I was at a food show recently and talking with one of our local food partners (shout out to Northern Soda Company!) and we were discussing the many hats all business owners wear. In our case, from farm to market. Someone commented “you must be busy.” Well, yes, I have plenty to do, but I suspect all farmers and business owners would say the same. But I’ll let you in on my little secret: I don’t do any of this alone.

In fact, I feel like I’ve had more time away from the farm than usual lately, with a mix of work travel, meetings, and some family trips sprinkled in. Every time I’m away, I’m reminded of what a capable team we have here at Ferndale, and this seems like a perfect chance to showcase all they’re working on each day.

For a small business like ours, we have an incredibly diverse set of job descriptions and most folks are juggling more than one. On any given moment, you might find a member of our team hauling feed to a flock, or loading a delivery truck, stocking a new food item in the market, or retrieving a turkey order from one of our retail partners. And, in all likelihood, somebody is repairing something; that’s a task with endless job security on a farm!

Reality is, our turkeys never take a day off and our market is open 7 days a week, so everybody here works hard. And, while it’s always 70 degrees in the market, our team works in everything from a -10 degree freezer to a 100 degree brooder barn. I’ve witnessed times where someone in shorts sits next to someone in insulated bibs, to cover all our working environments.

We tend to talk often about my family heritage with our farm, but everyone in the Ferndale family deserves the recognition for all it takes to keep the turkey train on the tracks. Turns out it takes a flock to raise a flock; I feel fortunate we have such a good one.