A question I've been thinking about...

Lately, I've found myself thinking a lot about the cost of food.

Not because of our prices. Honestly, those haven't surprised me in years. I know every invoice that comes across my desk. I know what feed costs, what processing costs, what labor costs, and how much it takes just to keep the lights on. None of that catches me off guard anymore.

What catches me off guard is how surprised people are when they see the price of food. Somewhere along the way, we've become disconnected from what it actually takes to produce it.

Not just on our farm. Everywhere.

If someone asked you what it costs to build a house, you'd probably expect it to be expensive. Lumber isn't cheap. Skilled labor isn't cheap. Concrete, wiring, roofing, windows...it all adds up, and most of us understand that without needing much explanation.

But food seems different.

Somehow we've convinced ourselves that it should be inexpensive, even though it requires land, equipment, fuel, labor, buildings, veterinarians, fencing, feed, processing, packaging, trucking, refrigeration, insurance, taxes, and about a hundred other things before it ever reaches a dinner plate.

That doesn't even begin to account for the years it takes to raise an animal well.

My Dad used to answer this better than anyone.

He'd tell customers, "I can raise you a four-dollar pork chop."

Then he'd grin.

"But I don't think that's the pork chop you're looking for."

I've always loved that answer because he wasn't talking about price. He was talking about priorities and connected exactly right where a person was.

If all someone wanted was the cheapest pork chop, there were plenty of places to buy one. They didn't drive to a farmers market on Saturday morning to save fifty cents a pound. They came because they wanted something they couldn't find somewhere else.

They wanted to know who raised it.

They wanted to know how it lived.

They wanted to trust what they were feeding their family.

That's the part I think gets lost whenever we compare a package of meat from our family farm to one from a grocery store.

They may both say "pork chop."

But that's about where the comparison ends.

And what is interesting about it all, is we are standing at a farmers market for all of the same reasons as you too.

Have a wonderful week,

Renee & the Jake's Country Meats family