We were recently asked, “What does buying local mean to you?” and, in a word, it means EVERYTHING. Buying local means knowing what our products are made of, how they are made, what other business are supported in the process, and most importantly, who is involved in their creation. Last week, the whole staff of Just Ripe was fortunate to visit River Ridge Farms, the home and farms of Dave and Verlinda Waters. They were gracious to invite and host us and we were eager to experience the greater connection to and understanding of our food sources that we strive for in our lives and through our business.

These hard-working folks put an amazing amount of  time, care, and energy into cultivating a vibrantly healthy land to raise their pigs, goats, cattle, chickens, turkeys and vegetables. Using organic and sustainable farming practices, they continue to improve the soils in their fields and pastures which provide them with healthy grass for their animals to forage and provides our store and the community with healthy animals.

Before we could get started, we had to borrow some hay bales from the piggies. They didn’t seem to mind.

Whether it was visiting with the animals, enjoying the beautiful weather, or witnessing the pride of Dave’s hard work, it made our day to get out of the kitchen and into the fields!

Under the watchful eye of their guard dogs, herds of goats munched away at overgrowth and invasive species that the cows across the pasture didn’t have a taste for. At first they scurried away from us, but it wasn’t long before they got curious enough to wander over and stare us down with their rectangular pupils.

The goats put up a good front, but when it came to staring, the varied breeds of cattle jostling for a spot in the shade of one tree won hands down. We had to try pretty hard not to feel like we were the ones on display while Dave spoke about the various breeds and individual cattle.

Then we were on to visit with the layers, where we helped Dave collect eggs, and fed the hens a mix of certified organic, soy-free, whole grain feed that looks good enough to put in a soup! Their focus on providing the hens pasture and quality feed may take more work, but it is extremely beneficial for the hens and ensures that their eggs are more nutrient-dense, with a rich flavor and great quality. So many people have discovered how much difference this makes that we sometimes have trouble keeping them stocked in our cooler.

A flutter of hens and the resident rooster made us feel very welcome. They followed us around their pasture pen with great intent. Of course, it was the delicious feed we brought that they were really interested in. While they pecked the feed from their long communal troughs, we gathered eggs from the portable shelter that houses their nesting boxes. We also took a gander at their portable roost, where they spend the night, increasing their chance of survival against the predators of the great outdoors.

Dave noted the difference in the body structure of the layers versus the broiler chickens we had visited earlier in the day, and passed a hen around so we could feel the difference ourselves. The layers have a more naturally balanced body, which will remain healthy through many seasons of egg-laying if they are properly cared for. The broilers have been developed to have a larger breast which, though very desirable in the culinary world, causes the birds’ overall structure to be out of balance by the time they are fully grown. The bone structure of the bird does not develop as quickly as the muscle (meat), which means they would quickly develop joint and skeletal problems if they were not harvested at a young age.

We caught up with some gawky turkeys, all of whom are already promised to upcoming Holiday tables. Dave talked with us about the challenges of raising turkeys and how their demands are different from chickens. The very limited supply of turkeys was an opportunity for Dave to teach us about predators of the birds and what a farmer can do to protect them.

Next we got to meet Ernie, a far more adorable creature, and the newest member of the all-star cattle team. At just three days old, he was awkwardly running around being curious yet defensive, and trying to keep all of his mama’s milk to himself! Once he and his mom, Emma, both calmed down, Dave was patient enough to teach several of us how to milk a cow.

An amazing day in the fields ended with a very informative chat around Dave and Verlinda’s kitchen table. In a short amount of time, we were able to learn much about the values and challenges of sustainable farming and its stark differences from industrial farming. One of the largest challenges in small-scale animal farming is being able to successfully market a product that is superior to mass-produced meats which also carries a higher price tag.

Small farmers who market their product themselves are faced with the challenge of very little available infrastructure to turn their whole live animals into a packaged meat product sell-able at grocery stores or farmers’ markets. River Ridge Farms’ animals are slaughtered and butchered in independent USDA-inspected facilities. Very few of these facilities still exist to service the small farmer. The majority of slaughterhouses are cogs in a larger corporate entity, such as Tyson or Smithfield. As a result, farmers such as Dave and Verlinda must travel as far as Bowling Green, KY to get their chickens processed in a USDA facility, a journey which greatly adds to the cost of the finished product. Though it seems strange, there is no USDA-inspected slaughterhouse in the entire state of Tennessee that a small farmer can take his chickens to for processing so he can legally sell them at grocers or farmers’ markets.

Small, independent processors are also faced with the challenges of price competition against the larger processors. They do not have the “economies of scale” the larger processors have and they generally have better workplace practices than industrial processors. The work may be safer for the laborers and the products safer for consumers, but these improvements again drive up the price of meats coming from small, local farms.  The growing support of local food systems may help remedy these infrastructure problems over time, as more people demand local products in stores and in their diets.

Greater demand may lead to development of better infrastructure, which has the potential to make small-scale farming of local meat more price competitive with industrial meats in the long run.  This a a both mundane and fascinating challenge to our local food economy, and we hope sharing our learning will help our community see the value in the higher-priced, higher-quality meats River Ridge Farms produces. We hope you’ll take the opportunity to visit with Dave and learn more about his farm at our Half-Birthday Celebration on Sunday, November 13.

We left the farm with a sense of awe at the passion Dave and Verlinda put into their farm. Each day we are grateful for the opportunity we have through our retail store to help them provide high-quality, superior-flavored, and nutrient-dense meat and eggs to our community. We had a beautiful day that reminded us about the greater purpose of what we do in our store. We hope you enjoyed our sharing a bit of our day on the farm and learning with you, and we hope you enjoy finding Dave and Verlinda’s products in our store.