We (Aurelio and Sarah Lopez) began experimenting with pasture-raised chickens in 2009 after reading one of Joel Salatin’s books. We started off living in a barn above a single acre of rented land, moonlighting as chicken farmers while both working full-time day jobs. Fast-forward a few years and 2013 finds Fiesta Farm raising chickens for both meat and eggs, as well as pigs, rabbits, and goats on almost 30 acres of mixed grass pasture and oak forest. We are proud of our “triple bottom line” business which feeds hundreds of local families with nourishing, nutrient-dense foods while maintaining a balance between People, Profit, and Planet.

Sarah recently wrote a post called Dollars and Sense as part of a CSA member newsletter. I found this post compelling and worth sharing!

Dollars and Sense (Guest Post by Sarah Aurelio)

This month we explore the idea of “expensive.” Most definitions of “expensive” include the idea of high price. Some also include the concept of requiring sacrifice, being beyond a buyer’s means, or pricing beyond an item’s intrinsic worth.

The issue of “expensive” comes home to roost in an amplified way at the farmer’s markets. New or irregular farmer’s market shoppers especially feel that $18 or $20 for a single purchase is a “high price.” Since these more casual shoppers typically bring limited amounts of cash, such a purchase also “requires sacrifice,” since it means they have less to spend on fresh berries, baked goods, prepared foods, and Kettle Corn. And since most have price expectations based on factory-farmed products that they see at the grocery store, their idea of the “intrinsic worth” of meat (chicken especially) and eggs is typically low. Many people are also not used to buying whole chickens, so the dollar amount is high compared to what they are used to paying for a smaller package of cuts that yields fewer servings, even though the whole chicken yields more servings/meals.