Greetings from Hammerstead Farms!
It's the first of September and here's the newsletter: which means I'm more or less back on schedule with it! I'll try to keep up, but there's been a lot going on, so bear with me.
Fuel Surcharge
First off - a hearty "Thank You!" to those of you who took the time to respond to the request for input in the last missive from Hammerstead. You indicated (unanimously, I might add) that you'd far rather have a dollar fuel surcharge per order than a general price increase. And, seeing as how gas is now well over $3 a gallon (it was $3.329 here in Dover this morning) that's going to be a necessity.
Effective September first, there will be a $1 fuel surcharge placed on all orders for delivery from Hammerstead Farms. I really hate to do this, but as energy prices climb, you can expect nearly everything to go up in price.
But I will promise this: it's a surcharge, not a delivery fee or a price increase. Which means that if gas goes below $2.00 (that's roughly what the price of gasoline was averaging nationally this spring, when we started our home delivery service), I'll remove the surcharge.
If gas goes over $4/gallon, I'll probably be forced to add to the surcharge. That is, assuming you good people can still afford to buy milk, bread and eggs or that we still have an economy of any sort with gasoline prices at that level.
I was kind of pleased to discover that this still puts us well below others in the local home delivery business as far as delivery charges in general go - the average cost that others impose for a home delivery is $2.50 per stop. And that was before the great gas price hike!
A New Truck
We're making other changes to our delivery program to insure that we're not eaten alive by rising energy costs. Many of you have seen our "milk wagon" - the trailer loaded with the cooler that keeps the milk and eggs chilled and fresh. Most of you have seen it being pulled by our Dodge Ram 1500 pickup - but this is a relatively new thing. Originally, it was pulled by my little Chevy S-10 pickup. But as our customer list grew and grew, the load for the little truck proved to be too great, and so we brought in the big one.
The S-10 gets about 20 miles per gallon towing the cooler - the Dodge gets 11.3 miles per gallon towing the cooler. This simply had to change.
So we've purchased our first delivery truck: a 1998 Nissan Frontier (small bed) pickup with a refrigerated body and a ThermoKing cooling unit. This will garner nearly 23 miles to the gallon, even at full load! I hope to have pictures on the website soon - it's being refurbed and tuned up as I write, and should be in service after Labor Day.
Eggs
Our egg supply has stabilized - we are now producing better than 60 dozen per week, and have access to more good eggs than ever before. So no more potential limits on orders! That supply problem is solved!
Beef
We have beef available, by the quarter. Weight for a quarter is ~140 lbs, and the price is $700 ($5/lb., no fuel surcharge for delivery). Now, these particular Angus steers weren't *entirely* grass fed: we (our partners and ourselves) did some local 4H kids a favor and bought their show steers after the fair last year. But we made sure that they'd been raised right, and not given sub-therapeutic antibiotics, growth hormones or any of that kind of stuff. They were fed grain, however, in addition to pasturage, so the fat will be a little whiter than our pure grass fed Highlands. It's also an Angus, so the marbling will be a bit richer, and the meat a bit more tender (not needing quite so long a cooking time, for example, as a grass fed roast).
They're really good, too. We had rib steaks from our quarter the other night and they're just delicious - much more of a "steak house" flavor than a pure grass fed steer.
Let me know ASAP if you'd like me to hold a quarter for you - I have 4 left as of 8/31/05 .
Incidentally, if you'd like less than a quarter, we may have some smaller 25 pound packages available after Friday - assuming we don't sell it all by the quarter. This package consists of 12 lbs of hamburger and stew meat, 5 lbs fancy steaks, 5 lbs roasts, and 3 lbs liver, soup bones, tongue, heart and oxtail. The cost will still be $5/lb., or $125 for the package.
Expansion
The new truck not only gives us much better fuel economy, it also increases our carrying capacity. Which, along with the potential egg shortage being averted, will allow us to expand our service area.
I am pleased to announce that we are accepting orders for delivery to northeastern Marion County and southern Hamilton County, Indiana, effective September 1st. This includes the cities and towns of Noblesville, Fishers, Carmel, Lawrence, Irvington, Cumberland, Oaklandon and Westfield, as well as unincorporated areas in the county in those general areas.
I'll be contacting those of you've who've previously emailed or called from these areas with all the details (and to get your orders)!
Basically, if you're more than a couple of blocks south of US 40 (Washington Street) in Marion County, we still can't get to you. But otherwise - hey, give us a call!
Delivery day for these areas will be Wednesday and Thursday.
Order Deadlines
Just a reminder that if you're changing your standing order, I need to know no later than 2 business days before your delivery. If you get delivery on Tuesday, I need to hear from you by Saturday. If your delivery is scheduled for Wednesday, I need to hear from you no later than Monday and Thursday no later than Tuesday. This now applies to all products - heretofore it's been only bread, but I really need to smooth out my inventories as much as possible.
Thanks again for your interest in (and patronage of) Hammerstead - we're really excited about our farm, and hope to continue serving you in the future.
Be well,
Dave Haxton