By Lighthouse Farm family
Posted January 2009
We were just beginning our adventure when we wrote our first story for The Old Schoolhouse® Magazine. Now we have nearly three years of running our own family business under our belt! Our meat business is most definitely up and running. We raise and sell premium quality, healthy, 100% grass-fed beef, 100% grass-fed Icelandic lamb, pastured pork, as well as eggs and meat from pastured poultry. This past year we were delighted to add pastured turkey to our menu of offerings. Raising these animals in a way that cooperates with the way they were designed, working diligently to bring more order and restoration to our farm, marketing our meat and home educating our children takes up the lion’s share of our time.
However, we also receive requests for gardening workshops, animal husbandry techniques, how to butcher chickens and pigs and land consultations on the side. In addition, we have also been invited to some local home education conventions for workshop presentations. We estimate that about 1/3 of the inquiries we receive about farming/homesteading skills come from home-educating families.
We are well aware that not as many folks have the knowledge and skill of how to grow and produce their own food than, say, 50 years ago. In addition, we know that with only 1% of the U.S. population considering themselves as farmers (and these rapidly approaching retirement age), the access to the knowledge and skills of how to farm and produce food are dwindling. Judging by the number of inquiries we receive there is a need for this knowledge. However, our time is limited. The great news is the we’ve found that one of the most effective, time-saving ways for us to share our knowledge is via how-to DVDs. Therefore, we launched our Authentic Agriculture educational DVDs which demonstrate and teach in entertaining ways some of the homesteading how-to’s. We currently offer three and have more in the pipe! This year our sales for these have increased quite a bit. In light of the economy, more folks in general are preparing to be more self-sufficient.
We’ve also written e-books about some of our experiences and lessons learned with different animals in our homesteading experience with more in the works. As a Hen Gathers Her Chick and Goat’s Milk for Your Maidens are the firstfruits of our labor. We wrote these initially in order to record our memories to pass down to our children and grandchildren. However, it also became apparent to us that this could also be a learning tool for those wishing to do the same. The ebooks could also be used to encourage others who’ve chosen the same path. And they could be used to allow other families a glimpse into a lifestyle they have no calling for or opportunity to experience. The Old Schoolhouse® Magazine has graciously been selling our ebooks and for that we are grateful.
The Old Schoolhouse® Magazine has also been selling a couple of ebooks we edited and re-published from the late 1800s. Our Four Boys and Grandfather’s Faith are excellent chapter story books that can be used to teach children how to discern someone’s character and what to do in certain situations. We have found ourselves referring to the morals we learned from these stories often.
Our most effective marketing tool for our meat business has been our website. Most people find us via the web. On our website, we explain what we are about and why we’re doing what we’re doing. The most common comment we hear about our website is that they appreciated the amount of information on it. They feel they learn much by reading it. They also love our informative e-newsletter. This is where they not only learn about the goings-on on our farm, but also about meat availability and workshops.
The most effective marketing tool we’ve found with our Authentic Agriculture DVDs has been positive word of mouth, positive feedback/comments and reviews on other homesteading blogs. What we did was send some review copies to different homesteaders who we thought would be blessed by the DVDs and then the Lord does the rest.
While we do work at marketing, we strongly feel the Lord has brought every single customer to us. We’ve committed our calling to the Lord and believe He has directed folks to us. We pray for our customers and ask that the Lord would bless them as they have us.
In conclusion, we have intentions of expanding our offerings and would love to offer more ebooks as well as DVDs to be sold via The Old Schoolhouse® Magazine. Thanks so much for allowing us the opportunity to share with you.
May the Lord bless you and your endeavors to honor Him with your talents!
Lisa for the Mesko family
www.lighthousefarm.com
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