our freedoms again:

CISPA—the Cyber Intelligence Sharing & Protection Act—would cut a loophole in all existing privacy laws allowing the government to suck up data on everyday Internet users. We can’t let that happen.

The House of Representatives voted to approve CISPA, but it’s not over yet! Urge your Senators to stand up for user privacy and oppose cybersecurity bills.

Fight Government Stupidity. Go visit the Electronic Freedom Foundation to find out how to protect your privacy and rights online.

Outdoors: 35°F/23°F Sunny
Tiny Cottage: 68°F/65°F

Daily Spark:
Bean there.
Gut that.
Half the T-shirt.

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