I should clarify about the Jerky I make... I cant sell it or make it available to the general public for several reasons. Mainly because it is illegal. At some point I am going to convert the cottage kitchen into a inspected commercial kitchen. At that point I will be able to offer a lot more options in our meats using the same recipes I use to make the Sausages, smoked sausages, jerkies, cured bacons, render lard, and cut and package custom cuts of meat. Dont get me wrong I love the work and the quality of the work that Enfield Packing offers us. Even when I eventually get the T5R butcher shop/commercial kitchen up and running I will still be using Enfield Packing for the kill and basic processing, I will just be getting the meat back in the large primal cuts rather than the already packaged cuts. When I say the store butning in 2012 really set us back. The commecial kitchen was probably the biggest set back in that event. I had been purchasing the meat processing equipment piece at a time and had it stored in the back room of the original store. When I lost $68,000 worth of equipment and parts the kitchen equipment was a signifigant portion of that loss. When between a private loan and a pathetic insurance settlement I was left with only $20,000 and had to use that money to get just the basics back in place. Things like another building suitable for the store/cottge kitchen ($11,000) for a Cook building that was a shell, replacing the refrigerators and freezers was a priority ($6,000) and the general equipment like the stove, pots, pans, and things for baking and making jellies and jams cost another $3,000 to replace. The brand new still in the shrink wrap and on the pallet poultry processing equipment was all reduced to semi melted metal and had to be replaced at $4,700. The store fire was a devastating event in every way that I am still trying to recover from 2+ years later. But the basics were replaced and we were up and running again six months after the fire with the meats, eggs, and the baked goods and jellies. Replacing things like commercial grade meat grinders, meat mixers, cabinet smoker, etc is going to take a while :) It will cost about $30,000 to replace all of those things. No I am not fishing for sympathy or money, but it is going to take some time to replace those things that individually are quite expensive gadgets. Gadgets that are required to have a operational and functional commercial kitchen that can be used to produce the T5R unique products and offer them for sale. Something that has been suggested by several folks is to start a crowd funding campaign to speed things up. That is something I might work on over the winter. It is also something I also have zero understanding of or how it works. I dont want handouts or charity but if I am understanding correctly I can offer things of value to those offering funding. The alternative is to keep replacing things one at a time here and there until I have everything I need. At the rate I am going it will take another 5 years to have everything that was lost replaced :( Most folks dont know how I do things or dont do things. I saved for around 30 years to buy the land, the equipment and the livestock and everything else. I have a little over $300,000 invested in the T5R and less than $10,000 in debt. So when lightning blew the tree apart next to the store and started the store burning and $68,000 went up in smoke it made up a very signifigant percentage of my cash investment in the T5R that just went poof. Insurance screwing me over hard was more than painful. I could have fought them in court and most likely have won but it would have taken years to reach a settlement and after legal fees I would probably have gotten less than $10,000 in the grand scheme of things. I highly recomend that anyone who believes they are Well protected with Country and sells small farm products be very leery of them. I take the approach of if I dont have the cash in my pocket and want something, it can wait until I do have the cash in my pocket. So when I lost $68,000 that represented basically 7 years of doing without and saving to purchase all of the things that were lost in the fire. It hurt :) It still hurts ;) I dont sit around and poor woes is me about it though. I pick up the pieces make do with what I have and keep moving forward. I will not borrow money from the USDA or a Bank, I have seen too many small farms get caught up in the debt cycle and get chewed up and spit out and lose everything over a bad year or two. To me debt is a form of being and indentured servant. Folks laugh at my old mobile home, my 1970s tractors, and in general older manual labor way of doing things. But never consider I own the land and everything on it free and clear and have less invested in y home than most people spend on a couple of mortgage payments. A set back like the fire, while being very painful is survivable and like any good wound that leaves a respectable scar takes some time to heal :) So yes I am still planning on a commercial kitchen that specializes in custom cuts of meat and our unique T5R flavors and resipes. As well as our baked goods and jellies. It is just going to take some time to get back to the point we were at back on April 1st 2012. I am a patient man with a lot of focus :)
Posted on: Mon, 15 Sep 2014 15:27:08 +0000
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